Hi Hummingbirddaisy! Welcome to the site! Its been crazy slow around here for a couple months now, just about four of us visit about once a month, I visit almost daily, but Im not the brightest bulb on the tree! LOL! I think your best bet for now is to scroll on down to the bottom of the page and type in "first time building terrarium" or "new to terrariums" or something along those lines, then press the "search" button, youll find a lot of great info there and most if not all of your questions will be answered! you can also hop on over to, http://www.blackjungle.com/terrarium.htm , there you will find the most detailed, step by step, with pics! set up anywhere! No, I dont work for them! LOL! Just a big fan of the 4 foot set up! When/if you visit youll see why! PLEASE drop in as often as you can and give us updates and pics of your set up as soon as you can! =) Maybe itll get things going around here! Hope to hear from you soon! =)