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ECOSYSTEM EXPERIMENT

vivarium

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11 replies to this topic

#1 Offline Jellyfish16 - Posted October 14 2020 - 1:41 PM

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So. . . Let me explain. . . I swear I’m not an ac kid.

It all started months ago when I started getting into terrariums. By then I had already been keeping insects for quite some time, and I was like. . . LES COMBINE. ofc I get a lot of hate for that but hear me out. 3 months ago I found a 45 gallon tank and I have since planted Ficus bonsai trees ferns moss vines and vein plants to create a tropical themed vivarium! I let the plants grow for a month before I started introducing a larger cleaning crew!, it’s been a month and a half and I have started adding larger insects and reptiles! Most recent was 2 house geckos I caught in my backyard! Their is a moisture gradient And I run a heat cable along one side! This journal is just going to be me asking for help or contributions towereds this project along with updates on what’s happening!

I AM CURRENTLY SEARCHING FOR
a large price of rotting wood that larvea and other wood dwellers can feed in! If u happen to know if such wood, please dm me, I will pay shipping if u want to help out!

I NEED HELP FINDING A PREDETOR TO HELP CONTROL ISOPOD POPULATION, Current predetor is wood louse spiders
Also the tank is inhabited by 2 house geckos, an I need more info on thier care, such as how can I feed them calcium

List of animals in vivarium
-spring tails
-Ground aphids
-isopods
-common millipeads small
-earthworms
-earwigs
-hissing cockroaches
-more are in but I forgot the names.

Crappy pic will get better one


Edited by Jellyfish16, October 14 2020 - 8:00 PM.

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#2 Online OhNoNotAgain - Posted October 14 2020 - 2:25 PM

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Sounds like fun to me ;)

I've been pondering ways to allow ants to forage (for brief periods of time) in the same outworld to observe how they compete and interact... so you won't hear complaints from me lol.

How are you lighting the tank? Sounds fun. With so many variables I doubt it will be easy to balance, but I doubt you're going for the "most perfect vivarium ever" award, and watching cross-species interactions is really fascinating.


Formiculture Journals::

Veromessor pergandei, andrei; Novomessor cockerelli

Camponotus fragilis; also separate journal: Camponotus sansabeanus, vicinus, quercicola

Liometopum occidentale;  Prenolepis imparis; Myrmecocystus mexicanus

Pogonomyrmex subnitidus and previously californicus

Tetramorium sp.

Termites: Zootermopsis angusticollis

 

Isopods: A. gestroi, granulatum, kluugi, maculatum, vulgare; C. murina; P. hoffmannseggi, P. haasi, P. ornatus; V. parvus

Spoods: Phidippus sp.


#3 Offline Ants_Dakota - Posted October 14 2020 - 6:12 PM

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i will be doing this for my Camponotus novaeboracensis, so i will be watching!


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#4 Offline ponerinecat - Posted October 14 2020 - 6:29 PM

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Hoo boy. I can probably provide a large amount of springtails and isopods and a few millipedes. Earwigs as well, I can get you ring legs or labia minor. Europeans too but I don't think you want those. Just won't be able to ship for an undetermined amount of time.



#5 Offline Jellyfish16 - Posted October 14 2020 - 7:13 PM

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Hoo boy. I can probably provide a large amount of springtails and isopods and a few millipedes. Earwigs as well, I can get you ring legs or labia minor. Europeans too but I don't think you want those. Just won't be able to ship for an undetermined amount of time.

thx man! What sp of millipeads and isopods I already have a population of earwigs in thier!

#6 Offline Swirlysnowflake - Posted October 14 2020 - 7:26 PM

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I actually have a small tank (10 gallon) that started out filled with foliage. I had hissing cockaroaches, scarlet and bumblebee millies, and springtails in there. I offered the hissers a full dish of fish food, carrots, and lettuce, but guess what they decided to eat? The ivy, pothos, and spider plant  :facepalm:


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#7 Offline Swirlysnowflake - Posted October 15 2020 - 12:11 PM

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About the calcium for the house geckos, you could try leaving out a dish of calcium, and feeding calcium rich feeders like nutri worms (those fly larvae). I’m not experienced with them, but I have kept day geckos, cresteds, and mournings. 


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#8 Offline Kaelwizard - Posted October 16 2020 - 8:27 AM

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Dishes of calcium do nothing. The feeder animal has to be covered in calcium, a gecko is not going to eat straight calcium. If you want to put a dish in there, get a mealworm bowl (They can't get out of those.) and fill it with calcium and just dump some worms in. The geckos will see the worms and eat them, along with any calcium on them.


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#9 Online OhNoNotAgain - Posted October 16 2020 - 8:40 AM

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Oooo just read about the wood louse spiders. Nice! Yes, isopods in ideal conditions will breed like rabbits. And aside from isopods that inhabit different strata of substrate, you may find one species outcompetes all the others eventually (or so everyone says on Facebook in the isopod groups). Anyway earwigs also supposedly eat isopods, though maybe not the really big ones. Isopods (esp. Armadillidium) also may eat softer vegetation, while some protein-hungry ones, like P. laevis, are rumored to be dangerous to molting creatures. 

 

BTW almost hate to ask, but since this in the Antkeeping section: ants?


Edited by OhNoNotAgain, October 16 2020 - 8:41 AM.

Formiculture Journals::

Veromessor pergandei, andrei; Novomessor cockerelli

Camponotus fragilis; also separate journal: Camponotus sansabeanus, vicinus, quercicola

Liometopum occidentale;  Prenolepis imparis; Myrmecocystus mexicanus

Pogonomyrmex subnitidus and previously californicus

Tetramorium sp.

Termites: Zootermopsis angusticollis

 

Isopods: A. gestroi, granulatum, kluugi, maculatum, vulgare; C. murina; P. hoffmannseggi, P. haasi, P. ornatus; V. parvus

Spoods: Phidippus sp.


#10 Offline Jellyfish16 - Posted October 16 2020 - 10:35 AM

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Oooo just read about the wood louse spiders. Nice! Yes, isopods in ideal conditions will breed like rabbits. And aside from isopods that inhabit different strata of substrate, you may find one species outcompetes all the others eventually (or so everyone says on Facebook in the isopod groups). Anyway earwigs also supposedly eat isopods, though maybe not the really big ones. Isopods (esp. Armadillidium) also may eat softer vegetation, while some protein-hungry ones, like P. laevis, are rumored to be dangerous to molting creatures.

BTW almost hate to ask, but since this in the Antkeeping section: ants?

About 3 months ago I chucked in some brachy queens cause I was bored and now I’m seeing workers
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#11 Offline Antkeeper01 - Posted October 16 2020 - 10:50 AM

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wow if I try Terrariums with ant queens they always die all of them being pavement queens lol


Edited by Antkeeper01, October 16 2020 - 10:51 AM.

1X Pogonomyrmex occidentalis 40-50 Workers

1X Solenopsis molesta 10 Workers (mono)

Ants I Want: Crematogaster sp, Camponotus Sp., Ponera Pennsylvanica, Mymercocystus sp.

 

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#12 Offline ponerinecat - Posted October 16 2020 - 3:10 PM

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Oooo just read about the wood louse spiders. Nice! Yes, isopods in ideal conditions will breed like rabbits. And aside from isopods that inhabit different strata of substrate, you may find one species outcompetes all the others eventually (or so everyone says on Facebook in the isopod groups). Anyway earwigs also supposedly eat isopods, though maybe not the really big ones. Isopods (esp. Armadillidium) also may eat softer vegetation, while some protein-hungry ones, like P. laevis, are rumored to be dangerous to molting creatures. 

 

BTW almost hate to ask, but since this in the Antkeeping section: ants?

Earwigs eat everything.







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