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Possible outdoor enclosures?

A

alan

Guest
I'm considering setting up a couple of outdoor enclosures for the Spring. I have found some 4x2x2 foot black plastic water header tanks for 35 pounds each at a local plumbers merchants. These are very robust. I'm thinking about using one for Paramesotriton fungzhongensis during the Spring-Summer: 12 inches of water (overflow), plants, floating islands, and another (with drainage holes) for a pair of fire salamanders to be housed outside permanantly. I would welcome any comments on this.
 
R

ralf

Guest
Hi Alan,
an outdoor enclosure might contribute to the health of your animals by providing some „natural“ food, natural lighting and temperature regime.
However, there are some major disadvantages using outdoor enclosures. The most important is the loss of observability and thus the loss of control over the animals. Also a container of the size you describe will not support an ecology large enough to provide sufficient food organisms for your newts. You will have to additionally feed them. It will be hard to check for nutritional status, eggs, larvae, sick or dead individuals etc...
Some experienced keepers even lost their whole stock of one species due to unforeseen reasons in such enclosures.
If this didn’t scare you off, some basic requirements for an outdoor enclosure:

1. The enclosures have to be escape-proof but also have to prevent the intrusion of native newts.
2. They must have appropriate and escape-proof facilities for excess water (heavy rain-fall) in and around the enclosure (drainage).
3. They have to be covered against predators like cats, polecats and the like but also against dragonflies and large water beetles (predatory adults and larvae).
4. Provide shade and shelter.
5. Provide some islands or adjacent areas with hideouts to check for terrestrial animals or potential offspring.
6. Provide overwintering facilities if you’re going to plan to leave them outside during winter.

I’ve been using white 120 l tubs (butchery supply) from March to late October for some of my P. waltl and T. dobrogicus for the last two years. I check the enclosures (or rather outside tubs) at least once a day. I check on the status of the animals once a week by catching some. For reasons of protection and insulation (or rather temperature buffering) I made myself some wooden boxes with lids around these tubs (see picture).
Maybe some more experienced „Outdoorians“ can provide a little more detailed info on the matter and especially on the fire salamanders. Alan, keep us updated on your outdoor enclosure.

Ralf


11810.jpg
 
A

alan

Guest
Thanks Ralf, your advice is very welcome. I do regard these very much as outdoor vivaria and do not expect the animals to be able to obtain much food for themselves. I have now bought the tanks and will try to document the setup and how they progress over the coming months. The first stage will be to site them, but first I need to wait for the snow to clear!
 
A

alan

Guest
Well, I'm finally making some progress with this project. I have the two tanks in place. One has drainage holes in the bottom and is intended for four Salamandra salamandra terrestris:

12581.jpg


This will have an eighteen inch depth of substrate. I plan to include two expanded polystyrene (styrofoam) shipping boxes in the substrate as hibernacula with plastic pipes leading down to them. The surface will have additional styrofoam (disguised) caves, logs, rocks and a paint-roller tray water dish.

I originally intended to use the other tank as an aquatic summer "resort" for aquatic species such as Paramesotriton:

12582.jpg


However, I think I have changed my mind about this and will also put drainage holes in this tank, put in a 100 litre "pond", furnish the rest of the enclosure similar to the Salamandra one and use it as a year-round outside home for Triturus.

I would really welcome people's comments at this stage to stop me making errors I'm going to regret later!
 
D

damian

Guest
Alan
I would suggest you use a layer of coarse gravel on the bottom before adding compost/substrate as this will allow better drainage than just adding the substrate on top of the holes
Damian
 
A

alan

Guest
Excellent suggestion, thanks. I'm now planning on a 2-3 inch layer of 10mm gravel on the bottom, a 2-3 inch layer of bark chips on top of that, then filling with the substrate, which will be composted bark mulch. I made the covers today:

12604.jpg


These have a 3 inch overhang inside to prevent escapes (hopefully), and 13mm mesh size plastic-coated wire to keep the vermin out. I may give the wood a coat of dark-coloured water-based wood preservative for the sake of appearances. As ever, comments and suggestions welcome as this project evolves!
 

morg

Member
Joined
Nov 7, 2002
Messages
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Location
Doncaster England
Looking good Alan.
I dont think that you will have problems with escapes if keeping fire sals in the set up, as they are generally too heavy to be able to climb.

If you decide to add crickets anytime as a supplementary food source, they will climb straight up the sides though.
 
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