7 replies to this topic

[Stubyvast]

Being very proud of these creations, I have a few things to share with y'all! I love building Vivariums, as they are almost completely self-sufficient, needing only water and the occasional leaf litter, and they take nature and put a bit of it in a glass container (which I gotta say, is surprisingly satisfying). If anyone else has some cool outworlds/vivariums to show, please do! Lots to be inspired from. Here's the first one:

 

My 4th edition of this Vivarium (I never took pictures of the first few versions, sadly) I used to have a desert-like world in here, and before that a series of woodland worlds. This one has tons of Wood bugs inside, as well as aphids, which sadly are not the kind that ants farm, but the type that they hunt to eat. So no harm done I guess! Planning to eventually introduce a colony in here sometime, but unsure which type.

 

My latest Vivarium, which I've called Gnome Island. This one's specifically designed for my Lasius Niger colony to enter through a small port among the wood bits through a bit of vinyl tubing. Planning to introduce plenty of soil creatures here at some point (and line the edges with some vaseline, of course).

 

 

Sorry about the bad visual quality here, I don't have a very good phone to take pictures with...hoping to get a better camera someday!

[ANTdrew]

Fast growing ant colonies have a knack for trashing nice vivariums.

[IdioticMouse26]

Very cool! You might want to decrease the level of soil in the outworld though, the ants might nest in it.

[Stubyvast]

True for both! To ANtdrew I'd say definitely true, although to remediate at least a bit of that I put some soil creatures inside to help break down some of the debris, although inevitably you are right. For IdioticMouse, I did make sure not to include so much soil, for exactly that reason (this being in the second outworld). I instead layered pretty much the first inch and a half with rocks, and then a tiny 1/4 inch with soil. Hope that'll work anyways! Plus the conditions in the outworld are likely too moist for permanent residency. As for the first one, you are definitely right and I should probably do something about that, or somehow make it into a formicarium.

I intend to let these outworlds sit for a bit while the plants and soil creatures hit that nice balance, before introducing ants/predators. 

[Artimusclydeperez]

I love building these iv been doing it for years and over time fine tuned my styles
The most important aspect is creating a consistent environment lighting and humidity and then patience lol
If u have consistent environment then it just does its own thing!
The long tank is for my vampire crabs! They like it cus they have been breeding
The second will be for some dart frogs eventually but till then I keep some white lip tree frogs I cought both of these set ups are almost a year old at this point and I have to remove 25% vegetation once every month or so
The ant out world I made custom out of picture frame glass from Lowe’s the silicone job needs work it was my first attempt but it has a side hinged door using silicone and magnets so it auto closes

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[ANTdrew]

Wonderful!

[galaxytachyon]

This is the type of thing I love so much but can't find the time and space to do. Buying them is not really practical...

 

Nature is beautiful and I just love to have a small part of it where I can see all the tiny changes and the lives that happen inside. I tried once or twice, but the box just become dead and smelly in a week or so...

[Artimusclydeperez]

Proper soil is key it helps very much to have loamy and well draining soil also I have plenty of worms in the terrarium they airatr the soil keeping it from stagnating. The lid screen is covered in suran wrap lol to keep the humidity high with out having to soak the soil once you have enough foliage the leaves keep humidity pretty stable them selves as it is now I add water to the terrarium about every 2 weeks.
The paladarium is all aquatic plants that I housed in a clear Tupperware with an inch of water and the plants out in the air I had it next to a heat cable to create a lot of humidity so they wouldn’t dry out over time I removed the heat causing less humidity slowly acclimating them to grow out of water The build on the hard scape took me 12 hours straight ‍♂ but was very worth it