Once upon a time

[BigCarnivourKid]

It was new and clean with lots of room to grow things

.

Soon, however, the terrarium became crowded

So the owner took out all the plants except this D. capensis (seen in a pic from happier times) which he had foolishly planted in the LFS covering the bottom of the terrarium

Although the D. capensis fluorished for a while, it began to languish, whether from loneliness or spite I haven't figured out, and eventually died. The terrarium was allowed to dry out for several months (No pics. I didn't want to traumatize any newbies who might read this.

) until the owner aquired some Cephalotus seeds.

Being an ingenious fellow, he decided to use the terrarium to sprout the seed which he planted in a pot and placed in the terrarium. He then carefully dumped a gallon of RO water into the moss in the bottom of the terrarium to improve humidity. The weeks passed and low and behold he sees sprouts popping up!! Unfortunately it wasn't the Cephalotus.

It seems D. capensis thrives on abuse as does D. spatulata and moss

I'd take the out the pot I put in with the Cephalotus seeds, but I'm afraid to put my hand in there nowadays. The D. capensis might try to take revenge on me.

BCK

 

[LLeopardGGecko]

Sweet progression/timeline you've got going there

How much time passed between the first and the second picture? I love the growth that happened!

What kind of lighting is used on that tank? How big is the tank?

Can you tell that I'm impressed?

 

[*Barracuda_45*]

Wow thats cool how they grew and filled the tank, i myself wonder how much time between growth pics? I think that last pic where the capensis and spatulatas grew it looks neat.

 

[jimscott]

And I thought this was going to have a happy ending!

Could be worse... you coulda had U. subulata!

I say. send the capensis to OZZY and his pet-eating bog!

 

[BigCarnivourKid]

Thanks guys. The first picture was taken Dec. 21, of 2002 and the 2nd was taken almos 6 months later on June 16, of 2003. It's a 10gal tank on which I placed three 3' under-the-counter kitchen fluorescent lights. I covered those with aluminum foil to reflect more light down into the tank.

Jim, in a way it's a happy ending. The capensis is one of the first plants I recieved from one of the forum members. In this case it was Jeremiah who sent it. I felt bad that it had died on me. I was a bit suprised when it sprang back from the roots after I let the sphagnum dry for almost two months before I watered it again. The spatulata are escapies from the plants I had sitting in pots in the earlier pics.

The last pic was taken last night. The capensis is covered in dew while all but one of the spat has hardly any dew on it.

 

[LLeopardGGecko]

Hey BCK, what are the wattages on those bulbs you used?

 

[BigCarnivourKid]

Don't know the wattage. They came with the fixture. I replaced a couple of them with F20T10/BR fluorescent lights from Lights of America who also manufactured the fixture.

 

[LLeopardGGecko]

Ok, thanks BCK. Just wondering

 

[Presto]

They ate Bambi!!!!

I used these pictures to prove to my sister that she's not going to kill her capensis...not even if she tries!

 

[Kirkscoastalcarnivores]

wow thats pretty amazing Steve

 

[ImWindPlant]

My fist capensis die...., the part of up just get dark and fall.... should i keep the pot w lihgt and water??, i read if you leave them in a 5c place they die....no1 tell me that

 

[ImWindPlant]

ohi forgot 5c means 5°C, not sure how much faranheit is.... letme see

 

[BigCarnivourKid]

I have had D. capensis come up from the roots after the top died and I let the terrarium dry up.

EDIT: duhhhh! Just realized this was my post I started about the capensis that's taking over my terrarium after I thought it had gone to the great CP place in the sky. Makes my comment above a bit silly and really redundant.

5°C is about 41°F. A little cool for growing D. capensis. It may come back from the roots so I'd keep it under lights and keep the soil moist (not wet) for a while to see if anything sprouts.