A College Classroom Habitat Demonstration Vivarium

 

Environmental designs are not only beautiful, interesting and entertaining.  They can also be useful as educational tools.  We have set up vivaria in various educational settings, such as in elementary school classrooms for teachers to use in teaching biology, ecology and animal husbandry.  They make learning more enjoyable and exciting, and they help to demonstrate in concrete ways the concepts being taught.  We offer significant discounts from our regular prices for educational, non-profit and public institutions.

This vivarium was designed for use in one of the biology laboratory classrooms at California Polytechnic College (Cal Poly) in Pomona, California.  Cal Poly maintains a collection of reptiles and amphibians for study.  Some of the most important and interesting specimens in this collection are three species of small, attractive, rare/endangered rattlesnakes, the rock rattlesnake (Crotalus lepidus), the twin-spotted rattlesnake (C. pricei) and the ridge-nosed rattlesnake (C. willardi), from montane (mountain) areas of Arizona.

 

 

 

Rising from the desert, these mountains are separated and isolated, much like islands in an ocean, and have distinctive habitats.  Collectively, these montane environments are called the “sky islands”.  Various species of animals and plants, isolated in different mountain areas over time, have developed into different subspecies.  Each mountain area has different habitats, called “life zones”, determined by elevation.  Two Arizona mountain ranges that are classic examples of a sky island environment are the Chiricahuas and Huachucas.

 

 

This vivarium was designed to simulate a generalized, mid-elevation Chiricahua/Huachuca environment where the three rattlesnake species can be found.  It demonstrates the type of geographic and landscape features, rock types and plant species typical of this environment.  It serves as a study tool and occasional housing for various reptiles from this environment.

The tank is constructed of 3/8” thick glass, and measures approximately 3’ long by 2’ wide by 2’ high.  It has a fixed ventilated top of 1/8” hardware cloth.  The front features two bypass sliding doors that span the full front length, allowing half the front to be opened while in place, or the full front to be open when doors are removed from their tracks.  The doors can be locked with a jeweler’s case lock.

The light fixture simulates the natural sunlight at the latitude and elevation of this environment, in spectrum, intensity and photoperiod.  It also produces appropriate radiant heat for basking on the upper rock talus, without making the total environment too warm for these montane species.

An important geographical feature of this environment is the talus.  A talus is formed by eroding rock that tumbles down a slope, forming a large, jumbled field of rock.  The rock used is an attractive tannish-pinkish granite.  One reason it was chosen was because the particular subspecies of rock rattlesnake, C. lepidus klauberi, owned by the college has a pinkish background color, so the relationship between local rock colors and snake colors can be effectively demonstrated.  The rock has lichens growing on it, a common and widespread feature of this habitat.

The partial trunk of a Canary Island pine was used to simulate that of pines native to the sky island habitat, the Arizona pine and Apache pine, as were the needles used for part of the ground cover.  Along with the pine needles, I also used fallen leaves from a local Engelmann oak, which are similar to several small oak species ranging throughout many of the life zones in the sky islands, especially the gray oak.  Leaves of a California white oak simulate those of a native Gambel oak.

 

The plants used in this vivarium include: a blue agave (Agave parryi); a violet beaver-tail cactus (Opuntia violacea); a cholla cactus (Opuntia erinacea); a small barrel cactus (Echinocereus pectinatus); a banana yucca (Yucca baccata); a birchleaf mountain-mahogany (Cercocarpus betuloides); an Apache-plume (Fallugia paradoxa); a broom snakeweed (Gutierrezia sarothrae); and a ‘Regal Mist’ clump grass (Muhlenbergia capillaris).  All are native to the Sky Island environment, except for the C. betuloides, which is used to imitate the extremely similar native C. montanus, and the M. capillaris, which was used to simulate several very closely related native Muhlenbergia species.

Besides the rattlesnakes, other species of reptiles from this environment include the Arizona [Sonora] mountain kingsnake (Lampropeltis pyromelana), Arizona alligator lizard (Gerrhonotus kingi), Yarrow’s spiny lizard (Sceloporus jarrovi), Chihuahuan spotted whiptail lizard (Cnemidophorus exsanguis) and Sonoran spotted whiptail lizard (Cnemidophorus sonorae).