FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Your adventure is turning out to be really rewarding and exciting! Congrats! Please post pics!

Congrats on the new beetle Grey!

I have to say that Firma looks quite Super-Ninja!

Thanks you two! I'll get some photos soon, things have been rather exhausting over here and it simply hasn't crossed my mind today.

In other news: Gaia moulted to an adult yesterday, at least I believe she is an adult; she's smaller than Terra by a fair bit but that could just be due to Terra being fully mature... she's an egg laying machine. I picked out seven eggs yesterday (the last being before I went to bed) and twelve today. I've read that five a day is considered typical but I'm not sure of this. I'll be doing more research to clarify.

Echo is currently in a quarantine tank on my desk. I found him sulking last night having not eaten his pellets (when a betta refuses food you know something's up). He's severely bloated... I can only assume he found something in his home that he took a liking to and devoured, there is a lot of microfauna living with him so it's entirely possible. It isn't a swim bladder infection and I don't believe it to be internal parasites; internal breakdown is a possibility however his water parameters are stable so I don't foresee it being that. I've dissolved epsom salt (magnesium sulphate) into his tank water to help ease the discomfort, this should also encourage him to pass anything causing a blockage... should he start eating again I'll be feeding him exclusively on daphnia for a while (daphnia is a natural laxative).

I hope he'll be okay.

I send Echo my best wishes and hopes for a speedy recovery.

Thanks He’s sulking behind his heater this morning , I can’t see his belly to give an update on his progress. Need to change his water soon.

Picked out nine Terra-eggs this morning. Nine. These were laid over the course of what? Nine hours? Is she really laying one an hour? She laid thirteen yesterday (last before I went to bed), if this trend continues it looks like I’ll have to start selling sooner than anticipated -- not that I’m complaining but I was not expecting so many eggs so soon; it is quite a nice surprise mind you.

Gaia is at the front of her enclosure this morning so I finally got a good look at the spines on the back of her legs; they don’t look as intimidating as Terra’s and Gaia measures at a modest 12cm (as opposed to Terra’s 16cm) so it’s entirely possible she’s either a small adult or has another moult. I’ll have to wait and see, I’ll know for sure when one of two things happens… 1) she moults again (if this occurs it’ll likely be four to six weeks) or 2) she starts laying eggs (around two to four weeks from now). Bit of a predicament though as I want to prevent the risk of there being parthenogenic eggs.

Looks like in two weeks I’m going to have to risk introducing Firma to Gaia’s enclosure, see if he takes to her.

Got a nymph that should be arriving today to help me test the stick insect nursery Not an E. tiaratum but a species that has the ability to grow moss-like appendages on itself to act as camouflage -- pretty cool huh? I’ll be doing a final inspection of the nursery before the baby is due to arrive, hoping no gaps or holes are present. It’s a bit difficult to say whether or not it is escape proof as until I see a nymph up close I can’t honestly say whether any gaps or holes could provide an escape route.

I’ve read a lot about breeding E. tiaratum and know a nymph’s average size (1.8cm upon hatching) but until I see something that small in the flesh it’s difficult to visualize just how small it actually is, even when I take a ruler and mark off 1.8cm.

Aff I’m tired… barely slept last night.

Rest up! Nymphs are surprisingly fast. Well, praying mantis nymphs at least. Good luck!

Please post pics when your new nymph arrives!

Post from yesterday:

Thanks.

Echo died sometime last night. He had internal breakdown syndrome (aka dropsy), not sure what happened. His aquarium was on the same cleaning schedule as Kaze's and was fully cycled, both tanks had the exact same filter.

Must have missed something.

Nymph didn't arrive yesterday, I'm a bit worried but it should be here today. Will try get some photo updates of everything today, in the meantime I have a day to get ready for.

Today:
Finally got some photos. They aren't very good but the lighting has been funny this morning.


The beetle tank is undergoing renovations at the moment, I'm looking to increase the soil depth and add more leaf litter but this is what I have in the meantime.


Gaia's wing buds didn't settle properly, they should be flush against her back as far as I know; this won't cause any problems and I actually think it's quite cute. I just remembered what she reminds me of and that is a tooth fairy from the second Hellboy movie. I compared her wing buds to Terra's and they're pretty much the same size so I believe Gaia is an adult now, that's great.


I took this photo yesterday. I believe it to be of the recently emerged beetle. He's cute. Two of them liked to huddle in the greenery in the back right corner, it's very sweet. I also made sure to get my hands on a small heating pad for their tank for winter.

Sorry for the disjointed update. Have a photo of Firma to make up for it.

I've finally finished the cold temperate Pinguicula care pages to the best of my ability at this point in time. I'm hoping to get all graphics done eventually... here's an updated project list:

Finished pages (within the confines of occasional reassessment):
* Mexican Pinguicula care: basic, advanced, general info, species & hybrid list
* Cold temperate Pinguicula care: basic, advanced, general info, species list *NEW*
* Problems & diseases: complete redesign to make things a lot easier to read, some new data available
* Staying Eco-Friendly: reorganized to be easier to read, fewer pages

Pages under construction: *NEW*
* Pinguicula Care page -- used as title page for sub categories *NEW*

Removed pages:
* Q&A section
* Site Map
* Old care pages/general care info *NEW*

Hidden pages (awaiting more research & reassessment):
* Warm temperate Pinguicula care

Coming soon (hopefully):
* New warm temperate Pinguicula care pages

In the future (no estimated date):
* Photographic progression of Mexican Pinguicula winter growth changes
* Data regarding flowering and pollination, seed production and collection
* Care sheets and summaries (easy and quick-to-read summary of each page containing valuable data)
* Domain name change (unable to access current domain provider website, concerned)
* More graphics

Other projects (not confirmed):
* Carnivorous plant suppliers list & peat alternatives list
* Growth comparison of Pinguicula species grown indoors vs outdoors
* Growth comparison of Mexican Pinguicula grown in peat vs coconut coir
* Seed germination diary (indoors vs outdoors) *NEW*

It's getting late here and gosh am I ever tired. Going to go to bed now, hopefully get more done tomorrow.

I know it's been a little while since I last posted, I've been preoccupied with helping family with funeral stuff and sorting out Kaze's new tank. Nothing finished yet, not feeling so good today actually but meh.

Grey wrote: I'd love to see your 45G at some stage if you ever fancy uploading a photo or two!

Sorry, I've been lazy, but here are a couple shots of my tank. It's a little more filled in than when I mentioned it before. I always have trouble taking good pictures of the tank, there were some of the better attempts.

45G
15 Neon Tetras
7 Emerald Cories
2 Serpae Tetras(left over from when I had a 10G)
1 Bolivian Ram
2 Glass/feeder shrimp
5 Amano Shrimp
~20 Assasin snails(started as 4 and they keep reproducing)

Oh it's beautiful! Thank you so much for posting the photos, it must be a lovely tank to sit back and watch.

Did someone say more updates?!

Finished pages (within the confines of occasional reassessment):
* Cold temperate Pinguicula care: basic, advanced, general info, species list
* Mexican Pinguicula care: basic, advanced, general info, species list
* Warm temperate Pinguicula care: basic, advanced, general info, species list *NEW*
* Problems & diseases: complete redesign to make things a lot easier to read, some new data available
* Staying Eco-Friendly: reorganized to be easier to read, fewer pages

Pages under construction:
* Pinguicula Care page -- used as title page for sub categories

Coming soon (hopefully):
* The Pinguicula Diary: a blog outlining various growth projects including germinating from seed, fertilization techniques and other such things *NEW*

In the future (no estimated date):
* Photographic progression of Mexican Pinguicula winter growth changes
* Data regarding flowering and pollination, seed production and collection
* Care sheets and summaries (easy and quick-to-read summary of each page containing valuable data)
* Domain name change
* More graphics
* Species of Note pages: outlines details about species with unique, odd or generally interesting growth habits that differ to the norm of specified group *NEW*

Other projects (not confirmed):
* Carnivorous plant suppliers list & peat alternatives list
* Growth comparison of Pinguicula species grown indoors vs outdoors
* Growth comparison of Mexican Pinguicula grown in peat vs coconut coir

Aff. Things over here have been a bit frustrating of late, Gaia's gone downhill and looks like she's passed away but Terra and Firma are absolutely thriving. We're up to 122 ova (and counting) and I'm looking to start selling them in batches of 20... but I don't want to use eBay heh.

Other news: still unable to get clear photographs of the two Phenacephorus cornucervi nymphs but I dragged out one that I took shortly after they arrived that, while blurry, showed their size compared to my thumb.



I believe that have both moulted at least once since arriving and they are doing really well. I'm beginning to see patterning on their abdomens.

I had every intention of setting up the 54litre aquarium I had sitting in the back garden for Kaze but as I'd just about finished planting it the bottom seal gave way and it started losing water. I settled with the 27litre instead. I took as many plants as I could and fixed his new tank up, he's very hyper and seems to love his new (and final) home.


(This is the 54litre after we drained it, doesn't look any where near as nice as it did when full of water. Very disappointed but meh, these things happen.)


(This is Kaze's tank, I love the piece of driftwood.)

Aaannnd here are a couple other random photos of the sticks:

Terra



Firma

Firma likes to fly. He flies from one place to another in his enclosure if he can't reach there normally. Had an interesting night last night when I was checking for eggs before bed and had the enclosure door open, Firma decided he'd like to sit on the outside of the rim of the enclosure. I tried to gently herd him back inside but he was having none of it and took off, flew across my room and landed on one of the storage baskets next to Kaze's tank.

One of the most awesome things ever. He's very graceful.

Finished pages (within the confines of occasional reassessment):
* Cold temperate Pinguicula care: basic, advanced, general info, species list
* Mexican Pinguicula care: basic, advanced, general info, species list
* Warm temperate Pinguicula care: basic, advanced, general info, species list
* Problems & diseases: complete redesign to make things a lot easier to read, some new data available
* Staying Eco-Friendly: reorganized to be easier to read, fewer pages
* The Pinguicula Diary: a blog outlining various growth projects including germinating from seed, fertilization techniques and other such things *NEW*
* Pinguicula Care page -- used as title page for sub catetegories, needs more images but in general finished *NEW*

Updated pages:
* Cold temperate Pinguicula care: species & hybrid lists *NEW*
* Mexican Pinguicula care: species & hybrid lists *NEW*
* Warm temperate Pinguicula care: species & hybrid lists *NEW*

Pages under construction:
* Species of Note pages: outlines details about species with unique, odd or generally interesting growth habits that differ to the norm of specified group *NEW*

In the future (no estimated date):
* Photographic progression of Mexican Pinguicula winter growth changes
* Data regarding flowering and pollination, seed production and collection
* Care sheets and summaries (easy and quick-to-read summary of each page containing valuable data)
* Domain name change
* More graphics

Other projects (not confirmed):
* Carnivorous plant suppliers list & peat alternatives list
* Growth comparison of Pinguicula species grown indoors vs outdoors
* Growth comparison of Mexican Pinguicula grown in peat vs coconut coir