# Frogs & Toads > African Bullfrogs >  Starting on a 40 gallon long vivarium

## arielgasca420

Hey everyone! I am in a very good mood because I will be purchasing a 40 gallon long terrarium soon and I want to turn it into a pyxie haven. 
I have seen a lot of really cool designs on here with moss and driftwood. I do not think that moss would work for a pyxie since they like to bury themselves but I do plan on investing in some bormeliad, ferns, etc. So I just wanted to know if anyone had any links on how to get started with this project. I see a lot of large terrariums have clay balls on the bottom with mesh/screen across. If anyone has links on DIY or even pics & tips for inspiration I would gladly appreciate it. thanks for reading

----------


## daltar08

My Pyxie Frog Setup ( African Bullfrog ) - YouTube here is my 29 gallon

----------


## arielgasca420

HAHA he scared you pretty good. thanks for the video

----------


## habeeb

i heard its not good to use moss bc of impact reasons...not 100% on that but im pretty sure im correct...so i would stay away from moss and just use substrate  :Big Grin:

----------


## arielgasca420

I never said i was going to use moss

----------


## habeeb

> I never said i was going to use moss


oops lol i just read the part bout u seeing lots of cool designs with moss and i thought u were thinking bout using that too lol

----------


## arielgasca420

my goal is to see if I can custom make a background. if I do than the moss will be high up and out of reach for the frog. I would like to do a water fall and pond area but a lot of people say this will get dirty fast and clog a pump since I have a pyxie frog . is there any ways to avoid these issues?

----------


## habeeb

i have seen some guys on here with 50/50 setups and they seem to do fine with them...but if ur pixie is very active and goes from land to water a lot then u might have a issue with pumps being clogged then

----------


## Locascio

yea ives got a 55gl tank 50\50 land water and ive got a "overkill" pump ment for a 55gl ive got 2 pixies in there 1 male 1 female my male is 600 grams and when he poos it durtys the water fast and hes always in the water dragging coco fiber in with him but if you just rember "you get what you pay for" when it comes to pumps and fliters more is better ...ill add to that i do 25%-50% water changes every week

----------


## Locascio

check out my pics on my profile to see tank

----------


## arielgasca420

Thanks Locascio. As much as I would love to have a water fall, I think I will just have to stick with a water bowl and turn my 10 gallon tank into a waterfall vivarium haven for my betta.

----------


## arielgasca420

So I have been seeing  alot of different themed backgrounds. My overall theme will be a cemetery. I would like my background to be covered in ecoearth. I am having a little trouble understand layering
So I will be starting out with a polystyrene board and using great stuff on that. Do I use pond sealer, black silicone, and then stick the coco fiber to the black silicone? I wont be having a waterfall, but I do need to make this water proof. is fish safe sealer good for waterproofing? does anyone know of any brand to use?

----------


## arielgasca420

Ok froggers,
I had a hard time finding polystyrene so I decided to use plexiglass. This is 1/8 inch cut cautiously with a table saw. It melted slightly while cutting, but they are minor cosmetic damages covered by great stuff
This is a picture of my nosy fat cat on the plexiglass before cutting.

----------


## arielgasca420

This is the finished application of Great Stuff: Gaps and Cracks on plexiglass. This will hopefully expand more

----------


## Locascio

very cool is it done yet??? let us see pics i might do the same

----------


## arielgasca420

ill put up pictures today. the entire terrarium  is about 75 % done.

----------


## arielgasca420

I apologize that these pictures are not in order.
This step was with the background attached with blue duct tape since I ran out of silicone. I will be mounting with either silicone or velcro. I am leaning more towards velco
This is my first made background. There were a few spots of white that showed through so I used VOC free paint to touch up and let it air dry overnight. the silicone said to let it sit for 4 hours but I let it sit for 24. I used no additive topsoil for the background because it was cheaper and sturdier than eco earth
A lot f people use window mesh, but I used a 10 gallon screen lid that I had lying around. I just set it on the river rocks and it works great
 These two pictures are showing the gradual eco earth being poured on the screen and rocks. you can see the layering in the second picture
 The first picture is what the enclosure looks like now, but it is still no where near complete. I still need to mount the background, put more Tillandsia on the DIY background, and I need to paint moss on the background as well 
I will post more pictures once I find moss and make my moss smoothie

----------


## Bruce

This is an awesome build, I may try something like this when my guy is big enough

----------


## arielgasca420

> This is an awesome build, I may try something like this when my guy is big enough


Thanks Bruce,
Its not a lavish background, but it beats spending the money on the cork bark or having a plain glass with wires showing through. I plan to put moss on the background to hide all the spots I missed with silicone. the silicone was such a hassle to use on the great stuff. I would suggest doing a double layer and use several sized paint brushes.

----------


## morgan

I would recommend very deep Eco earth. I would hate to see him dig his but down to the metal screen...ouch.  I use filter cloth as my barrier.  I personally don't use this method with my borrowers.  Please let me/us know if this ever becomes an issue.

----------


## arielgasca420

the metal screen you can wipe your face on so I dont think he will have a problem with getting sores. its the kind of mesh top that is painted over.  the eco earth is 5 inches deep. I am planning on putting another brick in there tonight but I ran out of eco earth yesterday. I may just use topsoil since I have a bag of it left over.

----------


## arielgasca420

Almost done. I put in all my plants; two types of croton, african violet, birds nest fern, tillandsia, and a regular fern (i bought it awhile ago)
now the only thing left is to make my moss milkshake, paint on and watch it grow into the background.

----------


## arielgasca420

Ok froggers, here is how to prepare a moss milkshake 
#1 get beer. 12 oz

#2 1 cup of plain yogurt

#3 add moss. start with a handful 

#4 blend until broken down and add more moss until you get it to look soupy 

there is your paint moss.
I would suggest removing your background while you paint and watch grow. mist frequently to keep moist.
 the contents of the yogurt and beer may be harmful to your frog until the moss is established, which is why i suggest taking your background out during this process. I will keep updates on the moss growing. It takes roughly 2 weeks

----------


## morgan

Too bad your not closer, I could just give you a bunch of Kyoto moss.  It grow in thick layers under all my bonsai trees.
  You are using Pillow moss for your shake?  That stuff will come right back to life with a good soaking....I wouldn't have mulched it imo.  Look for Kyoto spores online; that's the stuff you want.

----------


## arielgasca420

> I would recommend very deep Eco earth. I would hate to see him dig his but down to the metal screen...ouch.  I use filter cloth as my barrier.  I personally don't use this method with my borrowers.  Please let me/us know if this ever becomes an issue.


so far my pyxi stays in his terra cotta pot and hasnt dug himself to the bottom of the metal mesh. I will be using cloth or tulle that has been recommended before. It turns out I will be needing the 10 gallon tank after all for a mantis I brought home and therefor will need the mesh lid i used in the pyxi tank :P 
thanks for the good advice on the cloth morgan

----------


## arielgasca420

> Too bad your not closer, I could just give you a bunch of Kyoto moss.  It grow in thick layers under all my bonsai trees.
>   You are using Pillow moss for your shake?  That stuff will come right back to life with a good soaking....I wouldn't have mulched it imo.  Look for Kyoto spores online; that's the stuff you want.


I did look for moss online and I am a little worried from online shopping. So many people get their identity stolen so I stay away as much as possible. I appreciate the suggestion though. 
The only reason I wanted to do the milkshake is because I wanted the spores to take nicely on a large surface (17 inches high; 35 inches long). If I applied it the way it was than I wouldnt have much of the background to cover. plus I wanted to see if it would actually work so that I can start on some "green graffiti" on my backyard fence

----------


## Timbo

hey that moss shake can you do that with most any type of moss?

----------


## bill

Hey tim!! Long time man!! Yes, you can make a moss shake out of most mosses. It works especially well with aquatic ones. 


Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world ~ Nelson Mandela

----------


## BrittsBugs

Moss milkshake sounds super gross lol. But I would love to see the results. Tank setup looks very good. Gives me a few ideas on what I might do for my background setup for the waterfall tadpole tank. (Probably going to be the only tank with real plants)


-BrittsBugs
5 AUS White's
1 Hon Milk
1 SM Corn
1 BP
5 HC
1 CG
4 RB Newts
6 Betas
5 MHR

----------


## Timbo

Can you do it with stuff already in the tank? Or is there a safe way to do it while there are critters in the tank?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

----------


## bill

Yes, you can. Make your moss 'slushie' with distilled water. Blend it up, paint it wherever you like in the Viv and it will eventually take and grow. 


Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world ~ Nelson Mandela

----------


## Timbo

Nice thanks!!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

----------

