^This is a more up-to-date photograph of what the terrarium looks like. Glass sliding doors have been installed. There are several not-quite-visible epiphytes and terrestrials hanging around.

I have enough moss to finish that top part that isn't yet covered, but the LFS I most recently bought --- from a local garden center --- is much darker than the LFS I used for the rest of the terrarium, and so I have decided to save it for another build.

The ribs of the dragon are almost invisible in the photograph, having been consumed by LFS bundles. This has been one of my bigger regrets regarding the terrarium, that I didn't get more pronounced ribs. It is, however, very difficult to find pieces of driftwood that are that rounded. I was lucky to even find mildly rounded driftwood branches like I did.

Note: The rather gaudy Ficus branches sticking out of the wall will probably not stay; they were mostly an experiment in seeing what could act as a canopy. Also, if you've noticed the Neoregelia lodged in the substrate, I can assure you that that is a temporary arrangement; it will find home in the upper walls once the upper walls have LFS in the right places to house it.

EDIT: Also, so far I have not risked filling the water basin with water to test the waterfall. I don't know what it will do to the water / humidity in the visible parts of the terrarium, and further, I am anxious about whether or not this ship is really watertight ... even though I tested it weeks ago.

When I do get around to testing the waterfall again, I will likely build a part of the castle wall that goes under the dragon and is hit by the falling water, thus making the flow of the waterfall more intricate.

 

So, I "officially" finished the terrarium a few days ago. It will still have plants added, LFS cracks filled, and minor aesthetic modifications made for a while yet. But the goalpost has been reached.

Some pictures, reduced in size because I suspect my normal pics are an eyesore:



^Stelis Argentata in a castle piece.



^A Marcgravia and Microgramma sp "Ecuador", I believe.



^Neoregelia "Ruby Throat" et al.



^A bunch of Muehlenbeckia and a bit of Ficus Ginseng / Benjamina branch.



^Pilea sp. Purple Ecuador? from Pubfiction.



^A couple of Ficus.



^Two experimental trees, from hydrophyte.



\

^Ardisia japonica and Pellonia repens, also from hydrophyte & Pubfiction.





^Stained-glass windows



^Upper part of the castle.



^Neoregelias "Blueberry Tart" & "Edge of Night"



^A variety of moss growth from local moss and Dusk mix, and...



^The terrarium as a whole.

 

Looks great! Please post growth shots add it grows in

 

~1 month later​

Things have grown in, including some weeds I will probably cut (which I've kept alive to this point to illustrate the growth of this terrarium). I've started calling it the "Immortal Vale" because nothing in it seems to die, although I haven't exactly been aggressive in testing that rule.


^Overall view. The glass is a bit foggy, but I didn't feel like waiting around to take a better photo. I got new quarter-inch glass doors yesterday and haven't put the handles on yet.


^A couple of Ficus, plus weeds. One ficus should be Ficus thunbergii, and the other I believe is Ficus pumila 'Quercifolia'.


^Drymonia cuyabonensis and a wandering jew species having a race. They've kept together pretty well the last couple of weeks.


^Marcgravia sintenisii.


^Neoregelia 'Ruby Throat' pupping at last. To my surprise, it is the neoregelias that have shown slow growth, even with very high light.


^Microgramma 'Ecuador #2' and Stelis argentata. The latter was deliberately planted in a "castle piece" in order to look almost like a potted plant.


^Ficus burtt-davyii and Ficus benjamina (?) growing in. It's hard to see, but they've sent out dozens and dozens of roots through the wall of LFS.


^A couple of plants. One is another planting of Drymonia cuyabonensis and the other may be Begonia Scutifolia.


^A Costus and a Monocostus, I believe.


^Ardisia japonica in front of the castle wall and Pellionia repens growing on it. To the left a bit of Tectaria zeilanica is visible.


^A Chinese fir, I believe (somewhat of an experiment), and a Philodendron called 'Wings'.


^A neat, furry Microgramma I received as Micro. sp. #2.


^If memory serves, this extraordinarily long cutting was Microgramma lycopodioides. Spelling may be wrong.


^A peperomia (I believe), and Encyclia polybulbon.


^More ficus branches and Neoregelia 'Deep of Night' with a barely visible pup.


^Just another photo of Ficus benjamina branches, trying to form a canopy that may or may not actually happen.


^Nepenthes aristolochioides x burkei, officially installed in order to cull the fruit fly infestation, but mostly because carnivorous plants are AWESOME.


^A sundew, Drosera spatulata, for the same fly-catching purpose.


^Ficus retusa growing through the castle walls, with a hoarded dragon's egg.


^Stained-glass windows, already somewhat deteriorated by misting.


^Two gold- and weapon-filled chests, already starting to rot from the water.


^The skeletal arm / claw is still going strong, although it takes a little maintenance. A Pilea 'Purple Ecuador' is growing between its fingers, as are many weeds.


^The skull, now with an eerie, supernatural-lookin eye. Part of the hole that had been the empty eye socket rotted away, allowing enough space to wedge this in. It keeps watch over the Immortal Vale, even in death.

 

Thanks for the update and labeling the plants, makes it easier for me to see what different species look like

 

I love the look you’ve got going on! I know you said much earlier your not having animals, but then you seem to have left the door slightly open to the idea. So....

As far as species suggestions, and going only by the landscaping, without knowing all the parameters of the enclosure, I can picture a long tailed grass lizard climbing those ruins! I had a small group in a large (3’x2’x4’) terrarium and they were very entertaining and interactive. Their group dynamic was quite interesting. They also loved to drink from bromeliad cups. They would however need a heat lamp to bask under.

 

That's interesting, because I had kept such a lizard in the past, although in too small an enclosure. I have always enjoyed the rainbow whiptail.

There is enough heat coming from the Jungle Dawn lights that such an animal could get by with (ambient temperature too is like 80 F), although I'd have to build some kind of perch, and there would be no place to hide up there (I don't know the hiding needs of lizards).

The most important impediment is that I have already (lightly) sprayed the interior of the enclosure with a permethrin-based fly spray, and I also sprayed it down once with a diluted liquid fertilizer. The spray doesn't seem to be killing off newborn flies, certainly, but I don't know what that means for a lizard, especially one that would have to be living there for years.

Also, I'd have to feed it.

 

I take back what I said about the basking spot; there is a spot that reaches an appropriate temperature for basking, which also affords an excellent hiding place (the inside of the dragon's horns).

There are, however, two other issues I didn't mention:

1) Because of the lumpy nature of the moss-netting process that built the whole background, the glass doors don't close flush with the walls. A small lizard would eventually find them and exit the enclosure. I could cut away some of the moss, but it would look messy. I'd only do it if I were certain I could otherwise maintain an animal.

2) Any kind of animal that eats vegetation even very infrequently, would be a big no. Some of the plants I have in there are expensive, and if I'm gone for a couple of days, those plants might be gone, too.

 

You wouldn’t have to worry about them eating your plants, the most they would do is lick water droplets off the leaves or drink from the bromeliad cups.

They would find places to get out of sight if they choose, especially as the plants grow in. Mine all slept together in a small hollow in a piece of drift wood that was part of my background.

I don’t have any experience with the fly spray that you mentioned so I can’t comment on that, the fertilizer could be a problem if it was a chemical fertilizer, but if it was just a diluted organic fertilizer such as kelp/ fish emulsion than I wouldn’t be concerned about it.

The big concern would definitely be the gaps around the doors, as they are only about as thick as a pencil.

I don’t want to push you towards stocking your tank if that’s not what you are looking to do, the longtails are just the first thing I thought of when I saw your last full tank shot. It looks great!

 

Looks good where did you get all the plants

 

Most of them come from Glass Box Tropicals, and a good bit of the remainder are from vendors on Dendroboard. The Ficus benjamina and Ficus retusa are from Walmart or something and Bonsai Boy.

 

~2 months later​

I probably won't be updating every month from now on, unless there is significant growth / change.

Important notes:

- The Ficus stems are taking over. There are roots growing more than 24" away from the nearest stem. Practically every moss clump has roots somewhere in it. Shit, why did I do this, again? Something about creating a canopy? Sigh

- The fruit fly numbers have been culled a little. There are still plenty of them lurking in the moss walls, but the number flying around is significantly lower. I owe this to the carnivorous plants, mostly.

- Moss everywhere. Moss has grown on pretty much every spot of yellow. There is only one place that moisture doesn't penetrate enough to grow moss.


^Overall view


^Newcomer Selaginella willdenowii, introduced here because it doesn't seem to be taking off anywhere else.


^Geogenanthus ciliatus was going to be too big for its container, so I moved it here. (That was a while ago, so it may have been in a previous update.)


^A couple of not-especially-well-positioned Ficus benjamina branches that were intended to grow differently than they have. Also, Neoregelia 'Deep of Night' again.


^A Ficus benjamina branch twisting around.


^...and another.


^Example of the spread of roots, over a foot away.


^Here the roots are covering the "bones" rather attractively. In some spots the roots take over to good effect, but it's hard to control.


^The Ficus retusa tree was removed from the substrate a couple of weeks ago or so, and the substrate was replaced with turface. I saw too many of the tree's leaves yellowing and falling off, and I attributed that to poor drainage around the roots. I don't know if it's done any better; it's hard to tell yet.


^The Costus and Monocostus uniflorus that I am increasingly suspecting are the same plant.


^Nepenthes aristolochioides x burkei hard at work.


^Microgramma 'Ecuador #1' is a real winner in this terrarium. It has grown more than I believed it would in the best of conditions.

Does anyone know enough about glass to know if it's possible to replace this ordinary glass with some kind of glass a little less reflective? I do not know enough about the science / industry of glass to even tell if the products I am browsing are what I'm looking for.

 

~8 months later​

A lot of time has passed, but there isn't a very striking visual change. The moss had grown so thick that I could simply pulled it off the LFS bundles like it was cotton. The fruit flies disappeared (as other users here told me they would) and I transplanted my Nepenthes elsewhere. Some of the Ficus roots have grown so thick that it would be difficult to cut them even with a plant clipper.

Also, it started leaking a couple months ago. It only happens once in a while, and I don't know where it is coming from or at what level of water in the drainage layer it begins to leak at, but I keep water siphoned out of the false bottom to prevent leaking. As such, the waterfall can no longer be used.

^
Main photograph of the whole interior.

^
The canopy. I've had to clip the Ficus branches often to keep them from blocking the light, but it is starting to look like an actual canopy, which is good.

^
A cluster of Costus.

^
A growing Geogenanthus ciliatus and the "tree" of Begonia foliosa.

^
Multi-pupping Neoregelia "Ruby Throat", plus some plants that they are concealing.

^
The "beanstalk" of Peperomia scandens growing up the castle, and to the left, a cluster of Pilea "Purple Ecuador" growing on the skeletal hand.

^
The dragon egg geode nestled by the Ficus microcarpa, which has not grown that much, but it isn't any big thing.

^
The dragon skull with its marble eye still intact.

 

Looks good, and looks like a handful to keep under control.

Do you have anything interesting to say about Costus? I have it in a few vivs, and I'd like to appreciate it more. It flowers, yes?

 

Do you have anything interesting to say about Costus? I have it in a few vivs, and I'd like to appreciate it more. It flowers, yes?

Well, I'm not sure exactly which plant it is. I had a plant named Costus from a vendor here, and a plant named Monocostus uniflorus with a (?) attached to it, from Glass Box Tropicals. I planted them next to each other and they are indistinguishable.

It may well flower, but even as big and extensive as it has gotten at its best, I do not recall ever seeing a flower.

My most notable remarks about Costus are things that you probably already know: it gets big, it has a beautiful gradient of green shades, and it seems to be very hardy. I have a couple of cuttings outside in Ziploc bags with LFS from a month or two ago, and they are still alive, apparently.

 

Looks good, and looks like a handful to keep under control.

+1, absolutely

Looks like you've achieved most of what you were after, and learned a ton in the process. What to do again, what not to do again, etc. Congrats!!!

 

Looks good, and looks like a handful to keep under control.

+1, absolutely

Looks like you've achieved most of what you were after, and learned a ton in the process. What to do again, what not to do again, etc. Congrats!!!

Thanks to you!

Yeah, I definitely learned a lot. I can't count the number of things I learned across the thread.

The only major problem has been the leak; I suspect one of the gigantic ficus roots got into one of the armoire cracks and split the epoxy resin that had waterproofed it.

 

Roots are amazing. They destroy cities; one must respect roots. It would be interesting to tear into the substrate and see if that was the problem - you could be right. If you were, what would you do next time? No ficus, no wood hull, what?

 

I don't think I'm likely to use either Ficus benjamina (which is a prolific grower and is the culprit in the root problem if the problem is, indeed, roots) or wood tanks again, to put it shortly.

If I use wood tanks, it will be furniture or self-built boxes with extremely few cracks and not made of old, easy-splitting wood.

If I use Ficus benjamina again (which I have, in a smaller setting), it will only be in glass tanks. But I am not likely to use it anymore. The leaves are too big for the growing tree to really resemble a miniature tree inside of a small viv / box.

To answer your question more directly, then, I won't be quick to use either ficus or wooden frames whether or not the problem was indeed roots. The truth is, whether or not roots were the problem, the armoire did cease to become watertight. One way or the other, a piece of furniture with that many lines and crevasses at its base, is not a great candidate for a viv.

It's funny when I remember that you suggested pond liner if I couldn't get the leaking issue resolved, way back when. If I had heeded that advice, I would probably not have the leak at this point --- besides the fact that I would have saved a load of money!

 

It's funny when I remember that you suggested pond liner if I couldn't get the leaking issue resolved, way back when. If I had heeded that advice, I would probably not have the leak at this point --- besides the fact that I would have saved a load of money!

It's a tad funny to me that you remember that, and I don't. Ah, memory - the faculty that forgets. Ha ha.

Meh, don't feel too bad for being a perfectly normal human. People generally seem to have a Really Hard Time learning any way but the hard way. My understanding is that for nearly our entire history, we lived in small groups. And of course there was no mass communication. So maybe we are hard-wired with an inability to truly learn much verbally. To remember, sure - to "learn" in our heads, but not learn in our guts, in a way that really makes us behave differently. Anyway - sometimes I grope for explanations of why again and again, we see people - ourselves, even - do dumb shit that someone else (even a trusted, beloved family member) told us was a bad idea. Hey, I'm as guilty as anyone.

I think woody Ficus could be successfully kept in terraria if one used a bonsai approach (confined roots, pruned tops). There are some small-leaved woody Ficus. I'm toying with the idea of installing one of them in a near-future build.

You got any time, space, money, or energy for a new build any time soon? Or a massive tear-down and remodel?

cheers

 

I think woody Ficus could be successfully kept in terraria if one used a bonsai approach (confined roots, pruned tops). There are some small-leaved woody Ficus. I'm toying with the idea of installing one of them in a near-future build.

Yes, I think this is wise. I did not confine or trim the roots of my Ficus benjamina limbs on the moss walls or my Ficus microcarpa; the latter I wanted to grow wild, and take over the castle ruins that were spaces for it to take over. A truly bonsai'd ficus tree would look very attractive, although it may take years for it to achieve a really beautiful shape.

You got any time, space, money, or energy for a new build any time soon? Or a massive tear-down and remodel?

I did finish another terrarium recently, although I haven't posted the latest photographs of it yet.

It was another learn-the-hard-way learning experience, seeing valuable plants melt overnight next to a polymer clay castle and learning that polymer clay is, well, more than just weird-smelling. (The new castle is made of epoxy clay and has not harmed any plants so far.)

 

I took some photographs recently:

It hasn't changed remarkably in 5 years, except that the driftwood-dragon's skeletal arm rotted off.