Terrarium

hay guys,
i finally decided to get a terrarium. So i got one at petsmart. its a 5.5 Gallon with 4 20watt lights. ive heard that you can put foil around the glass. Anyone know about this? and what are some good plants to put in it?

thanks
c yaz
mike

Mike,
At 5.5 gallons, I think your best bet would be some smaller drosera, pings, or terestrial Ultrics. Neps and sars are just too big for the most part. Not too sure about the South American Pitchers (can you tell? I even forgot the "real" name&#33

I have a 10 gallon with several D. Spatulata, D. Capensis (borders on medium sized when mature), one D. Adelae (which I may have to move if it grows as big as they say it can), one Ping of forgotten origin (think Moransis, however you spell it), and U. Lividia (which makes copious beautiful tiny flowers).

In my humble opion, I like to have a variety, so more small plants makes me happier than one big one. Just me!

Hi Sarracenia0 :

I like using tin-foil as I think it helps keep the lighting in the tank more. Not sure if it does much but hey any port in a storm. Here is the link if you want to take a look at other or how mine is set up:

http://www.petflytrap.com/cgi-bin....17;t=26

I would keep small cps in there just like schloaty said.

hope that helps,
travis

5.5 gallons is way too small for a nepenthes as the more easy ones grow rather quickly, and large! The smaller plants mentioned above will do fine but not the Heliamphoras, (South American "sun pitchers") as they grow too large for a 5.5 too.
Keep in mind in a 5.5 gallon about 1/2 of your vertical space will be used by the plants pot so the plants you choose can not grow to more than 6-8" tall.
If you are using 4 20 watt 24" flourescents I suggest you get a 20 gallon long (30" wide x 12" high) or 29 gallon aquarium (same length but 18" tall) and make the most use of using the electricity to run all those lights. Yes, it does help the plants to color up if you have the glass covered with tinfoil or mylar and just flip up the front flap when you wanna look at them. If you lift the flap of tinfoil while lookng down into your terrarium you can actually see the light on the plants diminish slightly so I belive in covering the glass 100%. You can also paint the glass white and get the same reflectivity but I preffer the idea of being able to pull off the tinfoil if I ever want to turn the tanks back into fish aquariums!

Swords and Travis,
thanks for the advice. the 4 20watt bulbs are for the terrarium and for alot of my seed growing. thanks again

mike