This weekend I had a surprise waiting for my nephew, when he got back from his mother’s. This project was a quick decision, to set up a vivarium of my nephew. He seems to be picking up small garden frogs and keeps them in plastic containers, so we thought it will be better give them a bit more comfortable environment.
There was old broken Aquarium (leaking) lying around in my tinker shop upstairs. So we thought we could use it to make a vivarium considering we won’t be filling it up with water 🙂
Initially, I laid down flat containers in the tank and then layered in the moist soil, and placed the foliage to give it a natural looking environment
After collecting the necessary things like plants, dry leaves & twigs, loose moist soil from my sister in laws garden, things were set to go.
With each step added in more plants and foliage . It was same day the garden had been weeded I do not know the name but, boy are they resilient . They seem to survive anywhere ( apparently that’s why they called weeds 😛 ) , Which seemed the best thing to add as packing between the trays! 
Added in bit of ferns and other plants and twigs, also placed an earthen ware, to hold a small puddle of water in. I didn’t want to use too much soil to weight down the tank. Let’s not forget this is an old tank, wasn’t sure if it would carry the weight.
The Top cover : I used an old wire mesh along with the left over plates of a under gravel filter.
Steel wire it down to make lid, shaped it down to the shape of the tank. Initially had tried to give a card board border but just didn’t work out, so went ahead without border.
Adding the main attraction: Oriental Garden Lizards
I had ordered in a pair of Oriental Garden Lizards, and they had arrived by evening, so I had to hurry, didn’t want to leave them in the bag for too long.
Took this on my mobile, not a clear picture but you guys get the idea: P
Set up a make shift light to see how it looks. Now to add in the new dwellers, they instantly were running around all over the place and finally settled in on the leaves and twigs .
Once settled in they began posing of shots 🙂
Next day I moved the vivarium to my brother’s back yard, as I needed to get the plants in a bit of sunlight. Wanted to surprise my nephew when he got home. I added a bit more foliage and did two more twigs so that the Lizards to rest on.
Placed roof tiles on either end to weigh down the top cover for extra reinforcement. Added the little ones back in to the vivarium, had taken them out to rearrange the interior. Placing them back , they seemed less frightened than the 1st time .
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- They seem to be getting used to their environment , I saw them lay down resting on leaves and twigs
He was happy to see the new addition to his collection of weird and wonderful pets 🙂 , though I missed to capture his initial reaction jaw dropping reaction .
Later we went looking of grasshoppers to feed the Lizards, Aazim trying his hand at catching them .
We also found a new member his vivarium – yes his all time favorite Garden Frog !! Can you guys spot it ?
Life Calls 
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