Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Im looking in to building a green house (is that one word or two?) this summer and using half for frogs, most likley tree frogs unless i can get some cheap darts in vancouver! but im at a little bit of a loss on how to set up the inside. i want half for my orchids and i was thinking that i could use screen down the middle with a door to the frog section, but would it be humid enough? im really looking for somebody whos dont this before or at least some pics??? so ANYBODY have any ideas? any cost ideas too? trying to keep it far under $1000
-----
0.1.0. Leo
1.0.0. Sneaky House Gecko
0.1.0. WTF (looking for a male!)

* by dont, i ment done! this foroum really need an edit feature!
-----
0.1.0. Leo
1.0.0. Sneaky House Gecko
0.1.0. WTF (looking for a male!)

I would guess keeping frogs in it might be a bit much, but I could be wrong. I've been looking into a indoor type greenhouse, but it will have to wait.
-----
Kyle
www.kylesphotos.com
Dart Links - still a work in progress
1.2.0 D. leucomelas
1.1.0 D. azureus
1.0.1 D. imitators

It can be done. The Atlanta Bot Gardens conservatory has dart frogs running all through it...or should I say hopping? Of course they have a state of the art set up too.
-----
Matt

Well I would think the climate would be very hard to manage without a ton of money. Unless it was a small palce indoors.
-----
Kyle
www.kylesphotos.com
Dart Links - still a work in progress
1.2.0 D. leucomelas
1.1.0 D. azureus
1.0.1 D. imitators

your right. They have huge radiator type heaters and coolers, automatic misters, and automatic venting. All controlled my a mother of a computer no doubt.
-----
Matt

You will be lucky if you can get a greenhouse that is big enough to split into 2 sections for under $1500.
Check out the GreenHouse link below.

Benjamin

Now I wouldn't mind adding this to my house:

Green Houses link

I like that, I would love to add one of those to my house. I might have to look into that. Wonder how you would heat it?
-----
Kyle
www.kylesphotos.com
Dart Links - still a work in progress
1.2.0 D. leucomelas
1.1.0 D. azureus
1.0.1 D. imitators

I have a greenhouse so I'll pass along some experience that one seldom sees in the glossy brochures or the kit plans.

A greenhouse is an artificial microclimate that you will have to manage heat, cold, air circulation, humidity and watering by some means. The part that most folks don't realize is how quickly they can heat up (read: overheat), how quickly they can loose heat, and how watering has to be balanced based upon whether it is a sunny day, cloudy/rainy day, or cold overcast morning followed by a very sunny afternoon.

I have shade cloth, automatic vents, a heater, swamp coolers, auto vents, watering system etc etc etc. Even with all this I prefer to keep my collection in the basement where I can manage light and heat far more easily. (I won't mention insulating a GH for winter).

When I first started my greenhouse (Md.) I went in one day to find I had not set the vent thermostats correctly. The min/max thermometer was flashing and had failed at 137 degrees F.

The simplicity of indoors has a lot going for it.

Dartz

ok So whats a cheap indoor setup? I am more interested in that.
-----
Kyle
www.kylesphotos.com
Dart Links - still a work in progress
1.2.0 D. leucomelas
1.1.0 D. azureus
1.0.1 D. imitators

Hey did you see the orchidarium that was on this discussion a few weeks ago? Heres the site:http://www.orchidarium.com/htm/azores.htm

It might give you some ideas. And it might not be super cheap, but its more of a manageagle size, and you'd probably have to do some modifications. Let us know what you think might work. I'm intrigued by the idea.

Maggie

It is very nice, but I want to keep my broms red in my tank. I may build something like that though later for some orchids and broms.
-----
Kyle
www.kylesphotos.com
Dart Links - still a work in progress
1.2.0 D. leucomelas
1.1.0 D. azureus
1.0.1 D. imitators

I missed out on that discussion (and this one, too, it seems), but that is really nothing more than a glorified, overpriced terrarium. I could easily build one that size for less than 30% of that price. A lot of people on other orchid forums have built their own. Orchid people often refer to them as an orchidarium (like you did) or a Wardian case.

However, I definitely hope to have a big setup like this sometime when I have a bigger house.
-----
Homer W. Faucett III, esq.
Purveyor of Trivialities and Fine Nonsense

A cheap indoor setup for darts? Tropicals?

As for darts - I've seen quite a spectrum of ideas posted on this forum. Everyone has their own idea of what looks good, price range and space. For my breeders I built a basement frog room with a 3-shelf rack holding 10, ten gallon vivs per shelf, with two more 18 viv racks planned. Construction was pine 2X4s with laminate shelves. Temps in the room are controlled by a oil-filled heater and the tanks are vented with 1" diameter CPU fans centrally controlled.

Like some others who have recently posted I have used spare vivs (w/o PDFs) for propagating. Works fast and the lighting is otherwise wasted if unused. The greenhouse is great for plants but I'd never put darts in there.

Hope this helps.

Dartz

I agree with Ben, it is doubtful that you can put to gether a greenhouse for that cost. As for a diveder I have always like the coraggated (sp) ploycabonate paneling. I have seen many greenhouses where this is used to dived between different "climates". Are you wanting to seperate the orchids and the frogs? As depending on the frog they would probably enjoy the same climate.