Loops117
Well-known member
I pulled the song from a random nature music search. And thank you! I've always been a fan of multi-species habitats. I sit and stare at their setup for long periods of time and each time it's like there's something new. i know every species of insect in the setup, and yet it's like i'm seeing them for the first time when they're all out and about.
It's such an awarding feeling when you have multiple species co-existing. This community started off in the tank i had originally planned to use for this entire build a year ago, and had out grown it. I also had to rethink how i was going to create a habitat that would also house ants without looking like a bunch of plastic within the habitat. I gave up on that.@Loops117 Lots of various creatures for sure in there, glad you found something that is working for you. Although it appears you went bigger and did a whole bio-dome setup with at least seven species.
I've been keeping local millipedes and snails in with my isopods anymore that I collect, and they seem to flourish too.
I just found a bunch of larva and pupae from my darkling beetles. I wild collected about 10 back in march during my trip to Arizona and the Sonoran Desert. Since then I’ve been finding their larva throughout the entire setups substrate. The ants were an accident tho, lol.
One of my hoppers had jumped and smacked the lid of their setup which startled my dog. He ran downstairs and stopped himself on a formicarium with a 20+ queen colony of Tapinoma sessile, also known as the Coconut ant. He snapped one of their connectors off, and I hadn’t realized it until it was too late (5 hours later). I was missing about 5 queens and 600 workers. 3 days later, I find them all in the community tank. Luckily this species doesn’t prey on living insects, and they like fruits and veggies. Decided to let them stay, and now they’re flourishing. They’re also able to leave the setup and find a new home considering my screen lid cannot contain them at all. (part of the reason I moved the community outside). I’m also hoping that the T.sessile help keep Camponotus pennsylvanicus (carpenter ant) at bay, and from attacking the community. Daily I find carpenter ants trying to break into my formicaria and other insect holding containers.
Also, now I have a new insect that had moved in on the 2nd day of the community being outside in the garage. Yesterday as I was planting some carrot in the setup, I found about 4 adult north American earwigs. Luckily these guys are scavengers, so I’m not worried about them messing with the other inhabitants. If anything, I’m happy to have them in the community as they will help keep the tank clean.
Soon I will be adding giant orange, powder blue, and purple isopods to help aid my clean-up crew with the new load of inhabitants.
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