Big Changes!

 I made some massive changes to the planted crabitat today. This morning, bright and early at 7:15am, I wandered into Lowe's and found three new plants for only $0.25 each and a deep 4" plant drip tray. Since it was only 17 deg F outside when I left Lowe's I brought the plants right home. Then I hopped right back in the Jeep and made my way to Walmart, where I purchased the soap dish with suction cups, suction hooks and a few groceries. My last stop for the morning shopping spree was the local aquarium and pet shop where I picked up a few new sponges for the water bowls.

The Plants
One of the plants I picked up today was a new ivy variation, it had 6 healthy stems in the original pot. The second is the dark leaved plant in the back, and the third does not yet have a home in the terrarium.

Each plant was carefully removed from the original pots, the dirt was cleaned off and the roots and leaves were rinsed thoroughly. The plants were then planted in the new pots with expanded peat pellets (outer mesh removed).

After settling these two into their new home, I have one stem of ivy leftover and some dead space in the back to fill. I found a tiny clay pot for the single ivy stem and placed it in the front corner of the terrarium. Then I chose one of my healthy asparagus ferns from the living room and removed and rinsed a small portion of the plant. The asparagus fern has a larger root system then the other plants and therefore requires more space than the small 2" clay pots would provide. I was out of terracotta pots anyway, but had a clean jar leftover from sweet and sour sauce. It has cool Asian markings molded in the glass.

The Garden
There is little to report. There is more germination and growth, but so far there are still no full fledged seedlings. While at Lowe's I also picked up a 6" tray should I ever choose to downsize The Garden or replant it outside of the terrarium.

I'm getting more and more excited about how this is going to turn out!!




Hermie Stuff
Shell shop! The suction cup soap dish will be filled with shells for the hermies to select from. I have quite a few ordered from eBay.

Then I discovered that the hermies will need a way to get into the shell shop, so I crocheted a custom ladder for them to climb and secured it with the suction cup hooks I purchased this morning.

Hiding underneath the shell shop is a deep 4" tray filled with peat and coconut fiber for the purpose of burying and molting. It's out of the way and large/deep enough for two hermies.

There are two glass water dishes, one for salt water, the other for freshwater. The sponges are new, picked them up this morning at the pet shop. Last but not least, the handmade shell food dish. I made this a few days ago using shells and sea glass :-)