I gave off a pair of my Spilotes pullatus (more details can be found in the colubrid section).
Since the enclosure needed an overhaul, some of the plants were in there since the beginning in 2009 (and showing) I decided to it RIGHT.
When I planned the enclosure in the first place I chose endurable plants like pothos regardless of the origin of the plants. Now I want to build an enclosure which is completely bio active and themed as a Central / South American enclosure.
The basic setup stays the same, the branches and cork tubs are the same as before. I chose only plants from this region. I added Xaxim panels for the backside of my enclosure as additional foothold for the climbing plants (and the climbing snakes as well) and added a special substrate to the sidewall. It consist of some kind of glue and substrate with seeds and spores in it, when it dries out and becomes solid you can begin to water it and after some time it is supposed to spawn moss and all kinds of different plants and creates a living sidewall. However, this substrate is originally used in smaller enclosures for dart frogs, so I found it doesn’t work on large walls, at least some sections broke down after some time, but most of it is still on the wall, so I wait and see, if it stays there.
The ground consists now of two layers of pebble stones as drainage layer and on top of this a mix of soil and sand. The complete substrate is about 25 cm (10 inches) deep.
I use the following plants
1 x Dieffenbachia seguine
1 x Monstera deliciosa
1 x Monstera acuminata
3 x Marcgravia sintenisii
1 x Cissus amazonica
1 x Begonia thelmae
1 x Begonia microsperma
1 x Mimosa pudica
1 x Pilea involucrate
1 x Pilea spec. Panama
1 x Philodendron camposportoanum
1 x Philodendron spec. Französisch Guyana
1 x Nanodes/Epidendrum porpax
Since most of them are (still) rather small I hope they are able to survive the constant contact with three Spilotes pullatus. I just have to wait some time and might have to replace the plants which don’t make it…
Here are some pictures of the building process and the plants I used
Drainage layer
The sidewall
The backwall with the first Xaxim panels
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