Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well, I've searched the internet and all I've found has been a book - which I'm not going to bother purchasing. I'm looking into making a natural vivaria for my collareds, so I'm trying to figure out functional plants and a decent substrate (aside from the traditional "sand" answer, which is not where collareds actually live in the wild - not sand as its sold in bags anyways). In terms of plants, I've been considering sanseveria (a type of succulent), desert grasses (which I know nothing about), and other cacti (no spikes of course). Has anyone attempted such an endeavour - I've heard bad things. Apparently lizards (collareds especially) will uproot most things, but mine do not seem to be very intent on digging. Anyhow, any advice, fist-hand or otherwise, would be appreciated. Thanks.
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Peter - Since when did they change the meaning of "for" to "from?"
Brian - They had a meeting about it last night.
Peter - Why wasn't I informed?
Brian - They sent you a card, but it said "For Peter" so you must have thought it was from yourself so... It's just easier to call you stupid.

I'll take a stab at this, Sanseriva is nearly indestrucable it'll be a good choice. As far as substrate I would go with a bagged topsoil and mix in at least the same amount of sand. Also I would suggest leaving your plants in pots this should minimize any uprooting. Its a start, goodluck, Clint.

I've biult quite a few desert vivariums but using cactus should be in vivs that will house captives that know what cactus is. see, the code or script of a horned lizard from texas will respond to a spiny thorned cactus but that of a steno from pakistan won't. if you know enough about the natural habitat from which your captives come from your better off. i'd just go with succulents.

Deven

One of the important things in trying to make a desert vivaria truly appear natural is to try to get the rocks and substrate to match. You can't use, say, red sandstone rocks and a substrate mix with white sand. Mix some topsoil with, say, decomposed granite, and then use granite rocks that match. Or sandstone with the right colored sand. As for plants, you can always try a juniper as well. The ones done in a bonsai style look exceptionally well, since they're designed to look as though they were gnarled by natural forces.
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1.1 Albino Nelson's Milks
0.1 Dumeril's Boa
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0.0.1 Cuban Tree Frog

Thanks for the suggestions, and I'm pleased to announce that the vivaria is done (and, if I may so myself, looks fantastic). I ended up using gravel for the bottom layer, filling the cracks with dry sand, and then used damp sand to make a solid layer (which worked surprinsingly well). The gravel controls the slope, because doing that with sand alone is annoying, especially with burrowing collareds. I've got sanseveria and aloe buried in there, but in their original pots - I'm not going to bother planting anything. Anyhow, I'll try to get a picture in soon.
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Peter - Since when did they change the meaning of "for" to "from?"
Brian - They had a meeting about it last night.
Peter - Why wasn't I informed?
Brian - They sent you a card, but it said "For Peter" so you must have thought it was from yourself so... It's just easier to call you stupid.