Here's a little update on my 60 gallon vivarium and it's doing great! I'm so proud of myself with this build and look forward to many years watching it grow and thrive. Like in Jurassic park spare no expense.
nahh nah thank you very much. They seem to be happy and with how shy they tend to be I think this is a great option if you choose to keep these beautiful crawly creatures.
NaturesJewels yeah but still you can just tell that a lot of love an patience went into them, and if your scale babies love em then thats all that matters 👍😊
Thank you very much. Keeping vivariums and maintaining them is very tedious but also extremely rewarding. I try a light pruning approach to make it as natural as possible.
Thank you. I hope I'll be able to create more MrCrawlings custom vivariums in the near future and a chance to give one of my creations away to one lucky viewer.
I actually just started using white vinegar spray to clean the glass. Thanks for the tip though buddy. I'll make sure to give you a honorable mention in my next video on the viv.
Thank you very much! Unfortunately in a earlier more detailed video I explain how I would do things differently and what they would be and why. They are an extremely shy species, especially wild collected, that in my current set up they are rarely seen. This, obviously, was the opposite effect I was hoping to accomplish with such a long thought out build with lots of overhead coverage. New enclosure is in the works soon for the sake of keeping the species in the long term. They are both healthy and do breed readily but there are pros and cons to there current living space.
The look of your tank is just amazing, did you totally sculpt the backdrop or is it manufactured like that? I'll look at your channel to see if you've got a build video
I unfortunately did not do a build series on this particular terrarium. I did however do a breakdown which goes over pros and cons of the design and my personal thoughts. I'll post the link below.
Wow. Beautiful. How did you do for the "pond" ? Like .. The water system ? And How did you do the soil ? It doesn't fall into the water because of the crocodile skink ?
Its mostly just for humidity but they have gone into it during shedding. Here is a link to the puffers now. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-4M-t_WZC1Ss.html
Just a query as I am building a set up myself at the moment... Is there really enough space for the skinks to move around? It seem that with quite a deep background and so much of the foreground dedicated to the pool and the fish that there really isn't much flat land or coverage for the skinks themselves. I know they like to hide but they do come out and wander around at dawn/dusk...
Hello! I have a croc skink and I’m always worried about my water being too deep for him to swim. Your setup is amazing, the water level is quite deep and your skinks seem to be doing great! Was there any testing process for how deep the water could be or do they swim back as long as there is adequate bank?
The most important thing to watch for is that there are no places where the skink could get lodged under and possibly drown. They have fairly powerful little legs for digging and as long as the shoreline has some texture to it they should be able to climb in and out no problem.
Ah, well as long as the temps don't get high, the garciana might be fine as long as it is all the way at the top getting the most light it can get. How long have you had this setup? And what is 24/7 mode? This isn't on 24/7 is it? Plants need sleep. I watched a couple videos about this light and found par readings of about 60. To put this in perspective, the ppfd readings on my bar led (which is not as powerful as my Mars) is..id have to double check is 300 in the dimmer parts. Don't know if I said this yet or not..I think one of my messages got deleted..a good and cheap light meter-the rapitest moisture and light meter is the one I have and the one I've used for ages. It's rather useless unless you know from experience, how to use it by recording the growth and flowering of plants, but since I have, I can say that ferns, wandering Jew, and pothos, along with phalaenopsis and mottled leaved paphs do fine under a 2-3, garciana needs about a 5-7, Cattlyeas take 7-10, and so on. The reason I think your orchid died was probably due to root rot. Orchids and some nepenthes (some ferns, too) are epiphytic and need to dry at the roots between waterings whereas most pot plants and ferns are terrestrial..then you have the bog plants like Venus flytrap etc that never dry out. If you want to do orchids in a thing like this, you'll need loooots of air movement because the humidity in there is probably 80-90% without good air movement, epiphytes rot easily. Also-don't know what kind of nepenthes you have in there, but I know some get big and need lots of light and will not grow for long with ferns at the same light level. Ferns are usually bottom of the forest floor, short, and shaded by everything else. Epiphytes grow higher in the canopy in much more sun, so pitchers dropping could be a sign of low light. Also- your led doesn't look like it has any fans or any fins. This means it doesn't run hot enough to warrant any sort of active or passive cooling. This coupled with the low wattage tells me that it doesn't put out near enough light for most orchids. That said, there are a lot of true miniatures that do ok in lower light. There's a book-a compendium of miniature orchid species that might be helpful. Also join the AOS and watch that webinar and read the terrarium articles. get a couple of orchid books. Orchids (and epiphytes in general) can be much more tricky for most people than regular plants. I've got a few books in a video. Last-my best piece of advice would be to not listen to or do anything...don't follow people who haven't been growing for at least a decade. Most of the orchid people on RU-vid are just learning meven if they've been growing for 5 years. Some lessons take much longer for people to learn. A beginner might be blooming their plants and may have plants that look good, but that's only because the plants are relatively new. If you don't know much about a thing, it's hard to know if someone else knows what they are talking about-blind leading the blind. If you live in a city where you have access to an orchid society, join that. I say all this, even if orchids are not your primary interest, because once you can grow orchids, you can grow just about anything else you want to grow because orchids are hard, but plants are still plants, and once you understand how varied the conditions that they grow in are, all you need to do to grow anything else is know it's natural environment, and you'll know how to grow it. If you also have an environment that is suitable for that plant, it will grow like a weed for you (once you have the basics down).
Indoor Orchids and Tropicals thank you so much for reaching out to me and being so knowledgeable. I'll be looking at fennix's website and see if they have the par ratings for this grow light. At least that's what is sold as and people in the vivarium would seem to recommend regularly. Perhaps I'm a victim of the "bandwagon" theory. Understand that this was done with the best intent for all the inhabitants (plants included) sparing no expense. I hope to join a group soon with the primary focus being epiphys?.
Oh and in regards to the 24/7 it's a feature that's built into the programming of the light. It goes from sunrise to sunset and then lunar until 1am then lights go out until 5am and the cycle begins again.
Oh yeah..i was going to say, too that if you're pushing crazy high light, it might not be too good for the animals, but there are plenty of orchids that don't need insane light levels. The best place i can think of online is iospe. If there's a plant you like the looks of, just google the name of it and then iospe and it will have little icons about how much light the plant needs. Half sun doesn't look like much on the little key, but half sun is really high light--about 5000 footcandles or 50% shade, and is..there are not many orchids that go past the half sun mark. 5000 ftc is really, really high, so don't make the same mistake I did and underestimate the little icon or the term "medium" light :) Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. However--all that said--in a vivarium with a natural look, there will be loads of microclimates and its possible you can figure out a way to have some of the higher light plants shade the lower light plants. About joining a group-if it is a local orchid society, then yes, please do. If its an online thing, I'd sugest you limit your exposure to other hobbyists. this is my opinion, but ill just say that i've never learned anything about orchids from any youtuber that...hmm...I guess the best way to say this is that the only way most youtubers have helped me be a better grower was because they reminded me of what NOT to do and what bad habits to stay away from if that makes sense. There are a handfull of growers who know a lot and do well, but the only things I pick up from them is little tidbits...What I'm trying to say is that I don't think you could ever learn even the basics of good growing from people online and here's why- You don't know what you don't know and if terrarium, fish, and carnivorous plant people are anything like orchid people, the majority are very excited about their hobby and want to share, (which is a wonderful thing) but it can be extremely problematic..especially in regards to orchids because they respond so slowly. It can take up to 6 months, for example, for a calcium deficiency to show up and orchids can live and even bloom after having had no roots for an entire year. So you get some people who have very nice or professional looking channels who might think that they know way more than they actually do. And sometimes they might even know enough...what's the phrase..."to know just enough to get yourself into trouble?" The problem is they arent just getting themselves into trouble, they are getting others into trouble too. For example, on the 8th, one of these super popular orchid channels made a video about needing context when dealing with deficiency and she straight up said that the author of an article about magnesium deficiency was wrong. She even says she proved it wrong, but shes got no video on the subject so we can see her "materials and methods." So who do you believe? My best adivce is know who is giving it. The author who she said is wrong has: 1 has a PhD, 2: has been growing orchids for 50 years 3:owns his own successfull orchid business and has been hybridizing for over 25 years-longer than the youtuber has been alive. 4: has won world orchid conference trophies on more than one occasion. 5: has grown tens of thousands of orchids. Now contrast this with the youtuber who: 1: has only been growing orchids for 4-5 years 2: has no formal scientific education yet she presumes to teach us science when she hasn't ever even studied it herself. I don't think shes ever even read an orchid book, to be honest. 3: Has probably only ever seen about 400 plants in her whole life, having killed at least half of them. 4: What she does have is a slew of videos about disease, pests, root death (which she is wrong about) and is still constantly having problems and cant stick to one fertilizer or potting medium/method for more than a year which tells me that she still doesn't have the basic understanding of how to water orchids properly. (you have to run huge amounts of water through the pot at each watering, by the way. That is the secret and it is very simple. The water also has to be pretty pure. Learn to crawl before walking and walk before running. Build a strong foundation and follow about a dozen principles, and you'll be well on your way. Start with the water.
Hi, I've ordered a huge paludarium for a croc skink. I've read people saying that they had their croc skinks die because of the depth of the water. I find this weird as some people also say the skinks stay underwater for 10-15mnts just chilling. The paludarium I've ordered has similar depth to yours. Have you ever lost a skink?
I have never lost a skink. Not juvenile or adult. I can see how this could be a problem with babies as they are much smaller and could have problems with the water flow but they should be kept in a small container with paper towel, plants, shallow water dish and monitored when feeding.
Both the pea puffer and guppy should be kept in groups. The guppys are best kept with 2 females for every male. If you're not a fan of guppy females you can consider keeping platies they have slightly different body shapes but males and females both show nice color :)
@@mrcrawlingstv You're right. I have to apologize because I wrote this comment 2 years ago. Perhaps chili rasboras or celestial pearl danios would be better for the volume you have. The chili rasboras in particular would LOVE the tanins. Pea puffers should also be in a species-only tank because of their aggression.
Thanks buddy. I hope this next one comes out even better that im making right now. It's really amazing to share my love of this hobby with so many people around the world like yourself.
Great question! To be completely honest I can say I've never witnessed this but I can vouch for a guppy gone missing from time to time but not regularly.
I am planning on getting a pairs of red eyed croc skinks, what tank do you suggest given that I dont have too much space ;( Also, what aquatic animals should I add in the water part of it? cause I scared that they will be eaten by the skinks
Well knowing that it really depends on what your budget is as well. I suggest a 40 breeder aquarium for the pair and a water section. Notice I didn't say 40 breeder reptile only. These may cause problems with the leaking in the aquatic area. I go over some of the details in length in the link below. I keep mine in a 60 gallon because it gave me more vertical space for plants and overhangs. Lots of plant and logs are a must to make them feel secure and offer hides. Keep them around 68-78°F. You can accomplish this by placing a under tank heating pad on the back left or right side of the tank. Make sure it's on the dedicated "hot" side of the tank because removing it can damage internal components and cause the heater to not work properly. They do not need uvb light. To answer your other question there is always a chance that the crocodile skinks might snack on some of your fish and snails which is why I use guppies and pond snails in my set up.
I'm glad to help. I've been working with this species for so long now and with so little "good" information on the web I help when I can on my channel.
It honestly wasnt about cost for me but if I had to guess... I probably lost track after around $300 and just focused more on what I wanted to achieve. It's a living art and self expression. If I had one tip it would be dont limit you own creative mind. Take your time, do it right and in the end you will be completely content and so will your animal.
NaturesJewels yea I'm 15 and I really like reptiles I these skinks really interested me but it looks like a lot of money to pay for especially when I don't get an allowance or not old enough to have a job
That's true. It is hard to acquire these amazing little lizards without a source of income. They can tend to be pricey when available and for long term care and health of the animal you will need a steady job. Good news is if you are determined to have them you will. I know because I waited years to keep them and look at me now. I'm one of the top search pics for Google and crocodile skink care and am happy to share with you all I know and have learned keeping them. Please feel free to contact me any time with brain busters on them and I'll make a video just for you.
If you've ever kept red eyed crocodile skinks you would know they are usually very shy and secretive. Especially the ones I have that were wild collected years ago.
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