Hi!
About a week or so ago, I purchased a little glass jar with a cork lid. I ended up converting it into a miniature terrarium, with moss and some small organisms. I managed to obtain a small group of springtails under a rock, along with two symphylans. I believe that the springtails have reproduced, because I noticed one tiny springtail on the glass. The symphylans kind of stick to themselves. I saw one nibble on a moss stem.
So far, the terrarium is pretty empty. Unlike my larger 20 gal terrarium, adding insects is pretty hard for the glass jar terrarium. Most ants would be too disruptive, beetles would either be too large, too aggressive, or too hard to feed, and I'm not even going to start with grasshoppers and crickets. I'm thinking about adding my Ponera or Stigmatomma colony to the terrarium because they are pretty small and peaceful. I could even add my Myrmica queen, but she already has a ton of brood. There is a possibility that the ants could destroy the springtail population or get hurt by a symphylan "silk spray". Any suggestions with adding the ants?
Out of the insects that I could add, the tinier species of rove beetle could work well (one could keep the springtail population low). The more colorful wild fruitflies might work, but I would have to feed them tiny bits of honey and fruit. Plus, they don't live very long and breed like rabbits.
At one point, there were three orange sowbugs in the terrarium, but they ended up coating the moss with poop, thus resulting in a fungal outbreak. I also managed to collect a potworm and two earthworm hatchlings. The potworm got eaten by a hitch-hiking centipede, and the two earthworms managed to escape somehow.
Are there any other organisms that I could add? Let me know! I'm trying to make my terrarium a "little slice of my backyard".
Also, I can probably get some pictures of this terrarium up, because its surprisingly easy to photograph. Whenever I take pictures of my ants, they get spooked and stuff their brood in the cotton plug.
I'm going to use my future vision powers and see that someone is going to suggest millipedes. Please no. I heard that they overpopulate quickly in terrariums. Also, I just hate millipedes overall.
Edited by Connectimyrmex, November 16 2017 - 10:19 AM.
