u/Particular_Garden865

Hey everyone! Just wanted to share a quick upcycled weekend project. I decided to turn an old clear plastic bottle into a mini closed eco-bottle terrarium.

The Build Details:

* Enclosure: Standard recycled clear soda/juice bottle with the screw cap left on to maintain a closed water cycle.

* Layers: Built a proper drainage foundation at the base using small red lava rocks, topped with a sphagnum moss barrier, and standard tropical soil mix.

* Flora: Featured a tiny Fittonia (nerve plant) cut down to size alongside a small accent slate stone and a little green hitchhiker vine that seems to enjoy the humidity!

It’s already holding a great condensation cycle and sitting nicely under my desktop grow light.

Let me know what you think of using recycled plastic, or if you have any tips on controlling the vining growth inside a narrow bottleneck footprint!

Hey everyone! Just wanted to share my latest micro-paludarium build. It sits right at 20cm × 15cm × 26cm (roughly 2 gallons total volume).

I built this specifically for a single Batik Crab (*Metasesarma aubryi*) named Pandora. Since they are highly terrestrial forest-dwellers that prefer land over water, I went with a heavy 90% land to 10% shallow water split.

**A few notes on how I'm managing this micro-setup:**

* **The Inhabitant:** Pandora is currently small and a completely solo resident, so there are no territory or crowding issues.

* **Security Lock:** Because the driftwood arch reaches the top pane and these guys are climbing geniuses, I built a custom 3mm acrylic lid that is heavily weighted down with thick slate stone rocks on top. She isn't escaping this one!

* **Water Maintenance:** Because the water footprint is only 10% of a nano tank, I know it can foul quickly. I do regular manual siphons and water refreshes every few days with conditioned freshwater to keep things immaculate.

* **Flora:** Running a *Fittonia albivenis* (nerve plant) and some creeping vines. We will see if she decides to play landscape gardener and chop them down, but for now, they are thriving!

Would love to hear your thoughts on the hardscape layout or any recommendations for clean, crab-safe veggies I can offer her in a tiny setup!

It’s 3rd instar/molts, 𝑃𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑜𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑢𝑠 𝑀𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑠 (Orange Baboon Tarantula)

Meet 𝐷𝐸𝐿𝑇𝐴 the Tarantula, she is 𝐴𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑎 𝐺𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑎 or Brazilian White Knee Tarantula. It’s already (8th molts/instar) at 8.5–9cm in size.

Please, help me to confirm it as a Fem. 🥺🕷🫶🏻. Tysm in advance.