New build for salamanders

[schoolzoo]

Here is a picture of what I've done so far.

[Wy Renegade]

Originally Posted by schoolzoo

There has to be an easier way to feed this critter. This evening it took me around 10 minutes to get it to eat 1 small meal worm. I gave up trying to get it to eat a second after half an hour. Please help.
I have a large pair of tweezers and am trying to feed by holding the food in front of it. Even with the food touching it, the salamander wasn't interested.

Amazing how blind they seem to be and how often they miss getting the food isn't it? I have no clue how they survive in the wild LOL. Keep in mind that we are in to winter now, and this is usually their sleep time. Its metabolism may be slowing down, just be sure and try to feed it at least once every 3 days or so.

Originally Posted by schoolzoo

Here is a picture of what I've done so far.

Looks good so far. I understand the reasoning for wanting to use plexi, but IME, you're going to have a really hard time keeping the silicon bonded to the plexi and glass. I would just run a straight piece of glass across the tank, and use that nice corner area for wetland type plants.

[Fishies_in_Philly]

Looks good so far. the rock wall is a bit linear, but nothing that can't be dealt with after filling that salamander is gonna be happy in his nice, spacious, planted new home

[schoolzoo]

Its been a while but I finally got a start on the stream part. Given that my talents aren't in carving I've gone away from making the stream out of the black pond great stuff. Instead I found a hamster tube (it splits in half so I had 2 pieces to work with in case I mucked one up), and I was able to distort it using a heat gun. I had one of my students help with the twisting, so the shape that he came up with I'll work with. Now I'm going to silicon some rocks/sticks into it to make it more natural looking.

[schoolzoo]

I was able to find a few minutes today to get a bit more done. I think that I'm going to use some black aquarium silicon to cover up the green of the stream, and to anchor some smaller rocks into it. As far as the green support I was thinking of using some bark, or some great stuff to make it look like a hollowed out tree trunk, with a "spring" coming out from under it.
Any thoughts?

[Wy Renegade]

whats the point of the upright again? If I were going to try and make it look like a tree stump, I would use GS, over expand it by quite a lot, and then carve it into the shape you want.

[schoolzoo]

Originally Posted by Wy Renegade

whats the point of the upright again?

I needed some way to hold the end of the stream up, and to close off the end, so the water goes where I want it to. It is also going to help hide the water line.
I'm concerned that once the salamander gets in there and digging then he will knock it over. I think that I'll have to attach the side of the upright to the side of the tank.
Do you think that great stuff white foam will be fine for the salamander, if I cover it with coco-bark?

[Wy Renegade]

Originally Posted by schoolzoo

I needed some way to hold the end of the stream up, and to close off the end, so the water goes where I want it to. It is also going to help hide the water line.
I'm concerned that once the salamander gets in there and digging then he will knock it over. I think that I'll have to attach the side of the upright to the side of the tank.
Do you think that great stuff white foam will be fine for the salamander, if I cover it with coco-bark?

Yes, I'm sure it will. You might also think about cutting the top off, and doing something like placing a rock on top of it or something.

[schoolzoo]

I decided that instead of using the coco-husk/bark, that I'd use poplar bark. I thought that it would give a more natural to here look. The space in the "wet zone" behind the stream will get some kind of plant, but I'm undecided about what kind yet. I'm leaning towards either a simple moss or fern - both of which can be found around here - I'll just have to wait until April for the snow to be all gone so I can collect something.

[schoolzoo]

Finished - for now. I think that I want to add a few more plants but that will come with time. The salamander seems "happy" to have more room to dig.

[Wy Renegade]

Looks good!

[schoolzoo]

Thanks Wy.
I'm fairly pleased with how this turned out. I still have a bit of tuning to do - the water section holds the water, unitll I turn on the stream then the water does a vanishing act. I've pulled all the dirt out, added more silcon, ran the stream no issues - readded the dirt and the water once again vanished.
I think that I'll remove the dirt again, and try to add more silcon under and around the stream some time during exam week.

[Wy Renegade]

Sounds like you might be dealing with a wicking issue - if some of the soil is coming in direct contact with the water in your stream, it acts as a conduit and wicks the water away into the soil. In other words, it may not be a leak issue, but rather an issue of needing to eliminate all contact. Wicking can be a real pain in the kester, especially in a paludarium.

[Fishies_in_Philly]

I was just thinking the same thing. Wicking can be a nightmare to deal with. Btw.....the tank look great school!!

[schoolzoo]

I wondered about that too I'm not sure where it is occuring, as I thought I had it all isolated. Do you think that the great stuff pond will wick?