I started my first terrarium. Well kind of a terrarium. It just a 10x16 inch glass cylinder vase that has some rocks, a layer of water under the rocks for humidity, and a cork log with moss right now. I plan to mount an orchid to the cork once the moss is established.

I introduced springtails and Google told me to use one or two single grains of uncooked rice to give them some additional food.

Well, that's what I get for listening to Google. A few days after I added the 2 grains of rice I came down in the morning and noticed that there were trails or tracks of something in the condensation on the acrylic lid. I thought maybe it might be from a springtail, but it was strange because I couldn't see one and the trail just stopped. So I thought maybe they had jumped off the lid and that would explain why the trail seemed to stop with nothing at the end.

I have a jewels loop that I use for mushroom identification and just generally looking at things up close so I decided to have a look at the end of this trail in the condensation. What I saw was a tiny little mite. Almost microscopic. With the naked eye it just looks like a fleck of dust really.

I used my phone through the magnifying glass to get a photo. It is a mite with lots of little hairs all around it. I uploaded the photo to Gemini and it immediately identified it as a grain mite or mold mite. Apparently they can live in dried rice for long periods in a dormant phase called a hypopi.

Short of completely tearing everything down, soaking the rocks and vase in bleach and heat treating the cork, the rebuilding the whole thing and starting over again, it almost impossible to get rid of them. Also, I already put a grain of rice into the backup springtail colony I have in a takeout container on crimson clay, so there is a good chance they are already in there and I would just reintroduce them when I added new springtails after cleaning everything.

They won't harm my orchid or the springtails, and the numbers should stay under control if I don't give them more food. From now on I will only give them springtails dry yeast if I feed them at all. It's just kind of annoying, but I guess they are just part of the ecosystem now.

I’ve been thinking about making one for a while now, but I’m not sure where to start or what to do—any advice? (The spider is about 1 cm long, if that.)

Hello,

I had around 7 mini anoles offspring from my 3 adult anoles. Out of 7, the biggest three survived.

One of the three anole seems to have problems with the eyes. He/she is slimer, one eye is closed all time, and the other one is half open from time to time.

Sometimes, the ill anole rubes his eyes against wood or stones.

Could it be that some molt is still stuck to the eyes?

I relocated into a small terrarium which once was planned for the offspring but never used cuz they lived peacefully in the huge paludarium with the adult anole and even sticked together.

Can someone help me?

I don't know if this is technically a "terrarium". It won't contain and reptiles or amphibians. It's a 10x16 cylindrical glass "vase" with a hollow cork round in it. It has a layer of river rocks on the bottom that sit on top of some egg crate plastic diffuser so they were easier to add without cracking the bottom.

There is a layer of RO water in the bottom that sits beneath the rock layer to add humidity, and I've started some Shroomroom moss mix on the log which I got from from an online site. I also added springtails to keep any mold under control and they seem happy.

I am an avid orchid grower and the ultimate plan is to mount an orchid to the log. Probably Bratonia or Brassidium. Right now I'm just trying to get the moss established so I can have live moss under the orchid to aid in keeping the roots hydrated and also because I just through it would be cooler than using dead sphagnum moss. I'm trying to replicate, as close as possible, the orchids natural growing conditions.

I have a piece of clear cast acrylic that I still need to cut to fit the top. Right now I'm keep it sealed up most of the time to keep the humidity around 80-90% for the moss to get established. Once the moss is growing I'll add the orchid and then the top with need to be at least partially opened for air flow and so the orchid can stick out the top when it gets large enough.

Just wanted to see if anyone has any advice or ideas.

I put video in the comments because it wouldn't let me add more than one in the post

Beyond blessed to have all of this at my disposal out my back door ♡

I built a friend a really cute terrarium but after a month it isn’t thriving. I have a suspicion that my pretty girl isn’t getting enough light. I’m an experienced terrarium owner but I have never needed artificial light as I have more windows than walls and live in Southern California.

Please help me pick a good light source for my friend. Can it be those cheap submersible button lights or does it need to be a grow light? Can I stick a rechargeable puck light at the top? or should I get a plug-in official grow light stand?

I got my hands on a nice terrarium that came with nice uvb lights etc. Its 100cm long and 70cm deep and 70cm height. My dream is to have a gastropholis prasina. Would it be possible to have it in that terrarium? Im thinking building it with branches etc that goes up and in and out ( beacuse its decent depth in terrarium) or is it still to short? Ive seen people have it in smaller ones but i really want mine to be happy ofc. In my head i can make alot of climbing for him with that kind of size

This is my first attempt at a terrarium. Does anyone see any major issues I'm overlooking? The dome is 20 inches by 12ish. I'm using a deep bed of leca with spag on top. I didn't know what to put in it so there's just a baby bisma, michans cutting, a jewl orchid, a Jaclyn sprouted corm, and 1 venom struggling corm. I'm kind of using it as a rehab until I decide what should go in there. It's getting about 200 fc of light. The bottom is slightly propped up by a cord from the light next to it so it doesn't get too moist. Also the water has superthrive foliage and a few drops of the b12 along with silica. This is what I water everything with in my house. Any advice or fears I should have please let me know.

This is the 4th and largest terrarium I’ve made since I started a few weeks ago. Today is its 3rd day sealed and I noticed a weird formation of dirt or droppings that occurred on the edge of the glass. There’s a hole down the middle so it’s shaped like a straw coming out of the soil. There’s edges are bumping. Does anyone know what this is?

I've been a fish keeper and have been aquascaping for a while now, recently just got an empty aquarium sitting around and thinking want to try to see if it will looks good if I just turn it into a Terrarium, I made it a Polycarbonate lid with hinged doors, it has a thermometer, vents, and a small fan for air circulation. Let me know what you think?

I'm anxious to share pics in half a year. These are all just out together.