One of my various hobbies is designing and building terrariums. It lets me bring a bit of nature inside my home, while minimizing the number of mosquito and tick bites.
While I have plans to expand into vivariums (anoles, perhaps?) in the future, right now I’m focusing primarily on recreating aspects of Minnesota’s woodlands.
In my office, I have a 55-gallon enclosure containing a portion of a tree trunk which fell in my yard last summer.
The only plants currently in there are some mosses I gathered from my backyard, and a few native prairie “weeds” from the field.
Besides the plants, one of the most critical aspects of these enclosed environments is the cleanup crew. In this case, that’s comprised of two major groups.
The first is the isopods. Also variously known as pillbugs, woodlice, roly-polys, and plenty of other things, these little crustaceans break down the wood and leaves.
While they’ll likely break down the logs in their enclosure over the next couple of years, I try to distract them with my leftover fruits and veggies from my weekly meal prep.
I have at least two species of isopods:
- Rathki’s Woodlouse (Trachelipus rathkii)
- Powder Orange (Porcellionides pruinosus)
(Don’t quote me on the IDs for the former, but I think that’s what I’m seeing)
Pictured below, they’re feasting on some egg shells, pineapple, and carrots.
Operating much less visibly alongside the isopods are the springtails. Miniscule to the point of being impossible for me to easily photograph, these little arthropods (not insects, apparently) consume any mold which might grow on the not-yet-eaten organic matter fed to the isopods.