SMALL HABITATS

Not the natural history lesson you'd expect but a guide to creating and maintaining a small-animal terrarium. Pointing out that plants, animals and settings must be compatible, Hess reviews the components and conditions for five different types of terrariums--meadow or woodland, desert, tropical jungle, etc.--and then, for even quicker reference, appends a chart that matches animals, food, plants, decorations, and temperature requirements. Turtles, snakes, lizards, frogs and toads, and hermit crabs are among the recommended inhabitants of your simulated habitat. . . . Conservationists might leave them to their natural ones. Otherwise, a firm beginning.