Mary Allen
A tropical terrarium is particularly impressive. They can be planned individually, but are also very maintenance-intensive. Here you can find out everything you should consider when planning a terrarium, implementing and maintaining a tropical terrarium.
Impressive tropical terrarium
The tropical terrarium, also known as the rainforest terrarium, is particularly fascinating. They offer an optimal home for many reptiles, amphibians, and snakes and leave a lot of creative freedom in furnishing and decorating. However, realizing this type of terrarium requires a lot of experience for terrarium fans: Terrarium dwellers need constant temperatures, optimal lighting, and a humid climate. Planning, keeping, and maintaining a tropical terrarium is therefore often too demanding, especially for beginners. If you have decided on a tropical terrarium, you should therefore definitely bring some initial terrarium experience with you. This is the only way to ensure optimal housing conditions for your pets and make your terrarium a real eye-catcher in your home.
The choice of terrarium
Anyone who has ever been to the rainforest knows about the warm, humid climate. Constant temperatures are also a must in the tropical terrarium. If you have the choice, you are spoiled for choice, because the range of terrariums is large. However, due to the high humidity, not all terrariums are suitable for creating a tropical terrarium. For example, wooden terrariums – as beautiful as they are – are completely unsuitable. The warm, humid climate would mean that the wood would begin to go moldy after a while. Glass terrariums are a better option. But here, too, you should pay attention to a few things: Good air circulation is particularly important. The glass terrarium should have a sufficiently large air opening in the upper as well as in the lower area. This is the only way to optimally transport excess moisture out of the terrarium. With good ventilation, you ensure that waterlogging, the main reason for mold growth, does not even occur. In order to rule out a health risk to your protégé due to mold spores, you should take precautionary measures and make the right choice when buying a terrarium.
Tropical climate conditions
As the name suggests, the rainforest terrarium has tropical climatic conditions and humidity of between 70-80%. However, the exact humidity depends on which pets you want to accommodate in your tropical terrarium. Of course, in addition to constant humidity in the terrarium, the temperature in the terrarium must also be right. This should be between 25-32 ° C during the day, but at night most animals feel comfortable at temperatures around 18-20 ° C. You should familiarize yourself with the living space conditions in advance so that you can ensure optimal climatic conditions for your caregiver. So, at best, find out which climatic conditions your new animal inhabitant prefers to find before taking care of a protégé.
Which technique?
But not only the right terrarium is crucial. Although you need less technology in a tropical terrarium than one in a desert terrarium, you should still rely on good quality when choosing the technology and not save at the wrong end.
Heat dispenser
To bring your terrarium to the right temperature, you need a special heating mat or a heating cable. The heater is usually placed under the terrarium unless your terrarium inhabitants need a damp or semi-damp floor. Then you should attach the heating mat or the heating cable to the back of your aquarium to be on the safe side. Ready-made back panels that you can easily assemble are available in every specialist store.
The temperatures in the terrarium should always be constant. To ensure a controlled temperature, you should ideally install a terrarium heater and temperature control in the terrarium. So you always have the temperature in the terrarium under control and avoid temperature fluctuations, which in the worst case can harm your animal inhabitants.
Spot on: The lighting
In order to put your terrarium in the limelight, you need suitable lighting. In order to create a species-appropriate atmosphere for animals and plants, the light should convey a sun-like, natural impression. The best thing to do here is to use suitable UV fluorescent tubes, daylight tubes or plant tubes. These have a low power consumption and the light output is quite high. In general: a terrarium cannot be too bright. With a terrarium measuring 50 x 50 x 50 cm, you should use at least two to three fluorescent tubes.
Temperature regulation
So that you can always understand the climatic conditions in your terrarium, you need a thermometer and a hygrometer in addition to a heater. With the hygrometer, you can measure the humidity in the terrarium. In this way, you ensure that your pets always find optimal conditions. So-called hygrostats are particularly practical, they control the temperature and the humidity at the same time. So you have all the relevant data at a glance with just one measuring device.
Rainforest feeling
In order to ensure constant humidity in the terrarium, the rainforest terrarium must be watered daily. The water should be low in lime and filtered through a carbon filter before use. Either you use hand pump bottles and compressed air syringes for irrigation or you buy a sprinkler system. Manual hand pump bottles and compressed air syringes are inexpensive, but irrigation of the terrarium takes some time. Because a tropical terrarium has to be sprayed manually at least two to three times a day. An automatic irrigation system is a less time-consuming, but more cost-intensive variant. In stores, you will find a variety of suitable irrigation systems in different price segments. You should seek advice from a specialist dealer so that you can choose the right irrigation system for your terrarium.
The establishment
Your terrarium will only become a real eye-catcher with the right decoration. The scope for design is particularly large with tropical terrariums. In general, the selection of the right decoration should be adapted to the size of the terrarium and the person being kept. So there should be neither too much nor too little decoration. Otherwise, everything is allowed, what you like. Whether bark, cork, roots, or branches, you can decorate your protégé’s terrarium to your heart’s content.
A terrarium stands or falls with its plants. Not only do they visually enhance your terrarium, but they also ensure a suitable climate in your tropical terrarium. The substrate should also suit your terrarium and your pets, some animals prefer soil substrates, for example, coconut substrate, while others prefer moss.
Terrarium fun
Even if the implementation and maintenance of a tropical terrarium are a little more time-consuming, the effort is worth it. Because with conscientious planning, high-quality accessories, the necessary know-how, and a lot of joy in terraristics, you can bring your own rainforest feeling into your home and will certainly have a lot of joy with your animal roommate for a long time.