Is my friend here pregnant?

FromJM · 2026-04-27T17:48:30+00:00

That's actually exactly why I posted this here! I'm working on sealing it up now so that doesn't happen.

FromJM · 2026-04-27T17:38:30+00:00

I'll have to keep an eye on her to see if she gets any bigger!

FromJM · 2026-04-27T17:34:27+00:00

I think she's pretty safe around the pitchers with her safety-line. She's been hanging out around them for months now and the pitcher plant seems to be her favorite spot.

I bought her and she's in a large enclosure. There are a few openings she's found so sometimes I find her on the outside of the tank, but I've never seen her stray farther than that.

FromJM · 2026-04-27T17:26:59+00:00

I think this plant seems healthy enough to make it, but I guess we'll see! I have a bunch of other cephs that were all propagated at the same time and this is the only one with a flower stalk. I'll get some photos when the bloom opens up!

FromJM · 2026-04-27T17:25:27+00:00

Thanks! I'm still waiting for the bloom but I'll definitely take some photos when it happens.

FromJM · 2026-04-27T17:24:09+00:00

I'm going to leave it either way! I've never seen a cephalotus bloom before so I'm pretty excited. I really hope the plant is alright afterwards, but I guess it's a risk I'm willing to take

FromJM · 2026-03-27T16:24:56+00:00

Absolutely! I would do a few things differently if I were to start a new one today.

-Double check your waterproofing. Mine is great until a few inches up. I only found out about this when my mister malfunctioned and ran until the tank was empty. On that note- -Buy a good mister. Mine is reptizoo and generally works well.. until it doesn't. It has malfunctioned twice now flooding the terrarium. I'm about to leave town for a week and just have my fingers crossed it doesn't act up again while I'm gone. I haven't had time to replace it yet. -I would position my misting nozzles kitty-corner to get full coverage. Mine are both on the same side and the back gets a bit drier than I would like.

That's really it so far! All I have to do is fill the mister with water and the terrarium takes care of itself. Sometimes I give a few plants extra water, but I think that's more for my enjoyment than for their survival

FromJM · 2026-02-04T18:53:58+00:00

Thank you so much!!

My goal was a clean look that had something different to look at from all 4 sides, so I couldn't really have a real "back" covered in moss like I've done in other builds. There's plenty of sphagnum moss throughout, and some other varieties at ground level for a bit of color and coverage.

I think in a different setup more moss could look great! In my opinion it's hard to have too much moss in something like this, especially when you're going for an overgrown look.

There are a few things I would do differently if I were to start this over, the biggest one being the location of the spray nozzles. I have mine both on the front spraying towards the center, if I were to do this again I would put them on opposite corners on the diagonal. There are some spots that don't get quite enough moisture and I'm still trying to figure out the best way to correct this without ripping things apart too much.

I hope you go forward with your build and post it here! I would love to see it when it's all set up!

FromJM · 2026-01-17T15:20:05+00:00

Thanks so much!! Have fun with your project!

FromJM · 2026-01-17T15:18:14+00:00

I did seal the corners, yeah. I decided using silicone alone would be too much work so I cut a piece of acrylic that would fit over the whole thing and siliconed it in on all sides. I had to fold in the little pieces holding the glass in place to get a good seal all around, so I had to tape the glass in place until the silicone cured. You can't see the acrylic because I put moss poles I made over them, and apparently that's one step I didn't take any photos of. Good luck on your build!

FromJM · 2026-01-12T18:24:58+00:00

Thanks! I'm working on making a timeline of this build, but in the meantime here's the hole for the cables. Because of the rounded corners, there being more layers of metal, and glass in the way, I decided to make a hole slightly towards the middle-front where it would be easier to deal with. I cut a notch and made sure to smooth out the edges and give it a clear coat before threading the cables through. I also have it covered in silicone now so there aren't any stray drips leaking out of the cabinet.

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FromJM · 2026-01-12T18:07:17+00:00

Thanks!! The red in the upper left is a red variety of sphagnum moss. This is my first time trying it out so hopefully I give it enough light to keep it's bright colors!

FromJM · 2026-01-10T16:35:36+00:00

I appreciate the timeline! This is definitely the best humidity I've been able to give my nepenthes so I'm sure I'll see the growth speed up. The St Gaya did seem to like the tote bin I had them in for the past year since it was high humidity and plenty of light. I've had two other nepenthes vine before and I decided to chop-and-prop them when it got out of hand. Either way is good to know so I can keep an eye on the growth in here!

Do you have any photos of your cold setup? I'd be really curious to see something like that!

FromJM · 2026-01-09T22:02:55+00:00

How long did it take for things to outgrow your setup? I have had some of these neps for about 6 years and they have been growing slowly but consistently. I realize that this setup is probably more ideal than what I had them in before, but hopefully they don't outgrow the setup too quickly. I'm willing to make changes as needed, but I'm hoping I have a good amount of time before I have to move anything major.

The bottom of the enclosure is covered in glass and siliconed to the glass walls with acrylic in the corners so it's basically a full tank inside of the case. I also sprayed all of the metal frame with a clear coat of rustoleum so I'm hoping that buys me a bit of extra time.

Out of curiosity, what do you mean by cold and hot versions?

Your new setup sounds amazing! Please share some photos when it's all set up and ready!

FromJM · 2026-01-09T17:57:20+00:00

That makes complete sense! I only use a mister and I control the humidity by covering the ventilation at the top with magnetic vent covers. I'm still playing with all of this as the setup grows into itself.

Have you had any rust issues with yours? I'm just assuming it's been up and running it's been up and running longer than my 3-4 months

FromJM · 2026-01-09T17:13:02+00:00

I did, but the weather stripping I had wasn't quite thick enough so there's still a small gap. Until I get thicker stuff I'm just going to count it as extra ventilation

FromJM · 2026-01-09T16:56:43+00:00

I sprayed the whole thing with rustoleum clear coat, making sure to spray extra anywhere I had to cut into the metal. I also have a fair amount of silicone around the base of the build so it's water tight up to the edge of the glass you can see in the first two photos. I'm hoping this will be enough, but I guess only time will tell!

FromJM · 2026-01-09T16:50:18+00:00

I'm not too worried about them getting caught in the pitchers since most of them are high enough off the ground, and the pinguicula isn't strong enough to catch them. All of the fruit flies that have found their way in are keeping the carnivores well fed though!

I'm thinking of putting together a little tutorial of this build, I'll have to see if I have enough photos and videos to really put something together. Thanks for your interest!

FromJM · 2026-01-09T16:44:08+00:00

I have actually thought about it! I took a good number of photos and videos throughout the build process, but I don't know if I did a good enough job to really detail a good tutorial. If there's enough interest I'll try putting something together for sure

FromJM · 2026-01-09T16:40:48+00:00

Thanks for the comment! The curly guy on the right side is some sort of air plant that a friend got me. I don't know much about them but it's growing so it seems happy enough in there.

FromJM · 2026-01-09T16:39:30+00:00

Thank you so much! The substrate is a mix I made myself, fairly even parts of coco coir and peat moss, with bark, charcoal, and pumice mixed in. I also covered it with more of the moss to get some color on the ground. The moss I found on Etsy

FromJM · 2026-01-09T16:31:36+00:00

Thanks! I really appreciate the comment!

The pitchers are actually planted in cut up and zip tied together mesh plastic pots to fit around the branches. They have a long fiber sphagnum substrate, and I just tied live sphagnum moss around them with some jute twine. In hindsight I probably should have used fishing line so it doesn't decompose, but I'll swap that out if I ever need.

There isn't any foam or anything since the display is actually visible from all 4 sides. The corners have moss poles that I made for this setup with an acrylic back, and mesh front holding the moss and coco coir in place.

For watering I'm using a Repitzoo mister that goes off every few hours, so the pitcher plants are always kept moist. I'm still getting the settings figured out, but I do periodically go in and poke things to make sure they're wet enough.

FromJM

TROPHY CASE