After my carpet bug failure, I have decided to try to make something like it, but much better. Introducing, the miniature ecosystem terrarium!
Okay, so I was thinking, if a small plastic bin won't work, and if I can have plants indoors, maybe I can create a miniature ecosystem, but inside of a terrarium. It would be complete with bugs, plants, and strategic decorations inside of a large plastic bin. I'm not really sure how well it will work though, so I will put the basics of what I planned in here.
Large plastic bin with a lid with holes on the top. Put about 1 foot of dirt into the bin. Plant small plants, grasses, mosses, and maybe small bushes inside. Water every two days, make sure it stays wet. Add decomposers (roly polies, millipedes, slugs, snails, worms) and herbivores (aphids) once there are plenty of springtails, which signify that the soil is healthy. After about a week (or as long as it takes for the decomposers and herbivores to establish populations), add predators (centipedes, lady bugs, spiders, praying mantises). Make sure there aren't too many or too little of the populations. If there are too many of a population, remove some. If there aren't enough, remove the predators of that population. If there aren't enough predators, catch ore and add them in. For maintenance, make sure the plants don't reach the lid so that creatures can't climb out. Make sure there aren't unknown bugs or unknown plants, as the unknown plants could be weeds and the unknown bugs could be predators, which is only really a problem if they're hurting a population, or they could be herbivores that kill the plants (like the aphids, but the praying mantises and ladybugs are there to help with aphid populations, and I also added the because it makes the ecosystem a little more realistic.) As for decorations, put in small rocks, pieces of wood, dead leaves, and other natural decorations. Make sure they don't have any pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers on them, because thise can disrupt the ecosystem.
Can people tell me if my idea works? That's basically what this book is for, to show people my ideas and get feedback and experiment results. Please tell me in the comments.
Don't forget to keep the terrarium clean.
Okay, bye.
YOU ARE READING
Bouncing around ideas
De TodoI'll be bouncing ideas around. Keep an open mind, because this'll be super random.
