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Introduction to Terrarium & Vivarium Keeping
The keeping of terrariums has its origin back in the Victorian era when explorers would bring back exotic plants from their travels to their European homeland. The climate was too harsh to successfully grow these plants out of doors, therefore special cases were made of glass in order to cultivate these rare treasures. These enclosures, known then as vitrines, were complete with their own heating systems and often adorned with elaborate decorations. The evolution of the terrarium continued and peaked during the 1960's and 1970's when they again became very fashionable conversation pieces for the home. These types of terrariums were generally enclosed units with little or no ventilation and provided a nice display for small plants. Today, these types of terrariums still exist, however, the term can also be applied to environments for the keeping of small animals such as reptiles, amphibians, arachnids, etc.Terrariums for the keeping of these animals are much more open and airy. Most of these systems consist of a simple substrate and a few rocks or other hiding places for shelter, a water bowl and maybe a branch or two for climbing. This can be a very practical and easy to maintain type of cage for large collections.
Vivariums, on the other hand, will contain soil or a similar substrate along with a full complement of living plants and be more of a simulated "micro" ecosystem. These environments go a long way in making their inhabitants feel more at home and are much more likely to encourage breeding behavior than a more basic set up. One can even take this one step further by adding the element of water, either running or still, and create a paludarium containing fish and other aquatic inhabitants. The way in which an environment is termed will also vary by what part of the globe you are from. To keep things simple, we will use the term terrarium as this is the most universally accepted name.
In the keeping of reptiles and amphibians in terrariums, many of us try to create as close to a natural habitat as possible. What, then, would be more natural than live plants? Although this type of setup may not be practical for large scale production, even the most advanced "shoe-box breeder" can benefit from having a few naturalistic terrariums in their collection. Terrariums such as these allow us to create a "mini-jungle" in which to view our animals as though we were watching them in the wild. Many species simply would not do very well in captivity without such surroundings.
Terrarium & Vivarium Habitats
Plant & Animal Compatability Considerations
