thedruidsdenexotics

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New terrarium completed

Terrarium Setup (Part 2)

Last week I had received my DIY bio-active terrarium and added expanding foam to the sticks I had picked out to fill the space in the enclosure.

This was my first time ever using the Great Stuff expanding foam. After allowing it to cure for 24 hours, I went to remove the wire supports and one of the sticks didn't adhere correctly. Thankfully it popped off immediately and didn't wait until there was an animal in the enclosure.

I trimmed back the extra Great Stuff foam and added some sphagnum moss with aquarium silicone. I also zip-tied a pot in the background to allow for the pink polka dot plant (Hypoestes phyllostachya) to be added as a floating plant.

I was actually quite impressed that my contributions to the enclosure came out looking as good as they did.

Next, my husband moved it to it's place in the Den. Once it was on the shelf, I was able to "blueprint" the plants in the bottom.

This was probably easier than it will be with future enclosures as I've been day dreaming the layout of this enclosure for months. I then added the drainage layer (LECA balls), substrate barrier, and substrate (Unz-arium simple soil).

The pothos (Epipremnum aureum) was actually 2 different plants, root-wise. I took the smaller pothos and put it in the stage left from of the enclosure. I also added a loose stick that I plan to train the pothos up as it grows.

I added dairy cow isopods (Porcellio laevis) and some springtails. Finally, I added some leaf litter, sphagnum moss, and a cute little piece of aquarium decoration that I think helps add the feeling of being in a little magical fairy world.

I also set up a Mist King automatic misted but I didn't take any pictures of that process. I need to add another nozzle but I'm okay with supplementing the plants with manually watering for now.

Now comes the hard part for my ADHD, the waiting for it to grow out a bit more. A couple of months and I'm hoping that it will start looking more forest-y.

Plant Project

I re-potted all of the little pothos cuttings to their big kid pots. All had nice healthy tap roots. I also didn't get any pictures of this but I will include a visual update of the Den next week.

This project is now also a waiting game while the cutting grow large enough to list for sale.

Cabinet/Wood Products Project

No updates for this project this week. However, now that the first enclosure is planted and the cuttings are now in their big kid pots, this is going to be the financial focus.

My goal is to have the workshop completed by spring 2025.

Upcoming Shows/Expos

October 20th – Corning Reptiles and More

October 26 – Rexpo Fall 2024

We're probably going to miss the Corning Reptiles and More show as my sister's wedding is the day before but I really hope I can make it for their spring show.

What’s Next?

Fall is hard for me, more overcast days and shorter days really mess with my motivation. I'm keeping my eyes on the next steps forward and I'm super proud with the steps I've taken so far.

I'm gonna focus on getting the garage converted to be my husband's wood workshop next as far as financial investment. I think that my goal of having it completed by spring of next year is realistic.

I'm super happy with how my first bioactive enclosure came out. It's what I always wanted when I was a kid but the knowledge to do them wasn't as common in the hobby in the 90's. It definitely makes my inner child happy and that was the ultimate goal.

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New Terrarium, new plants

Yesterday was the Salt City Reptile Expo and I was super excited for it...because I was finally picking up my DIY bioactive tank with custom background from Unz-arium!

Terrarium Setup

Let me start with the kit as it came:

I love the background, I definitely wouldn't have been able to make it look as clean as that.

It included:

Drainage layer (Leca Balls), 2 bags

Unz-arium simple soil, 4 bags

18x18 piece of mesh

Oak leaf litter, 1 bag

10 ct. dairy cow isopods

Spring tails, 8 oz culture

In addition, I bought:

a second 10 ct. of isopods, also dairy cow

16 oz culture of spring tails

sphagnum moss -- picture not taken/posted

I also had some hardscape that I had been buying in small pieces in anticipation of this project:

At the time of this posting, I had just brought the kit home from the expo. I did blueprint and start getting into place the final touches that I wanted to fill the space inside. Step 1 was cutting the 'sleeping' branches to size.

I forgot that I had frame hanging string but my husband was able to McGyver some of his old wire into stick holders.

Once both sleeping sticks were in place, next came the Great Stuff to hold them into place.

Stay tuned for next weeks update where I (try to) hide these joints and make them look more naturalistic.

Plant Project

If you've been following our Instagram or Facebook, you've probably seen the excited news. If not, you should probably go drop a follow on one of those as I post updates there in (near) real time.

But there's been lots of new growth noticed in the forest section of the Den! I'll start with the polka dot plant because I've been obsessed with it.

It had actually started to fall over. I staked it for a couple of days while I finished up my 9-5 week. But I took a clipping and started the process of cloning it.

These plants are so dramatic! I thought that I had royally messed up because the clipping started to wilt. And not just a little bit...but a lot. Enough so that I was honestly concerned that I was going to lose it. But it has now bounced back nicely:

More notably though, the mother pothos has sprouted lots of new leaves!

I also went down Ack's Exotics and bought a couple more plants.

China Doll plant (Radermachera sinica), left

Japanese fern (Polystichum polyblepharum), right

Probably going to take some trimmings from both after getting them established in the terrarium. I think they'll definitely add the jungle/forest-y feel that the pothos and polka dot plant just don't give off.

Cabinet/Wood Products Project

No updates for this project this week. My goal is to have the workshop completed by spring 2025.

Upcoming Shows/Expos

October 5th – Finger Lakes Reptile Expo Fall Show

October 20th – Corning Reptiles and More

October 26 – Rexpo Fall 2024

What’s Next?

I'm going to be working on getting the terrarium finished and set up in the reptile room. Steps to be completed this week:

Carve off excess Great Stuff from around joints of branches.

Layer silicone on the joints and attach sphagnum moss to give them the naturalistic appearance

Move tank into reptile room.

Set up mist-king system.

Put in drainage layer, substrate, plants, CUC.

Calibrate mistings,

Once all of that is completed, we can then start the process of getting it set up for a Crestie!

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New Shelves for cabinet area

I realized through this week that I am the worst at truly documenting what I am doing with my phone. I miss steps, like 'before' photos.

Plant Project

It's been 2 weeks since we planted the clippings of the Golden Pothos (Epipremnum aureum). The majority of them seem to be doing well. We had one that we had to pull.

There were a couple that had some damage on their leaf. I'm hoping they'll recover after clipping the yellow section of the leafs.

The other one wasn't as obvious that it had been cut.

The roots of the cutting that we tried in just water was also established enough to go into dirt.

I think that I'm going to use this method whenever I do Pothos clippings in the future cause I'm having a hard time waiting for the others to establish roots without being able to see the roots.

Polka Dot plant is also continuing to thrive. I didn't take any pictures of this one because there's not been a change to the physical appearance of the plant.

Cabinet/Wood Products Project

We went to Lowe's and did a preliminary list of what we need to get Husband's wood work area set up. We found Craftsmen interlocking shelving units. I missed the before photo here of the shelves that we had on the wall.

We had 2 rows of white wire shelving, one at hip height and one at shoulder. Both row went from the door to the house around the wall and the back of the garage. They were installed when my husband's grandmother lived in the house and we both wanted to replace these anyway.

We only purchased one set of the shelves to start. We started with taking the previous shelves down on the one wall.

Then it was time to construct the new shelves. You can see an example of the previous shelves in the second picture.

And the final placement.

We're going to be able to consolidate all of our garage stuff to these shelves. The vision is that once all of the wire shelving is down, we're going to build my husband workbench on the opposite wall from the shelves.

Upcoming Shows/Expos

September 29th -- Salt City Reptile Expo Fall Show

October 5th -- Finger Lakes Reptile Expo Fall Show

October 20th -- Corning Reptiles and More

October 26 -- Rexpo Fall 2024

What's Next?

I'm picking up my enclosure from Unz-arium at the Salt City Fall Show next weekend. I'm going to try and get some good pictures at this show. It's going to need me to confront some of my social anxiety, which probably good for me.

I'm excited to share the journey of figuring out bioactive enclosures and getting the first animal in my breeding project.

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Week of 9/9

This week we made progress by paying off the last half of our first DIY bioactive terrarium. I have scheduled to pick it up during the next expo in a couple of weeks.

I'm excited to get this terrarium set up. This is my first bioactive terrarium. I'm glad that I was able to find a local bioactive supplier who has these kits available because I was a bit overwhelmed trying to figure out how to do my own background. It will also be nice to have a resource in case my anxiety gets the better of me and convinces me that something normal is a concern.

Plant Project

Nothing major to report. All the clippings seem to be doing well but I haven't seen any new growth on them.

I did see new growth on the polka dot plant! I'm excited to see where it is in a couple of weeks. Hopefully, I'll be able to get a couple of cuttings from it by the end of the year.

Upcoming Expos

September 29th -- Salt City Reptile Expo Fall Show

October 5th -- Finger Lakes Reptile Expo Fall Show

What's Next?

Outside of anything truly major happening, such as losing any of the pothos cuttings, I don't expect too much to update the next couple of weeks. I'm trying to remind myself that there are going to be times of waiting and that's okay. I'm still on the right track for the goals I've set and that is all that matters.

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Week of 9/2

Last week we set up the plant area and now comes the hardest part of plants for me...the waiting. I live with ADHD, which means that establishing new elements to my routine can be a struggle. I'm quite pleased that I have been consistently watering them in the evening and maintaining the humidity levels.

I have also played around with the area to keep it "interesting" for my brain so it doesn't end up just blending into the background.

I'm so happy walking into my office and seeing my little toys "climbing" around the set-up.

We haven't lost any of the clippings yet, which I take as a good sign. Even though we did have an incident where Gandalf broke into my office while I had stepped out of the house. He knocked the upper set of cuttings down. This one:

And the big leafed cutting had become unpotted. I didn't get a picture of the devastation. But in case you're not sure which one was unpotted, it's this one:

It seems to be okay though. I was able to save most of the dirt and I buried the clipping a bit deeper. I might've potted it a bit shallow which is why it was the only one to be unpotted in the incident.

I was also happy to see that the small bit from the original incident, which was also caused by Gandalf, has started sprouting roots!

This one will probably be ready to go into some dirt sometime this week or next. This bit had no rooting hormone so I was less than confident that it was going to be savable.

I have also seen the start of new leaves on the polka dot plant but I wasn't able to get a good shot on my phone.

What's Next?

I'm still focusing on getting the terrarium at the end of September. I've also been considering how to get more content flowing to our Instagram account. If you want a preview of what we're working on throughout the week, Instagram is a great place! Follow us here: https://www.instagram.com/the_druids_den_exotics/

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Week of 8/26/24

This week we made some pretty big strides. Starting with we got our first "mother plants" and did get some cuttings from one to start.

I got the plant area set up with a gasket tub. Was monitoring the humidity inside the tub for a few days and noticed that we were having trouble with humidity being a bit high, so started this project with adding holes to the top to allow for a bit more flow.

The mother plants that we picked up was a Golden Pothos (Epipremnum aureum) and a pink Polka Dot plant (Hypoestes phyllostachya):

First thing we had to do was add the drainage tray. I've seen people suggest using the 'egg carton' for aquarium backgrounds, mainly cause it's east to cut to size. I decided to get a cheap tray from the local hydroponics store. We cut it to the length of tub then re-attached the end to retain stability.

And the finished product:

Next, we had to repot the mother plants cause they were obviously being scrunched into those pots:

After getting them into their nice and spacious new homes. I wanted to cut back the legs on the pothos and propagate the cuttings.

I am absolutely in love with this variegation.

The final set up:

My cat had gotten to the pothos for a second when we brought it home, that's what is in the little jar of water. It's a hail mary on maybe being able to get it to root.

What's Next?

We now have plants that are ready for our first terrarium. I have ordered a custom DIY kit from a local bioactive supplier, Unz-arium. I'm working on the final bit of the payment for it so that's going to be focus for the next month.

I will be doing our usual weekly updates but they're probably going to be slow until the end of September (which is the goal I've set for myself to have the money collected).

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An Introduction

Hi, I'm Kat and I'm the person behind The Druid's Den.

I've loved reptiles since I was quite little. I kept anoles and a ball python through my elementary and middle school years. I got out of the hobby in high school. I wanted to get back into reptiles in my mid-20's. I was living in apartments at the time and didn't like the idea of having to move a glass terrarium whenever we got priced out of an apartment after a couple of years.

Fast forward to now. My husband and I have purchased a house, with a room that I can turn into a reptile room. Having not kept reptiles since the early 00's, I have learned that everything that was standard for keeping reptiles back then is now archaic. But that's not a bad thing, as zoo-level equipment is now available on the standard market for affordable pricing. Such as UVB lighting and automatic misting systems.

I have always loved the reptile house at the Denver and the Rosmond-Gifford (Syracuse) zoos and aspired to having something similar in my house. I also always loved the movie Ferngully and the lore behind the Wood Elf race in Dungeons and Dragons of living with nature and not just on it.

This is the inspiration for The Druid's Den. I want to have a company that allows people the ability to transfigure parts of their home to allow for slices of nature, while being accessible to the newest herpetologist. Where people can't only get the best cared for animals but provide the ability to start with (or upgrade) their environment to allow for the best experience with these amazing creatures.

That's what this blog is all about. You'll get updates of what we're working on and my general thought-stream about it.

Thank you for joining us for our journey. I hope that you enjoy your time at The Den.

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The Test Post

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