How to Make a Tropical Vivarium

Purchase a tank. Use a shallow tank of 20 inches length by 10 inches wide by 10 inches tall if you want to keep terrestrial animals like toads and salamanders. Use a taller tank up to 18 inches tall if you want arboreal animals like geckos and greensnakes in your vivarium.

Make a drainage layer at the bottom of the tank. You can use pebbles, small rocks or gravel. Make sure the gravel completely covers the entire bottom of the tank to a depth of about 1 inch.

Cover the rocks with mulch. You can purchase vivarium mulch in a store or make your own of peat and fir bark. For an 18-inch tank, add 4 inches of black soil on top of the mulch. Make sure you have used up no more than 2/3 of the vivarium's depth up to this point.

Mix together forest vivarium planting mix with all natural, organic fertilizer. Moisten slightly. Add about 4 inches to the vivarium.

Wash the leaves of any plants you want to put in your vivarium. This will clean them of any pesticides they may have been subjected to before you purchased them. Take them out of their pots and tap off any potting soil. Put your plants in your vivarium soil. Use a soil cover like moss if you would like.

Add fluorescent lights to your vivarium. You need full-spectrum daylight compact fluorescent lights that give off around 48 watts of light in two U-shaped tube lights. Use a timer to set your lights to go on for about 12 to 13 hours a day, starting an hour after sunrise.

Add animals to your vivarium if you would like. Animals that can be kept in a vivarium include frogs, toads, salamanders, geckos, snakes, and lizards.

Spray the vivarium daily with a strong dose of mist to keep it humid and to help maintain the habitat.