Terrarium

January 17, 2012 2:57 PM

I'm thinking of building a terrarium to combine the excitement of cultivation and microcontroller/control systems hacking. What are some interesting organisms to grow in a terrarium that would justify elaborate control of lighting, humidity, and temperature?
posted by phrontist to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (10 answers total)

Many of the traditionally-cultivated carnivorous plants require very specific (humid) conditions.
posted by carsonb at 3:11 PM on January 17, 2012 [2 favorites]

You need to plant carnivorous plants! Here's a link to some information.
posted by shrabster at 3:11 PM on January 17, 2012 [1 favorite]

Orchids?
posted by exphysicist345 at 3:13 PM on January 17, 2012

I popped in here to say orchids! They enjoy a fan for air circulation as well.
posted by Ostara at 3:29 PM on January 17, 2012

I also wanted to suggest carnivorous plants. We have a terrarium of carnivorous plants in my office, which are lovely, but also fussy. Ours is a full on miniature wetland - pitcher plants, Venus fly traps and sundews all planted into a bed of sphagnum moss that we keep watered with distilled water (apparently they get very unhappy with tap water). You can also put individual potted plants in a terrarium if you don't like the tiny wetland approach.
posted by pemberkins at 3:33 PM on January 17, 2012 [1 favorite]

You are 100% looking for poison dart frogs.

Haven't kept any (yet), but I like reading about them. It's like the tropical reef keeping of the terrarium world.
posted by Zebulias at 3:56 PM on January 17, 2012 [2 favorites]

Not clear on if you want just plants or animals and plants, but if I was willing to keep insects, I'd love me a chameleon. Seriously, how cute is that?! They are ridiculously high maintenance, so you'd have your work cut out for you regarding elaborate control of lighting, humidity, and temperature, and all terrarium animals like live plants, so you'd have the double challenge. They need branches, so ficus are easy, but you could pick harder plants.

If no animals, I'd give ruby spike moss (Selaginella erythropus 'Sanguinea') a try. It's gorgeous but picky as hell.
posted by vegartanipla at 5:30 PM on January 17, 2012

Eh, we have Sarracenia and flytraps and sundews in our terrarium, and they've been happy in there for a couple years. They're not *easy*, but I think it's worth trying.
posted by pemberkins at 6:04 PM on January 17, 2012

How about mushrooms, maybe shiitakes or something? You can order kits, or even just spores, but then you have to figure out how to keep them moist without making your kitchen (or whatever) too gross.

Also: it's surprisingly difficult, for me (and I've heard for others) to grow herbs indoors. The light/humidity doesn't seem to work out. Mainly I think this is because it's difficult to keep the soil moist but not soggy while giving them enough light; traditional "house plants" tend to do better in dry temperate rooms. Try some basil; you might be able to do better than most.
posted by amtho at 6:37 PM on January 17, 2012 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Break new ground - try cultivating and keeping a slime mold. They're about the weirdest creature out there, with aspects of fungus-like and animal-like behaviors, while being directly related to neither. It would take some doing to set up a happy and healthy slime mold, requiring careful temperature and humidity control and lots of trial and error. Some of them can be quite beautiful... or at least have stages in their lifecycle when they're beuatiful, others when they're oozing piles of slowly moving goo, and still others where they appear to be inert while they absorb nutrients from their immediate environment. It would be quite the project to document how your slime is doing, and whether it thrives or withers with extra moisture or light or with less heat etc. You can set up your rig to have a "motile" mode, a "fruiting body" mode and a "feeding mode."
posted by Slap*Happy at 8:11 PM on January 17, 2012 [1 favorite]