The overly long backstory: So recently I've been watching a lot of random animal videos on YouTube. The algorithm over the past couple years is determined to slowly push me further and further from my cat video roots. I watched a video on domesticated silver foxes, which is an experiment that always interested me. This got me thinking about what animals I might try to domesticate if I was rich enough to hire people to help. There's a lot of obvious choices in mammals but then I got thinking about what non-mammals might be viable. Then I got to thinking about the pill bugs (isopods) I used to catch and occasionally keep as pets when I was a kid. What if you could breed them to be bigger and easier to care for? The isopods that live in my area are nowhere near the maximum size for wild isopods but they are easier to care for than a lot of the largest terrestrial species. It was at this point a couple weeks ago that I noticed terrarium videos being recommended to me, specifically closed terrariums that can be sealed air tight for years and still survive. Hmm... time to start planning... So this blog is just specifically about my plans for how to build my terrarium. There will be a second blog when it's actually made which will probably retread a lot of the same stuff but with pictures. A lot of the terrariums I've seen in my research are fairly small but I don't want to start small because that would not be ideal for isopods. So I'm getting a 2.5 gallon food storage jar to use as my terrarium. I'm hoping this will be big enough to sustain a nice population but we will see. After that we have the non-living parts of the terrarium. I've ordered aquarium gravel to put on the bottom for the water to rest in, I've ordered a fiberglass window screen to separate the gravel from the dirt. Finally, I've ordered an overly large bag of aquarium grade charcoal to put under the dirt. I'm hoping this will be it for purchases regarding the terrarium, I've honestly spent a lot more than necessary but I think the gravel/charcoal will be enough for multiple projects if this is a success. We will see, only the jar has arrived so far. So now we get to the more theoretical stuff of what to put in it. I live in an apartment that I believe sprays for pests occasionally, using anything from here is probably a bad idea. I think I will be sourcing most of my isopods from my parents backyard. I'll be looking for armadillidium vulgare which shouldn't be a problem as they are extremely easy to find. I will also attempt to find wild springtails, although this is the part I am most uncertain of. Springtails are very very small bugs that eat mold and rotting stuff, having them in a terrarium is ideal. But I've never knowingly seen them before, despite them being almost everywhere. They are the only creature aside from isopods that I wish to purposefully put in my terrarium so I can only hope I manage to find enough of them to start a colony. I do know my charcoal could be used to start a colony of them if I manage to find them, so I might go that route to make sure I have enough before I start building the terrarium. The plants I am less certain of. I have been trying to grow an alpine strawberry plant this year but it probably won't be growing any fruit until next year based on how small it is. I'm not willing to risk my only strawberry plant in an experiment. I think my best bet for plants may be to go to a local park that has a shady creek and see what I can find there. I want at least one plant that will grow to the top of the jar. Moss would also be ideal (possibly necessary for success too) but I've not been in this park in years and honestly have never gone searching for moss so I don't know what I'll find. If possible, I will also take some dirt and isopods from that location to mix with the stuff from the backyard. On top of all the wildlife I am also looking to add some nutrients to the terrarium so that it can support a larger population than what I initially put into it. I will probably supply them with an eggshell for calcium and some fish food for protein. I am unsure if there are any other nutrients I will supplement, one of my mottos is "it's better than nothing" so I might just leave at that and see how it goes. There are definitely plenty of successful terrariums that started with less. Outside of springtails, the other aspect of this I am most worried about is figuring out the correct amount of water to add. Long term I want to be able to go years without opening this terrarium. Not that I will go years without opening it, I just want the option. My thoughts right now is that I would probably try to plant a strawberry in there once my plant manages to create seeds. I've seen at least one terrarium using the same species of strawberry so that gives me hope it might live in there successfully. I also think I might supplement the isopod population with 1 new isopod every year or two. Doing one at a time would ensure that it would have to breed with the existing population. This would keep the gene pool fresher and supposedly armadillidium vulgare should semi-regulate their population so overpopulation can hopefully be avoided. Going back to the domestication aspect of this from the start. This is not a domestication attempt (that was not really a serious idea, just a springboard to this one) but I am hoping that the relatively isolated population will perhaps develop to be more inclined to thrive in the terrarium environment. This is why I want to keep the gene pool fresh, if this population survives long term then I could use it as a source for any new terrariums I may someday build (and it is very likely I will be building at least one more if this works). There is something neat about the idea that 20 years from now I could have multiple terrariums all using the descendants of isopods that I capture this year. Of course, it is also just as likely that they will all die and I'll be left with a terrarium of plants and springtails and whatever other insects that might sneak in on the plants/dirt. I am new to this after all and am just kind of winging it. With any luck I'll have a follow up blog in a couple weeks, we'll see!