Wy Renegade's 40B Tiger Salamander Paludarium

[Wy Renegade]

Dwarf horsetail (Equisetum scirpoides)

The first of the orders, the Dwarf horsetail (Equisetum scirpoides) arrived today.



The hardest part was getting it out of the container LOL, and breaking it up into suitable pieces;


Then it was time to determine placement. I placed some in both the dry terrestrial areas and the soggy bog border, so we will see which area supports better growth.





Getting harder to see that cave mouth.


A little along the riverbank in the shade of the tree.


And a bit more along the riverbank, not in the shade;


Now if I can just get that other order in and start filling in the bare spots with some emergent moss or liverwort growth. Also looking forward to the sedge that is coming in, that should look pretty cool along the bank and growing out of the water.


I saved enough of the Dwarf horsetail to pot and try and grow out in the greenhouse as well.

 

[Fresh2o]

The dwarf horsetail gives the place a swampy, prehistoric look. Nice that you had enough to try in different areas of the tank.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[Brookster123]

Must resist urge to clone this tank for my cave.... uhhhhh. So hard... i really really like this wy! I believe the proper term the days would be.. Crushing it!!!!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Wy Renegade]

The dwarf horsetail gives the place a swampy, prehistoric look. Nice that you had enough to try in different areas of the tank.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

Thanks Fresh, I like the look. I actually have several of these types of tanks, although this one is certainly the pinnacle of my builds at this point, so I was able to scatter a little around into the other tanks as well.

Must resist urge to clone this tank for my cave.... uhhhhh. So hard... i really really like this wy! I believe the proper term the days would be.. Crushing it!!!!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Aquarium Advice mobile app

Thank you Brookster, coming from you that is quite a compliment! I have to admit it is coming out even nicer than I had envisioned. That cave piece was an awesome find.

 

[Wy Renegade]

New Plant Order arrived!

Got the second of the plant orders. This came from hydrophyte on the dendro boards, as a group of native plants he has had luck growing in temperate terrariums, so we will see how they do in this paludarium. I'm still messing a bit with the exact placement.

There were several of these that I was really looking forward to, and one of those was the sedge (Dichromena sp.) , not sure of the exact species, but if it takes off it should be a very welcome addition to the tank. I had enough of it that I did a little bit up in the boggy part . . .


and a bit in the water itself.


The salamanders of course had to get in and check it out, they seem to be enjoying it.




Got a couple clippings each of swamp dewberry (Rubus hispidus),


and threeleaf goldthread (Coptis trifolia). The Coptis sp. has bright yellow rhizomes that should add a little bit of nice color. You can see it here, but not real well.


To the right of the 'goldtread' in this one, you can see a cutting of partridgeberry (Mitchella repens).


I also got a couple downy rattlesnake plantain (Goodyera pubescens), which is a terrestrial orchid. Its not native to this area, but is found within the salamanders geographical range.




More to come . . .

 

[Wy Renegade]

Ferns and Moss

I also got a couple of different ferns and several types of moss.

The rock cap fern (Polypodium virginianum) . . .


and the American walking fern (Asplenium rhizophyllum).


Several types of mosses as well, wishing I would have had bigger portions of a few of these, but its a start. In the picture above, to the right of the walking fern, you can see my favorite peaking out under the branch, which is the haircap moss (polytrichum sp). Here's another shot of it as well . . .


I also got a nice sized portion of rough-stalked feather-moss (Brachythecium rutabulum) which you can see here through the horsetail . . .


and also here . . .


and some log moss (Thuidium sp.) which I'm hoping will grow up onto my old log.


And a final shot of the evolving landscape.


I've noticed some yellowing in the horsetail, which is hopefully just a transitional issue .

 

[Autumnsky]

That is one heck of a job you have done!!! Lovely! Really came to life with the plants.

 

[Wy Renegade]

That is one heck of a job you have done!!! Lovely! Really came to life with the plants.

Thanks! Now we'll just have to wait and see how things grow in and of course figure out the stream/waterfall .

 

[shellyx]

One cool set up! ☺ those guy's are amazing!

55 gallon elephant nose tank.
30 gallon borara merah and brigittae, shrimp and snails

 

[Wy Renegade]

One cool set up! ☺ those guy's are amazing!

55 gallon elephant nose tank.
30 gallon borara merah and brigittae, shrimp and snails

Thank you! They are a lot of fun.

 

[Brookster123]

I'm not exactly sure what a happy sally looks like?? I can say for sure that your's does not look all that dis-satisfied full tank shot time??

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Wy Renegade]

I'm not exactly sure what a happy sally looks like?? I can say for sure that your's does not look all that dis-satisfied full tank shot time??

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Aquarium Advice mobile app

LOL, I'm not real sure what a happy one looks like either, but they do seem to be doing well. I shall do my best to accommodate the FTS request tomorrow.

 

[Fresh2o]

The pic with the hair cap moss, branch with lichen, and salamander peeking out is my favorite one.
Nice variety of plants in there.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[Autumnsky]

Hey, just saw this and thought of you and your tank!
Rare salamander eggs finally hatch | Earth | EarthSky

 

[Autumnsky]

Any further updates? always have enjoyed seeing these types of tanks and am just thinking about it a little bit more all the time now.

 

[Wy Renegade]

Haven't really done much to change this up.

We did add some plastic screen over the filter area, as we had some issues with the salamanders crawling out when the water level was up. The equisetum died back pretty hard, as did a lot of the mosses.

Without a top, keeping things moist enough for those plants is pretty tough.

The "trees" have actually outgrown the tank and are growing into and above the light, so I'm thinking about adding an extension to the top of the tank, which would raise the light higher.

 

[Autumnsky]

What are you thinking /or going to use to raise the top?

 

[Wy Renegade]

What are you thinking /or going to use to raise the top?

I'm going to have the local glass shop cut me some glass plates and then silicone them together to create a square, but one that is much higher in the back than it is in the front.

 

[Autumnsky]

That is cool.

I saw this style sides which looked nice.
Exo Terra : Turtle Terrarium Large / Aquatic Habitat

Also saw how a 36" glass fish tank fits under the 36" Exo-terra Vivarium with the opening front doors, and could make nice aquatic set up for my upcoming project. Getting inspiration from yours and others here over the years.

Seeing continued progress here, is helping me the dream paludarium alive.

 

[Wy Renegade]

That is cool.

I saw this style sides which looked nice.
Exo Terra : Turtle Terrarium Large / Aquatic Habitat

Also saw how a 36" glass fish tank fits under the 36" Exo-terra Vivarium with the opening front doors, and could make nice aquatic set up for my upcoming project. Getting inspiration from yours and others here over the years.

Seeing continued progress here, is helping me the dream paludarium alive.

Nice, I'll look forward to seeing your paludarium build when you get it going.

That is similar to what I was thinking, but mine will just be a straight angle rather than a dip.