My Camponotus floridanus colony is doing well and I'm trying to think of other kinds of terrarium animals I can keep with similar characteristics.
1. Takes a small amount of space (my ants live on my computer desk so I can watch them at work)
2. Something cool or interesting to watch
3. Low maintenance. It's hard to get people to watch or feed exotic animals so ideally it should be OK if I'm gone for up to 7-9 days
4. Ideally something that is out and about at least a fair amount of the time
What I have right now is the ant colony and two pythons (a Diamond/Jungle Python hybrid and a Blood Python). In the past I've kept boas, bearded dragons, and tarantulas.
Most of the options I can think of run afoul of the vacation rule or the space rule. I do have an empty 18x18x18" Exo Terra but from my readings even few frog or lizard species can live in that, or would be limited to one small animal. Plus, being active animals they tend to need more frequent attention. And, 18x18x18" is really pushing the desk-sized criteria too. Snakes work well, but I don't think I want another snake right now. I'm also not wanting to add another ant colony yet and the US vendors are out of stock on a lot of species too - I'd rather have something different.
This has led me mostly to inverts. Tarantulas would be a good option but my wife is afraid of them and many of them will eventually need a larger home and no longer fit on a desk. That can be solved of course by getting new tarantulas periodically but again, wife. I've seen some cool looking scorpions but from what I've heard they pretty much hide almost all the time which makes them a much less interesting desk animal. My wife doesn't like them either, and I'd definitely be limited to the least-potent species.
Perhaps a smaller species of mantis? They seem to fit in small vertical enclosures (~6x6x9"), the main drawbacks seem to be a harder time finding food for them and a very short lifespan. Anyone here do mantids?
A jumping spider has very similar requirements to a mantis with similar drawbacks too. My wife thinks they are scarier than a mantis so probably not really useful.
Anything else I'm missing? Centipedes I hear are fast and aggressive, millipedes sound sort of dull (along with probably most herbivorous inverts), stick and leaf insects are illegal. Crabs seem to require water and more cleaning so they are likely too much maintenance. Termites are forbidden too.
One option I admit I know almost nothing about is beetles. Maybe some good options there? What are some active interesting species? Some of the horned ones seem to look pretty cool.
What do you guys suggest?
