After having created several vivariums, I wanted to try my hand at making a paludarium, and I wanted to make sure I could house something super cool in it – vampire crabs.
This 12x12x18 was the juvenile vivarium for my gargoyle gecko until she grew out of it, and I was able to utilize the background I'd already made. It didn't leave a super deep water section as this particular enclosure only had about 3 inches of sealed bottom, but it's more than enough for Vampire crabs!
There's a deceptive amount of substrate in the tank, the deep slope up to the left is layered with cork bark panels that create half a dozen little beginner burrows and hides, and substrate and moss are piled along the top right and top left for additional digging and hiding spaces.
Some of the plants are new to me, so that's exciting. Plants are kind of what started me on this whole making ecosystems thing.
Isopods and springtails dwell on the land, and while I refreshed the substrate with additional leaves and other biomatter, it was the active live substrate from the previous vivarium which cut the cycling time by quite a bit. I've seeded the water section with bladder snails, but they may have already been eaten. There's not really enough space for any other watery friends, but that's alright.
I'm not fully content with the water feature, but it does its job of keeping the water flowing through the foam drainage layer and over the rock keeping the peacock moss happy.
by Narideth