Terrarium Project Journal

[GoofyGarra]

have to say, these guys are definitely social, i rarely see them alone, usually in pairs:

[GoofyGarra]

i dont think my culture is going well. The isopods are shy and i havent seen very many of them, and ive noticed a few deaths.  Ive also noticed fungus starting, i think this is due to my lack of sprintails. I rushed too much when i got the isopods and didnt have an established springtail culture. I think instead of shaking out moss from my terrariums into the isopods, i just need to buy a new springtail culture, a standard charcoal one that is easy to harvest.

[Guppysnail]

On 10/27/2023 at 6:50 AM, GoofyGarra said:

i dont think my culture is going well. The isopods are shy and i havent seen very many of them, and ive noticed a few deaths.  Ive also noticed fungus starting, i think this is due to my lack of sprintails. I rushed too much when i got the isopods and didnt have an established springtail culture. I think instead of shaking out moss from my terrariums into the isopods, i just need to buy a new springtail culture, a standard charcoal one that is easy to harvest.

Give them time to not be shy. A month or two. When their numbers are small they are shy. 
There also may be nothing wrong with you culture. They got shaken up in shipping. Give it time. If this culture fails we can try again once your culture is mate mature. 

[GoofyGarra]

ok, still need to get some springtails established. I moved some moss from my esablished terrariums into the wet side of the enclosure, ill take it out tommorow. Hopefully the moss was seeded with sprintails and they will establish themselves in the setup.

Also noticed i had an old bag of twigs i collected for terrarium projects that were moist and rotting, so perfect for isopods, so i mashed up the rotting wood and sprinkled it around in the enclosure, hopefully it helps.

Also ive seen some isopods alive, so i suspect most of them are just hiding at this point.

And i also have a fungus gnat infestion, another reason why i need the springtails.

Edited November 5, 2023 by GoofyGarra

[GoofyGarra]

ok, having a bad day but i think this project is going well. I set some repashy on a piece of cork bark for the isopods and ive seen 1 nibbling at it.

Also a few weeks ago i added this big stick to the setup as i figured it would provide good hiding spots. I flipped it over today and found 4-5 isopods on it, so while i have seen a few corpses, "where there's life there's hope" so im hopeful that most of them are just hiding and i  can get a good population going soon.

[GoofyGarra]

The wild isopods around me have long fascinated me,so now that im getting into the isopod hobby, i figured i should give some wilds a try. I collected some from around my neighborhood and put them in a little setup of their own (with springtails). If they do well ill upgrade them to a larger setup in the future. Im not sure what species i have, or if they are all the same species but i tried to get only pill shaped ones, there were other isopods as well but i really like the pill shaped ones so i put the others back. Im pretty sure at least 1 of the isopods i collected is a Cubaris Murina though, due to its face and deep gray color. The others are more brown and speckled so im not sure about the species.

Edited November 5, 2023 by GoofyGarra

[Guppysnail]

On 11/5/2023 at 3:45 PM, GoofyGarra said:

The wild isopods around me have long fascinated me,so now that im getting into the isopod hobby, i figured i should give some wilds a try. I collected some from around my neighborhood and put them in a little setup of their own (with springtails). If they do well ill upgrade them to a larger setup in the future. Im not sure what species i have, or if they are all the same species but i put back all the non pill shaped ones, there were other isopods as well but i really like the pill ones so i put the others back. Im pretty sure at least 1 of the isopods i collected is a Cubaris Murina though.

I declare them species “Rolly pollies “ 🤣🤣🤣🤣 just kidding. 
I used to collect those when I was your age also. 

[GoofyGarra]

On 11/5/2023 at 3:48 PM, Guppysnail said:

I declare them species “Rolly pollies “ 🤣🤣🤣🤣 just kidding. 

they do roll up its very fun. Thats one of the reasons i am very gravitated towards Armadilidium, they remind me of fond memories of finding these guys  as a kid.

The funny thing is even though i have more p.pruinosus then rolly pollies, so ill call them, the roly pollies are easier to see partially because they might be less shy, but also their enclosure is much smaller. I think i went overboard on the p.pruinosus enclosure, which might delay breeding if it takes longer for opposite sexes to find each other, or even for the isopods to find food.

Edited November 5, 2023 by GoofyGarra

[GoofyGarra]

ok, after some more research my best guess is that the wild isopods i found are wild type Armdilidium Vulgare.

[GoofyGarra]

here's a picture of my wilds, what i think to be the a. vulgare. If its something else please correct me: @AnimalNerd98 any ideas?

Im not certain its A. vulgare, but it rolls up, has the right shape, and i can see yellow spots that could be further developed so thats my best guess. If its not A.Vulgare its probably a Cubaris sp.

[GoofyGarra]

ok, my springtail attempts are succeeding, i lifted up some cork bark and saw a flurry of activity as a gathering of springtails ran away from me. Hopefully they keep reproducing so i can get my fungus and fungus gnat problems under control.

[GoofyGarra]

ok, i decided to take advantage of the season and collected a bucketful of leaves. Ive boiled them to disinfect them, and am drying them out for storage and future use:

 

The A.Vulgare are doing fine, i havent seen any deaths but i want to move them into a bigger enclosure, no breeding yet.

I have no clue how the P.Pruinosus are doing. I see one or two occasionally and thats it, i dont have a large population and they are shy. Im trying at this point to ignore them as much as possible. Ive been watching some "common mistakes" videos for isopods and one that i noticed is checking on the isopods too much can be detremental so im ignoring them as much as possible, watering when needed. Im not really feeding as its a small population and there is plenty of leaf litter.

[GoofyGarra]

Isopods are shy as always, ive noticed lots of small bugs on a piece of wood in the enclosure, but im not sure if they are isopod babies,springtails,or immature fungus gnats, they are dark colored and cant fly or jump so im hoping isopod babies,

Any other ideas what they could be? they are too small and fast to get a picture.

[GoofyGarra]

On 12/21/2023 at 6:41 PM, GoofyGarra said:

Isopods are shy as always, ive noticed lots of small bugs on a piece of wood in the enclosure, but im not sure if they are isopod babies,springtails,or immature fungus gnats, they are dark colored and cant fly or jump so im hoping isopod babies,

small update, these are just springtails.

This is not isopod related per-say but kinda similar and this seems like the best place to put it. So if you want non-isopod but terrarium related stuff keep reading.

I set up a new terrarium thing but different then ive done before. Ive done closed systems before where they are watertight and have high humidity for moss but im trying something new. This is setup in my old 2.5gallon with some ventilation in the lid. While using moss and plants i found some cool fungi and hoped to grow those. While i have some standard mushrooms, my favorite of the fungi in here is a fungi that looks like a bunch of maroon pouches which feel like they are full of water. I found a nice piece of wood in my neighborhood with various fungi and lichens too.

I did add a drainage layer and the substrate is comprised of dirt, white rot wood, leaves, and sphagnum moss. I was aiming to hold water and provide nutrients for detritivores and plants. I watered the back half with the plants, but left the front with the leaf litter dry to try and make some kind of wet/dry side. Here is a picture of the setup, i made it today so the fungi and plants have not had much of a chance to grow, it looks really cool to me in person, but bad photos ruin the affect...

So far the inhabitants include Springtails, a garden snail or two, anything that hitched a ride on the wood (?), 1 A.Vulgare and 1 P.Pruinosus. I want to test if i can keep isopods in here because i think that would be cool. Once the plants grow in the primary inhabitants of this terrarium are going to be 3-4 little millipedes.

With this system being open i will have to keep on top of watering but i think i can do that.

[GoofyGarra]

ok this journal is changing.

My Isopods are not doing too well and i think most of them died 😞, there is not that much to say about them,

However i have various terrarium projects that i'd love to talk about and i think this journal will be the best place to do it. So no longer is this an "Isopod Journal" im changing it to "Terrarium-stuff Journal", I still love isopods and im hoping to succeed with them, but thats just not happening at the moment.

So as a small update my fungus centered terrarium has not been doing well. The Vulgare i tried putting in died, but i think the Orange is still alive. However the plants and fungi themselves are not doing very well, i think it could be really cool if i made it a closed system and sealed up the ventilation holes, because as an open system it is not working. The plan was initially to put millipedes in this setup but as its not doing so well i put the millipedes in one of my closed terrariums instead, ive seen them going around munching on mosses so they are doing well. (The moss is healthy, it can get munched on a little and will be fine).

One of my current terrarium projects is trying to propagate various species of terrestrial moss using the method listed in this video:

I have three setups, so far all unsuccessful but i am being very patient (basically just ignoring them...)

 

[GoofyGarra]

Sad news isopod wise.

I realized yesterday why my isopods werent doing very well, i used a chemical charcoal in the substrate that must have poisoned them. I need to change out the substrate but in the process im moving them into a smaller container. I removed all the leaf litter and hides from the container to catch them out and did not find any, so right now i think i only have one alive 😥 and that one is living in my open system fungi terrarium thing. Springtail wise the setup was healthy, but i think i killed off my isopods, im very sad. 😥

[GoofyGarra]

On 12/28/2023 at 8:08 PM, GoofyGarra said:

small update, these are just springtails.

This is not isopod related per-say but kinda similar and this seems like the best place to put it. So if you want non-isopod but terrarium related stuff keep reading.

I set up a new terrarium thing but different then ive done before. Ive done closed systems before where they are watertight and have high humidity for moss but im trying something new. This is setup in my old 2.5gallon with some ventilation in the lid. While using moss and plants i found some cool fungi and hoped to grow those. While i have some standard mushrooms, my favorite of the fungi in here is a fungi that looks like a bunch of maroon pouches which feel like they are full of water. I found a nice piece of wood in my neighborhood with various fungi and lichens too.

I did add a drainage layer and the substrate is comprised of dirt, white rot wood, leaves, and sphagnum moss. I was aiming to hold water and provide nutrients for detritivores and plants. I watered the back half with the plants, but left the front with the leaf litter dry to try and make some kind of wet/dry side. Here is a picture of the setup, i made it today so the fungi and plants have not had much of a chance to grow, it looks really cool to me in person, but bad photos ruin the affect...

So far the inhabitants include Springtails, a garden snail or two, anything that hitched a ride on the wood (?), 1 A.Vulgare and 1 P.Pruinosus. I want to test if i can keep isopods in here because i think that would be cool. Once the plants grow in the primary inhabitants of this terrarium are going to be 3-4 little millipedes.

With this system being open i will have to keep on top of watering but i think i can do that.

I did a lot of work on this project. I feel that it was hastily done with no real purpose and that is why it failed. I want to try and keep isopods in it kinda display style which im finding i much prefer to the bins.  (Though i might still use some bins while i learn what im doing). In this setup there was my last P.Pruinosus isopod, unfortunately while i tried to remove him during the redoing i could not find him, so im hoping he is still alive and in the setup and that i will see him at some point, otherwise its the mystery of the lost orange isopod and will haunt me forever.

Some changes i made when i redid this project:

1. I added a proper drainage layer using gravel from a friend, before it was just a few rocks and did not suit the purpose.
2. Implemented wet/dry side One the left side of the enclosure is a hill of moss that rests on lots of moist sphagnum moss, this is my wet side of the container, the rest of it with the leaf litter was kept dry.  I also scattered some gravel around to make it look much more natural, often when i collect moss i find little rocks and twigs in it.
3. Hid a cork hide. Beneath the hill of moss on the left side there is a cork hide hidden, the idea is that while the surroundings may be wet, under the bark will stay dry if the isopods want to go there. I borrowed the idea from Serpadesign.
4. Added isopods. I tore down my Vulgare setup and moved them into here, if they do well i will collect more and move them in, if not i will have to keep trying isopods until i find one that works. Im thinking P.Skaber is my best option because it is not picky at all, but ill see how the vulgare do.

And here is a picture:

I did not really try to grow any mushrooms in the setup this time (apart from whatever is on the wood), but i might take some from my backyard and try and "plant" them in the setup, they grow fast and isopods love to eat them so it is a good combination.

However when i comes to mushrooms i setup a culture to try and grow them and learn about them. I used a drainage layer because i figured it couldn't hurt, then added a dirt/wood/leaves/sphagnum substrate mix, then "planted" in the mushroom and te hen filled in on top with bark pieces, and punched a few holes in the lid for ventilation. I did this because the location i found these mushrooms growing is covered in bark, and the mushrooms are "rooted" in the dirt. The goal was to achieve good results by copying the mushroom's native environments. Right now all the mushrooms are hidden under the bark, but they should began to rise up above it soon. They dont need light so i plan to completely ignore them, then come back in a week or two and find something really cool happening:

Edited January 7 by GoofyGarra

[GoofyGarra]

Ok, On sunday i collected some isopods and put them in, no clue on the species. So far they appear to be doing well, but i checked the moss and it is dry already. I think i may need to rethink my ventilation situation to accommodate my wet/dry plan as appose to right now where it really fights against it.

I do most of my projects randomly and always forget before pictures. But here is the after picture of lid modification:

Basically i removed the mesh from the two central holes and covered them with plastic instead. I created a new hole on the right, where the wet side is which will hold water better and allow more lights for the mosses. I cut new holes on the left and put mesh over them for ventilation on the dry side. Ill have to see if it eases my maintenance and if the bugs like it.

Edited January 10 by GoofyGarra

[GoofyGarra]

Arachnophobia Warning

While i am enjoying  keeping a spider, i understand that it is not everybody's favorite pet and thought i'd give a little warning.

 

 

A few months ago i found a little jumping spider in my bathroom and for the fun of it threw her into one of my terrariums. While she is still tiny, she seems to be doing well and i see her out sometimes. I was working on the terrarium today and i had to pull her out into a seperate container because otherwise she could escape during maintenance.

I think its a female based on coloration, but its hard to tell at that size. She is very pretty, but is very little and hard to photograph. I wasn't sure a spider would do well in a closed terrarium, but she seems to be doing great, I assume she hunts springtails but i have no clue.

 

And here is the terrarium she is living in:

The idea of the terrarium was a forest path with a fallen tree down the center.

Edited January 24 by GoofyGarra

[GoofyGarra]

Snow finally melted, which meant i could go outside and collect bugs again 😁. I'm trying to find which live animals do well in closed terrariums and use them in more of my setups. Doing the scape with moss and everything is great, but having some alive, moving, and visible (looking at you springtails) in there really makes it nice.

I collected a bunch of bugs and put them all in one of my terrariums.

Species I am trying in this terrarium:

Some kind of centipede

Some kind of millipede

Slugs

Garden snails

Also with the increase of herbivores in the terrarium, hopefully which do well and reproduce as a food source for the millipede, i needed a food source for them, so against my better judgment i added some Pennywort to the terrarium. This stuff does okay for me floating as an aquarium plant, but it is a WEED in terrariums. It grows fast, the big leaves block out light from other plants, and it grows really deep roots that are hard to take out. The only reason i tried this was because hopefully the bugs will help eat it and control the growth. Like most of my projects, this was pretty random, but had i planned ahead better i would've had the pennywort growing strong already for the herbivores.

@Biotope Biologistany ideas on good bugs for closed systems (meaning no openings in the container, unless i open the lid)?

I assume i'm looking for small, low oxygen requiring, high humidity tolerant animals. So far my little jumping spider has been doing great,  but she's really an apex predator and i'm looking for more lower foodchain animals that work.

The terrarium

Bad picture of slug

 

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

On 11/5/2023 at 12:48 PM, Guppysnail said:

declare them species “Rolly pollies “ 🤣🤣🤣🤣 just kidding. 

Me too! Only I'm not kidding. Those are Rolly Poleys and nothing else. 

What a cool little project, I hope you have some success!

[Biotope Biologist]

I can’t think of any other bugs! If you can find wooly caterpillars they are fun to raise but they will eat you out of house and home.

[GoofyGarra]

On 1/26/2024 at 4:56 PM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

What a cool little project, I hope you have some success!

yeah, unfortunately can't really do too well with isopods, fungus gnats are becoming established, im finding isopod bodies and they are dissapearing 😞, im still working on keeping terrestrial animals alive

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

I'm sorry for that but sadly sometimes in keeping animals there is a steep learning curve. You'll get there if you are determined. 

[GoofyGarra]

I realized that at least from what i've seen, while the world of mosses and plants in terrariums seems pretty big, people seem to rarely try fungis in terrariums, yet they can provide some super cool color and texture. Doing a fungi experiment: