Events

I created a wheel, I call the Wheel of GAIA, to help me choose the fate of my giant ecosystem vivariums. I felt my past experiments on my simulated rainforest within glass, full of its exotic animals, plants, and fungi all involved in a complex food web, were somewhat biased. So to eliminate that, I decided to create a wheel with 15 different ecological events. Spinning the wheel would determine what happens in the vivaria.

I released a green predator into my giant cloud rainforest vivarium and observed how it integrated into our ecosystem of animals, plants, and fungi. The outcome wasn't at all what I expected.

I added a swarm of tadpoles in my giant tropical wetlands vivarium (Hydromeda). The tadpoles are the larval stage of golden tree frogs, which hatched from eggs laid in Hydromeda. I was amazed by the amphibians, but was conerned they may not be able to survive the hostile wetlands, due to predation. Little did I know, Mother Nature had her own plans for the tadpoles.

I added a baby tortoise into my giant rainforest vivarium, my ultimate dream pet since I was 9 yrs old. I did wonder however if the young red-footed tortoise had what it took to survive the rainforest ecosystem of plants, animals, and fungi. It was a journey of turtle discovery I was not expecting!

I added a pair of birds into my Giant Rainforest Ecosystem Vivarium, two cute button quails, to join the food web of fungi, plant, and animal species. But how would the birds respond to life in our rainforest? Would the birds be able to manage life in a terrarium with its various creatures. In the end, after all that I saw, my plans for the birds changed drastically.

An algae outbreak was imminent in my giant tropical wetlands vivarium, Hydromeda. I needed to do something soon, and with the Wheel of GAIA (an ecological event randomizer) indicating to add in new aquatic species into the vivarium, I decided to add in some ant-algae agents. But once released, the way things played out was both unexpected and mind blowing!

I simulated a typhoon in my Giant Rainforest Vivarium, a hurricane and massive flood event, to see how the ecosystem with all its plants, fungi, and animals would respond and react to such an ecological event. I was convinced that tropical storms of typhonic magnitude must have had a purpose in nature. I was determined to find out, but nothing could have prepared me for the plot twists during this very intense weather experiment.

I added a snake into my Giant Rainforest Vivarium, bound to change the ecosystem of plants, fungi, and animals living within. But before adding the new snake in, I need to test its dietary preferences first to see if it could acquire the prey it needed in our rainforest vivaria.

I added an invasive species into my giant rainforest vivarium. Although these invasive insects have managed to conquer all sub-tropical and tropical territories of the world, I felt our ecosystem was robust and healthy enough to handle their integration. Meanwhile, a television network had expressed interest in turning our Ecosystem Vivarium Series into a tv show. It has been quite an emotional rollercoaster and interesting week indeed.

I can't believe our Ecosystem Vivarium project has come to this. A mass extinction of species has occurred and taking inventory of the creatures in each vivarium helped me determine the cause and the next course of action to save our rainforest. We say goodbye to many beloved creatures this week, but in the end, I found hope in ecological rehabilitation.

A new ant war has started. I had no idea what was truly happening in the ant world within our rainforest vivaria. Amidst the waning ant biodiversity, with certain species disappearing from the forest, a new rising ant empire emerged from the leaf litter, officially a new crisis in our ecosystem.

The rare Blue Ant (Polyrhachis cyaniventris) has always been my dream ant species, but I formerly refused to keep them after discovering how biodiverse and specific their natural habitat, a cloud rainforest, is. But now that I actually had a fully developed cloud rainforest ecosystem in which I could house a colony of blue ants, I jumped on the opportunity when a friend sent me a colony he had collected. It was a total dream come true and I couldn't wait to learn more about them, specifically their nesting behaviours.

A rogue population of microsquirrels are quickly taking over my giant rainforest ecosystem vivarium, and it's time for some drastic measures to stop them! The addition of microsquirrels, a type of cute arboreal mammal also known as African pygmy dormice, into our three vivaria five months ago truly transformed the ecosystem of plants, fungi, and animals. They ate a lot and led to the extinction of prey insects. But how does one go about removing the quick and intelligent microsquirrels? I resort to a trapping method, and with a little help from the rainforest, I was able to begin the extraction process, and even fulfill a long time promise to a pet snake.

Trapping a colony of microsquirrels that were given free roam and resources for five months within my giant rainforest vivaria was an eye-opening biological adventure! The microsquirrels had caused an extinction of prey insects, and had been secretly busy since I added them into our rainforest ecosystem but I truly had no idea just how busy. Trapping them one by one revealed the truth as to how prolific the tiny mammals truly are.

I added a green tree python into my rainforest vivarium and the events that occured after were full of suspense, adventure, emotion, baby mantises, and ANT WAR! Although, Valentino, my python wasn't quite fond of the new space full of other animals, plants, and fungi, he ended surprising me.