What light are you using for that weird yellow glow?

Is the bottom section connected to the top, or are they separate systems?

The odd light coloration is due to the fact that I am using the original bulbs that came with my light fixtures--3300K compact fluorescents (I bought an old office light fixture--3 x 40watt cf for $8 with the bulbs). The camera exaggerates the color a bit, but it is on the yellow side. I'm about to replace the bulbs, as the intensity is now lowering after 2 years, and I'll be using 5000K bulbs to fix that problem. The funny thing is that I have all kinds of orchids that bloom under that wierd yellow light.

The top tank actually comes off of the cabinet base (it's more clear if you check the link at the bottom of my post), but it was all trimmed and stained with the same wood and stain to look like one unit. I am in the process of building a tank that fits in the bottom section and fills the entire space--the volume should be about 35 gallons or so.

That is very cool...too cool really....cuz its giving me ideas for a large centerpiece terrarium that is viewable on all sides...kinda like you see in municipal aquariums and large zoo exhibits. This is the LAST thing i need to be thinking about...

got any closer pics of the flora n' fauna?

VERY impressive, Homer! The wood looks great, and I like the landscaping and the way that you have fit two tanks into one vertical space. Very good idea for people who are like us: obsessed! =) I agree with Mr. B: we need to see more pics of the plants and any froggies you have in there!

VERY COOL!!!!
Nice carpentry job! and the idea of vertical display is just great!
Ditto on seen more close ups of the flora.
Ana :)

Okay, I have some pics of the fauna, with some of the flora. I'll try to get better landscape pics later.
Here are some of the D. leucomelas in the 10 gallon tank you see on the lower shelf.

And a closer pic of those little guys:

Here is an inhabitant of the upper terrarium--a male D. tinctorius 'New River'. He is obviously in the mood, as you can see that he is calling (it's an almost inaudible buzz that he makes).

Beautiful! Do you breed your frogs? If so, how difficult is it to raise the tadpoles to maturity? I'm worried that if I get some PDFs and they are happy enough, (which they should be), they will breed and I will be left with these eggs that will turn into tadpoles and then I will be responsible for their lives or deaths! I simply can't do all of that right now, not with a baby to take care of, and more on the way soon (hopefully). So do they always breed? Do the eggs always hatch?

SA,

I tend to let the frogs breed themselves, no help from me. ;) For the most part, if you have a pair, they will eventually lay eggs. Now, realize that you will have had the frogs for about a year before they do lay their first eggs.

Typically, the first clutch is going to be bad, as the male and female have to figure things out. If you have more than one female, they'll try to eat each other's eggs. If you do remove the eggs, you should be able to get them to hatch pretty easily. Raising the tads is just a matter of keeping them each in their own 16 oz deli container, changing some of the water every day or every other day, and feeding them with a high quality (read: very few fillers) spirulina and chlorella flake food. On average, expect 3-4 months before a tadpole morphs out. Of course, if you never take the eggs out of the terrarium, your hatch rate will be a lot lower, and you can just leave little baby food jars filled with water for the males to deposit the tads into.

Good! Just the fact that they won't breed for the first year comforts me! And I thought that you had to feed all sorts of live food to the 'tads' in order for them to grow properly. I am raising guppy fry currently, and it's pretty easy, so I guess I would be able to raise frogs! Would I be able to give them frozen baby brine shrimp, like fish fry eat? And what if the dads put the eggs into the pool by my waterfall, and then they go down into my false bottom and hatch there, or get all chewed up by the pump? Oh, and do all reptiles and amphibians require those UV lamps?

You can feed the tads other fare, but you have to be careful about fouling the water. The males don't usually transport the eggs (except on accident--I've seen that happen before), but they wait until the eggs hatch, and the tads swim up on their backs until deposited in a water area.

Having them fall into the false bottom is a possibility, but you can design your waterfall so that won't happen.

As far as UV is concerned, it is not considered necessary for darts, but may be beneficial. I'm thinking of experimenting with this a bit . . . we'll see.

Yeah, I know how important water quality is! How tiny are the tads when they are 'newborns'? As small as baby guppies? Smaller? Bigger? I would think that they would be hard to see!

And I had read that UV was not essential for darts, but I think I will for sure need one for the day gecko I want, so I'll have one anyways. How often does one need to replace the bulbs? I know they're not that expensive.

1) The tads vary in size by species, but most of your starter frogs will have tads the size of guppy babies . . . but you're getting way ahead of yourself.

2) I don't use reptile UV bulbs, so I don't have a clue about the changing regiment. If you use a glass top on your terrarium like most, a UV bulb is almost useless anyway. More than 99% of UV is reflected or absorbed by glass. I will be trying a different approach than your average reptile bulb, but have some research to do beforehand.

Good thing you told me about the glass blocking the UV light! That would be so pointless for me then. I need a glass top to keep the humidity in.