Yes indeed. I have joined the church of bug empathy, but I promise you, mosquitoes didn't make it to the empathy list. LOLYou have been converted!I always make sure not to harvest too much bark/leaf litter/etc from one area, so all the little critters still have homes. Everything serves a purpose in the end!
The isopod cultures are doing well, and the springtails are really taking off! Still no baby isopods, but there appear to be several females in both cultures that are carrying young so I don't think it'll be much longer before I see little ones.
I'll finally be bringing my terrarium home on Friday (possibly Saturday, pending my energy levels), and I expect to spend most of the day planning, and possibly starting construction. I've been preparing by categorizing my current plants by light preference and size, haha! Picked up a couple more over the weekend (pink stripe spiderwort, Irish moss, white nerve plant), and stand at a solid 20 individual plants that I'd like to incorporate. I may need to edit a bit - we'll see! Any plants that don't make the cut will likely become part of a free range in the window.
It'll be another 3 weeks before I can get my lighting, but progress is being made!
Granted, many of the plants are either small species, ephiphytes, or can be pruned as needed. Gotta finish cataloging, see what ought to fit where and why. I love art projects, and I went a little overboard on plants so that I had a wide "palette" to "paint" with haha! It should be interesting to see how everything grows in!
36x18x36 ExoTerra
I havent quite gotten around to making a "moss milkshake" yet! I decided that I ought to wait until the pieces are in place before I slather them with moss goo. I figure I'll construct the major pieces, add the moss, and then leave it outside to air out while I wait for my lighting.
Thank you - im really excited!
I'm probably putting more thought into planning than strictly necesssry, but I'm having a blast! I really hope it turns out well, though I expect I'll keep working on it until it meets my exacting standards regardless haha!
My A. Vulgare culture is doing great, now! I think the die off was in part due to excess moisture, which has since been fixed, in combination with some mold growth (springtails handled that once they established). It seems to have helped that I gave them a nice big hunk of ponderosa pine bark to hang out on under their ventilation window. If they want lower humidity, they seem to congregate up on top of it!
Haha right?! I started a culture for the sake of saving a few dollars, but I've genuinely enjoyed keeping them! I might try for selective breeding at some point, just for fun. I have a couple very nice high yellow a. Vulgare, though sadly they're all female. If I can find a male, I'll segregate him with a few virgin females and see what happens!
Yay!!!Today's the day! Assuming everything goes well and my ride is available, I'll be picking up my 36x18x36 exoterra this afternoon! SO EXCITED!!!!
attached are some draft pictures that I took while playing around. It's turning out differently than I had originally thought, but that's art for you! I'll be cleaning the terrarium glass and starting with the foam a little later today, after I run some errands. About how long do I want to wait between layers, and how long does it take to become solid enough to support weight? (@Brodybreaux25, @jamest0o0) 
Get it girl and you want to send me one of your logs? I like those sticks lolLadies and gentlemen, it has begun!!
The plan is to fill up the top with smaller branches, and plant my hibiscus and possibly a coffee tree towards the bottom left. I have lots of bark, and between that and the foam I expect everything will be shifted forward by ~2 inches. The basking lamp will be on the left hand side, and I'll be tucking my Full Throttle feeder behind the far left stump/planter. Very open to criticisms and tips!
Basic rough mock up (without bark) of the large pieces. Red = deep holes for epiphytes, green = planters:
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With two of the larger branches tentatively placed:
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Right side accent "trunk":
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I live in a lucky area for foraging, what can I say? I like to pretend I have good taste, too. That log on the back right took me a solid 30 minutes to harvest, since my handsaw was badly blunted. I just needed to have it! Landed on my rear more than once while I was yanking on it. 
