# New tiger salamander setup



## Mreptilenick (Nov 1, 2012)

Decided to give my girl a bigger tank as she is starting to outgrow the current one, I chose to use live plants in this setup to make it a nice display tank. It is my first naturalistic setup :2thumb: sorry for the terrible picture quality they were taken with my ipod...
New tank

Without the lid

The substrate i used for the enclosure is coco fibre and some organic topsoil miwed with water to make it damp for the salamander


Added a mossy log (sterelized with boiling water) and ivy that will hopefully spread along the tank

Added little strawberry plant, this is a bit of an experiment to see how good this type of plant is for vivarium surroundings. Also more moss

Top view, added a piece of wood and a water bowl (ceramic plant pot tray)

Finally added my salamander!

Full view of the tank

Thanks
Nick


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

Mreptilenick said:


> Decided to give my girl a bigger tank as she is starting to outgrow the current one, I chose to use live plants in this setup to make it a nice display tank. It is my first naturalistic setup :2thumb: sorry for the terrible picture quality they were taken with my ipod...
> New tank
> [URL="http://i943.photobucket.com/albums/ad273/AmberEyeReptiles/IMG_1098_zps08c24eae.jpg"]image[/URL]
> Without the lid
> ...


 Looking good- had you thought about some nice dead leaves to cover the soil surface?


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## ronnyjodes (Apr 29, 2011)

I'm not sure if strawberry is safe to use or not? I know on the toxic plants list there's a lot of fruit on there but I can't find strawberry being listed, maybe Ron can shed some light.

What I will definitely say is keep an eye on the ivy. Some varieties can cause irriations but I've kept it before with no problems. What you do need to be wary of is high humidity which tends to kill it off pretty quickly. Try replacing it with ficus pumila- you can achieve a similar effect to a blanket of ivy but it lasts much better in these types of conditions.


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## Liam Yule (Feb 16, 2012)

Love the tiger. Have often pondered getting one!


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## Mreptilenick (Nov 1, 2012)

Ron Magpie said:


> Looking good- had you thought about some nice dead leaves to cover the soil surface?


Thats not a bad idea actually, might sterilize some red oak leaves (load at my house) and spread them out a bit. Thanks for the advice :2thumb:
Nick


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## Mreptilenick (Nov 1, 2012)

ronnyjodes said:


> I'm not sure if strawberry is safe to use or not? I know on the toxic plants list there's a lot of fruit on there but I can't find strawberry being listed, maybe Ron can shed some light.
> 
> What I will definitely say is keep an eye on the ivy. Some varieties can cause irriations but I've kept it before with no problems. What you do need to be wary of is high humidity which tends to kill it off pretty quickly. Try replacing it with ficus pumila- you can achieve a similar effect to a blanket of ivy but it lasts much better in these types of conditions.


 I have not noticed any problems in terms of the plants, haha my salamander trampled all over the strawberry and destroyed it so i dont think its a problem anymore. I dont keep the vivarium very humid and the ivy is growing quite well so i think I might keep it there, however i will look into getting a ficus pumila if the ivy does not make it :lol2:
Cheers
Nick


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## Mreptilenick (Nov 1, 2012)

Liam Yule said:


> Love the tiger. Have often pondered getting one!


 You totally should! They are really funny to watch, and really easy to care for as well. Really cool animals in my opinion 
Nick


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

Strawberry is (was!) fine. There's a fair bit of debate about ivy; it is known to be a skin irritant in some cases with mammals, but I have used it quite a lot with 'phibs with no apparent problems.


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## Mreptilenick (Nov 1, 2012)

Ron Magpie said:


> Strawberry is (was!) fine. There's a fair bit of debate about ivy; it is known to be a skin irritant in some cases with mammals, but I have used it quite a lot with 'phibs with no apparent problems.


 Thanks for the clarification Ron :2thumb: as i said i have not noticed any problems with the sally so i will just keep it there
Cheers
Nick
Ps. Ron, how much time do you spend on the RFUK everyday? : victory:


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

Mreptilenick said:


> Thanks for the clarification Ron :2thumb: as i said i have not noticed any problems with the sally so i will just keep it there
> Cheers
> Nick
> *Ps. Ron, how much time do you spend on the RFUK everyday?* : victory:


It varies- if I'm in the office I usually have it and Faceache on in the background- so I'm technically on, but not actually doing much, except for breaks. My organisation has a Faceache page where I'm one of the admin, and they are pretty laid back about it, so long as I get my work done!


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## Liam Yule (Feb 16, 2012)

Ron Magpie said:


> It varies- if I'm in the office I usually have it and Faceache on in the background- so I'm technically on, but not actually doing much, except for breaks. My organisation has a Faceache page where I'm one of the admin, and they are pretty laid back about it, so long as I get my work done!


Im on this at work all the time and not so much when I'm at home. Priorities!:whistling2:


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