#buy leca balls near me

[thedruidsdenexotics]

New Terrarium, new plants

Yesterday was the Salt City Reptile Expo and I was super excited for it...because I was finally picking up my DIY bioactive tank with custom background from Unz-arium!

Terrarium Setup

Let me start with the kit as it came:

I love the background, I definitely wouldn't have been able to make it look as clean as that.

It included:

Drainage layer (Leca Balls), 2 bags

Unz-arium simple soil, 4 bags

18x18 piece of mesh

Oak leaf litter, 1 bag

10 ct. dairy cow isopods

Spring tails, 8 oz culture

In addition, I bought:

a second 10 ct. of isopods, also dairy cow

16 oz culture of spring tails

sphagnum moss -- picture not taken/posted

I also had some hardscape that I had been buying in small pieces in anticipation of this project:

At the time of this posting, I had just brought the kit home from the expo. I did blueprint and start getting into place the final touches that I wanted to fill the space inside. Step 1 was cutting the 'sleeping' branches to size.

I forgot that I had frame hanging string but my husband was able to McGyver some of his old wire into stick holders.

Once both sleeping sticks were in place, next came the Great Stuff to hold them into place.

Stay tuned for next weeks update where I (try to) hide these joints and make them look more naturalistic.

Plant Project

If you've been following our Instagram or Facebook, you've probably seen the excited news. If not, you should probably go drop a follow on one of those as I post updates there in (near) real time.

But there's been lots of new growth noticed in the forest section of the Den! I'll start with the polka dot plant because I've been obsessed with it.

It had actually started to fall over. I staked it for a couple of days while I finished up my 9-5 week. But I took a clipping and started the process of cloning it.

These plants are so dramatic! I thought that I had royally messed up because the clipping started to wilt. And not just a little bit...but a lot. Enough so that I was honestly concerned that I was going to lose it. But it has now bounced back nicely:

More notably though, the mother pothos has sprouted lots of new leaves!

I also went down Ack's Exotics and bought a couple more plants.

China Doll plant (Radermachera sinica), left

Japanese fern (Polystichum polyblepharum), right

Probably going to take some trimmings from both after getting them established in the terrarium. I think they'll definitely add the jungle/forest-y feel that the pothos and polka dot plant just don't give off.

Cabinet/Wood Products Project

No updates for this project this week. My goal is to have the workshop completed by spring 2025.

Upcoming Shows/Expos

October 5th – Finger Lakes Reptile Expo Fall Show

October 20th – Corning Reptiles and More

October 26 – Rexpo Fall 2024

What’s Next?

I'm going to be working on getting the terrarium finished and set up in the reptile room. Steps to be completed this week:

Carve off excess Great Stuff from around joints of branches.

Layer silicone on the joints and attach sphagnum moss to give them the naturalistic appearance

Move tank into reptile room.

Set up mist-king system.

Put in drainage layer, substrate, plants, CUC.

Calibrate mistings,

Once all of that is completed, we can then start the process of getting it set up for a Crestie!