European vivs

Hi, i am wanting to set up a naturalistic euro viv for Salamandra s. Until recently i have kept animals in outdoor enclosures or relatively sterile indoor rearing setups. Could anyone give me any ideas on what euro plants would do well in a low light viv, and also under such conditions how often should such a viv be cleaned out, (other than lifting out large scats) Cheers, adamanuran

Ivy, ferns do well.
I use composted bark soil improver as substrate, others use John Innes compost.
Complete substrate replacement every three months (unless the viv is crowded, when you'd need to do it more frequently).

Adam
Alan converted me to the composted bark soil improver as a substrate, and I now use it in all my naturalistic-planted set ups.
For plants I also go with ivy,and ferns of various types, Ficus pumilla also does ok.

but if you want just natives then ficus pumila is not native.

Heres a Bufo viridis set up containing the low light plants mentioned

The set up does contain ivy also, but it cannot be seen in the pic

a good selection there! also moss is a good plant to have

Cheers for your comments, at present i am growing selaginella but unfortunately it cannot grow quick enough for what i need. Can any1 recommend a good ground covering plant for vivaria? Hello also to Morg, sorry i haven't been in touch for a while, get in touch and we'll sort out some meeting up days Adamanuran

how about mind-your-own-buisness, that's a great ground cover plant

Months later:::::::::
Hello, I have just about got 5 vivs ready, and have managed to use 100% European native plants of some 24 species !!!!!!!!!!!!!.
The vivs range in size from a standard hectagonal fish tank some 20" to a large 48"x24"x24".
I shall try and post some pics in the photos section asap.
Just a quick note, I have managed to grow mosses of various species in my vivs although this requires much patience and time.
Various British species where collected, taking natural conditions, aesthetics etc into account so I could make an informed decision as to where in the viv or even which viv to plant them in.
The types of mosses you find growing on walls etc was my favourite. I dried the moss completely and powdered it, this powder was then sprinkled onto the areas of the viv requiring moss and sprayed every 6 hours with boiled rainwater. The vivs were kept completely sealed until the mosses began to grow and then gradually opened up, although spraying is still mandatory. If anyone is interested in growing mosses or has any other experience please let me know as I would love to hear from you.
Cheers, Adam

Adam,

Thank you for sharing your experience about moss growing. I’m very interested by your process, especially if it works ! I have always met problems to keep in live moss in my vivarium, so if you can give me more information on the used moss and the way to dry and sow it, I would be very satisfied ! With some pictures, it would be fantastic !
Thanks in advance

Zuccone

Zuccone: firstly your english is probably grammatically better than mine!!!
I have to borrow a digi cam so as soon as I can, i shall post pics of the whole process.
Cheers for the comments,
Adam