Welcome to the Desert Vivarium Build-off!

The idea behind this contest is that each contestant will build a naturalistic desert vivarium from scratch over the course of the upcoming year, and will document its progress.

First Prize will be $500 donated by Vivariaforums. Hopefully additional prizes will be donated. Judges to be announced.

The contest will begin on September 1, 2006, and will end June 1, 2007.

Here's how it will work:
You need to supply a minimum of three photographs; one showing the empty tank, one showing the work in progress, and one showing the final result. Ideally, the first photograph will be submitted in september and the last in may, to give the greatest amount of time for plants to grow in etc, but late entries and early completions will be fine.

To Enter:
Each entrant should create their own thread in this forum. Anyone may view the forum, but only entrants should create threads. Please name your thread after yourself; for example it could be just “John Smith” or it could be “John Smith’s 65 gallon Vivarium.” Feel free to use either your real name whatever nickname you would like to go by. Only one thread per person. Note: This forum is set up so that users can only reply to their own thread.

Threads with no content will be deleted, and threads with questions will also be deleted. Any questions regarding the contest, or any discussion about the entries may be posted here.

Anyone may enter, but all submissions must be complete by June 1, 2007. Only one entry per person, please. The winners will be announced sometime during June.

How to win:
The contest is for planted, naturalistic desert vivaria. It should contain both plants and animals, housed in a sustainable manner. In your thread you may post as many pictures and as much information as you desire. Feel free to include detail pictures of plants, animals and infrastructure. Explain as much as possible about how your system works and what species inhabit it. Make it like a construction journal. Feel free to continue adding information up until June 1st.

To assist you in preparing your entry, here are some issues that you may be judged on:

• Aesthetics – issues of scale, balance, color, texture, plant selection, etc
• Health – quality and vigor of plant growth; health of animal inhabitants
• Technique – skillful quality of construction
• Innovation - cool DIY ideas appreciated
• Sustainability – Are the plant and animal species well adapted to the conditions within the enclosure? Is the size and/or behavior of the plant or animal species appropriate for the size of the enclosure?
• Explanation – the quality of photographs and written materials

In the previous vivarium contest, the greatest difficulty judging was with entries that were poorly documented. In this contest documentation will count!

Notice: For fairness, all entries will be judged by the content submitted in the entry thread ONLY. Information and pictures on external pages will not be considered.

Good luck to all!