# 12x12x12 Exo Terra ideas?



## Betta132 (May 12, 2012)

I've found an Exo Terra mini cube on Craigslist, cheap, and I'll be picking it up later today. I'm thinking of making it kind of a bog setting, and I want to use components that will never degrade, with the idea that it will never be necessary to take it down. 

My plan is to put a layer of stones in the bottom, then put a mat of live sphagnum moss on it. I know a lot of little bog plants, like sundews, grow in pure live sphagnum, and I'd imagine there are some small orchids I could use as well. 

I also plan to use pumice as the background and hardscape. People grow pinguiculas on it, and it should be suitable for orchids and other epiphytes (and not-quite-epiphytes) to grow on if I keep it in some water so it stays wet. 

Would an enclosure this small make a decent bog terrarium, or is it too little? I'd want a mini orchid or two, maybe something else that will flower, and a few other small plants that were either bog plants or liked it in bog conditions. Lighting permitting, I'd add a couple of sundews or a butterwort, and probably a bladderwort somewhere. 

The lighting for this is going to be similar to my other project. That one has a P. emarginata doing well under it, so the lighting isn't terrible, but it's not high-light.

I'll definitely be putting a computer fan in/on this somehow. I know I've seen an arrangement where the fan is on top of the screen lid, but loosely enclosed in a small box so that the air around it is drawn up from inside the terrarium rather than being dry outside air. This will require some fiddling, I'm sure, but I'm shooting for really high humidity so I can try orchids that you can't put anywhere but the insides of clouds.

Any thoughts?


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## Vertigo (Nov 23, 2016)

If you're going for super high humidity, make sure that only part of the lid (or the part with the computer fan) is made of screen. I'm wondering how you're going to make the pumice background since you probably need something to attach all the pieces and spray foam and silicone won't wick up the water if you're placing the background directly in water. For orchids, Lepanthes telipogoniflora is pretty much almost a must have for this sort of setup since it can live in almost saturated conditions. Some others I think you may want to look into are Haraella odorata, Pleurothallis rubella, and Lepanthes tsubotae.


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## Betta132 (May 12, 2012)

I'll definitely be covering a lot of the screen on top with something, probably with a cut-out so it doesn't block the light. 

It looks like there are a good few mini Lepanthes that like terrarium conditions, so I'll definitely be giving those a shot. 

I'll be at a greenhouse this weekend and collecting some samples of moss to try out, hopefully I can find some that'll do well. 

For the pumice, I think I can get some longer, thinner chunks and wedge them into place. Pumice is really light, I should be able to brace them just fine into position with some other rocks and maybe a few small dabs of silicone to help stick them together. I'm not going to try for a complete background that doesn't let any of the glass show, though, I'll see how it looks with just the pumice. If I don't like the look, I'll stuff Hygrolon or something similar in the gaps.


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## klawfran3 (Jun 26, 2017)

You mentioned sundews but just be warned that they have to go into hibernation every year. Most carnivorous plants (sarracenia, VFTs, Butterworts, and sundews) have to hibernate. Nepenthes (the hanging pitchers) don't, but they will get way too big for your tank. 

Miniature orchids would probably appreciate the humidity planted up on the background, jsut let them dry out every day or two before watering them.


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## Betta132 (May 12, 2012)

Tropical pinguicula don't require dormancy, and neither do many sundews. The trick with sundews is finding one that likes tropical conditions, doesn't require dormancy, and doesn't get huge. 

I've decided to go a different route than a bog, and I'm going to try to make this look like a ledge of a cliff. I couldn't find any large hunks of pumice or lava rock locally, so most of the background will be granite, with Hygrolon strips in in helpful places to make a lot of wet pockets along it.


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