D
devon
Guest
Hey everyone,
I took the directions from various vivarium related sites, including this one, and collected some leaflitter this weekend to add to coconut fibre.
I collected it from a forest in a vast river valley, in the tiny, clean town of Okotoks, in Alberta, by the Sheep River. I collected it in an area up river and average wind direction from the towns only bridge, and largest road. I collected it on a large island-like outcropping on the water, where the trees were dense, and there were no paths. The leaf litter I collected showed no signs of molding, and smelled natural and rich. I collected the top layer, down to the dark soily substance below. There were no harmful (apparntly, anyways) trees around, and no man-made litter. The area is never sprayed, and the town has volunteers that clean up all nearby paths. The areas river is clean enough for fishing and swimming, and many ducks, geese, and swans breed there. You can find garter snakes, wood frogs and salamanders in the woods, in the spring. Under every rock, I found creatures such as beatles and such. Everything seems healthy
I got home, and soaked a fresh brick of coco-fibre, and mixed in all layers of leaf litter. I set up fresh terrariums for my pacman frog, warty newt (land area), millipedes, and hissing roaches. I am now noticing tiny insects in the leaflitter, such as a tiny catterpillar, a tiny bright red crab like insect, and a tiny spider. Are these ok? I took the spider out. I keep thinking that this is just a sign that the leaf litter is healthy, and that it will help in my tanks, but then I get paranoid and think that they may harm my animals! But....these animals live amongst all sorts of insects and leaf litter in the wild right?
What are your thoughts?
I took the directions from various vivarium related sites, including this one, and collected some leaflitter this weekend to add to coconut fibre.
I collected it from a forest in a vast river valley, in the tiny, clean town of Okotoks, in Alberta, by the Sheep River. I collected it in an area up river and average wind direction from the towns only bridge, and largest road. I collected it on a large island-like outcropping on the water, where the trees were dense, and there were no paths. The leaf litter I collected showed no signs of molding, and smelled natural and rich. I collected the top layer, down to the dark soily substance below. There were no harmful (apparntly, anyways) trees around, and no man-made litter. The area is never sprayed, and the town has volunteers that clean up all nearby paths. The areas river is clean enough for fishing and swimming, and many ducks, geese, and swans breed there. You can find garter snakes, wood frogs and salamanders in the woods, in the spring. Under every rock, I found creatures such as beatles and such. Everything seems healthy
I got home, and soaked a fresh brick of coco-fibre, and mixed in all layers of leaf litter. I set up fresh terrariums for my pacman frog, warty newt (land area), millipedes, and hissing roaches. I am now noticing tiny insects in the leaflitter, such as a tiny catterpillar, a tiny bright red crab like insect, and a tiny spider. Are these ok? I took the spider out. I keep thinking that this is just a sign that the leaf litter is healthy, and that it will help in my tanks, but then I get paranoid and think that they may harm my animals! But....these animals live amongst all sorts of insects and leaf litter in the wild right?
What are your thoughts?