New life in the terrarium

Last Thursday, I noticed a new presence in one of my terrariums. I have had this terrarium for about 6 months, so was surprised to see this little fellow.

Then I went away for the weekend and on my return, was greeted by this spectacular sight:

The thing about a terrarium is that it is an enclosed ecosystem that goes through its own life cycles. I collect plants, moss, rocks, etc, from the woods for my terrariums, so along with those specimen come all manner of invisible (to my eye) life forms. At first, I was repulsed by the creatures that would hatch or crawl out of the dirt, the little pellets they produced, the mold, and the general decay. I was frustrated by the transformations in these enclosed environments that I had carefully designed and spent an inordinate amount of time trying to “manage” the undesirable elements. Luckily, for these elements, my innate laziness won out and I started letting them alone.

Since then, I have discovered that everything has a life cycle, including mold. I have learned that a pill bug can live for a year (I still can’t figure out what it eats). I have learned to stop imposing my sense of order and prettiness where it doesn’t belong.

And, every once in a while, something entirely unexpected happens. Like this.

Terrariums // July 21, 2009