>>glad to see i can't push a button.

>>

>>many times people build these vivariums; 90 gallon fishtanks,

>>or custom or rooms sized habitat and there seems to be a common issue that i'm correcting. a book. one book, three books or more! all say one thing. all say nothing about soil profiles,



Too true. I had a soils and hydrology class in college so I know what you're talking about. Of course many people will read only one book and take that as the gospel according to TFH or whatever [that's a jibe at some of the worst herp schlock books still published]. What's good about these forums and the conversation we're now having is that we're exchanging information and educating other people to read and construct with a more critical eye.



>>why uv is important, drainage, micro fauna and such. they all say orchid bark looks like, top soil is fine too but none say anything about what to do about the white mold (it's eating sugar off the wood surface, it's fine), the white strings are the roots of mushroom...yeah yeah, they don't have roots, i know...LOL...they don't say anything about what could be in the Top Soil...like fecal or chicken manure...bat turds...all of these things are bad in an enclosed habitat as there isn't an ozone, the sun and weather. instead in the habitat there will be fungus blooms, bacterial loads that are too high UNLESS the habitat, it's soil profile and the microclimates are regualted. this has to be done at the construction to ensure the right life supports are in place long before the animal is brought home, which is backward to reality many times!



Again, I totally agree. My first vivarium experiments many years ago when books about vivariums didn't exist - well, those didn't yield the best results. Ten or fifteen years ago, if you wanted to put live plants in a snake cage you had to read up on plant terrariums to find out how to try to keep those plants alive. Books on vivarium design have come farther but still have a long way to go.



>>also i said the bit about the zoo as working with keepers for the last four years has shown me a narrow mindedness that hold fast to tradition and nothing to advancing the future of herpeticulture...



I have to agree with you here as well. I fight at my own zoo against our desire to tear down well-established enclosures far too frequently because of those same AZA/USDA regs that tell us we need to clean something whether it needs it or not. As result we often destroy well established plantings that have taken the better part of a year to get established and will just be getting established again when the cleaning time comes around again. There is also a narrow-minded mindset where keepers just don't want to do anything differently than it's been done for the last 20 years. But for all the guys that aren't willing to change or advance vivarium design in the zoo setting there are dozen more newer guys like myself that challenge the accepted ways of doing things and try to get the door open to doing things in a new more natural way. Of course a lot of zoo herpers will acknowledge that they owe many of their successes to advancements first pioneered in the private sector.



>>it's still important to think of all that could occur not just what some book says.



You definetely need to always research read and improve your knowledge and seek out new ways of doing things. So, can we finally agree that DeVosjoli is a good jumping off point to vivarium design, but only if you do a lot more reading from other sources as well?
-----
Matt Campbell

25 years herp keeping experience

Full-time zookeeper

Personal collection - 21 snakes (9 genera), 20 lizards (4 genera), 6 chelonians (2 genera)

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