{"id":675,"date":"2019-02-24T06:26:08","date_gmt":"2019-02-24T06:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/reptilefollower.com\/?p=675"},"modified":"2019-02-24T06:26:08","modified_gmt":"2019-02-24T06:26:08","slug":"vivarium-vs-terrarium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reptilefollower.com\/vivarium-vs-terrarium\/","title":{"rendered":"Vivarium vs Terrarium (What is the Difference?)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vivariums and Terrariums are used interchangeably for lizard care. But what is the difference between these? In this article I will break this down and more.<\/p>\n

What is the difference between a Vivarium and a Terrarium? A vivarium has animal and plant life. Where as to a Terrarium which just has plant life. Many people use this term interchangeably, but this is the correct definition.<\/strong><\/p>\n

To get more information on what should be kept in each of these, where their names comes from, how to use these and more I encourage you to keep reading.<\/p>\n

What is a Vivarium?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Vivarium is a Latin word for place of life. It is an enclosure for keeping animals and\/or plants and can be small enough for a tabletop but can get as big as a large 60+ gallon enclosure for big lizards.<\/p>\n

A vivarium contains a portion of an ecosystem that benefits the individual animal. The point of the vivarium is that the enclosure is supposed to have a stable and controlled environment to benefit the individual animal. (Click here to see the best glass vivariums<\/a><\/strong>)<\/p>\n

What is a Terrarium?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

A Terrarium is a glass container that contains plants and soil, it is different to a vivarium because it does not have animals in it.<\/p>\n

A water cycle is created by the generation of moisture from the plants and soil. This moisture creates an amazing condensing effect that is beneficial for the plants.<\/p>\n

An interesting fact is that has a very was created by a botanist Nathanial Bagshaw Ward<\/a> back in 1842.<\/p>\n

What Maintenance is required for Terrariums\u00a0and Vivariums?<\/h2>\n

Like most living conditions they will require maintenance to keep them looked after. If maintenance is neglected then you may find that you\u2019ll start to see mould or even bacteria start to grow within the vivarium or terrarium.<\/p>\n

The level of maintenance required largely depends on what animal or plant life you have inside of the container. At a minimum you will have to do clean the enclosure at regular interval. How regular depends largely on what animal or plants you have in there, more detail on this maintenance schedule later on.<\/p>\n

Just to give you a rough example, if you have a bearded dragon<\/a>, it is required that you clean out the closure at least on a weekly basis.<\/p>\n

How do you clean a Lizard Vivarium?<\/h2>\n

I explained earlier it is a good idea to clean your vivarium<\/a> on a weekly basis. However adopting a daily quick clean schedule as well as a more thorough weekly clean is good practice for most lizards that you decide to keep. This will also help reduce the amount of time you need to clean when you get to the weekly deep clean.<\/p>\n

How do you clean these vivariums? The main items that you will need are the following:<\/p>\n