Orchids

Most orchids grow great in a vivarium. They will root to cork bark or
driftwood. and grow epiphytically. Orchidaceae, commonly referred to as the Orchid family, is
a morphologically diverse and widespread family of monocots.

Cattleya aurantiaca bloom

It is the
second largest family of flowering plants, with between 21,950 and
26,049 currently accepted species, in 880 genera.

The largest
genera are Bulbophyllum (2,000 species), Epidendrum (1,500 species),
Dendrobium (1,400 species) and Pleurothallis (1,000 species).

The
family also includes Vanilla (the genus of the vanilla plant), Orchis
(type genus) and many commonly cultivated plants like some Phalaenopsis
or Cattleya. Since the introduction of tropical species in the 19th
century, horticulturists have produced more than 100,000 hybrids and
cultivars.
The complex mechanisms which orchids evolve to achieve
cross-pollination were investigated by Charles Darwin and described in
his 1862 book Fertilisation of Orchids.

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Please stop by and see us. We’re just a mile east of the I-96 interchange, at 6248 28th St. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546. Or, we offer free delivery of items purchased on-line to any of the shows.

We have a wide variety of exotic pets, featuring – of course – the largest selection of poison dart frogs, tree frogs and terrestrial frogs you’ll find in a retail store in the Midwest. You’ll also find leopard, crested, gargoyle, and other gecko species; bearded dragons and other lizards (currently featuring baby savannah monitors, baby blue-tongued skinks, Asian water dragons, brown anoles, red and green iguanas), corn snakes, an assortment of tarantulas, and even some amphibians with tails: tiger salamanders, spotted salamanders, Spanish (Iberia) ribbed newts, California newts, and greater sirens.

If you’re into tarantulas, we have everything from beginner species, such as the Chilean Red Rose-Hair to advanced species such as the Sri Lanka Ornamental Tarantula.

If you are looking for any other species, please drop us a line and we’ll do our best to track it down. And, of course, we have more roaches, crickets, wax worms, fruit flies, and bean beetles than you can shake a stick at.

We also carry a full line of products from manufacturers such as, Exo Terra, Zoo Med, Zilla, Flukers, Tetra, as well as an indoor greenhouse with a wide variety of tropical plants to furnish your naturalistic terrariums and vivariums.

We’re looking forward to seeing you,

Jim and Marcia Hitchcock

The Your Card passport to discounts

Rainforest Station is now offering a 10% discount to Your Card members

The Your Card is a member card that saves you money at more than 50 retailers around the metro Grand Rapids area.

Retailers offering discounts include Automotive, Beauty, Business Services,Clothing, Computers, Dining, Fire and Water Damage, Flooring, Floral, Furniture, Gifts, Hair Cuts, Hobbies, Home, Jewelry, Mattresses, Pets, Photography, Popcorn, Printing, Shipping, Sports, Tanning, Truck, Wedding, and several retailers that are unique to the area.

The website www.theyourcard.com features a search tool to find retailers by category, zip code, or keyword. You can even create a list of favorites. Card members can also sign up to receive special email alerts for online promotions retailers offer only to Your Card members!

Stop in to Rainforest Station to pick up your invitation to sign up for the Your Card, and we’ll give you 10% off your purchase immediately.  Or just go straight to http://www.theyourcard.com.  Select “become a member” and enter the invitation code 0065-2486 to receive $5 off the $25 membership.

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Click the Button to go to the On-line Store

Rainforest Station is gearing up for the holidays, and building our inventory of exotic pets. Beautifully colored corn snake hatchlings are available, and our leopard gecko babies are ready for new homes. We are expanding our variety of poison dart frogs, and currently have a couple of nice Dendrobates terribilis froglets available. We also have Madagascar giant day geckos and William’s dwarf geckos. Keep an eye out for new additions coming soon..

Rainforest Station always offers a wide variety of exotic pets, featuring the largest selection of poison dart frogs, tree frogs and terrestrial frogs you’ll find in a retail store in the Midwest. You’ll also find leopard geckos, crested geckos, gargoyle geckos, and other gecko species; bearded dragons and other lizards (currently featuring baby savannah monitors, baby blue-tongued skinks, Asian water dragons, green and red iguanas, ameivas and more ), turtles and tortoises, corn snakes and ball pythons, an assortment of tarantulas, and even some amphibians with tails: tiger salamanders, spotted salamanders, Spanish (Iberia) ribbed newts, California newts, and Axolotl.

If you’re into tarantulas, we have everything from beginner species, such as the Chilean Red Rose-Hair to advanced species such as the Sri Lanka Ornamental Tarantula.

If you are looking for any other species, please drop us a line and we’ll do our best to track it down. And, of course, we have more roaches, crickets, wax worms, fruit flies, and bean beetles than you can shake a stick at.

We also carry a full line of products from manufacturers such as, Exo Terra, Zoo Med, Zilla, Flukers, Tetra, as well as an indoor greenhouse with a wide variety of tropical plants to furnish your naturalistic terrariums and vivariums.

You can shop on-line or stop by and see us. We’re just a mile east of the I-96 interchange, at 6248 28th St. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546. Or, we offer free delivery of items purchased on-line to any of the shows at which we are a vendor.

Click the Button to go to the On-line Store

The three-toed amphiuma, Amphiuma tridactylum

One of the cool new animals we’ll be bringing to the Kalamazoo Reptile Show on September 19 will be three-toed amphiuma.

Amphiuma is a genus of aquatic salamanders, the only genus within the family Amphiumidae. They are also (incorrectly) known to fisherman as “conger eels” or “congo snakes.”

Amphiumas inhabit the southeastern part of the United States. They share much of their range with the two-legged salamander (the sirens), but although physically similar in appearance, are not closely related.

There are three amphiuma species, distinguished by the number of toes:

Amphiuma tridactylum – Three-toed Amphiuma
Amphiuma means – Two-toed Amphiuma
Amphiuma pholeter – One-toed Amphiuma

Of these, only A. pholeter is listed as “near threatened” by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.

The Three-toed Amphiuma (Amphiuma tridactylum) is the second largest of the three species, and can reach more than 40 inches in length. They also tend to have the greatest difference between dark dorsal and light ventral coloring of the three species. They have small, lidless eyes, and gill slits. They have four tiny legs each with three toes and an average of 62 coastal grooves.

Amphiuma tridactylum close up & personal

The three-toed amphiuma is found along the Gulf of Mexico from Alabama to Texas, and north to Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky. Often is found in bottomland marshes and lakes, bayous, cypress sloughs, and streams in hilly regions.

Amphiuma are nocturnal hunters. They hide in heavily vegetated areas of slow moving water, such as swamps, ponds and lakes. They eat anything they can catch, including earthworms, fish, crustaceans, and other small invertebrates.

For an article including how to keep them in captivity, visit the Caudata Culture website.

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Rainforest Station is gearing up for fall, and building our inventory of exotic pets. Beautifully colored corn snake hatchlings are starting to come in, and many of our leopard gecko babies are ready for new homes. We are expanding our variety of poison dart frogs, and currently have a couple of nice Dendrobates terribilis froglets available. We also have Madagascar giant day geckos and William’s dwarf geckos. Keep an eye out for new additions coming soon..

Rainforest Station always offers a wide variety of exotic pets, featuring the largest selection of poison dart frogs, tree frogs and terrestrial frogs you’ll find in a retail store in the Midwest. You’ll also find leopard geckos, crested geckos, gargoyle geckos, and other gecko species; bearded dragons and other lizards (currently featuring baby savannah monitors, baby blue-tongued skinks, Asian water dragons, green and red iguanas, ameivas and more ), turtles and tortoises, corn snakes and ball pythons, an assortment of tarantulas, and even some amphibians with tails: tiger salamanders, spotted salamanders, Spanish (Iberia) ribbed newts, California newts, and Axolotl.

If you’re into tarantulas, we have everything from beginner species, such as the Chilean Red Rose-Hair to advanced species such as the Sri Lanka Ornamental Tarantula.

If you are looking for any other species, please drop us a line and we’ll do our best to track it down. And, of course, we have more roaches, crickets, wax worms, fruit flies, and bean beetles than you can shake a stick at.

We also carry a full line of products from manufacturers such as, Exo Terra, Zoo Med, Zilla, Flukers, Tetra, as well as an indoor greenhouse with a wide variety of tropical plants to furnish your naturalistic terrariums and vivariums.

You can shop on-line or stop by and see us. We’re just a mile east of the I-96 interchange, at 6248 28th St. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546. Or, we offer free delivery of items purchased on-line to any of the shows at which we are a vendor.

Click the Button to go to the On-line Store

Rainforest Station is gearing up for fall, and building our inventory of exotic pets. Beautifully colored corn snake hatchlings are starting to come in, and many of our leopard gecko babies are ready for new homes. We are expanding our variety of poison dart frogs, and currently have a couple of nice Dendrobates terribilis froglets available. We also have Madagascar giant day geckos and William’s dwarf geckos. Keep an eye out for new additions coming soon.

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Rainforest Station always offers a wide variety of exotic pets, featuring the largest selection of poison dart frogs, tree frogs and terrestrial frogs you’ll find in a retail store in the Midwest. You’ll also find leopard geckos, crested geckos, gargoyle geckos, and other gecko species; bearded dragons and other lizards (currently featuring baby savannah monitors, baby blue-tongued skinks, Asian water dragons, green and red iguanas, ameivas and more ), turtles and tortoises, corn snakes and ball pythons, an assortment of tarantulas, and even some amphibians with tails: tiger salamanders, spotted salamanders, Spanish (Iberia) ribbed newts, California newts, and Axolotl larvae.

If you’re into tarantulas, we have everything from beginner species, such as the Chilean Red Rose-Hair to advanced species such as the Sri Lanka Ornamental Tarantula.

If you are looking for any other species, please drop us a line and we’ll do our best to track it down. And, of course, we have more roaches, crickets, wax worms, fruit flies, and bean beetles than you can shake a stick at.

We also carry a full line of products from manufacturers such as, Exo Terra, Zoo Med, Zilla, Flukers, Tetra, as well as an indoor greenhouse with a wide variety of tropical plants to furnish your naturalistic terrariums and vivariums.

You can shop on-line or stop by and see us. We’re just a mile east of the I-96 interchange, at 6248 28th St. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546. Or, we offer free delivery of items purchased on-line to any of the shows at which we are a vendor.

Click the Button to go to the On-line Store

Rainforest Station will be offering a terrarium kit at the Michigan Reptile Show Saturday,August 8, in Taylor, Michigan, and the West Michigan Reptile Expo Sunday, August 9, in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Our 18″ x 18″ x 24″ Exo Terra Terrarium starter kit includes everything you need to get started including a brom pup and two other tropical plants. The Sale Price is $174.99

But the big news is, for a limited time, with each kit purchase, you will receive one free Dendrobates leucomelas “Bumble Bee” or Dendrobates tinctorius “Infer-Alanis” Poison Dart Frog ($54.99 Value).

We will only be bringing three of these kits to the show, so preorder on our website to make sure you don’t miss out on this deal. Only five Infer-Alanis and 15 leucs are available, and when they are gone, so is this deal!

Rainforest Station always offers a wide variety of exotic pets, featuring the largest selection of poison dart frogs, tree frogs and terrestrial frogs you’ll find in a retail store in the Midwest. You’ll also find leopard geckos, crested geckos, gargoyle geckos, and other gecko species; bearded dragons and other lizards (currently featuring baby savannah monitors, adult blue-tongued skinks, Asian water dragons, lacertas, ameivas ), turtles and tortoises, corn snakes and ball pythons, an assortment of tarantulas, and even some amphibians with tails: tiger salamanders, spotted salamanders, Spanish (Iberia) ribbed newts, California newts, and Axolotl larvae.

If you’re into tarantulas, we have everything from beginner species, such as the Chilean Red Rose-Hair to advanced species such as the Sri Lanka Ornamental Tarantula.

If you are looking for any other species, please drop us a line and we’ll do our best to track it down. And, of course, we have more roaches, crickets, wax worms, fruit flies, and bean beetles than you can shake a stick at.

We also carry a full line of products from manufacturers such as, Exo Terra, Zoo Med, Zilla, Flukers, Tetra, as well as an indoor greenhouse with a wide variety of tropical plants to furnish your naturalistic terrariums and vivariums.

You can shop on-line or stop by and see us. We’re just a mile east of the I-96 interchange, at 6248 28th St. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546. Or, we offer free delivery of items purchased on-line to any of the shows at which we are a vendor.

Click the Button to go to the On-line Store

Rainforest Station will be offering a terrarium kit at the Michigan Reptile Show Saturday, July 11, in Taylor, Michigan.

Our 18″ x 18″ x 24″ Exo Terra Terrarium starter kit includes everything you need to get started including a brom pup and two other tropical plants.
The Retail Price of all the kit components is $184.40, and the Sale Price is $174.99, for a savings of $9.41

But the big news is, for a limited time, with each kit purchase, you will receive one free Dendrobates leucomelas “Bumble Bee” or Dendrobates tinctorius “Infer-Alanis” Poison Dart Frog ($54.99 Value).

We will only be bringing five of these kits to the show, so preorder on our website to make sure you don’t miss out on this deal. Only five Infer-Alanis and 15 leucs are available, and when they are gone, so is this deal!

Rainforest Station always offers a wide variety of exotic pets, featuring the largest selection of poison dart frogs, tree frogs and terrestrial frogs you’ll find in a retail store in the Midwest. You’ll also find leopard geckos, crested geckos, gargoyle geckos, and other gecko species; bearded dragons and other lizards (currently featuring baby savannah monitors, adult blue-tongued skinks, Asian water dragons, lacertas, ameivas ), turtles and tortoises, corn snakes and ball pythons, an assortment of tarantulas, and even some amphibians with tails: tiger salamanders, spotted salamanders, Spanish (Iberia) ribbed newts, California newts, and Axolotl larvae.

If you’re into tarantulas, we have everything from beginner species, such as the Chilean Red Rose-Hair to advanced species such as the Sri Lanka Ornamental Tarantula.

If you are looking for any other species, please drop us a line and we’ll do our best to track it down. And, of course, we have more roaches, crickets, wax worms, fruit flies, and bean beetles than you can shake a stick at.

We also carry a full line of products from manufacturers such as, Exo Terra, Zoo Med, Zilla, Flukers, Tetra, as well as an indoor greenhouse with a wide variety of tropical plants to furnish your naturalistic terrariums and vivariums.

You can shop on-line or stop by and see us. We’re just a mile east of the I-96 interchange, at 6248 28th St. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546. Or, we offer free delivery of items purchased on-line to any of the shows at which we are a vendor.

Click the Button to go to the On-line Store

Indoor greenhouse featuring unusual tropical foliage

Our indoor greenhouse is packed with tropical foliage, bromeliads, tillandsia, and mini African violets. In addition to our “terrarium-friendly” collection, we are now carrying some larger tropical plants that make great houseplants, and are a little more exotic than what you will find at the big box stores (althought we stock bread-and-butter species, too).

We have lined up several new sources of plants, including one new supplier which will allow us to “piggyback” on its orders to larger wholesalers. This allows us access to plants we could never get before. If there is anything in particular that you are looking for, we can find it on one of the many availability lists we review each week.

We are working on adding to our selection of orchids, too, so if you have a favorite species or hybrid you’d like to see, let us know.

A wide selection of bromeliads, tillandsia, and mini African violets

Rainforest Station always offers a wide variety of exotic pets, featuring the largest selection of poison dart frogs, tree frogs and terrestrial frogs you’ll find in a retail store in the Midwest. You’ll also find leopard geckos, crested geckos, gargoyle geckos, and other gecko species; bearded dragons and other lizards (currently featuring baby savannah monitors, adult blue-tongued skinks, Asian water dragons, lacertas, ameivas ), turtles and tortoises, corn snakes and ball pythons, an assortment of tarantulas, and even some amphibians with tails: tiger salamanders, spotted salamanders, Spanish (Iberia) ribbed newts, California newts, and Axolotl larvae.

If you’re into tarantulas, we have everything from beginner species, such as the Chilean Red Rose-Hair to advanced species such as the Sri Lanka Ornamental Tarantula.

If you are looking for any other species, please drop us a line and we’ll do our best to track it down. And, of course, we have more roaches, crickets, wax worms, fruit flies, and bean beetles than you can shake a stick at.

We also carry a full line of products from manufacturers such as, Exo Terra, Zoo Med, Zilla, Flukers, Tetra, as well as an indoor greenhouse with a wide variety of tropical plants to furnish your naturalistic terrariums and vivariums.

You can shop on-line or stop by and see us. We’re just a mile east of the I-96 interchange, at 6248 28th St. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546. Or, we offer free delivery of items purchased on-line to any of the shows at which we are a vendor.

Click the Button to go to the On-line Store

One of our Blue-tongued Skink babies being born May 31

What an exciting day!

Our female Blue-tongued Skink gave birth to eight babies on May 31!

She started about 12:45 p.m., and the first seven were born in about 90 minutes.  The straggler wasn’t born until after 5 p.m.  It was a remarkable process to watch.  Several were born breech; for those the mother reached back and grabbed the baby’s tail in her mouth, and pulled them out!  One of the last was born still covered by the amniotic sac.  It struggled for a moment until the father (who carefully inspected each newcomer) licked the sac away from the baby’s face, and it was able to take a deep breath.

Each baby took only moments to gain its senses, and then it ate its own yolk sack and umbilical.  Marcia took each baby, gave it a gentle bath to remove any remaining birth materials, and placed them in their new home.  These guys are born ravenous, and they enjoyed a meal of chicken cat food as their first meal within minutes of birth.

We will make sure that these guys are all healthy and eating well, and then make them available for purchase in a couple weeks to a month.

Seven of the eight Blue-tongued Skinks born May 31 (Number eight had not yet arrived).

Rainforest Station always offers a wide variety of exotic pets, featuring the largest selection of poison dart frogs, tree frogs and terrestrial frogs you’ll find in a retail store in the Midwest. You’ll also find leopard geckos, crested geckos, gargoyle geckos, and other gecko species; bearded dragons and other lizards (currently featuring baby savannah monitors, adult blue-tongued skinks, Asian water dragons, lacertas, ameivas ), turtles and tortoises, corn snakes and ball pythons, an assortment of tarantulas, and even some amphibians with tails: tiger salamanders, spotted salamanders, Spanish (Iberia) ribbed newts, California newts, and Axolotl larvae.

If you’re into tarantulas, we have everything from beginner species, such as the Chilean Red Rose-Hair to advanced species such as the Sri Lanka Ornamental Tarantula.

If you are looking for any other species, please drop us a line and we’ll do our best to track it down. And, of course, we have more roaches, crickets, wax worms, fruit flies, and bean beetles than you can shake a stick at.

We also carry a full line of products from manufacturers such as, Exo Terra, Zoo Med, Zilla, Flukers, Tetra, as well as an indoor greenhouse with a wide variety of tropical plants to furnish your naturalistic terrariums and vivariums.

You can shop on-line or stop by and see us. We’re just a mile east of the I-96 interchange, at 6248 28th St. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546. Or, we offer free delivery of items purchased on-line to any of the shows at which we are a vendor.

Click the Button to go to the On-line Store

The eggs started hatching last night.  They will spend the next day or so stuck to a vertical surface absorbing the remainder of the yolk sac.

Click the Button to go to the On-line Store

Eye spots and gills are already apparent on day three of egg development: