has part
calciol
cholecalciferol
vitamin D3
calcium carbonate
temperature of environmental material
temperature of air
air temperature
temperature of soil
soil temperature
temperature of water
water temperature
Ranitomeya
thumbnail dart frogs
Ranitomeya imitator
mimic poison frog
Correlophus ciliatus
crested gecko
Correlophus
Grammostola pulchra
Brazilian black tarantula
Grammostola
Diplodactylidae
Metazoa
Animalia
Pythonidae
pythons
Python
Dendrobatidae
poison dart frogs
Python regius
ball python
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
spiders
Mygalomorphae
mygalomorph spiders
Theraphosidae
true tarantulas
Chordata
Amphibia
Anura
frogs and toads
Lepidosauria
Squamata
scaled reptiles
Gekkota
geckos
Serpentes
snakes
length
mass
temperature
humidity
has quality
has role
has disposition
has component
Company developing computer-aided design tools for vivarium husbandry, and the primary consumer of the Vivarium Husbandry Ontology.
Original author of the Vivarium Husbandry Ontology.
Publisher of reptile husbandry care guides.
Top-level ontology document. Imports the core modules (upper, properties, patterns, shapes).
References the Chemical Entities of Biological Interest (ChEBI) ontology classes used by VHO and provides local vho: classes equivalent to them. Current scope covers two vivarium-husbandry supplements (calcium carbonate, cholecalciferol). Further chemical entities (substrate amendments, water-treatment chemicals, additional supplements) are added as species encoding requires them.
References the Environment Ontology (ENVO) classes used by VHO for environmental temperature qualities and provides local vho: classes equivalent to them. Only the referenced terms and their immediate parents are included, not the full ontology. Daily files reference the local vho: classes; the ENVO IRIs appear only here. Humidity and photoperiod are not covered here: humidity is a PATO quality (PATO:0015009); photoperiod has no OBO Foundry canonicalization at present (MeSH:D017440 is closest) and remains a VHO-novel term.
References the NCBI Taxonomy classes used by VHO and provides local vho: classes equivalent to them. Only the referenced taxa and their immediate parents are included, not the full taxonomy. Daily files reference the local vho: classes; the NCBITaxon IRIs appear only here.
References the Phenotype And Trait Ontology (PATO) classes used by VHO and provides local vho: classes equivalent to them. PATO supplies the abstract physical qualities VHO refers to (humidity, temperature, size). VHO provides local Quality subclasses aligned via owl:equivalentClass; ENVO's contextualised temperature qualities are downstream subclasses of vho:Temperature.
References the Relations Ontology (RO) and dependent BFO properties used by VHO and asserts owl:equivalentProperty alignments from the VHO-side relational properties. The VHO properties exist independently; this file only aligns them.
Upper ontology for the Vivarium Husbandry Ontology.
Biomechanics described in Schultz & Schultz, The Tarantula Keeper's Guide (3rd ed.).
Abdominal rupture from fall
Latent capacity for a heavy-bodied resident to suffer abdominal-cuticle rupture and fatal haemolymph loss on impact after a fall from sufficient height inside the enclosure. Realised in residents carrying vho:FallRisk (heavy-bodied theraphosids over a species-conventional adult-mass threshold).
Absorptive contamination
Latent capacity borne by a continuant whose surface bears residues, plasticisers, adhesive monomers, or other water-soluble compounds capable of crossing a permeable amphibian (or soft-invertebrate) integument on contact. Realised in residents carrying vho:PermeableSkin.
Acrylic
Cast or extruded poly(methyl methacrylate) sheet. Transparent like glass; lighter and less brittle; scratches more readily and discolours over years of UV exposure.
Activity Pattern
A quality describing the diel timing of an organism's activity peaks (crepuscular, nocturnal, diurnal, cathemeral). Drives the photoperiod and lighting regimes a species expects to encounter in captivity.
Adhesive setae
Micrometre-scale hair-like projections covering the toe pads of certain gecko lineages. Setae generate adhesion via van der Waals interactions with the substrate, enabling vertical-surface and inverted-surface locomotion. Bearers can scale glass, smooth bark, and the underside of enclosure lids; toe pads are mechanically sensitive and susceptible to fibre snag from looped or napped substrates.
Adult stage
Developmental life-stage period from sexual maturity onward. Species-specific in onset: cresties enter adulthood at ~15–18 months. Used to scope dietary, growth-tracking, and reproductive regimes.
Air Exchange Level
A categorical level of passive air exchange an enclosure provides, determined by the size, number, and placement of its ventilation openings relative to enclosure volume.
Airflow Pattern
A spatial arrangement of ventilation openings that determines how air moves through an enclosure, independent of how much air is exchanged.
Ambient temperature
Temperature of the air inside an enclosure. Bearer of the vho:ambientTemperature numeric value used in care regime constraints.
The care axis asking what air-temperature band the general interior of the enclosure must hold for members of a taxon.
Class of ectothermic tetrapod vertebrates characterised by a typically biphasic life cycle (aquatic larva, terrestrial adult) and a permeable, mucous, scaleless integument that functions in cutaneous gas exchange and osmoregulation. Contains all vivarium-kept frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and caecilians.
Anatomical Trait
A trait reflecting structural anatomy (e.g., tarsal claw, permeable skin, gape size).
Animal
A living animal kept in a vivarium.
Order of amphibians comprising tail-less adults with elongated hind limbs adapted for jumping. Bearer of vho:PermeableSkin and vho:ThinIntegument universally: the dorsoventral skin functions as a respiratory and osmoregulatory surface and is mechanically vulnerable.
Any time
Round-the-clock period: a DielPeriod individual that matches any current diel period for care-regime resolution. Intended for care-regime axes that genuinely do not vary diel-wise (e.g., crested gecko ambient humidity). The care-regime SHACL shapes consume vho:AnyTime via a UNION branch in their SPARQL: a regime with vho:duringPeriod vho:AnyTime fires whatever the design's vho:currentPeriod is.
Aquarium
An enclosure whose interior is fully aquatic. The resident occupies the water column and surface; no terrestrial substrate is present.
Arthropod class containing spiders, scorpions, and related lineages. Members typically bear eight legs and lack antennae.
Order of arachnids characterised by silk-producing spinnerets and a body divided into a cephalothorax and abdomen.
Arboreal
Lives in trees or other vertical vegetation; spends most of its active time off the ground.
Invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, segmented body, and jointed appendages. Phylum containing all vivarium-kept invertebrates other than gastropods and annelids.
At least
The constrained quantity must meet or exceed the bound: a floor.
At most
The constrained quantity must not exceed the bound: a ceiling.
Autotomous tail
A tail that can be voluntarily shed at a pre-formed fracture plane in response to predator stress, handling pressure, or aggressive conspecific contact. Some lineages regenerate the lost tail; others (including Correlophus) do not, so loss is permanent. Bearers warrant low-stress handling protocols and careful cohabitation review.
Average field exposure
The band is the source's stated average of field measurements of the quantity, taken where wild members of the taxon were observed exposed to it.
Background Role
Played by an EnclosureBackground or by content positioned to function as a visual background.
Ball Python
royal python
Small, heavy-bodied, terrestrial nonvenomous python native to the grasslands and forests of West and Central Africa. Adults reach 109–136 cm total length; named for its habit of coiling into a ball when threatened. The most widely-kept pet snake, prized for its docile temperament and modest size.
Band Role
The kind of claim a source makes about a numeric band. A band carrying no band role states required provision; a band carrying one is a different kind of claim, such as a field-observation statistic, that informs provision without stating it. What to conclude from such a band is the judgement of whoever applies it.
Basking Surface
A surface where an organism warms via radiated or conducted heat.
Basking temperature
The care axis asking what surface or retreat temperature the warm end of the enclosure must offer for members of a taxon that thermoregulate against a localised heat source.
Behavioural Trait
A trait reflecting behaviour (e.g., burrowing-required, arboreal-preference). Distinct from vho:Temperament: traits gate capacity realization; temperament is a quality.
Bioactive configuration
A design condition in which the enclosure sustains a self-maintaining substrate ecosystem: live plants rooted in the substrate, detritivore invertebrates consuming waste, and a substrate bed that is retained and irrigated rather than periodically replaced.
Body length
Linear extent of an organism's body. Abstract parent of the conventional body-size descriptors (vho:SnoutVentLength, vho:TotalLength, vho:DiagonalLegSpan, vho:CarapaceLength, vho:PlastronLength), each of which fixes the axis along which a clade's body size is measured.
Body mass
Mass of an organism's body. Used for individual measurements and for species-level typical-adult ranges (vho:typicalAdultMassRange).
Body measurement
A measurement of a body-size descriptor. The node names the descriptor it measures with vho:measuredAs and its unit with vho:unit. A measurement of an individual organism carries a single vho:value; a species-typical measurement instead carries vho:minInclusive and vho:maxInclusive in the manner of a vho:Range.
The care axis asking what the typical adult body measurement of a taxon is, in the clade-conventional descriptor, as the basis for body-relative enclosure sizing.
Brumation exit
A husbandry action sequence that brings a resident out of brumation: progressive restoration of temperature and photoperiod, gradual reintroduction of food.
Brumation initiation
A husbandry action sequence that prepares a resident for brumation: progressive reduction of temperature and photoperiod, cessation of feeding, increased hydration.
Brumation maintenance
Husbandry checks during an active brumation period: temperature monitoring, hydration checks, weight checks. No feeding.
Brumation period
A seasonal phase of metabolic slowdown observed in many temperate reptiles and amphibians during cooler months. Temperatures, feeding, and lighting are progressively reduced over the entry phase, held minimal during the maintenance phase, and gradually restored during the exit phase.
Burrow Site Role
Played by substrate (or, less commonly, hardscape with a pre-formed cavity) deep, structured, and stable enough for a resident to construct or occupy a permanent burrow. Distinct from vho:Hide: a hide is an above-substrate concealment surface, while a burrow site provides excavated underground residence. For fossorial and opportunistic-burrower species (theraphosids, fossorial reptiles), the burrow site is the primary day-time residence.
Calcium carbonate
Calcium salt CaCO₃. In vivarium husbandry, served as a calcium supplement dusted onto feeders or provided in dish form; also incorporated into some substrate blends for pH buffering and incidental calcium availability.
Calcium supplement
A powdered dietary supplement whose primary mineral is calcium (typically calcium carbonate, CHEBI:3311), used to correct the calcium-to-phosphorus ratio of insect feeders. May or may not include vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol, CHEBI:28940) depending on whether the enclosure provides UVB.
Calcium supplement with D3
Ca + D3
Calcium supplement that also contains supplemental vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol). Appropriate when the enclosure does NOT provide UVB lighting: the dietary D3 substitutes for the D3 the resident would otherwise synthesise via UVB exposure.
Calcium supplement without D3
Ca only
Calcium supplement that does NOT contain supplemental vitamin D3. Appropriate when the enclosure provides UVB lighting: the resident synthesises its own D3 from UVB, so additional dietary D3 risks over-supplementation.
Top-level class for the capacity continuant. Specific types of capacity (e.g., vho:FeedingCapacity, vho:CleaningCapacity) are subclasses.
Capacity
What a continuant in a vivarium is capable of doing.
Carapace length
Linear extent of a dorsal shield along its midline. Abstract parent of the conventional carapace-based body-size measures, used directly for crustaceans and specialised by the chelonian straight and curved measures.
Care Axis
A curatable dimension of husbandry knowledge about a taxon, such as humidity provision or diet. An axis names the question a curator answers, not the answer; each axis links to the assertion properties that answer it via vho:coversProperty, and taxa state which axes are meaningful questions for their members via vho:applicableAxis and vho:inapplicableAxis.
Care Guide
A sectioned prose document describing how to keep a species in captivity. Wraps human-readable husbandry narrative around explicit pointers to the ontology axioms that back each claim.
The CareGuide carries document-level metadata (title, creator, source, date) via Dublin Core. It is the round-trip bridge between hobbyist-facing prose and machine-readable axioms: each section names which species class and which properties on that class it describes, so a renderer can walk from prose to axiom and back.
Care Guide Section
A single section of a CareGuide. Carries prose for one topical cluster (e.g., enclosure, diet) and links to the axioms it describes via vho:describes.
Sections are the atomic prose units. A section is expected to bear exactly one rdfs:label (the section title), one dcterms:description (the prose body), one vho:sectionOrder (for stable rendering), and one or more vho:describes edges to the species class and/or to specific property URIs on that class.
Attached to a species (or other organism class) via vho:hasCareRegime; scoped to a vho:Period via vho:duringPeriod.
Care Regime
A bundle of husbandry value constraints (humidity, temperature, photoperiod, feeding, supplementation) scoped to a period.
Cathemeral
Activity distributed across both day and night without a strong diel peak.
degrees Celsius
centimetres
Chemical off-gassing
Latent capacity for a manufactured substrate or surface to off-gas plasticisers, adhesive residues, or other non-volatile-but-respiratory-active compounds. Realised when the resident organism breathes air drawn from the enclosure (RespiratoryExposure).
Chloramine exposure
Latent capacity for chlorine and chloramines residual in municipal water supplies to cross a permeable amphibian integument and disrupt cutaneous gas exchange and osmoregulation. Specialises vho:AbsorptiveContamination for the most common keeper-side failure mode (using untreated tap water for misting, pool top-up, or substrate moistening) and gives the SHACL report a sharper message than the generic absorptive-contamination capacity.
Phylum of animals possessing a notochord at some life stage. Contains all vivarium-kept vertebrates.
Cleaning action
A husbandry action that removes waste, uneaten food, shed skin, or biofilm from the enclosure. Distinct from substrate change: cleaning does not replace the substrate medium.
Cleanup Crew Role
Played by detritivores (isopods, springtails) maintaining bioactive substrate.
Clearance
The fall distance available to a climbing animal: the enclosure height less the depth of the substrate it would land on. Bounded as a ceiling for heavy-bodied species at risk of fall injury, where a tall enclosure with deep burrowing substrate is safe but the same enclosure with a shallow substrate is not.
Climbing ability
The capacity and propensity to ascend vertical or overhanging surfaces inside an enclosure, including walls, branches, and the underside of lids. Arboreal and scansorial species express this trait; obligate burrowers and benthic species do not. Climbing ability brings an organism into contact with elevated equipment (heat sources, lighting) whose surface temperatures or hazards are tolerable at ground level but harmful on direct contact.
Climbing Structure
A continuant providing arboreal traversal surfaces for an organism.
Coco coir
coconut fibre
coir pith
Fibre and pith milled from the husks of coconut palm fruit. Widely used as the bulk component of tropical bioactive substrates: holds water without becoming anaerobic, supports microbial colonisation, and resists decomposition over typical enclosure timescales.
Property values are for fine-pith form (the most common form in vivarium use); coarse-fibre forms drain faster and retain less. Refine per form when species encoding requires the distinction.
Commercial Food
A material entity that is manufactured and sold as food for an organism in a vivarium.
Comparator
The direction in which a vho:SizingConstraint bounds its quantity.
Constraint Basis
The reason a vho:SizingConstraint exists and the weight a breach carries. The evaluation shape enforces only binding bases; non-binding bases inform presentation.
Genus of New Caledonian geckos containing the crested gecko (C. ciliatus), Sarasin's giant gecko (C. sarasinorum), and the eyelash gecko (C. belepensis).
Crepuscular
Activity peaks at twilight, around dawn and dusk.
Crested gecko
eyelash gecko
Arboreal, crepuscular-to-nocturnal gecko endemic to southern New Caledonia. Bears soft adhesive setae on the toe pads, a frilled crest of dermal projections from the head along the back, and an autotomous tail that does not regenerate after loss.
Crested gecko axanthic morph
axanthic crested gecko
Recessive colour morph of Correlophus ciliatus lacking yellow and red carotenoid pigmentation. Visually distinct (grayscale phenotype) but otherwise broadly similar in husbandry to wild-type. The morph class exists to demonstrate the morph-override pattern in the ontology; species-level regimes inherit unchanged where the morph does not override.
Cross ventilation
Ventilation openings on opposing or offset enclosure faces at different heights, producing a continuous through-flow of air driven by pressure and temperature differences, rather than exchange through a single face.
Daytime
The lit phase of a 24-hour diel cycle in a vivarium. The exact hour boundaries are design-specific; the period is named here as a categorical phase rather than a clock interval.
Decor
Passive non-structural items, typically synthetic, placed in an enclosure primarily for aesthetic or visual-barrier purposes.
Delicate toes
Toes whose distal structure (adhesive setae, fine claws, or thin scalation) is mechanically vulnerable to fibre snag and abrasion. Borne by geckos with adhesive setae and by other small-bodied lizards with similarly fine toe anatomy. Realizes the toe-snag capacity on looped-fibre substrates and the abrasion capacity on rough porous surfaces.
Family of small, predominantly diurnal Neotropical frogs known for aposematic colouration and (in many genera) cutaneous alkaloid sequestration derived from a wild arthropod-prey diet. In captivity, individuals raised on fruit flies and springtails do not produce these alkaloids and are non-toxic.
Deposition Site Role
Played by a continuant on or in which a species deposits eggs. For dendrobatid frogs this is typically a bromeliad axil, a film canister, a moist sphagnum-lined leaf, or a similar water-holding or moisture-retaining geometry. Distinct from vho:Hide: a deposition site must hold moisture at the deposition geometry but need not provide visual concealment.
Derived Enclosure Quantity
A quantity computed from an enclosure's dimensions (and, where relevant, its substrate) and bounded by a vho:SizingConstraint. The computation for each quantity is fixed in the evaluation shape; the quantity term is the parameter that selects it.
Names one vivarium configuration so its constituents can be referred to together: which enclosure, which contents, which environmental measurements, which resident organisms, and which period is current. Applications that assess a configuration against a species' requirements do so over Design instances, under criteria those applications publish themselves.
Design
A specific configuration of an enclosure, its contents, environmental state, and resident organism(s), described as a coherent unit.
Design Condition
A condition of an enclosure design, such as the presence of live plantings, that a care requirement may be restricted to via vho:appliesWhen. Whether a given design satisfies the condition is judged by the tool or keeper applying the requirement; the vocabulary defines only what the condition means.
Diagonal leg span
Distance from the tip of the first leg to the tip of the diagonally opposite fourth leg with the legs extended. The conventional body-size measure for spiders, including theraphosids, where the span of the extended legs, rather than the length of the body, determines the floor space the animal needs and the fall distance it can survive.
DLS
Diel Period
A period scoped to a recurring daily cycle (e.g., Daytime, Nighttime, Crepuscular).
Diet
The care axis asking what members of a taxon eat and how often, including supplementary foodstuffs and their frequencies, by life stage where the answer differs.
Family of geckos endemic to Australia, New Caledonia, and New Zealand. Includes the New Caledonian giant geckos and the crested gecko.
Diurnal
Activity peaks during daylight hours.
Door
A movable structure that forms an entrance of an enclosure in a vivarium.
Drainage Layer Role
Played by whatever structure beneath the substrate bed lets irrigation water pass out of the bed and collect below it rather than waterlogging it. A layer of coarse free-draining aggregate such as expanded clay is the typical player; a raised false bottom plays the same role.
Egg stage
Pre-hatch ovum stage. For amphibians with biphasic life cycles, the egg stage is short (days to a few weeks) and occurs in a moist phytotelm or substrate site; regimes scoped to vho:Egg typically constrain humidity and temperature but not feeding.
Egg-rearing parameters often differ from larval-rearing parameters for the same species: a Ranitomeya egg-laying site holds a single clutch at high humidity until hatch, then the larvae are transported to a separate rearing pool.
Top-level class for the enclosure continuant. Specific types of enclosure (e.g., vho:Terrarium, vho:Aquarium) are subclasses.
Enclosure
A structure that contains an organism in a vivarium.
Enclosure Background
A structure that forms a background of an enclosure in a vivarium.
Top-level class for the enclosure content continuant. Specific types of enclosure content (e.g., vho:Substrate, vho:Decor) are subclasses.
Enclosure Content
A material entity that is contained in an enclosure in a vivarium.
Enclosure material
Class of materials used to construct enclosure parts. Material is attached to a vho:EnclosurePart individual via vho:material; it is a property axis distinct from the part class.
Top-level class for the enclosure part continuant. Specific types of enclosure part (e.g., vho:Wall, vho:Door) are subclasses.
Enclosure Part
A part of an enclosure in a vivarium.
Endorsement
A review of the published effective record of a species or morph class, at a stated release, that concluded with the reviewing agent endorsing the record's content as sound husbandry guidance. Names the reviewed class via vho:endorsedSubject and the release-stamped record document via vho:endorsedRecord; the reviewing agent and the completion date are stated with prov:wasAssociatedWith and prov:endedAtTime. An endorsement may scope itself to particular care axes via vho:reviewedAxis; absent that, it covers the whole record. Reviews that did not conclude in endorsement are not recorded.
Top-level class for the environment continuant.
Environment
The set of ambient conditions inside an enclosure at a given time. Bearer of qualities such as temperature, humidity, photoperiod, and airflow.
Environment is the dynamic state inside an enclosure; Enclosure is the physical container.
Environment Zone
A spatially-distinct region inside an enclosure whose ambient conditions differ enough from the bulk that they must be evaluated independently. Subclass of vho:Environment. Bearer of the same per-axis measurement properties that sit directly on a vho:Design for single-environment cases (vho:ambientHumidity, vho:ambientTemperature, vho:baskingTemperature, vho:waterTemperature, vho:baskingUvi).
Used for paludarium-style enclosures where a water area and a land area have substantially different ambient conditions inside the same enclosure. Regimes scope to a zone class via vho:scopedToZone; the generic regime-vs-measurement SHACL shape walks that link to the matching zone in the design. Single-environment designs (terrestrial cases) need not assert any zones; the shape's design-level branch applies.
Environmental temperature
Temperature quality inhering in an environmental material: air, water, soil, or other substrate of an enclosure interior. Parent class for the material-specific temperature qualities used by VHO care regimes.
Equipment
An active or functional item placed in an enclosure, typically powered or mechanical, providing or regulating an environmental condition.
Fall risk
The physiological condition of being heavy-bodied enough that a fall from height inside the enclosure can rupture the abdomen on impact. Borne by adult Theraphosidae of heavy-bodied genera (Grammostola, Brachypelma, Lasiodora, Phormictopus) over a species-conventional adult-mass threshold; not borne by lightweight arboreal theraphosids (e.g., Avicularia, Caribena) or by spiderlings of any genus.
This trait is defined as vocabulary. The species-scoped fall-risk SHACL shape currently reads vho:bodyMass directly rather than via this trait.
Feeding action
A husbandry action that offers a foodstuff to a resident organism. Pairs with vho:performedOn (the recipient) and vho:involvesFoodstuff (the food item).
Floor area
The area of the enclosure floor, the product of width and depth.
Floor diagonal
The diagonal of the enclosure floor, the square root of the sum of the squared width and depth. The longest straight line an animal can occupy on the floor, used to size snakes against the length they can stretch out to.
Floor long axis
The longer of the enclosure's two floor dimensions (width and depth). Orientation-independent, so a constraint does not depend on which wall faces the keeper.
Floor short axis
The shorter of the enclosure's two floor dimensions (width and depth). Orientation-independent.
Foodstuff
A material entity that is used as food for an organism in a vivarium.
Fossorial
Lives underground; burrows or occupies pre-existing tunnels for most of its active life.
Froglet stage
Post-metamorphosis terrestrial life stage in anurans, between morphological completion of metamorphosis (tail resorption) and sexual maturity. Froglets are markedly smaller than adults and require the smallest available feeders (springtails, melanogaster fruit flies) at higher feeding frequencies.
Front opening
A vho:Door installed on a vertical face of the enclosure. Subsumes swing-door and sliding-door variants.
Gecko commercial diet
CGD
crested gecko diet
Powdered commercial diet formulated for arboreal frugivorous geckos (Correlophus, Rhacodactylus, Mniarogekko, similar New Caledonian lineages). Typically a nutritionally-complete blend of fruit powders, insect protein, vitamins, and minerals; reconstituted with water to a viscous paste at feeding time. Brands include Pangea, Repashy, Arcadia, Black Panther Zoological, Leapin' Leachie, Zoo Med (new formula), Lugarti, and Blue River Diets.
Infraorder of squamates containing geckos and pygopods. Members are widely kept in vivaria across crepuscular, nocturnal, and diurnal lineages.
Glass
Soda-lime or low-iron glass used for transparent walls, doors, and lids. Holds heat well, blocks UV-B, fragile under impact.
grams
Genus of heavy-bodied, slow-growing, long-lived terrestrial tarantulas native to South America (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay). Includes the widely-kept beginner-friendly species G. pulchra (Brazilian black) and G. pulchripes (Chaco golden knee). Adult females typically exceed 10 g and persist for decades in captivity.
Brazilian black
Slow-growing, heavy-bodied terrestrial tarantula endemic to grassland and pampas habitat in southern Brazil and Uruguay. Adults are jet-black with iridescence; adult females reach 13–17 cm diagonal leg span and 15–25 g body mass, with captive lifespans of 25–30 years.
Habit
A quality describing the macrohabitat or substrate-stratum an organism predominantly occupies (arboreal, terrestrial, saxicolous, fossorial, aquatic). Drives enclosure-orientation and structural-content requirements.
Habit is the gross stratum preference. Finer microhabitat preferences (thin-branch preference, leaf-litter preference, bromeliad axils) are not modeled at this level.
Hardscape
Passive structural material (typically natural wood, rock, or similar) placed in an enclosure to provide habitat structure or play roles such as hide, climbing structure, or basking surface.
Heat element contact burn
Latent burn capacity borne by an unguarded radiant or convective heat source: direct contact with the element surface produces a thermal burn. Realised in residents that can ascend to or otherwise contact the element.
Heating equipment
Equipment whose primary function is to raise the temperature of the enclosure, its substrate, or its occupants. Includes radiant heat lamps, ceramic heat emitters, deep heat projectors, heat mats, and radiant heat panels.
Height
The internal height of the enclosure. Typically the binding floor for arboreal species.
Hide
Provides visual cover and a sense of enclosure to a target organism.
High air exchange
Air exchange through one or more full mesh walls or lids. Interior conditions track the surrounding room closely and humidity requires active management.
Hinged lid
A top opening with a hinge along one edge.
hours
Humidity
Quality inhering in air by virtue of the partial pressure exerted by the bearer's water vapour content. The relative-humidity value referenced by VHO care regimes (vho:humidityRange, vho:ambientHumidity) is a measurement of this quality.
The care axis asking what relative-humidity band the enclosure air must hold, including any tolerated drying floor between mistings.
Top-level class for the husbandry action process. Specific types of husbandry action (e.g., vho:FeedingAction, vho:CleaningAction) are subclasses.
Husbandry Action
An action that is performed in a vivarium for the purpose of husbandry.
Husbandry actions
The care axis asking what recurring keeper actions, such as misting or water changes, the care of members of a taxon requires during each period.
Ingestion impaction
Latent capacity for a coarse, hard, or fibrous substrate to cause gastrointestinal impaction if ingested. Realised in individuals with SmallBody: the small-body trait is materialised by a species-specific bodyMass threshold (13 g for crested geckos) and reflects the empirical observation that larger animals safely pass ingested particles that block smaller ones.
Juvenile stage
Developmental life-stage period from post-hatch independence to sexual maturity. Species-specific in duration: cresties are juvenile through ~12 months. Used to scope dietary, growth-tracking, and handling-frequency regimes.
Age-based stage. Distinct from the mass-based vho:SmallBody, which materialises on individuals below a species-specific safety threshold (e.g., 13 g for cresties). A juvenile may or may not also carry SmallBody.
Land Zone
The terrestrial region of a paludarium or other partly-aquatic enclosure. Bearer of the standard ambient-air measurements (vho:ambientHumidity, vho:ambientTemperature) and the standard basking measurements where applicable. Distinct from vho:WaterZone within the same enclosure.
Leaf Litter Role
Played by a layer of loose dried plant material, typically hardwood leaves, spread over the substrate surface. Provides ground-level concealment, humidity buffering, egg-deposition microsites for some species, and habitat for detritivore microfauna.
Superorder of reptiles containing Squamata (lizards, snakes, amphisbaenians) and Rhynchocephalia (tuatara). The nearest ancestor of Gekkota above Squamata.
Lid
A movable structure that forms a cover of an enclosure in a vivarium.
Life Stage Period
A period scoped to a developmental stage (e.g., Hatchling, Juvenile, Adult).
Lifespan
The care axis asking what the typical captive lifespan range of a taxon is.
Lighting equipment
Equipment whose primary function is to deliver light to the enclosure across some part of the visible, UVA, or UVB spectrum. Includes daylight bulbs, plant grow lights, and UVB tubes. Distinct from vho:HeatingEquipment: lamps emit both heat and light but are typed by their primary intent.
Linoleum substrate
shelf liner substrate
vinyl flooring substrate
Substrate composed of vinyl flooring, shelf liner, or linoleum sheet. Off-gasses plasticisers and adhesive residues at vivarium temperatures and humidities. Sometimes used as a cheap floor covering; not safe.
Live Feeder
A living animal that is used as food for an organism in a vivarium.
Low air exchange
Air exchange limited to small openings such as drilled holes or narrow vent strips. Interior air turns over slowly and humidity released inside the enclosure is largely retained.
The care axis asking what the typical adult body-mass range of a taxon is.
Sexual maturity
The care axis asking at what age members of a taxon typically reach sexual maturity.
Maximum field exposure
The band is the source's stated range of maximum field measurements of the quantity, taken where wild members of the taxon were observed exposed to it.
Mesh
Woven metal or synthetic mesh used for high-ventilation walls, doors, or lids. Allows airflow and UV-B transmission; bears vho:MeshTopEntanglement when used as a lid.
Mesh lid
An enclosure lid constructed from woven or perforated mesh. Provides high ventilation but bears vho:MeshTopEntanglement; unsafe for any resident carrying vho:TarsalClaw.
Mesh-top entanglement
Latent entanglement capacity borne by woven or perforated mesh lids: the mesh openings can catch the tarsal claws of an arthropod attempting to climb the underside of the lid, leading to torn appendages, autotomy, or death.
Multicellular animals. Root of the animal taxonomic chain referenced by VHO.
Misting action
A husbandry action that applies water as fine droplets to the enclosure interior, raising humidity and (for many species) providing drinking water as droplets on surfaces.
Moderate air exchange
Air exchange through partial mesh panels or generous vent strips. Humidity can be held with regular misting, but stagnant air does not accumulate.
months
Moulting
The ecdysis event itself: the resident sheds the old cuticle and inflates the new one. In Theraphosidae, this typically occurs on the back (the animal flips over to perform the moult). Hours to a day in duration; the resident is acutely vulnerable during and immediately after the event.
Infraorder of spiders characterised by paraxial chelicerae (fangs swinging in parallel rather than opposed), two pairs of book lungs, and (in most lineages) a long-lived, slow-growing life history. Contains the Theraphosidae (true tarantulas), Atypidae (purse-web spiders), and other lineages.
Neurotoxic oil off-gassing
Latent capacity for a substrate to off-gas volatile organic compounds (phenols, terpenes) that act as neurotoxins on exposed animals. Realised when the resident organism breathes air drawn from the enclosure (RespiratoryExposure, universal across air-breathing tetrapods and arthropods).
Nighttime
The unlit phase of a 24-hour diel cycle in a vivarium. The exact hour boundaries are design-specific; the period is named here as a categorical phase rather than a clock interval.
No requirement
A sourced statement that a care axis needs no provision for members of a class: the axis was considered and the cited source states none is required. Names its axis via vho:onAxis and carries source or contributor provenance like any assertion. Distinct from an axis nobody has curated yet, which carries no statement at all.
Nocturnal
Activity peaks during the night.
Occupant Role
Played by the resident organism(s) of a design.
Orchid bark
fir bark
Coarse milled bark (typically of Douglas fir, white fir, or redwood) sold for orchid potting. Used in vivarium substrate blends as the drainage and aeration component: low water retention, high drainage, slow decomposition.
Values are for medium-grade (10–20 mm) chunks. Fine-grade bark behaves closer to coir; large-grade behaves more like drainage layer than substrate component.
Top-level class for the kept-species continuant.
Organism
A living thing in a vivarium. This includes both animals and plants.
VHO scopes Organism to species kept in a vivarium. Livestock, companion mammals, and birds are out of scope.
PVC
Polyvinyl chloride sheet, typically used for opaque rear and side walls of large reptile enclosures. Excellent thermal insulation; rigid; not transparent.
Paludarium
An enclosure containing both water and land in fixed proportions. Distinguished from an aquarium (no land) and a riparium (water with shallow margins, but the residents are aquatic).
per day
per week
/wk
Period
A temporal phase to which one or more care regimes scope. Abstract parent of diel, seasonal, reproductive, and life-stage periods.
Cutaneous physiology established in Duellman & Trueb 1986; Heatwole 1994.
Permeable skin
The physiological condition of bearing skin that functions as a respiratory and osmoregulatory surface and absorbs water-soluble compounds (hand oils, soaps, sunscreens, sprayed residues, untreated chlorine and chloramines) on direct or indirect contact. Universal across Anura and the wider class Amphibia; also borne by some soft-bodied invertebrates with cuticular permeability. Distinct from vho:ThinIntegument: the same amphibian skin bears both, but the realised capacities differ, with thin integument realising mechanical-laceration capacities and permeable skin realising absorptive-contamination capacities.
Photoperiod
The care axis asking what daily light duration, possibly varying by season, the enclosure must provide for members of a taxon. A sourced answer that ambient room light suffices with no dedicated provision is an answer, distinct from the question never having been considered.
Physiological Sub-Period
A transient period that can co-occur with a life-stage or seasonal period. Distinct from vho:LifeStagePeriod (exclusive, monotonic, advances once) and vho:SeasonalPeriod (exclusive, cyclic, advances annually): a physiological sub-period rides on top of the current stage and reverts. Bearer of moult-cycle sub-periods (PreMoult, Moulting, PostMoult), feeding sub-periods (post-feeding, fasting), and reproductive sub-periods of the per-event kind (gravid, post-clutch).
A design may assert vho:currentPeriod for both a LifeStagePeriod and a PhysiologicalSubPeriod simultaneously: the two are orthogonal axes, not alternatives. vho:ReproductivePeriod remains a sibling subclass of vho:Period; new reproductive sub-states should consider PhysiologicalSubPeriod instead.
Physiological Trait
A trait reflecting physiology or biochemistry (e.g., calcium-deficiency susceptibility, elevated cortisol sensitivity).
Pine substrate
cedar substrate
Substrate composed of pine or cedar shavings, chips, or pellets. The aromatic oils characteristic of these conifers (phenols, abietic acid derivatives) off-gas at room temperature and act as neurotoxins on reptiles and amphibians. Universally contraindicated in vivarium use.
Plant
A living plant kept in a vivarium.
Plant Matter
A material entity that is derived from a plant and is used as food for an organism in a vivarium.
Plastron length
Straight-line distance from the anterior margin to the posterior margin of a chelonian plastron, measured along the midline. Used alongside carapace length to size chelonians and to track growth.
Post-moult
Transient physiological state following ecdysis, lasting days (spiderlings) to weeks (mature theraphosids), during which the new cuticle hardens and pigment is laid down. While the cuticle is soft the resident bears vho:ThinIntegument (materialised by a SHACL rule keyed on vho:currentPeriod vho:PostMoult) and is acutely vulnerable to mechanical-laceration capacities (sharp-edged decor, abrasive substrate). The trait reverts when the design's current period leaves PostMoult.
Pre-moult
Transient physiological state preceding ecdysis in arthropods. Behavioural and physiological markers vary by lineage but commonly include cessation of feeding, reduced activity, darkening of the integument as the new cuticle forms beneath, and (in spiders) sealing of the burrow entrance. Days to weeks in duration.
Prey Role
Played by a foodstuff (including a live feeder animal) during a feeding event.
Genus of constricting pythons native to sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Includes the ball python (Python regius), the most widely-kept pet snake.
Family of nonvenomous constricting snakes native to Africa, Asia, and Australia. Includes the ball python, the most widely-kept pet snake.
Top-level class for the quality continuant. Specific types of quality (e.g., vho:Temperature, vho:Humidity) are subclasses.
Quality
A quality of a continuant in a vivarium.
Carries vho:minInclusive, vho:maxInclusive, and optionally vho:unit.
Range
An inclusive numeric range with optional unit. Used by care-regime value constraints (humidity range, temperature range, feeding frequency).
Genus of small Neotropical dendrobatid frogs (typical adult SVL 14–25 mm) characterised by arboreal habit, phytotelm-rearing reproductive ecology, and substantial intraspecific colour-pattern variation across geographic locales. Resurrected from Dendrobates in 2006.
Mimic poison frog
imitator
Small Neotropical dendrobatid frog (typical adult SVL ≈ 17–22 mm) endemic to lowland and pre-montane primary and secondary forest of San Martín department, Peru. Notable for Müllerian mimicry of sympatric Ranitomeya species and for biparental care: males transport tadpoles to phytotelmata (typically bromeliad axils or arboreal pools) and females provision tadpoles with trophic eggs.
Recommended profile
A non-binding aspirational value, larger than the welfare minimum, offered as guidance for a better setup. Not enforced; consumers may present it as a recommendation.
Reproductive Period
A period scoped to reproductive state (e.g., Gravid, Postpartum, BreedingIntroduction).
Reptile carpet substrate
Substrate composed of looped or napped synthetic fibre marketed as 'reptile carpet'. The fibre loops catch and snag the fine toe structures of adhesive-pad geckos and other small-bodied lizards. Off-gassing is not the primary concern with this product; toe trauma is.
Respiratory exposure
The physiological condition of breathing air drawn from the enclosure environment. Universal across vivarium-kept tetrapods and air-breathing arthropods. Realizes off-gassing capacities of substrates and decor whose volatiles enter the breathing zone, such as pine and cedar essential oils, freshly-cured silicone, and off-gassing plastics and adhesives.
Top-level class for the role continuant. Specific types of role (e.g., vho:OccupantRole, vho:CleanupCrewRole) are subclasses.
Role
A role that a continuant in a vivarium can bear.
Required roles
The care axis asking what functions, such as a hide, climbing structure, water source, or burrow site, must be played by the contents of an enclosure housing members of a taxon.
Role Requirement
A requirement that a role be played in a design, stating the role and optionally how many distinct players it needs (vho:minRoleCount), how binding the requirement is (vho:basis), and the condition under which it applies (vho:appliesWhen). Asserted on an organism class via vho:roleRequirement; asserting one entails the role is required just as vho:requiresRole does, with the stated parameters attached.
Saxicolous
Lives on rocky surfaces; occupies the rock-stratum analogue of arboreal niches.
Seasonal Period
A period scoped to an annual season or dormancy cycle (e.g., Brumation, ActiveSeason, DrySeason).
Suborder of squamates comprising the snakes: limbless, elongate carnivores that locate, subdue, and swallow prey whole. Contains all vivarium-kept snakes.
Sharp-edged decor
Decor whose surface or perimeter presents sharp, fractured, or otherwise abrasive edges to the enclosure interior. Includes cut acrylic, broken or chipped ceramics, and rigid moulded plants with thin, unfiled leaf tips. Bears vho:SoftTissueLaceration.
Shelter Role
Abstract role for any continuant whose function is to provide shelter, cover, or perceived safety.
Enclosure sizing
The care axis asking what floors and ceilings bound the enclosure's dimensions for members of a taxon, whether body-relative or absolute, and what kind of enclosure is required.
Sizing Constraint
A floor or ceiling on a derived enclosure quantity, expressed either as a multiple of a body-size descriptor (vho:relativeTo and vho:multiple) or as a fixed dimension (vho:absoluteFloor), in a direction given by vho:comparator and for a reason given by vho:basis. Optionally restricted to residents bearing a quality or trait via vho:appliesWhen.
Sliding door
A front-opening door that translates horizontally along a track.
The 13 g threshold for Correlophus ciliatus follows ReptiFiles.
Small body
Individual-level trait borne by an animal whose body mass falls below a species-specific juvenile threshold. For crested geckos the threshold is 13 g (the safety threshold at which loose-substrate impaction risk, overhead-UVB cooking risk, and overhead-heat-lamp distance constraints become material). Materialised from vho:bodyMass measurements by a SHACL rule, and gates substrate-avoidance capacities.
Snout-vent length
Linear distance from the snout tip to the anterior margin of the vent, measured along the ventral midline. The conventional body-size measure for lizards and for tail-bearing amphibians, preferred over a snout-to-tail measure because it is unaffected by tail loss or tail regeneration.
SVL
Soft-tissue laceration
Latent laceration capacity borne by a continuant presenting sharp or abrasive edges to its enclosure interior: contact with the edge tears thin or unscaled integument. Realised in residents carrying vho:ThinIntegument.
Sphagnum moss
long-fibre sphagnum
Dried fibrous tissue of Sphagnum mosses. Acidic and antimicrobial; used as a top-dressing or major component where extreme moisture retention is required (e.g., dart frog vivaria, humidity-sensitive incubation). Hold capacity is exceptional: dried sphagnum can absorb 15–20 times its dry mass in water.
Values are for long-fibre (whole-strand) sphagnum; milled sphagnum behaves more like coir.
Spiderling stage
Post-emergence life stage in spiders, from leaving the egg sac through the early instars where the resident is still markedly smaller than the adult and requires different husbandry parameters (smaller feeders, shallower substrate, higher humidity tolerance, and closer monitoring). For Theraphosidae the spiderling phase spans roughly the first 5–8 moults; species-conventional boundaries between Spiderling, JuvenileStage, and AdultStage are at the curator's discretion.
Order of reptiles containing lizards, snakes, and amphisbaenians.
Straight carapace length
Straight-line distance from the anterior margin to the posterior margin of a chelonian carapace, taken with calipers rather than over the curve of the shell. The conventional body-size measure for turtles and tortoises and the basis on which their enclosures are sized.
SCL
Substrate
The medium covering the enclosure floor, composed of one or more components contributing to drainage, water retention, and bioactive viability.
The care axis asking what properties the substrate bed must have for members of a taxon, such as a floor on composite water retention.
Substrate change action
A husbandry action that replaces some or all of the enclosure substrate. Disruptive to bioactive setups, which favour spot-cleaning over substrate changes.
Used as the type of the blank-node or named-individual components reached via vho:hasComponent on a vho:Substrate.
Substrate Component
A constituent material of a substrate blend (e.g., coco coir, sphagnum, orchid bark). Component classes carry intrinsic property values (water retention, drainage, particle size) that compose into substrate-level derived properties via SHACL Rules.
Substrate depth
The depth of a substrate item in the design, in centimetres. Bounded as a floor for burrowing species. Each substrate item is checked independently.
Substrate temperature
Temperature of the substrate (soil, coco coir, sand, or other floor medium) inside an enclosure. Relevant to bioactive viability, burrower comfort, and incubation conditions.
Summer
The annual high-photoperiod, high-temperature half of a temperate-baseline seasonal cycle. The exact dates are design-specific; the period is named here as a categorical phase. Species in tropical or non-temperate ranges may use vho:Summer for the locally-corresponding high-activity season or override with a species-specific seasonal period instead.
Supplement
A material entity that is used as a dietary supplement for an organism in a vivarium.
Survival floor
A binding hard lower limit below which the animal cannot be kept at all. A breach is more severe than a welfare-minimum breach.
Swing door
A front-opening door hinged at one vertical edge.
Tadpole stage
Aquatic-only larval stage characteristic of anuran amphibians. Tadpole regimes require an aquatic environment (vho:WaterZone or dedicated rearing setup), water-temperature constraints, and a stage-specific diet (powdered tadpole food, in some genera supplemented by trophic eggs deposited by the female).
Tadpole food
tadpole bites
tadpole diet
Powdered or pelleted commercial diet formulated for anuran larvae. Typically a high-protein blend of fish meal, algae, and supplemented micronutrients; reconstituted with rearing water or fed as a sinking pellet. Brands include Repashy SuperVite tadpole formulas, Sera Micron, Aquatic Foods tadpole bites, and Josh's Frogs tadpole food. Distinct from adult anuran diets: tadpoles are typically aquatic herbivores or microphagous omnivores, whereas post-metamorphic adults are insectivores.
Tadpole Nursery Role
Played by a water-holding continuant in which tadpoles are reared. Typically a phytotelm (e.g., bromeliad-leaf axil), a film canister filled with water, or a dedicated rearing cup. Distinct from vho:DepositionSiteRole: deposition is where eggs are laid; rearing is where the resulting tadpoles develop. For Ranitomeya imitator the two roles may be co-located in the same phytotelm but remain conceptually distinct.
Tarsal claw
Recurved claw at the distal end of an arthropod leg, used for clinging to substrates. Present in arachnids (typically as paired claws on each tarsus) and in many other arthropods. The clinging mechanism that makes the trait useful on rough surfaces is also what makes it liable to entanglement on woven or perforated materials such as fine mesh.
Temperament
A quality that describes the temperament of an organism in a vivarium.
Temperature
Quality of the thermal energy of a system. Abstract parent of the material-contextualised temperatures used in care regimes (ambient, substrate, water).
Terrestrial
Lives on the ground; rarely or never climbs.
Family of large, typically long-lived mygalomorph spiders kept widely in vivaria. Members carry paired tarsal claws used for clinging.
Thermal Role
Abstract role for any continuant whose function is to provide a thermal effect on an organism (basking, cooling, gradient anchor).
Thin integument
An outer body covering that is thin, soft, or unscaled relative to a typical reptilian scaled integument. Includes amphibian skin, the cuticle of soft-bodied invertebrates, and the body wall of newly-moulted arthropods. Thin integument is mechanically vulnerable to laceration on sharp edges and chemically permeable to environmental contaminants.
Toe-fibre snag
Latent capacity for a looped, napped, or fine-fibrous surface to catch the distal toe structures of an arboreal climber. Realised in individuals with DelicateToes (geckos with adhesive setae or fine claws). Outcome ranges from temporary detachment of adhesive pads to traumatic toe loss.
Top opening
A vho:Lid that provides access by opening upward.
Total length
Linear distance from the snout tip to the tail tip, measured along the body. The conventional body-size measure for snakes and for elongate tailed amphibians such as newts and salamanders, whose usable space scales with the length they can stretch out to.
Abstract parent for trait categories. Domain content adds specific trait individuals.
Trait
An anatomical, physiological, or behavioural feature of an organism that participates in capacity realization.
Ultraviolet provision
The care axis asking what ultraviolet exposure members of a taxon require. Ultraviolet care spans the UV-B waveband, which drives cutaneous vitamin D synthesis and is expressed as a UV-index band at the basking location or as a Ferguson Zone classification, and the UV-A waveband, which many animals perceive and which influences basking, foraging, and social behaviour. An answer on any property the axis covers answers the axis; for many taxa the sourced answer is that no provision is required, and that answer is recorded rather than left blank.
The covered properties address the UV-B side; a UV-A provision property extends the axis through vho:coversProperty rather than a new axis, keeping ultraviolet one question with one coverage state.
Unguarded heat lamp
A radiant heat lamp installed without a protective cage around the bulb. Bears vho:HeatElementContact; unsafe for any resident carrying vho:ClimbingAbility.
Unit
A unit of measurement. Specific units (vho:Celsius, vho:Gram, vho:Centimetre, vho:Month, vho:Year, vho:PerDay) are individuals of this class.
Untreated tap water
raw tap water
unfiltered tap water
Water drawn directly from a municipal supply without dechlorination or aging. Bears vho:ChloramineExposure: residual chlorine and chloramines cross a permeable amphibian integument and disrupt cutaneous gas exchange and osmoregulation. Distinct from treated water (dechlorinated, RO-remineralised, or aged 24 h under aeration), which does not bear this capacity. Modelled as a vho:Substrate subclass so it participates in the capacity-realisation pattern alongside other unsafe substrates, rather than as a vho:Foodstuff or a dedicated vho:WaterMedium class.
UVB lamp
A lighting fixture emitting in the UV-B band (280–315 nm) at intensities relevant to reptile and amphibian D3 photosynthesis. Includes Arcadia ShadeDweller / Forest / Desert tubes, Zoo Med ReptiSun T5 series, and equivalent compact fluorescent or T5 fluorescent products. Naked-bulb installation is required, since UVB is blocked by glass and most plastics.
Vent
A structure that forms an opening for air circulation in an enclosure in a vivarium.
Ventilation
The care axis asking what level of passive air exchange and what airflow arrangement the enclosure's ventilation openings must provide for members of a taxon.
Visual Barrier
Breaks line-of-sight, contributing to perceived safety; distinct from a full hide because it need not enclose.
Vitamin D3
The inactive form of vitamin D, hydroxylated in the liver to calcidiol and further in the kidney to calcitriol (the active hormone). In vivarium husbandry, supplied either directly as a dietary supplement or generated endogenously in the keeper organism via UV-B exposure.
Volume
The internal volume of the enclosure, the product of width, depth, and height.
Wall
A vertical structure that forms part of an enclosure in a vivarium.
Water change action
A husbandry action that replaces some or all of the water in an aquatic or paludarian enclosure, or in a water dish. Critical for aquatic setups to maintain nitrogen-cycle stability.
Water depth
The vertical distance from the water surface to the deepest point of the standing water body in a design. Bounded as a floor for swimming and soaking species and as a ceiling where shallow water protects weak swimmers.
Water Source Role
Played by an entity providing water an organism can drink from or soak in: a water dish, a pool or stream section of a water zone, or foliage and decor surfaces that collect misting droplets for species that drink droplets rather than standing water.
Water surface area
The horizontal area of the surface of the standing water body in a design. Bounded as a floor for species whose swimming, gas exchange at the surface, or thermoregulation depends on open water extent.
Water temperature
Temperature of liquid water inside an enclosure: water dish, pool, or fully aquatic enclosure body. Distinct from vho:AmbientTemperature because water and air at the same notional ambient can differ substantially in actual temperature.
The care axis asking what temperature band the standing water body in the enclosure must hold, for members of a taxon with an aquatic life stage or aquatic habits.
Water Zone
The water-filled region of a paludarium or aquarium. Bearer of vho:waterTemperature, the at-surface vho:ambientHumidity (typically ≈ 1.0), and water-quality properties (pH, hardness, nitrogen-cycle compounds). Distinct from vho:LandZone within the same enclosure.
Web Anchor Role
Played by structure offering attachment points for silk, letting a web-building organism anchor tube webs, retreat webbing, or moult mats. Cork bark, branches, and textured backgrounds are typical players.
Welfare minimum
A binding floor at which a keeper can provide a minimum standard of wellbeing for the animal, larger than the bare minimum needed to keep it alive. A breach is a welfare failure.
Captures the standard the Federation of British Herpetologists applies in its enclosure-size guidance, which grounds the figure in freedom from discomfort and exposure and freedom to express normal behaviour.
Whole Prey
A dead animal that is used as food for an organism in a vivarium.
Winter
The annual low-photoperiod, low-temperature half of a temperate-baseline seasonal cycle. The exact dates are design-specific; the period is named here as a categorical phase. Species in tropical or non-temperate ranges may use vho:Winter for the locally-corresponding low-activity season or override with a species-specific seasonal period instead.
Wood
Solid or panel wood (plywood, MDF, hardwood) used for opaque walls of custom enclosures. Excellent thermal insulation; requires sealing for humid setups.
Wood-chip substrate
bark-chip substrate
Substrate composed of coarse hardwood or bark chips (other than fine-grade orchid bark used as a blend component). Particles are large, hard, and irregularly-shaped, posing an impaction risk if ingested by a small-bodied animal.
Distinct from vho:OrchidBark used in fine-grade form as a substrate blend component. The relevant capacity here is impaction from ingested coarse pieces; ingestion of fine-pith blend components is not the same hazard.
years
absolute floor
A fixed bound on a vho:SizingConstraint, in centimetres (vho:Centimetre). Combined with any vho:multiple term as a maximum for a floor (vho:AtLeast) or a minimum for a ceiling (vho:AtMost). Used alone where no body-relative proportion is established for the species.
age at sexual maturity range
Relates an Organism class to a vho:Range describing the typical age at which members reach sexual maturity, in months (vho:Month).
ambient humidity
Current ambient relative humidity inside the enclosure (or assigned to its design for evaluation), expressed as a decimal in [0, 1].
ambient temperature
Current ambient temperature inside the enclosure, in degrees Celsius.
ambient temperature range
Ambient-temperature range required by a care regime, expressed as a vho:Range.
applicable axis
Asserted on a taxon or species class to state that the named care axis is a meaningful husbandry question for its members, whatever the answer turns out to be. Applicability accumulates down the taxonomic chain and is removed only by an explicit vho:inapplicableAxis assertion on a nearer class.
applies when
Restricts a vho:SizingConstraint or vho:RoleRequirement to the circumstances in which it applies. The guard value is either a trait or quality individual (for example vho:FallRisk or vho:Fossorial), tested through vho:hasTrait or vho:hasQuality on the resident or its class hierarchy, or a vho:DesignCondition individual (for example vho:BioactiveConfiguration), whose satisfaction is judged by the tool or keeper applying the requirement against the design. A requirement with no guard applies to every resident of the asserting class in every design. Multiple guard values on one node are conjunctive: the requirement applies only when every guard holds; alternative conditions are stated as alternative requirement nodes.
asserts no requirement
Relates an organism class to a vho:NoRequirement stating that a care axis needs no provision for its members: the axis was considered and the cited source states none is required. The statement shadows any ancestor bands on the axis and is reported as a sourced none, visibly distinct from an axis nobody has curated yet.
band role
The kind of claim the source makes about this band. A band with no band role states required provision; a roled band, such as vho:AverageFieldExposure or vho:MaximumFieldExposure, is an observational claim that informs provision without stating it. Parallel bands on one axis, each with its own role and provenance, stand together; what to conclude from an observational band is the judgement of whoever applies it.
basis
How binding a requirement is and how strongly a breach weighs: vho:WelfareMinimum for a binding wellbeing floor, vho:RecommendedProfile for a non-binding aspirational value, vho:SurvivalFloor for a hard lower limit. Carried by vho:SizingConstraint nodes, vho:RoleRequirement nodes, and vho:CareRegime nodes; on a care regime it qualifies every value the regime asserts, and two bands of differing bindingness on one axis are stated as two regimes.
basking temperature
Current temperature at the design's basking surface, in degrees Celsius. Location-scoped measurement distinct from vho:ambientTemperature (bulk ambient air). Typically written by the physics simulator; paired with the regime-side vho:baskingTemperatureRange via vho:validatesAgainst.
basking temperature range
Relates a care regime to the inclusive temperature range required at the design's basking surface during the regime's period, in degrees Celsius (vho:Celsius). Distinct from vho:ambientTemperatureRange: the basking-surface range is a location-scoped requirement reflecting the local hot spot, not the bulk ambient air. Validated against vho:baskingTemperature on the design.
basking UVI
Current UV-index reading at the design's basking surface. Dimensionless. Location-scoped measurement; typically written by the physics simulator or asserted from a Solarmeter reading. Paired with the regime-side vho:uviRange via vho:validatesAgainst.
body mass
Body mass of an individual organism, in grams (vho:Gram). Per-individual measurement; the species-level typical range lives on the species class as vho:typicalAdultMassRange. Compared against a species-specific juvenile threshold to flag small-bodied individuals.
cited by
Indicates downstream citation: a term or assertion is referenced by an external work or by another VHO module.
comparator
The direction of a vho:SizingConstraint: vho:AtLeast for a floor, vho:AtMost for a ceiling.
component type
Relates a component blank node (or named individual) to the class of substance or part it instantiates (e.g., vho:CocoCoir).
constrains
The derived enclosure quantity a vho:SizingConstraint bounds (vho:Height, vho:Clearance, vho:FloorLongAxis, vho:FloorShortAxis, vho:FloorDiagonal, vho:SubstrateDepth, and similar).
count
Non-negative integer count of items of a component within a composite.
covers property
Links a vho:CareAxis to an assertion property whose resolved presence answers the axis. Tooling reads the link to compute coverage, so adding an axis or widening one is a data edit with no per-axis machinery.
current period
The period currently active for a design (e.g., Daytime, Brumation, Hatchling). Determines which care regime applies.
default photoperiod hours
Default photoperiod-relevant duration in hours associated with a period (e.g., 12 for Daytime in a temperate baseline).
derived from
Indicates that an assertion (typically a quantitative value or range) was derived from a cited source rather than asserted novelly. Used alongside dcterms:source for finer-grained provenance.
derived water retention
Composite water-retention value derived from the component water-retention values weighted by mass fraction. Produced by compositional-derivation SHACL Rules; not asserted directly.
describes
Relates a care guide section to a class or property it discusses. Targets are typically the species class (whole-section subject) and one or more specific property URIs on that class (per-paragraph anchors).
drainage
Intrinsic drainage coefficient of a substrate component, in [0, 1]. Higher values drain faster.
during period
Relates a care regime to the period during which it is active (e.g., Daytime, Brumation, Hatchling).
enclosure depth
Internal depth of an enclosure, in centimetres (vho:Centimetre). The front-to-back horizontal span when viewed from the keeper's front.
enclosure height
Internal height of an enclosure, in centimetres (vho:Centimetre). For arboreal species, the height dimension is typically the binding axis of the sizing constraints asserted on the species.
enclosure sizing constraint
Relates an Organism class (a species or higher taxon) to a vho:SizingConstraint declaring a floor or ceiling on a derived enclosure quantity, either as a multiple of a body-size descriptor or as a fixed dimension. Resolved by consumers together with the resident's body measurement.
enclosure width
Internal width of an enclosure, in centimetres (vho:Centimetre). The left-to-right horizontal span when viewed from the keeper's front. For species-shape validation, width is one axis of the minimum-dimensions check; the spec convention is W × D × H.
endorsed record
The release-stamped record document a vho:Endorsement reviewed. The value is the record document IRI, which fixes exactly which published content the endorsement covers; later releases carry the endorsement forward with its original target, and how a previous-release endorsement is presented is the judgement of the tool displaying it.
endorsed subject
The species or morph class whose record a vho:Endorsement reviewed. The value is a class IRI used as a class-level reference.
feeding frequency
Feeding frequency required by a care regime, expressed as a vho:Range with a per-time unit.
Ferguson zone
Baines' Ferguson Zone (1–4) classifying a species' UVB-exposure requirement category. Zone 1 = crepuscular / shade-dweller; Zone 4 = full open-sun basker. Asserted on a vho:CareRegime as a classification annotation, alongside or instead of vho:uviRange when the curator prefers the categorical form. Not itself a SHACL-gated constraint.
for role
The role a vho:RoleRequirement requires. The value is a vho:Role subclass IRI used as a class-level reference, following the convention of vho:requiresRole.
has body measurement
Relates an individual organism to a measured value of one of its body-size descriptors, carried as a vho:BodyMeasurement bearing vho:measuredAs, vho:value, and vho:unit. A design's sizing constraints resolve against the resident individual's measurements in preference to the species-typical span.
has capacity
Relates a continuant to a latent capacity it bears. Capacities are realized when their conditions are met (see vho:realizedWhen).
has care regime
Relates a species (or other organism class) to a care regime that applies to its members during some period, scoping care to a period.
Relates a composite continuant to a component contributing to its derived properties (substrate components, gas mixture parts, light spectrum sources, enclosure parts).
has content
Relates a design (or enclosure) to an item of enclosure content placed within it.
has enclosure
Relates a design to the enclosure it configures.
has environment
Relates a design to the ambient environmental state inside its enclosure.
has organism
Relates a design to a resident organism in that design.
has outcome
Relates a capacity to the outcome that occurs when it is realized (e.g., limb injury, dehydration).
Generic part-of relation between continuants. Aligned with BFO:0000051 (has part).
Domain and range are intentionally unconstrained at the upper level; specific subproperties (vho:hasContent, vho:hasComponent) carry the tighter typing.
Relates a continuant to a quality that inheres in it (humidity, temperature, temperament, weight).
Relates a continuant to a role it bears in some context. Inverse of vho:playedBy via vho:plays.
has section
Relates a care guide to one of its constituent sections.
has trait
Relates an organism (or, by class-level assertion, a taxon) to an anatomical, physiological, or behavioural trait it bears.
has zone
Relates a design to one of its spatially-distinct environment zones (vho:WaterZone, vho:LandZone, or other vho:EnvironmentZone subclasses). A design that requires zoning declares one vho:hasZone per zone instance; each zone bears its own per-axis measurements. Single-environment designs (the terrestrial-gecko case) need not assert any zones; the SHACL shape's design-level branch reads measurements directly from the design.
Subproperty of vho:hasPart in spirit but not declared as such; zones are ambient-state continuants, not material parts.
humidity drying minimum
Relates a care regime to a tolerated transient low-humidity range that the design may dip into between misting cycles. Distinct from vho:humidityRange (the target band): the drying minimum is informational, not a hard SHACL gate, and acknowledges that periodic drying is part of healthy husbandry rather than a violation.
humidity range
Relative-humidity range required by a care regime, expressed as a vho:Range.
in context
Relates a role to the design (or other context) in which it is played.
inapplicable axis
Asserted on a taxon or species class to state that, contrary to an assertion on one of its ancestors, the named care axis is not a meaningful question for its members, such as basking temperature for a taxon that does not bask. Not a statement that no provision is needed; a considered answer of none is stated with vho:assertsNoRequirement instead.
involves foodstuff
Relates a feeding action (or supplementation action) to the foodstuff class offered. Pairs with vho:performedOn to identify both the recipient and the food item.
lacks capacity
Asserted on a continuant class to state that, contrary to a vho:hasCapacity assertion on one of its ancestors, members of this class do not carry the named capacity. A positive, sourceable claim about the members of the class, not an absence of data.
lacks quality
Asserted on an organism class to state that, contrary to a vho:hasQuality assertion on one of its ancestors, members of this class do not bear the named quality. A positive, sourceable biological claim about the members of the class, not an absence of data.
lacks trait
Asserted on an organism class to state that, contrary to a vho:hasTrait assertion on one of its ancestors, members of this class do not bear the named trait. A positive, sourceable biological claim about the members of the class, not an absence of data.
mass fraction
Fraction of a composite's mass contributed by a component, expressed as a decimal in [0, 1].
material
Relates an enclosure part (wall, door, lid, vent) to the material it is constructed from. Modeled as a separate axis from the part class so that the (part × material) grid does not require a class for each combination.
max inclusive
Inclusive maximum value of a vho:Range.
measured as
Relates a vho:BodyMeasurement to the body-size descriptor it measures (vho:SnoutVentLength, vho:TotalLength, vho:DiagonalLegSpan, and similar). The descriptor is referenced as a class-level value, following the convention used by vho:requiresEnclosureClass.
median particle size
Median particle size of a substrate component, in metres.
minimum derived water retention
Asserted at the class level on an Organism species (or higher taxon) to declare the minimum acceptable substrate-composite derived water-retention coefficient for designs housing members of that class. Dimensionless, in [0, 1]. Compared by consumers against the vho:derivedWaterRetention value that shape:SubstrateWaterRetentionRule derives from substrate components.
min inclusive
Inclusive minimum value of a vho:Range.
minimum role count
The minimum number of distinct entities that must play the role a vho:RoleRequirement names. A ball python needing a snug refuge at each end of its thermal gradient carries a hide requirement with a minimum count of two. Absent, the minimum is one.
multiple
The factor by which a vho:SizingConstraint scales the resident's measured vho:relativeTo descriptor to produce the bound. A value of 3.0 against a diagonal leg span of 15 cm yields a 45 cm bound.
on axis
The care axis a vho:NoRequirement answers.
performed by
Relates a husbandry action to the agent that performs it. Typically a human keeper; may also be an automated system (timer-driven mister, dosing pump).
performed on
Relates a husbandry action to the continuant it acts upon: the resident organism, the enclosure, an item of content, or a foodstuff.
photoperiod hours
Hours of light per 24-hour day that the regime's seasonal period prescribes. Carries vho:Hour implicitly. Distinct from vho:defaultPhotoperiodHours on a Period (which gives the default for the period itself); vho:photoperiodHours on a regime states the species-specific value the regime asserts.
played by
Relates a role to the continuant playing it.
plays
Relates a continuant to a role it currently plays, within the role and context model.
precedes
Asserts that one husbandry action precedes another in a process sequence. Minimal occurrent-ordering primitive: irreflexive partial ordering, no commitment to interval semantics, Allen relations, process-bag composition, or transitive closure under OWL. Consumers that need closure walk it themselves. The continuant-side modelling patterns cover most cases; vho:precedes exists for the occurrent-side cases (breeding lifecycle, moult cycle, brumation initiation→maintenance→exit) where ordering matters.
A minimal relation for ordering husbandry-action occurrents, such as the stages of a breeding cycle. Ancillary terms (initiates, terminates, a process-class parent) can be added without revising this property.
provides quality
Relates a role to a quality it provides while played (e.g., a hide provides shelter and visual barrier qualities).
realized when
Relates a capacity to the trait (or other condition) whose presence realizes it. Part of the capacity-and-trait model.
relative to
The body-size descriptor whose measured value a vho:SizingConstraint's vho:multiple scales to produce the bound. The descriptor is referenced as a class-level value, following the convention used by vho:requiresEnclosureClass.
requires action
Relates a care regime to a husbandry-action class that must be performed during the regime's active period (e.g., daily misting during a tropical daytime regime).
requires air exchange level
Asserted at the class level on an Organism species (or higher taxon) to declare the level of passive air exchange members require of their enclosure. The value is a vho:AirExchangeLevel individual. A humidity-retaining species requires vho:LowAirExchange; a stagnation-sensitive species requires vho:HighAirExchange.
requires airflow pattern
Asserted at the class level on an Organism species (or higher taxon) to declare an airflow pattern members require of their enclosure's ventilation openings, independent of how much air is exchanged. The value is a vho:AirflowPattern individual, such as vho:CrossVentilation for species sensitive to stagnant air pockets.
requires enclosure class
Asserted at the class level on an Organism species (or higher taxon) to declare that designs housing members of that class must use an enclosure of a specific class. The value is an owl:Class IRI used as a class-level reference (mirroring vho:requiresFoodstuff). The paludarium-paradigm dart frog asserts vho:requiresEnclosureClass vho:Paludarium; a desert species could similarly require a non-mesh-top configuration. A consumer checks a design by walking the resident's class hierarchy and comparing the design's vho:hasEnclosure against the named class.
requires foodstuff
Relates a care regime to a foodstuff class required during the regime's active period.
requires role
Relates a species (or other organism class) to a role its members require to be played in their design (e.g., vho:CrestedGecko vho:requiresRole vho:Hide). States bare membership: at least one player, unconditionally, with no stated basis. A requirement carrying a player count, a basis, or an applicability condition is stated instead as a vho:RoleRequirement via vho:roleRequirement; a class states any given role in exactly one of the two forms.
retracts
Links a retraction property to the accumulating assertion property whose inherited members it removes (for example, vho:lacksTrait retracts vho:hasTrait). Integrity checks and resolution tooling read this link, so a new accumulating pair joins them by declaring it, with no per-pair machinery.
reviewed axis
A care axis a vho:Endorsement is scoped to, for a reviewer endorsing only the axes within their competence. An endorsement with no reviewed axis covers the whole record.
role holder for
Relates a role to the organism (or other beneficiary) for whose benefit it is played (e.g., a hide is played for a specific resident organism).
role requirement
Relates a species (or other organism class) to a vho:RoleRequirement stating a role its members require together with the requirement's parameters: a minimum player count, a basis, or an applicability condition. Asserting a role requirement entails the named role is required, exactly as vho:requiresRole does; a class states any given role in exactly one of the two forms.
scoped to zone
Relates a care regime to the environment-zone class whose measurements the regime validates against. The value is a vho:EnvironmentZone subclass IRI used as a class-level reference (mirroring the convention of vho:requiresFoodstuff vho:LiveFeeder). The generic regime-vs-measurement SHACL shape walks from the regime's vho:scopedToZone to whichever zone in the design is a/rdfs:subClassOf* the named class, reads the measurement from that zone, and validates against the regime's range. A regime without vho:scopedToZone validates against design-level measurements; both modes coexist in the same generic shape via a UNION branch.
Used for paludarium-style enclosures. The class-as-value convention is deliberate: declaring a zone class (vho:WaterZone) rather than a specific zone instance lets a curator author species-level regimes without committing to any particular design's zone naming.
section order
An integer that determines the rendering order of care guide sections within their parent care guide. Lower values render first.
severity
Relates a capacity to a severity level (e.g., Critical, Moderate, Mild) characterising the realized outcome.
substrate depth
Depth of a substrate item in a design, in centimetres (vho:Centimetre). Per-substrate measurement (a design may carry more than one substrate item with different depths); read as the vho:SubstrateDepth quantity when a consumer resolves the resident species' substrate-depth sizing constraint.
supplement with
Relates a design to the supplement class (or instance) used as its supplementation protocol. Mirrors the class-as-value convention of vho:requiresFoodstuff: a design typically points at a vho:Supplement subclass (e.g., vho:CalciumWithD3) to declare the protocol abstractly; instance-level references are also supported for SKU-level provenance. The appropriate supplement class depends on the design's UVB provision: dietary D3 and UVB-driven cutaneous synthesis are complementary routes to vitamin D sufficiency, so a protocol including D3 suits UVB-free designs while a UVB-provisioned design calls for calcium without added D3.
supplementary feeding frequency
Feeding-frequency range for the supplementary foodstuff in a care regime, expressed as a vho:Range with a per-time unit. Parallels vho:feedingFrequency but applies to vho:supplementaryFoodstuff rather than vho:requiresFoodstuff.
supplementary foodstuff
Relates a care regime to a foodstuff class offered as a supplement to the primary required foodstuff during the regime's active period. Distinct from vho:requiresFoodstuff: supplementary foodstuffs are typically lower-frequency, secondary inputs (e.g., live insects offered weekly alongside daily commercial diet).
typical adult mass range
Relates an Organism class to a vho:Range describing the typical mass span of a healthy adult of the species, in grams (vho:Gram).
typical body measurement
Relates an Organism class to the typical adult span of one of its body-size descriptors, carried as a vho:BodyMeasurement bearing vho:measuredAs, vho:minInclusive, vho:maxInclusive, and vho:unit. Used to size a design when no individual measurement is supplied. A class may carry one per descriptor.
typical lifespan range
Relates an Organism class to a vho:Range describing the typical captive lifespan span of a healthy member of the species, in years (vho:Year). Captive lifespan differs from wild lifespan; the value here is the captive-husbandry-relevant figure.
unit
Unit of measurement associated with a numerical value or range (e.g., vho:Celsius, vho:PerDay).
UVI range
Relates a care regime to the inclusive UV-index range required at the design's basking location during the regime's period. UVI is dimensionless. Validated against vho:baskingUvi on the design. UVB is conventionally provided only during the lit phase of the diel cycle, so this property typically lives on a Daytime-scoped regime.
validates against
Metadata link relating a regime-side range property (humidityRange, ambientTemperatureRange, baskingTemperatureRange, uviRange) to the design-side measurement property it is compared against (ambientHumidity, ambientTemperature, baskingTemperature, baskingUvi). Lets a consumer drive one generic in-range check across every regime axis. Adding a new measurement axis is then: declare the range property, declare the measurement property, and link them with vho:validatesAgainst, with no per-axis machinery required.
value
The measured value of an individual organism's vho:BodyMeasurement, in the node's vho:unit. Species-typical measurements use vho:minInclusive and vho:maxInclusive instead of a single value.
volume fraction
Fraction of a composite's volume contributed by a component, expressed as a decimal in [0, 1].
waives role
Asserted on an organism class to state that, contrary to a requirement on one of its ancestors, members of this class do not require the named role to be played in their design. Removes the role however the ancestor stated it, whether as a bare vho:requiresRole or as a vho:RoleRequirement. A positive, sourceable husbandry claim, not an absence of data.
water retention
Intrinsic water-retention coefficient of a substrate component, in [0, 1]. Higher values hold more water per unit mass.
Current temperature of the water body of an enclosure, in degrees Celsius. Asserted on a vho:WaterZone instance for zoned (paludarium / aquarium) designs, or on the vho:Design directly for single-environment designs that nonetheless model a water body. Paired with the regime-side vho:waterTemperatureRange via vho:validatesAgainst.
water temperature range
Relates a care regime to the inclusive water-temperature range required at the design's water zone during the regime's period, in degrees Celsius (vho:Celsius). Distinct from vho:ambientTemperatureRange (the air-temperature requirement): water and air at the same notional ambient can differ substantially. Validated against vho:waterTemperature on the water zone via the generic regime-vs-measurement shape, typically with vho:scopedToZone vho:WaterZone.
Support classes for the core VHO modelling patterns: capacity and trait, role and context, care regime scoped to a period, and compositional derivation.
Core relational, value-carrying, and provenance properties for the Vivarium Husbandry Ontology.
Agents credited as creators or contributors of assertions in the Vivarium Husbandry Ontology.
Vivarium Husbandry Ontology Contributors
Review endorsements of published species and morph records. Each endorsement is a vho:Endorsement naming the reviewed class, the release-stamped record document, the reviewing agent (declared in the contributors file), and the completion date, optionally scoped to particular care axes.
Vivarium Husbandry Ontology Endorsements
Body-size descriptors and the reified body-measurement node. Each descriptor names a conventional axis along which a clade's body size is measured for the purpose of sizing enclosures and comparing individuals. A vho:BodyMeasurement records a value of one descriptor, either for an individual organism or as a species-typical span.
The catalog of care axes: the curatable dimensions of husbandry knowledge about a taxon, each linked to the assertion properties that answer it, together with the applicability assertions stating which axes are meaningful questions for which taxa. Applicability accumulates down the taxonomic chain and is retracted by an explicit inapplicability assertion; a record's coverage listing reports each applicable axis as answered, answered with a sourced none, or not yet curated.
Enclosure-type classes, materials, and opening kinds layered over the upper-level vho:Enclosure and vho:EnclosurePart. Keeper terminology for enclosure types (terrarium, vivarium) is intentionally not canonicalised. VHO mints only the two types with consensus meaning (aquarium, paludarium) and lets other distinctions emerge as properties (substrate type, water level). Material is modelled as a property axis (vho:material) rather than baked into part subclasses, so the (part by material) grid does not require a class per combination.
Equipment classes and the hazard capacities they bear. Capacities are declared as Capacity individuals with vho:realizedWhen pointing to the trait that triggers them; the matching vho:hasTrait assertions are asserted on taxa. A capacity is realizable when an organism with a matching trait shares a design with a continuant bearing the capacity.
Specific husbandry-action subclasses of vho:HusbandryAction, plus the brumation lifecycle (period plus entry, maintenance, and exit actions). Care regimes attach required actions via vho:requiresAction; specific action instances connect to their participants via vho:performedOn, vho:performedBy, and vho:involvesFoodstuff. Breeding cycles are intentionally not included: their multi-action ordering needs a vho:precedes relation the upper level does not yet declare.
Substrate component classes used in vivarium husbandry. Each component carries intrinsic property values (water retention, drainage, median particle size) at the class level; composite substrate properties are derived by a SHACL Rule (shape:SubstrateWaterRetentionRule). Substrate components are VHO-novel terms: they are heterogeneous biological materials and do not cleanly map to ChEBI (which catalogues small molecules) or ENVO (which contextualises but does not catalogue keeper-grade horticultural media).
Trait individuals: anatomical, physiological, and behavioural features that participate in capacity realization. Traits are declared as individuals so that a single trait can be asserted on a taxon and referenced by a capacity's vho:realizedWhen.
VHO encoding of the crested gecko (Correlophus ciliatus). The species class and its taxonomic placement under Correlophus, Diplodactylidae, Gekkota, Squamata, Lepidosauria, Chordata, and Metazoa carry an owl:equivalentClass alignment to NCBITaxon:143539. This file holds the domain content asserted about vho:CrestedGecko: typical-adult body ranges, anatomical traits, care regimes, required roles, and species-scoped SHACL shapes.
VHO Species: Correlophus ciliatus (crested gecko)
Crested gecko adult diet regime
Overrides only the daytime UVI slot; the provision target is precautionary for the pigment-reduced phenotype, and the Zone 1 field-exposure bands are restated because a slot override replaces the slot's whole content. Temperature, humidity, and photoperiod dimensions are not re-declared and resolve through the species' day-temperature, humidity, and photoperiod regimes via rdfs:subClassOf*. Adding any of those properties here would override the species value: declare deliberately, not by reflex.
Axanthic crested gecko day regime override
Three parallel UVI bands with distinct claims. The unroled band is the provision target at the basking branch; the two roled bands are the Zone 1 field-exposure statistics. The provision target sits above the zone-average band and reaches past the maximum recorded field exposure: a basking-spot figure with shade retreat available is a different quantity from whole-habitat exposure statistics, and the sources' claims stand side by side rather than being averaged into one band.
Crested gecko day temperature regime
Target band 0.60–0.80 with a tolerated drying-cycle floor of 0.40–0.50 between mistings. The drying-minimum is informational metadata only; the hard SHACL gate is the target band. ReptiFiles cautions that constant moisture encourages mould; periodic dry-down is part of healthy husbandry.
Crested gecko humidity regime
Mealworms and superworms are RF-excluded for cresties. Accepted feeders include crickets, dubia roaches, discoid roaches, small hornworms (captive-bred only), black soldier fly larvae, and silkworms; waxworms only as occasional treats.
Crested gecko juvenile diet regime
ReptiFiles explicitly rejects supplemental nighttime heat for cresties; nightly cooling is healthier than holding daytime temperatures. The night regime intentionally carries no basking-temperature constraint.
Crested gecko night temperature regime
Crested gecko summer photoperiod
RF, citing Baines' UV Tool, prescribes 14 h summer and 10 h winter, with gradual transitions in between. The seasonal-transition gradient is not modelled here.
Crested gecko winter photoperiod
VHO encoding of the Brazilian black tarantula (Grammostola pulchra). The species class and its taxonomic placement under Grammostola, Theraphosidae, Mygalomorphae, Araneae, Arachnida, Arthropoda, and Metazoa carry an owl:equivalentClass alignment to NCBITaxon:1826295. This file holds the domain content asserted about vho:GrammostolaPulchra: typical-adult body ranges, single-zone environment regimes (no photoperiod, no UVB), enclosure constraints, substrate depth and burrow-site role, stage-scoped diet (Spiderling, Juvenile, Adult), and body-relative enclosure sizing constraints including a fall-risk clearance ceiling.
VHO Species: Grammostola pulchra (Brazilian black tarantula)
G. pulchra adult diet regime
Round-the-clock ambient band. The species tolerates the lower end (down to ~20 °C) for short periods without harm but consistent sub-20 °C exposure slows growth substantially. Above 27 °C metabolism accelerates and lifespan shortens accordingly. Most temperate keepers can house this species at room temperature without supplemental heat.
G. pulchra ambient temperature regime
Moderate band. Drier than the paludarium paradigm and wetter than desert species. Practical maintenance: keep the upper substrate layer dry between waterings, dampen the lower layer to maintain the band. Spiderlings tolerate the upper end of the band better than adults.
G. pulchra humidity regime
G. pulchra juvenile diet regime
G. pulchra spiderling diet regime
VHO encoding of the ball python (Python regius). The species class and its taxonomic placement under Python, Pythonidae, Serpentes, Squamata, Lepidosauria, Chordata, and Metazoa carry an owl:equivalentClass alignment to NCBITaxon:51751. This file holds the domain content asserted about vho:BallPython: typical-adult body ranges measured as total length, single-environment care regimes, body-relative enclosure sizing constraints combining the Federation of British Herpetologists total-length proportions with the ReptiFiles fixed adult minimum, substrate floor, required hide, and stage-scoped diet.
VHO Species: Python regius (ball python)
P. regius adult diet regime
Cool-side and general air band. Air must never exceed 35 C; night air may drop to 21 C, below which a lightless heat source is needed.
P. regius ambient temperature regime
Warm-side target measured at the basking surface; the air directly above it runs 30-32 C. Ball pythons do not bask in open light; the warm retreat is the heat resource the snake seeks to raise its metabolism for digestion.
P. regius warm-retreat temperature regime
Measured by a probe in the cool hide, where humidity is highest. Raise toward the upper end during a shed; sustained low humidity causes incomplete sheds and respiratory stress.
P. regius humidity regime
P. regius juvenile diet regime
VHO encoding of the mimic poison frog (Ranitomeya imitator). The species class and its taxonomic placement under Ranitomeya, Dendrobatidae, Anura, Amphibia, Chordata, and Metazoa carry an owl:equivalentClass alignment to NCBITaxon:111125. This file holds the domain content asserted about vho:RanitomeyaImitator: typical-adult body ranges, anatomical and physiological traits, zoned environment regimes for the paludarium paradigm, enclosure and substrate constraints, required decor roles, and stage-scoped dietary regimes (Tadpole, Froglet, Adult).
VHO Species: Ranitomeya imitator (mimic poison frog)
R. imitator adult diet regime
Post-metamorphosis froglets are tiny (≈ 8–10 mm SVL) and require feeders no larger than their mouth gape. Springtails (Folsomia / Sinella) are the keeper-grade canonical first food; D. melanogaster joins once the froglet outgrows the smallest size class.
R. imitator froglet diet regime
Daytime band on the land zone. Highland-locality populations (e.g., Varadero) tolerate the lower half of the band better than the upper; lowland-locality populations are more heat-tolerant. The band documents the species envelope, not a locality optimum.
R. imitator land-zone day temperature regime
Round-the-clock high-humidity band on the land zone. Cloud-forest dendrobatids tolerate brief drops to ~0.50 when free-standing water is accessible, but sustained low humidity is rapidly fatal; the target band is correspondingly tight.
R. imitator land-zone humidity regime
Nighttime band on the land zone. A small nightly cool-down (~2–4 °C below daytime) encourages natural activity and breeding behaviour; deeper drops are not warranted for this species.
R. imitator land-zone night temperature regime
Round-the-clock 12 h tropical photoperiod. R. imitator is endemic to the equatorial belt (~6° S) where daylength varies negligibly across the year; seasonal photoperiod regimes used for temperate species are not relevant here.
R. imitator photoperiod regime
Tadpole-stage diet. Parental trophic-egg provisioning is biologically important for this species but not modelled here as a keeper-side regime requirement.
R. imitator tadpole diet regime
Water-zone temperature band, round-the-clock. The water body in a paludarium typically tracks land-zone ambient with a slight lag; the band overlaps the land daytime range deliberately. Tadpole rearing tolerates the upper half; egg-incubation phytotelmata are at the lower.
R. imitator water-zone temperature regime
UV lighting that mimics sunlight is unnecessary for tarantula wellbeing; theraphosids do not depend on ultraviolet exposure for vitamin D synthesis.
No dedicated photoperiod provision is required: ambient room light supplies the day and night rhythm, and lighting on a timer is an optional enhancement, not a requirement. Direct sunlight and strong lighting are avoided.
Schultz, S. A. and Schultz, M. J. (2009). The Tarantula Keeper's Guide, 3rd edition. Barron's Educational Series.
Fall distance, the enclosure height less the substrate depth, stays at or under one and a half times the diagonal leg span for terrestrial tarantulas: a fall onto a hard surface can rupture the abdomen and is usually fatal. Fall biomechanics are described in Schultz and Schultz.
Animal and Plant partition Organism. An individual is one or the other, never both.
Snout-vent length, the lizard sizing axis, preferred over a snout-to-tail measure because the tail is shed and not regrown. Derived from the cited ~20 cm snout-to-tail typical adult less the tail; a directly-sourced snout-vent figure would refine it.
Captive lifespan. Wild lifespan is shorter and is not the husbandry-relevant figure.
Basking-branch provision target, with shaded refuge available below.
Ferguson Zone 1 zone-average UV index: the mean of field measurements where crepuscular and shade-dwelling animals were observed.
Ferguson Zone 1 maximum recorded UV index in the field.
Water-accumulation surfaces for droplet drinking, typically following from foliage placement under a misting routine.
CGD offered daily = 7 feedings per week.
CGD offered every 2–3 days ≈ 2–3 feedings per week.
Basking-branch provision target, tighter than the species band of 1.0–2.0 to account for reduced melanin-mediated photoprotection.
Ferguson Zone 1 zone-average UV index, restated from the species band: overriding a slot replaces its whole content, so the field-exposure statistics that remain true of the morph are carried along with the changed provision target.
Ferguson Zone 1 maximum recorded UV index in the field, restated from the species band.
Adult-female mass envelope. Adult males are substantially lighter (about 5–10 g). Literature rarely reports mass for theraphosids; curator estimate based on body-volume scaling from leg span.
Adult females typically clear 15 cm; males rarely exceed 13 cm.
Sex-dimorphic and slow. Males mature 5–8 years post-egg-sac (60–96 months); females 8–12 years (96–144 months). The 48–96 month band captures the early end (male maturation); females mature outside this range and are noted in the lifespan comment.
Captive lifespan envelope. Sex-dimorphic: females routinely live 25–30 years; males live only 4–8 years post-maturity (10–15 years total). The 15–25 range documents the species typical without committing to a per-sex split; a future Quality-bearing model on the individual will support sex-specific lifespan annotations.
Pinhead crickets, fruit fly cultures, pre-killed cricket parts (slings often accept). Higher frequency than later stages supports growth.
Small crickets, small dubia roaches, mealworms. Pre-moult fasting is common at this stage; skipped feedings are normal.
Adult crickets, adult dubia roaches, occasional pinky mice (curator discretion, not required for nutrition). Adults fast for extended periods around moults, weeks to months, and this is normal; do not force-feed.
Males 109-131 cm, females 114-136 cm; the band spans the sexes. Exceptionally large captive females exceed 150 cm.
Adult envelope; markedly sex-dimorphic, with females heavier and large females exceeding 2000 g. Curator estimate calibrated to the species' length range.
Captive lifespan; well-kept individuals routinely reach the upper end.
Federation of British Herpetologists minimum enclosure size guidance.
The snake must be able to stretch out fully across the floor diagonal.
0.3 TL per the FBH proportions; the 60 cm backstop is the ReptiFiles adult height minimum, which is the binding height for all typical adult lengths.
ReptiFiles fixed adult floor: 120 cm long axis.
ReptiFiles fixed adult floor: 60 cm short axis.
FBH nominal floor profile (0.9 x 0.45 TL); non-binding guidance shown alongside the binding minima.
Adults need 7.5-10 cm (3-4 in) of substrate to hold humidity; around 5 cm suits hatchlings. Deeper than 10 cm risks anaerobic pockets at the bottom of the layer.
One snug hide at each end of the thermal gradient, tight enough that the snake's body touches the walls.
A sturdy bowl of fresh water available at all times, for drinking and as the enclosure's humidity reservoir.
One appropriately sized rodent (10-15% of body weight): every 5 days for hatchlings, every 7 days under 200 g, every 7-10 days at 200-300 g, every 10-14 days at 350-500 g.
One rodent every 2-3 weeks at 500-1500 g body mass, slowing to every 4-6 weeks above 1500 g. Adults fast for weeks at a time, especially in winter, and this is normal; do not force feeding.
Mass-from-length scaling estimate for adult Ranitomeya imitator at typical SVL. Literature rarely reports mass directly for this species.
Expressed in centimetres to match the cross-species unit convention.
In a bioactive, regularly misted build, irrigation water must drain out of the substrate bed; a waterlogged bed turns anaerobic and defeats the retention-without-saturation balance the substrate floor encodes.
Every other day, light feedings; overfeeding fouls the rearing water faster than the tadpole metabolises the food.
Froglets fed daily with the smallest feeders available: springtails primarily, with the smallest melanogaster fruit flies as a secondary source.
Adults fed every other day to daily. Variety across feeder species (D. melanogaster, D. hydei for larger adults, springtails, bean weevils, occasional rice flour beetle larvae) supports reproductive condition; mono-feeder diets risk nutritional deficiencies.