Roach (or Mantid) Display - 12" X 12" Planted Exo Terra

[Risky]

What are species of plants you have in that setup? I would like to purchase some plants like that but have no idea where to buy them or what they are.

 

[J Morningstar]

http://www.blackjungleterrariumsupply.com/

 

[hydrophyte]

What are species of plants you have in that setup? I would like to purchase some plants like that but have no idea where to buy them or what they are.

If you can give me some specifications on your setup (lighting, enclosure size, livestock, etc.) I can offer a few tips.

 

[Risky]

If you can give me some specifications on your setup (lighting, enclosure size, livestock, etc.) I can offer a few tips.

I recently picked up a 55g tank from a Petco sale. I have yet to put anything in it. I'm wanting to choose all my plants and implement them before I decide to choose any pets. So whatever I put in there will revolve around the plants. One thing I know for certain I want is a waterfall which I will likely build myself. So as of currently, it's a blank slate. I saw your setup and wanted use to use portions of it for my setup.

 

[hydrophyte]

The P. paradoxica and the plants are still growing well and today I got a few pictures.

---------- Post added 10-19-2012 at 07:14 PM ----------

Here's a shot of the whole thing...

I monkeyed with the terrestrial area a bit more and I'm happy with it now. I added bright red fallen maple leaves and they make an excellent contrast with the green foliage and black background...

 

[hydrophyte]

I have an adult ghost in here now. The largest individual molted one last time and now it's almost three times bigger than its siblings. I don't know why the others are so far behind(??). I need to move them out of this enclosure before they get eaten by the big one.

 

[hydrophyte]

Here's that lone adult P. paradoxica.

 

[123rc123]

Roach (or Mantis) Display - 12" X 12" Planted Exo Terra

Roach (or Mantis) Display - 12" X 12" Planted Exo Terra

This is a new little project that I have a good start on, but I am still trying to figure out livestock selection. I am mainly a plant hobbyist and first and foremost I want to develop this as a nice planted display. I have pondered some kind of small herp, but don't haven't found any that appeal to me very much. The setup might not be very good for most kinds of dart frogs--pictures below will detail the setup--so I wonder about instead using some kind of small roach.

The setup is a "Forest Floor" terrarium that uses this false bottom plate to hold planter pots. As such it does not have any substrate layer to speak of, but the bottom will be covered with natural leaf litter. It is thus unsuitable for animals that like to dig.

In addition to some plants planted into the bottom I also made this manzanita feature to position in the middle of the layout. The manzanita branches are mounted to a 1/4" plastic plate suspended from the enclosure top plastic rim.

Here it is in the enclosure.

I wanted to plant the manzanita with some small epiphytic plants, so I wrapped some long-fibre sphagnum moss around the pieces facing toward the front that would be in the brighter light.

And here it is planted.

To finish up the planting I positioned a few small terrestrial plants in the bottom, then covered that false bottom assembly with leaf litter.

I'd love to hear any ideas you might have for livestock selection. Those miniature epiphytic ferns planted on the manzanita require very high humidity (90%+) all the time, so I will keep this closed up and with misting every day. I might have considered a small tarantula for it, but it will be too wet. What about using a small pet roach species? It would be great to select one that might be a bit more inclined to walk around and not hide while the lights are on. It would need to be pretty small and light to avoid destructive trampling of those little ferns. I considered trying a mantis of some kind too. There are a few potentially good choices among the "Climbing Pet Roaches" in the Roach crossing online store...

http://www.roachcrossing.com/climbingpetroaches.htm

I already have a small culture (no adults yet) of Gyna lurida nymphs that I bought there. I wish there were better descriptions of size and care information there. Does anybody have any experience with some of the less common species there?

Thanks for reading. I'll be interested to hear any suggestions at all.

Greetings, I love your setup. How did you "plant" the small plants onto the wood piece? Do you ever get mold on the wood from the constant dampness? If so how do you get rid of it? Did you plant the small plants on the bottom of the tank while they were still inside their original pots? Or did you replant them? What substrate did you use? How did you change the color of the wood? Or is it just from the wetness? How did you attach the spagnum moss?