Reptile & Amphibian Forums

not a dart frog but i thought id post a couple pics of the animal im keeping in the dart frog style,falsebottomed vivarium you guys helped me build and maintain.enjoy.

oh yea,sorry.. for you guys that dont know its a chondropython(green tree python)

It's beautiful. Let us know how it does.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
5 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
4 P. terribilis
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus
2 D. azureus
4 P vittatus

a sexy tank for a sexy snake. keep us poasted on how well he does in there. i'm tempted to try something liket his later on when i get chondos, if it turns out ok.

^_^

ashley
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"I’m scared of those nasty big-eyed grey aliens, too. I think it’s that I don’t understand their motivations. I am confident of my ability to out-think, out-con, or if need be, tire-iron-upside-the-head demonic forces, ghosts and goblins, things that go bump in the night, etc. It’s the notion of something that doesn’t have any desire to talk to me except via anal probe that freaks me out"

hey thanks,so far so good but its kinda like an experiment because its not very common to see people house greentree pythons in natural vivariums.many use potted plants but they keep them in the pots and lay the pots on bare glass for easy cleaning.they are a tropical snake that spend their entire lives in trees and bushes, so one can assume they would benifit greatly from this type of enclosure.i have lots of chondro experience but no vivarium.im running into new problems everyday and although its not easy,im still sticking in there and hoping that many if not all of the problems i am facing are related to the tank not yet becoming balanced.some of the problems(in order of seriousness)are,mold,fungus gnats,and plant problems(die offs)the mold im hoping a new computer fan i installed and less misting and putting the fogger on a timer should solve to an extent.fungus gnats seem to be getting under control with the fan,less watering,sticky traps and now today im thinking of buying a large sundew.the plant problems i think may have something to do with some plants i bought were just bad choices for low light,high moisture,low airflow enviornments.mold also played a part as i have seen some of the plants that were dropping leaves had mold spots on the leaves.i also think a huge problem that basically is effecting everything is my tank being so new.i have little benificial bacteria to control mold,insects and such and im thinking of adding some worm castings (supposed to be full of bacteria)inorder to help collonize the tank.most if not all of my problems i think are due to bad drainage problems.i have a false bottom and drain the bottom often but i think the mix i chose was a bad one and even though i drain the bottom,the soil still remains saturated.i am going to slow down on misting and im hoping the fan will help dry things out a bit.i live in an area full of small spiders and this week i have begun catching everyone i see and throwing him in the vivarium.i think this will solve the gnat problem.i have also heard that cinnimon powder is a great natural fungicide that will keep mold and fungus from growing for a couple weeks.im toying with the idea of sprinkling this around to control the mold at least untill i can get some worm castings and can collonize my tank with benificial bacteria.one more quick question.i also have seen a huge uprising of this super tiny,almost not able to see ,insects.they are tan or light gray colored and seem to be crawling on the wood.i think they may be wood mites.do you guys have them in your tanks?? do they ever become a problem for plants??i was already thinking of adding preditory mites and preditory nematodes to control both gnats and these wood mites.so what do you think about that?

I would like to see your false bottom. If it is done properly, it should be somewhat below the substrate and unlikely to saturate it, although I have a couple of false bottoms that so sometimes get too high, and one in which the entire bottom is well saturated all the time. I have Java moss on this along with plants that simply do well in saturated soil, so it works out all right. I wouldn't worry too much about all of the tiny insects you are getting. The spiders might provide an interesting control, and the Sundew, if your lighting is high and strong enough, should do pretty well and provide some control. Most of us don't have concerns with tiny wood mites and such, as our dart frogs eat them up, so we have little experience with any of this stuff getting out of control. I wouldn't even try to control the fungus at this point. As you discover which plants will grow where, the black spots on the leaves will no longer appear. I think I said before that the fungi are most likely to be attacking plants that are already weakened or dying because they aren't right for the saturated soil. Other plants will grow in it with no problem. Hart fern, Selaginella, the vining Peperomias, Pellionia, Pileas, Ivy (Hedera helix varieties), some vining Ficus, Maranta, etc. all should do pretty well in saturated soil. You could top dress your current substrate with brown New Zealand sphagnum and lace it with Java moss, then just let whatever else grows do its thing and remove anything that dies off.

Will you be providing some kind of internal UV basking light for your snake? Darts don't require this as long as there is a good source of D3 and calcium dusting, so few dart froggers do this. I'm just curious about whether the green pythons need this or if they can somehow be fed the same D3/calcium supplements that we dust our dart frog food with and get by without a source of UV. This is a question I know nothing about, and I'm just curious in case a nice tree snake should "come my way" in the future.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
5 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
4 P. terribilis
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus
2 D. azureus
4 P vittatus

no patty,greentree pythons are noctornal and dont require and uv light or even vitamin dusting.they eat full grown mice and rats that by themselves,provide more than enough nutrients.i am using uv only for plant growth and its ability to make the blues on my snake much more noticable.youre right about me experiencing things in my vivarium that you guys do not commonly see.im sure fungus gnats and such are eaten by your frogs in such numbers that do not allow the gnats or any other problem insects to get out of control.in my case i have no natural pretators so they are going a little crazy.if i leave the doors on my cage closed for 3 days,its amazing how much the gnats breed and how large their numbers can get.for the past week,i have been forced to remove my snake and keep the cage door open and the fan on and no misting or watering.this has gotten the numbers down so much that i cant find even one in there.anyway,ill keep you guys updated on the status . this forum has also gotten me interested in darts and i have already begun construction on my second vivarium that will house a pair of???? not yet sure.any suggestions??i like activity,little hiding and song would be great.

For all around satisfaction and a nice call, a group of D. leucomelas would be a great start. They are bold, active, use all areas of the tank from top to bottom. The males have a pleasant call that can be heard, and they get along well in groups, as well as being inexpensive and easy to find. While the females will occasionally do a bit of wrestling, it is only half-hearted, so they don't do much real intimidation or life threatening fighting.

Let us know how your spider introductions turn out. I recently found a small black widow in a corner of one of my pumilio tanks, living off "spare" fruit flies. I did remove it on the off chance that one of the frogs might bumble into this corner and get bitten by it, although widows don't explore much and these particular frogs don't climb glass and go to that corner at all.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
5 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
4 P. terribilis
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus
2 D. azureus
4 P vittatus