Terrarium
For those who haven't noticed, we are back, since Monday. We still have the rest of the week of vacation.
The mini fogger I bought before the holidays has done its job well while we were away, but the "terrarium" itself, which is very inadequate, is falling apart.
Yesterday we bought an aquarium of similar proportions (I would have liked bigger, but we were unsure where to place it), plus plants, gravel, driftwood etc.
Today I made another trip, by bike, to the garden center and got more gravel, plants and other substrates, and a couple of aquatic plants.
I also paid a visit to almost all decoration shops in the city and one of the second-hand/flea-market-places and bought several glass containers to make other small terrariums. Basically only the big one is for the snails. I don't have that much moss at the moment, but just as I was biking back I rescued some roof moss that had fallen to the street. The stuff is everywhere here. Hopefully tomorrow we will make a trip to the forest-park in Heverlee.
I have worked on the big terrarium (30x25x50 cm) and one of the little containers, and I have been taking pictures, but it is quite dark so they are less than ideal. I will just post a few (ok, it turned out to be more than a few ;P) and hopefully tomorrow some better ones.
These are a few process pictures:
One layer of river sand and activated charcoal.
I placed a couple of clear containers for the fogger and the aquatic plants, and a miniature phalaenopsis orchid.
Making a "hill" with gravel and sand, and another layer of activated charcoal.
Pushing some soil in between the containers.
Cleaning the roots of the aquatic plants from the papery stuff in which they came.
Here the drift wood and some plants and mosses are placed.
Some copper wire around the containers. I have read that snails have a tendency to drown, and that they do not like copper. I don't know if this is true but, well, I have too much copper wire ;P
The fogger in action.
Some progress pictures of the little container with cover. These are two bowls that fit into eachother. I have temporarily placed all snails I could locate in this container with some lettuce. I have made a mess of their previous home, taking away the fern and the nicest mosses to place in the new terrarium, which is not finished for them. I will keep on moving snails, luring them with lettuce ;P
The mini fogger I bought before the holidays has done its job well while we were away, but the "terrarium" itself, which is very inadequate, is falling apart.
Yesterday we bought an aquarium of similar proportions (I would have liked bigger, but we were unsure where to place it), plus plants, gravel, driftwood etc.
Today I made another trip, by bike, to the garden center and got more gravel, plants and other substrates, and a couple of aquatic plants.
I also paid a visit to almost all decoration shops in the city and one of the second-hand/flea-market-places and bought several glass containers to make other small terrariums. Basically only the big one is for the snails. I don't have that much moss at the moment, but just as I was biking back I rescued some roof moss that had fallen to the street. The stuff is everywhere here. Hopefully tomorrow we will make a trip to the forest-park in Heverlee.
I have worked on the big terrarium (30x25x50 cm) and one of the little containers, and I have been taking pictures, but it is quite dark so they are less than ideal. I will just post a few (ok, it turned out to be more than a few ;P) and hopefully tomorrow some better ones.
These are a few process pictures:
One layer of river sand and activated charcoal.
I placed a couple of clear containers for the fogger and the aquatic plants, and a miniature phalaenopsis orchid.
Making a "hill" with gravel and sand, and another layer of activated charcoal.
Pushing some soil in between the containers.
Cleaning the roots of the aquatic plants from the papery stuff in which they came.
Here the drift wood and some plants and mosses are placed.
Some copper wire around the containers. I have read that snails have a tendency to drown, and that they do not like copper. I don't know if this is true but, well, I have too much copper wire ;P
The fogger in action.
Some progress pictures of the little container with cover. These are two bowls that fit into eachother. I have temporarily placed all snails I could locate in this container with some lettuce. I have made a mess of their previous home, taking away the fern and the nicest mosses to place in the new terrarium, which is not finished for them. I will keep on moving snails, luring them with lettuce ;P