# Lunarae's Enclosure Thread



## lunarae (Apr 9, 2016)

So I figured rather then have a new thread for each enclosure I do and share, I'd just make a thread I can post to when I have a new one finished. Pictures taken will be right after the finished product. If they are desert themed but appear moist that's because I have sprayed it down to help the top layer settle some before letting it dry out completely.






This is a 5.5 gallon tank. It's very humid in there and the lighting isn't the best. It's not the best set up but it's my first ever vivarium that I did. It has a water fall which is what causes such a high level of humidity in there. I actually have a madagascar hissing cockroach living in there, it has been living in there for a month or so now without any issues. I almost thought it may not be keen to the moisture level but it actually hangs out by the pool of water and waterfall the most. Occasionally I toss in leaf litter which I'll see the little guy munch on, some of the plants have thrived and others have died off a little but in all it's still going and I set this up I want to say first week of January.






This is a 2.5 gallon tank I did for my grandmother, it's just a terrarium. I'm currently waiting on my dad to drill the holes in the glass in order to provide proper ventilation. I am working on proper watering in order to keep the African violets producing flowers. The flowers have died off but the plant itself is still thriving, as are the others. I want to say I made this probably end of January and it's been working rather well thus far. The fern probably needs a little trimming back. I can't wait to give it to her though once the lid is finished.










This is a 2.5 gallon as well that I did for our G. porteri sling. It's taken to it rather well and has holed itself up in one of the hides for what I assume is pre-molt. I use succulent plants as they need very little water and don't have the highest light requirements when they don't get a lot of water. That way I can keep the substrate dry, while using a food injector to provide water straight to the roots of the plants so the top layer remains dry. Working quite well so far, we will see how the T does with the plants when it gets bigger. I'm hoping it may leave them be if it grows up around them but only time will tell. Yes, I know the opinion of this being 'to big for a sling'. It finds food just fine (As I place it there in front of it), and the set up is not cluttered up with so much I can't find it easily when it's out of it's hide.






This is another 2.5 gallon that's on it's side and being used for A. versicolor. She's at least 2" considering her molt was 2" when I measured it. The only thing I don't like about this set up is the lack of cross ventilation. I didn't have the means for drilling glass in order to set that up. However future set ups that I plan to do will be set up accordingly. I believe that the live plants in here is what helps keep the air rich in oxygen and from being stagnant for her as she seems to have no issues and has been living in this type of set up I want to say since December but my memory isn't the best, it's been months though. I have only just recently started to keep very strict records of everything dealing with our T's.










This I did today. The backdrop is built using one of the bark slabs I had brought home from my parents property yesterday. I used it with left over substrate from making my 5.5 gallon vivarium, along with eco-earth. Because of how big the gap is in the top to allow for ventilation is (About 1cm wide) I don't see putting anything in here that could possibly climb the walls. However I am seriously considering in place of where the leaf litter is, putting a few carnivorous plants considering it will hold humidity rather well. This enclosure my parents found at a goodwill for 7 bucks and it even has a little music box to it as well though I haven't identified the tune it's playing. Still it's the latest one I've done. I absolutely love setting these things up. I can't wait to get to play with our 20 gallon tank. ^.^

Next enclosure I do I'll be sure to post here. If anyone has any questions on any of these feel free to ask.

Reactions: Like 6


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## edesign (Apr 9, 2016)

Regarding using succulents...I think it's the other way around. They don't need much water because winter is when they get the least light and go dormant. Have you used them this way before long term? Just curious. Tanks look very nice. I've been bouncing around the idea of dart frogs for quite a few years, it's fun to come up with designs.


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## lunarae (Apr 10, 2016)

With succulents the more light that they get, the more water they need to keep up with what they get from the lighting. I've had an aloe that kept in low light didn't need very much water even in the summer months, but when I put it out where it was getting much more sun it started having issues until I watered it more. So far the same seems to be true for what I have right now, though they still need a level of light and if they aren't provided enough light your still in the danger zone. So it takes some careful observations on the plant itself and see what it's doing in order to keep it going properly. If in the summer you have them indoors and they don't get a lot of sun it's going to be the same basically as the winter months. Least that's how it's been for me, out here it's like we have 9 months out of the year that are winter lol. And I've kept my aloe inside where it got the same basic lighting year round. At least that was until my mom killed it when I had her watch it for me for a month so many years ago. I had that thing going for 2 years, even got several babies off of it I kept giving away to people for free, before she murdered the poor thing. lol.>.<

Right now I have supplementing LED lighting for the enclosures. Because the T's have their own hides that they can go to and get away from the light I'm not to worried about them having issues with it. Everything seems to be working so far, but the lighting requirements of the plants can be indirect light which is going to be necessary as I'll be having to move the T's to the bedroom soon cause of the temps. We don't have air conditioning and tend to have to let the cool air come in the morning and then store it inside with the windows shut and such to keep cool during the day otherwise we roast in 90+ heat. I had totally forgot about our temp issues here when I first got the T's and now I gotta figure out what I'll do about that. Maybe we'll be lucky and have moved before it gets that hot.

Reactions: Helpful 1


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## The Snark (Apr 10, 2016)

lunarae said:


> At least that was until my mom killed it when I had her watch it for me for a month so many years ago.


Professional herbicidist or just a gifted amateur? 

No hard and fast rules with succulent-cacti. They are so darned diverse. The advantage is they are hardy and will usually tell you things aren't right quite a while before they die.
As far as environment is concerned they all, to varying degrees, only have two serious enemies, moisture and freezing. Nearly all hate cold and moist rich (read, bioactive) soil can start root rot in a matter of days.

If you suspect root rot, sudden wilting, take it out of the ground and let the roots dry out in open air for a couple of weeks. Even a few days with direct sunlight on the roots won't cause any serious harm and can help kill the molds and fungi.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## lunarae (Apr 10, 2016)

The Snark said:


> Professional herbicidist or just a gifted amateur?


That's what was sorta funny about it. She normally had a green thumb but where they live now there's a lack of proper lighting cause it's right against a mountain. She simply put it in the wrong place and it never got enough light I believe.


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## The Snark (Apr 10, 2016)

lunarae said:


> That's what was sorta funny about it. She normally had a green thumb but where they live now there's a lack of proper lighting cause it's right against a mountain. She simply put it in the wrong place and it never got enough light I believe.


That is very strange. One would expect it to simply go dormant. Cacti and succulents don't normally have a 'time to die' syndrome all other plants have. That just bears out the no hard and fast rules and a warning to not get complacent.

Those are very nice terrarium set ups. Something I would never try. I have neither the patience nor the green thumb. Just the opposite and a contained environment operated by yours truly would be future compost.


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## lunarae (Apr 10, 2016)

The Snark said:


> That is very strange. One would expect it to simply go dormant. Cacti and succulents don't normally have a 'time to die' syndrome all other plants have. That just bears out the no hard and fast rules and a warning to not get complacent.
> 
> Those are very nice terrarium set ups. Something I would never try. I have neither the patience nor the green thumb. Just the opposite and a contained environment operated by yours truly would be future compost.


Yeah it ended up rotting so she probably over watered on top of not enough sun. She has a hard time keeping most things alive where they are cause they get so little sun even in the summer months by the cabin.

And thanks. Sounds like my hubby, he has a black thumb. Couldn't even keep grass in a little container I got for him alive XD He ends up killing even succulents as well, it's either to much water or not enough for him. I have my moments where I get rash and make the wrong choices of plants to use for a set up I can admit. I'm still learning as well but I don't to do bad with reading what the plant is saying and adjusting in time, usually. Last year I had a container garden on the porch of about 60+ veggies/herb plants going that thrived really well. Started them in January from seed and probably May I got to leave them outside over night until fall when they started dying off and such. I'm hoping my rose bush comes back but I'm a little doubtful, it was in a container as well but left outside so it's debatable. I really enjoy the plants and I absolutely adore making enclosures.

I'm going to be learning how to cut and drill glass and start making glass enclosures with the proper ventilation set up similar to what they do in the UK but without metal grates, I'll just drill holes in the glass itself if it's possible. If I get a good set up going I may try and sell them if people are interested. I personally like glass over acrylic. But until then right now I'm working on gathering and cleaning bark up, making hides and bark slabs to sell to people that should be safe to use with their T's. Specially for those who live in areas where people spray pesticides and such, all my bark comes from 10 acres of land that's virtually uncultivated except where their 600sqft cabin is and my parents are very big on keeping the natural integrity of the ecosystem intact so they don't use pesticides for anything.


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## The Snark (Apr 10, 2016)

Working with glass. Half precision skill, half art form. And half having the right tools. And getting used to tiny slivers of glass forever impaled in your body.

Growing desert and warm temperate climate plants that far north, you need to be thinking southern exposure greenhouse with a lot of thought given to insulation, air circulation, and thermal 'batteries'. Royal pain in the ass stuff as your construction costs double or triple what it would cost down around southern California. I wish you luck.

I helped design a 'earthship' home outside of Billings. Off the grid self sustaining home and garden. 6 foot thick walls, triple glazing, heat tunnels, natural convection, desiccant air treatment. A fantastically complex undertaking for a modest 1200 sq ft home but ultimately worked. Maintained temperature no lower than 50F without supplemental heating in the dead of winter.


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## lunarae (Apr 10, 2016)

The enclosures I plan to try and do would be very small scale. Like the last one pictured. Nothing huge, just little enclosures for small animals and terrariums and such. I don't think I'll get into trying to mass grow succulents and the like up here, that would be a nightmare to me I think. Because of exactly what your talking about. The fact that we live so far up here and it is basically winter 9 months outta the year it feels like.


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## lunarae (Apr 20, 2016)

So I caught what I think is a mimic ant spider today. Really pretty. Here's the little enclosure I set up for it using bark from where I found it in the first place. It was residing in some of the bark with moss I had collected last week.









Here's a picture of the spider in question:






This also inspired me to go through with upgrading our LP's digs. Since they hang out on the forest floors of the rainforest I wasn't to considered with the substrate being moist. It's not saturated by any means, but here is what I set up for our LP sling even though it'll outgrow this enclosure quickly.










Before anyone comments about dangers in the bark of pesticides, this comes from my parents land out in the middle of nowhere in the mountains. 10 acres and they don't use any pesticides. As for critters the parts I used were stripped down so outside of something microscopic there isn't anything living in there as well as I rinsed them with warm water. It's not fool proof but I seriously doubt it will harm the LP. Substrate used for both was eco earth.


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## lunarae (Apr 21, 2016)

I made this today for my hubby to keep on his truck with him.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Venom1080 (Apr 21, 2016)

lunarae said:


> I made this today for my hubby to keep on his truck with him.


very cool.


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## lunarae (Apr 21, 2016)

Thanks. ^.^ I'm actually tempted to start doing a lot of those. They're fun, easy, and well....I spent a 1.50 on that XD so very cheap


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## lunarae (Apr 21, 2016)



Reactions: Like 3 | Love 1


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## Venom1080 (Apr 26, 2016)

lunarae said:


> Thanks. ^.^ I'm actually tempted to start doing a lot of those. They're fun, easy, and well....I spent a 1.50 on that XD so very cheap


i have a thing for watching things grow. would love to keep one on my desk. very creative.


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## lunarae (Apr 27, 2016)

Venom1080 said:


> i have a thing for watching things grow. would love to keep one on my desk. very creative.


That's the fun thing with moss, it takes so long you don't notice it is even growing if that makes sense. Yet one day you'll suddenly realize 'oh hey, there's a lot more there then there was before' lol.  Moss is frustrating to grow indoors though. And I couldn't figure out why it could manage outside days on end without rain, but after a few days inside it's dead if you don't mist it. My dad finally pointed out to me how the moss survives on the morning dew. I had totally over looked that whole cycle outside. Makes total sense, and I don't have issues trying to keep the moss now, I give them a good drench every once in a while, there's enough of a lip it'll hold a little moisture in there to work. The other set ups are enclosed so they keep that humid air longer so I don't have to mist them really at all. And the bottle with the lid, that I don't even have to touch. I have it in a good spot where it gets the right amount of light and leave it there. The water inside will cycle on it's own and just be reused. If I'm lucky it'll even have little rain cycles XD. But yeah they're a lot of fun to do, and cheap and easy. Find some moss from outside, a little dirt, maybe bark with some moss or what not growing on it to add some color and voila. ^.^

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## lunarae (May 6, 2016)

Here is the latest set up I did, This is for our A. versicolor. Final home. I went ahead and set it up so that I could let it sit for a month or so and see how well it works before introducing her to it. I'm probably going to wait till she molts again before I add her to the set up. But here is the final home for her. 12x12x18 I may have to make the holes at the top bigger or add more. I wont know till I tend to it for a while and see how it does.

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## louise f (May 7, 2016)

lunarae said:


> Here is the latest set up I did, This is for our A. versicolor. Final home. I went ahead and set it up so that I could let it sit for a month or so and see how well it works before introducing her to it. I'm probably going to wait till she molts again before I add her to the set up. But here is the final home for her. 12x12x18 I may have to make the holes at the top bigger or add more. I wont know till I tend to it for a while and see how it does.


Pretty cool setups

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## lunarae (May 7, 2016)

louise f said:


> Pretty cool setups


Thanks. I love making them ^.^

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## EulersK (May 8, 2016)

Whoa! I haven't checked into this thread in awhile! Seriously luna, you have a talent. That's a darn impressive. You're going to have a very happy versicolor on your hands soon.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## lunarae (May 9, 2016)

EulersK said:


> Whoa! I haven't checked into this thread in awhile! Seriously luna, you have a talent. That's a darn impressive. You're going to have a very happy versicolor on your hands soon.


Thank you. I just wish I could do it more often. Honestly I'm going to end up with enclosures all over the house more then T's at the rate I'm going. XD


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## lunarae (May 9, 2016)

So I redid our G. rosea (porteri) enclosure. Wanted to switch it to top soil rather then eco-earth. After applying the cricket test to the soil I got I had made our A. versicolor enclosure, and I re-did our enclosure for our G. rosea (porteri). There's more space between the bottom to the top on one side. It's a sling, I'm not to worried about it hurting itself in a fall right now. It also spends most of it's time burrowed up as well. But here is what I finished up today. The top soil was still just a little moist though it had been sitting out for a time. So I sprinkled the dry eco-earth over top and inside the burrow I made some to help it feel dry sooner rather then later.


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## grimmjowls (May 9, 2016)

lunarae said:


> Here is the latest set up I did, This is for our A. versicolor. Final home. I went ahead and set it up so that I could let it sit for a month or so and see how well it works before introducing her to it. I'm probably going to wait till she molts again before I add her to the set up. But here is the final home for her. 12x12x18 I may have to make the holes at the top bigger or add more. I wont know till I tend to it for a while and see how it does.


Is that vermiculite or gravel at the bottom? I assume whatever it is, it's for drainage...? 

Very cool setups. You've got an eye for aesthetics that I do not have.


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## lunarae (May 9, 2016)

grimmjowls said:


> Is that vermiculite or gravel at the bottom? I assume whatever it is, it's for drainage...?
> 
> Very cool setups. You've got an eye for aesthetics that I do not have.


It's aquarium gravel, and yes, it's for drainage. *nods* Though I don't water it often enough to really need it, it's there just in case. And thank you. I'm actually really proud of this one the most out of all of them.


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## grimmjowls (May 9, 2016)

lunarae said:


> It's aquarium gravel, and yes, it's for drainage. *nods* Though I don't water it often enough to really need it, it's there just in case. And thank you. I'm actually really proud of this one the most out of all of them.



I use aquarium gravel underneath a layer of substrate in my tree frog's enclosure,  and it works great for drainage. Mold is rarely an issue in his tank anymore, so I'm glad to see you're using the same method!

Please keep us updated with any more terrarium you design. I'm sure we would all love to see them - I know I would.

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## The Snark (May 9, 2016)

lunarae said:


> It's aquarium gravel, and yes, it's for drainage. *nods* Though I don't water it often enough to really need it, it's there just in case.


Not just for drainage. It aerates the detritus layer promoting beneficial organisms. AKA, composting. No aeration, bad smell = anaerobic bacteria running wild.

Reactions: Informative 1


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## lunarae (May 9, 2016)

The Snark said:


> Not just for drainage. It aerates the detritus layer promoting beneficial organisms. AKA, composting. No aeration, bad smell = anaerobic bacteria running wild.


Yeah I knew it was for another reason as well but couldn't quite recall exactly what to put it into words. But yeah. I basically use the same method as used for dart frogs for my enclosures now, try and provide a mini ecosystem or as close to it as I can get.


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## lunarae (May 9, 2016)

grimmjowls said:


> I use aquarium gravel underneath a layer of substrate in my tree frog's enclosure,  and it works great for drainage. Mold is rarely an issue in his tank anymore, so I'm glad to see you're using the same method!
> 
> Please keep us updated with any more terrarium you design. I'm sure we would all love to see them - I know I would.


Nice, and thanks. I post them as they come. ^.^ We're in the process of moving now so it'll be a while before I come up with anything new. Another thing that helps avoid mold and fungus is springtails if you don't already have them.


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## grimmjowls (May 10, 2016)

lunarae said:


> Nice, and thanks. I post them as they come. ^.^ We're in the process of moving now so it'll be a while before I come up with anything new. Another thing that helps avoid mold and fungus is springtails if you don't already have them.


Yeah! I'm currently culturing my own.  I have them in my toad terrarium.


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## lunarae (May 10, 2016)

grimmjowls said:


> Yeah! I'm currently culturing my own.  I have them in my toad terrarium.


Nice! Yeah I have my own culture that I use to populate my enclosures. They're really spiffy. I even add them to the set ups I do that's not going to have anything in them. They're fun to watch run around all on their own XD

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## sas (May 18, 2016)

Brilliant work


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## lunarae (Aug 21, 2016)

Here is the latest look at our current set ups. All pics taken today. Plan on doing probably 5 2.5 gallons in the future for my slings to move into once they get a little bigger. Hope you enjoy.

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## leaveittoweaver (Aug 21, 2016)

What's going in the last tank posted?


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## lunarae (Aug 21, 2016)

Oh the 2.5? I have a G. porteri living in there.


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## lunarae (Aug 21, 2016)

The big one is a 20 gallon and that's going to be for our LP once it gets big enough.


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## Vanessa (Aug 24, 2016)

All that wonderful work you have done and the ungrateful beastie webs themselves into the cork bark.


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## lunarae (Aug 24, 2016)

Haha. So true.  na I think they come out and enjoy it at night when I'm not looking. I know that's what the A. Versicolor does. I caught her doing it one night that sneaky wench.

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## lunarae (Aug 25, 2016)

End product of redoing my 5.5 gallon tank for Madagascar Hissing Cockroach display. I try and keep two in there at a time and name them Bob and Tom.

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## lunarae (Aug 26, 2016)

This is with the lid on and light on. Doesn't look to bad I think. Was going to get an acrylic lid made but I may stick with this. Haven't decided yet.


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## viper69 (Aug 26, 2016)

Neat. I'll tell you what would be useful for many people more so than T gender identification IMO. Live streaming of you actually making the nice vivariums, including any false walls like the one I see above. There's a lot of people that MAY know the concepts, but are nervous about making it because they haven't seen it done yet IMO. If they had the chance to watch it and ask questions while you were streaming, I think that would encourage more people to make realistic setups.


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## lunarae (Aug 26, 2016)

viper69 said:


> Neat. I'll tell you what would be useful for many people more so than T gender identification IMO. Live streaming of you actually making the nice vivariums, including any false walls like the one I see above. There's a lot of people that MAY know the concepts, but are nervous about making it because they haven't seen it done yet IMO. If they had the chance to watch it and ask questions while you were streaming, I think that would encourage more people to make realistic setups.


That's actually on my list of things to stream. I actually streamed me redoing this set up yesterday as I did it. ^_^ I have 2.5 gallons planned coming up and I might make a false back for one or two of them for specific types of T like the gbb.


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## Jeff23 (Sep 5, 2016)

lunarae said:


> With succulents the more light that they get, the more water they need to keep up with what they get from the lighting.......


This is actually true for all plants, but obviously the ones that need more light will die at some point anyway without getting it.  I use to be a hobbyist in Bonsai.  When I needed to travel on occasion, I would water my plants one last time and place all of them in a dark room during my travel.  They never lost a leaf or showed any stress for trips up to a couple weeks.  While I was decent on the care of the plants I was never very talented on the art of the Bonsai.  Earlier in my work career I had to travel a lot so I finally got tired of juggling them and quit the hobby.

Your setups are beautiful and you certainly show you have artistic ability to set up really nice arrangements.  I would love to eventually setup a live plant arrangement with a T that can handle a little more moisture, but I suspect I need to learn a lot more on the care of T's with no complications at this point.


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## lunarae (Sep 5, 2016)

Jeff23 said:


> This is actually true for all plants, but obviously the ones that need more light will die at some point anyway without getting it.  I use to be a hobbyist in Bonsai.  When I needed to travel on occasion, I would water my plants one last time and place all of them in a dark room during my travel.  They never lost a leaf or showed any stress for trips up to a couple weeks.  While I was decent on the care of the plants I was never very talented on the art of the Bonsai.  Earlier in my work career I had to travel a lot so I finally got tired of juggling them and quit the hobby.
> 
> Your setups are beautiful and you certainly show you have artistic ability to set up really nice arrangements.  I would love to eventually setup a live plant arrangement with a T that can handle a little more moisture, but I suspect I need to learn a lot more on the care of T's with no complications at this point.


Yeah, it is how it is with all plants but I think people get the misconception with succulents they can go without watering them longer then they really can, I also seem to have a harder time reading succulents to see if they are having trouble contrary to other types of plants as well but that's me.

I really love the planted tanks personally. I feel it gives a lot to the environment and quality to life to a point. But obviously it's not needed and it does take a lot of work. You really have to know your T and do your research in where they are from to be able to choose the proper plants for them I think. And for me that's still a learning experience. I'm working on learning how to drill and cut glass so that I can make glass enclosures for them all with proper ventilation that doesn't use screens at all. I really prefer glass over acrylic.

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## lunarae (Sep 5, 2016)

Guess who has two new 2.5 gallon tanks, a bunch of acrylic, a bunch of little sling boxes to set up, and all the materials to do it? Squuuuueeeeeeeeee ^.^ I'll be posting pictures up soon. Oh, did I mention I also got the glass drill bits from my dad and I'm going to be working on trying to drill actually side ventilation now in those 2.5 gallons? Oh yeah.....^.^ If I can get the glass drilling aspect down, I might just start making glass enclosures with proper ventilation for Terrestrial and Arboreal T's (that doesn't involve using screens) and sell them if anyone is interested.

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## Bre (Sep 10, 2016)

lunarae said:


> So I figured rather then have a new thread for each enclosure I do and share, I'd just make a thread I can post to when I have a new one finished. Pictures taken will be right after the finished product. If they are desert themed but appear moist that's because I have sprayed it down to help the top layer settle some before letting it dry out completely.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


These are BEAUTIFUL! I need to step my game up!


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## lunarae (Sep 10, 2016)

Bre said:


> These are BEAUTIFUL! I need to step my game up!


lol. thank you. I have a lot of fun with them. I really wish there was more people around me interested in owning them but not making them so I could just make them for people and get paid to do it XD

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