how do you take care of the isopods and plants?
i can take the glass off it´s just layed on top and not really heavy. isopods also are very low maintance so are all the plants in there so i only really have to do this once a week
the isopods i keep in this table are Armadillium vulgare “magic potion”. A. vulgare are naturally just gray but these are a morph bred to have this specific color. they are very active isopods who don´t mind me knocking on the glass or putting things down.
are the isopods okay in there?
generally isopod care is very easy since they are detrivores and especially armadillium species prefer a dead leaf and rotting wood diet. don´t worry they won´t eat through the table they can only eat wood that has been claimed by fungus and become mushy! here is a great care sheet
i personally have been keeping isopods for the last 3 or 4 years and feel confident with this setup. i asure you i would never put any of my pets in a situation that is stressful for them!
wont the isopods eat the plants?
yes they will but Armadillium species are generally not as hungry for plants and other “fresh” food and prefer their leaves and wood. most of the plants are also just moss that i can easily replace or grow fast enough to not be concerned.
don´t worry there is ventilation. generally i prefer smaller ventilation area with isopods so humidity stays in better. they are crustaceans and actually breath through gills so you want to make sure their home is always damp. not soaked like a bog tho just damp like a natural forest floor!
can you explain how you built it?
i´m sorry but i likely won´t share a detailed step by step because i didn´t document it and i´m really not that skilled in carpentry so i think there are much better resources out there. the easy explaination is:
i got the main bodies wood custom cut, stained and painted it, sealed the outside with a few coats of clear paint, screwed it together.
than built the frame with the legs.
stained that and all other brown parts.
in the mean time i sealed the inside with epoxy and let it cure.
screwed the bottom to the top and put in the pond liner
added the brown side and top pieces
measured the final size and got the glass custom cut
put in the sidewalls made from black cork
set up the inside (more on that later)
this whole thing took me 2 months or so. time is a blurr in 2020 for everytone. it might be longer it was definetly a lot of work to even just gather all the material and i figured a lot out as i built it. it´s also built in a way that would probably make actual carpenters end me because i don´t have special tools i really just have a drill, jigsaw and some small hand saws.
okay can we talk about mold now. won´t it get moldy?
please look at this post i made just about mold and how the inside is set up:
https://spirellity.tumblr.com/post/623548985267961857/let-s-talk-about-mold
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