Natural Viv Almost Done!!

[Pottifer]

Hey I just wanted to share a video of my paludarium that's almost done. This is just a video of the waterfall being tested to make sure it works. I have a lot of holes and cracks to fill but this is just a test. More sand and rock will be going into the water section and fish of course . Also I don't have any of the land substrate in yet. Again just a preview!! Any comments are welcome!!!

Drew

Paludarium Waterfall Test - YouTube

[Invisible Snake]

It's looking good! Do you have a water pump so you can change the water on a regular basis?

[Pottifer]

Yeah, I can do a full water change in just a few mins.

[Didymus20X6]

That's looking sweet!

[thamneil]

Psssshh its ok I love the sense of realism that you created. The only thing that would bug me is the sand. I could see that becoming gross over time and an inconvenience to clean. That and the fact that your snake will constantly drag substrate into the water. Looks great though! One of the nicest waterfalls I've ever seen.

-Neil

[Pottifer]

Thanks!! yeah I know it's more of a pain to clean and whatnot but I really don't mind that. To tell you the truth I did this cause I really wanted a cool looking tank and of course garters are amazing, but they were an after thought after I decided on the tank. I plan to do A LOT of trimming and cleaning in the tank, so I know what I'm getting myself into. I'm not a collector so I'll only have 2 males in there and then upgrade to a larger tank when the time comes

Drew

[Invisible Snake]

What species of garter snakes will you be keeping in there?

[Didymus20X6]

I've heard that sand is not a good substrate for garters.

But then again, I haven't heard a whole lot about natural substrates that are good for garters. All of them has some drawback or another.

[kibakiba]

It's not. Don't use sand with garters. From the caresheet:
Substrates to avoid:

Sand of any kind - it irritates the snake's scales, eyes, sticks to food, and if ingested in can readily cause impaction.

[chris-uk]

Very nice. I'd like to find the time to build something similar for some of my garters.

Regarding sand - in water it behaves differently, so the scale/eye iritation should be a non-issue. I also find it hard to believe that sand is so bad considering that the natural habitat for many garters will be sandy soils and even desert regions. As Didymus pointed out above, all substrates have some drawback or another, but if you're considering the sort of ground my marcianus and cyrtopsis would naturally inhabit sand may be a more natural choice than aspen.