It’s been ages since I made a post, so there’s plenty to catch up on! Rambutan Arrives! We brought how our new hedgehog Rambutan on October 2nd and introduced her to her new habitat, which she seemed to take to right away. We had purchased a hide for her that hadn’t arrived yet, so we …
Category Archives: Bioactive Hedgehog Vivarium
Baby Super Worms
I’ve been checking for the last couple of weeks for evidence of baby super worms in the Morio Beetle enclosure, with the intention of moving the beetles to a fresh enclosure to allow the worms to grow up in relative peace. This weekend marked the siting of the first tiny super worm, so the move …
Adult male dubia roaches are sighted
It has finally happened! After weening myself off of compulsively peering in on all my various CUC’s and establishing a care routine where I only have to interact with their enclosures every other day for all beasts except for the roaches (who still get daily water changes), I have settled for a thorough investigation of …
Isopod Update
I’ve reduced my interactions with the isopods to once every couple of days as I’ve figured out details about feeding routines and moisture requirements for the isopod containers. These bins seem to go through an initial “mold crash” for a few days after setting them up, where leaves, soil, and food items are overrun by …
Ok last super worm, you win
All of my super worms have pupated or died off at least a week ago at this point. Except one. In my last scouring of the super worm bin’s substrate for any final super worms to put into the pupating case, I removed the last stragglers, which were mostly small specimens that were avoided in …
CUC Spotlight: Dwarf Purple isopod ranch
Today we look at the least of my isopods, the Trichoniscus sp. or Dwarf Purple isopod. These are also called “micropods” by some, which I think is a great description for these tiny and elusive beasts. These isopods are VERY shy, and seem to spend the bulk of their time down in the soil rather …
Let’s replace those poisonous plants
One benefit of taking a couple months to plan and start the vivarium before getting a hedgehog is that it has given me lots of time to do my homework on everything that is going into the enclosure. I picked up a jade plant while shopping for vivarium plants and planted it in with the …
Morio beetles have popped
This morning in my rounds through the bug bins I noticed my first Morio beetle in the Morio beetle tub! By the time I dropped a piece of squash in for it to consume and draw moisture from, a second was already in the process of molting as well. I left the container out on …
First Darkling beetles are spotted
This morning as I was going through the CUC enclosures, I noticed a light tan colored beetle stumbling about the Mealworm ranch! This is the 1st one I had seen, and some gentle rooting around through the substrate revealed two more beetles, darker brown in color than the first. Soon these beetles will breed and …
CUC Spotlight: The mealworm ranch
Mealworms are the insect food I’m most familiar with, having owned several anoles and house geckos as pets as a child. I was not well informed on how to raise or care for the mealworms or the reptiles, and kept the mealworms in a deli dish in the refrigerator, packed in bran. I eventually found …