Ben and I went to the South eastern Heavy Horse Association show yesterday (photos from that to follow), and on the way back we stopped by a place called the Purple Pet Shop on the off-chance that they might stock horse feed. They didn't, but what they did have was an amazing reptile and amphibians section. :D

I was totally inspired by their gorgeous vivs, so I came away with a coupe of bricks of moss substrate, a dangly plant and a fake rock water dish. I'd bought a new tank for my fire-bellies some months ago and used soil as the base (my attempts to have a mostly aquatic set up didn't really work out very well, and in the end I decided it was healthier for them to have mostly land with a deep pond for swimming in). But it was just a bit dingy and dull in there.

So as soon as we got home, I cleared the whole thing out, put down a layer of gravel followed by a layer of soil and then put the moss on top. I've never used those bricks before, so I put the whole thing in the sink (they came dry and packed into blocks) and there was SO. MUCH. I ended up redoing Bulmerhoe's tank, too, just because I had so much freaking moss (but it looks good, so it wasn't a bad mistake to make).

I replaced the toads' tupperware pond with the 'stone' one, which I sank into the moss so it looks like a little forest puddle. Then I planted the shrub in the corner, lay down their bog wood pieces, and stuck some pieces of slate in the back in an attempt to give a nice background (that part still needs work). I also arranged three pebbles I picked from a Welsh beach along the edge of the pond.

Bulmerhoe's tank is entirely moss (when I clean him out next, I will probably do the gravel/soil/moss thing that I did with the fire-bellies), with a big chunk of slate across the back and his pond in the corner.

Anyway, I'm thrilled with the results. They look like tiny forest glade dioramas now, so not only are they a nicer environment for the amphibians, but they're good for people to look at too!