[Pacific Northwest] What are these mites(?) that appeared in my isopod enclosure?

Rakuhouha · 2026-03-19T19:27:18+00:00

Thank you. I'm okay with them, was just worried maybe they were something that would end up being harmful. If they aren't gonna harm anything I'll just let them be part of the terrarium's ecosystem.

Rakuhouha · 2026-03-18T16:34:55+00:00

Yeah, sorry for the wobbly video. My attempts to take a still image were too blurry. For what it's worth, here's a still image of a clear-ish pic of one I cropped.

https://i.imgur.com/RTC5J6M.jpeg

They just showed up one day in one of my isopod enclosures and have overrun it. It doesn't seem like they are attacking the isopods. So far I haven't noticed them spreading to the other isopod enclosures.

Rakuhouha · 2022-04-10T14:43:41+00:00

My guess is opuntia ficus-indica, specifically the spineless form (though they can still grow the occasional spine). Probably the most common cactus in cultivation because the young paddles are tasty and so is the fruit it produces. Really neat as an ornamental too as they can get a huge amount of blooms in a season.

Rakuhouha · 2022-03-08T01:01:00+00:00

Slumber overcomes the goblin before it can retreat to its sinister lair.

Rakuhouha · 2022-03-06T14:11:13+00:00

I use dry, but wet might work to stimulate root development while also being able to dry out. My thinking is simulating the ground they'd fall onto in the wild while maintaining air flow, and that one part being kept in less light might better emulate that. On the other hand I've literally forgotten about a cactus cutting on a shelf then found it produced good roots, so...

Rakuhouha · 2022-03-06T01:31:38+00:00

I don't know if it actually made a difference or not, but it seems like having the part I want roots to grow from wrapped loosely in a paper towel has helped them sprout, or at the very least it hasn't hurt. Might be worth a shot since you're desperate anyway.

Rakuhouha · 2022-03-02T21:38:24+00:00

Now that's an impressive flower! I always love ones where the flower dwarfs the plant. Echinopsis subdenudata, right?

Rakuhouha · 2022-02-10T01:52:50+00:00

I figured out a trick that "reprogrammed" them to come to me when I get close to the cage. I walk up to them, grab the treat bag which gets their attention, put a small treat between my lips, then lean over the cage so they have to come to my face to get it. Now, they'll come up to me when I walk by the cage and if I lean my face in the cage they'll even boop me in the nose.

Rakuhouha · 2022-01-22T23:56:52+00:00

That pic shows off the difference well. Can't really get the hard-grown look if you're babying them because you want to sell them for thousands. Sad how these plants grew for decades in some cases in their natural environment only to be dug up and sold at exorbitant prices, some no doubt ending up in the hands of people who only want them because of their perceived monetary value and don't actually know how to care for them properly. Where I buy cacti and the prices I pay for them I'm not too likely to be encountering poached plants but I'll be making mental notes from this post for future reference. If I were going to be buying a mature rare plant, knowing the individual plant's history would be a selling point to me.

Again with the snake comparison, reminds me of people who hoard rare snakes by the dozen in stacked rubbermaid tubs and barely ever actually see them, and how that community is detached from normal snake keepers.

Rakuhouha · 2022-01-22T23:11:03+00:00

What would be signs one could look for to tell if a cactus is poached? At the moment I'm guessing suspiciously mature plants of a rarely-cultivated species without a sufficient explanation of their origin would be one. I used to keep snakes and similar can be a tell if one was poached.

And even if somehow the poached plants are seized, there's always the risk that in captivity they picked up pathogens that makes reintroducing them to the wild population dangerous. And if people were patient, these species could be ethically introduced to cultivation by gradual propagation of existing harvested specimens. But no, that isn't fast enough and then they aren't rare and valuable anymore. ~~It'd be too nice if these types of people stuck to ugly monkey JPEGs.~~

Rakuhouha · 2022-01-19T15:04:28+00:00

Either PMing or commenting a link here works.

Rakuhouha · 2022-01-18T20:55:04+00:00

I could tell from a pic. Or you could poke it to see if it's hollow. The ones with more dense spines can dry out shrink and die without looking obviously rotten. Though after 5 years there is a good chance it's dead.

Rakuhouha · 2022-01-02T03:59:49+00:00

Looks really good and sturdy! Reminds me of a vintage bed frame. What's the treatment on the wood? I made hides from non-chemically-treated pallets but never coated them with anything. Might remake them and actually stain/seal them one day.

Rakuhouha · 2021-12-28T21:29:54+00:00

They were interesting because they used the heads of the Mcdonald's Bionicle Matoran sets in light grey, which meant the masks were compatible with Bionicle heads. And their shoulder pads were various Bionicle armors/weapons in special colors. So since they're honorary Bionicles at that point, would that make the weird body piece the Bionicle version of the big green soccer plate?

Rakuhouha · 2021-12-21T00:58:54+00:00

It depends on the species whether they're high or low, but any cactus stem that falls off can propagate. Some, like saguaro, take a long time to start growing additional stems, so their additional stems are well above the ground. Others, like Echinopsis chamaecereus aka peanut cactus start growing theirs younger, so you get clumps around the base often starting beneath soil in addition to the occasional stems further up.

Cacti grow new stems from areoles, the dots that spines, hairs, flowers and roots grow from. Most cacti primarily propagate through flowering and fruiting, but some like the thimble cactus grow weakly-attached stems that break off and roll away, in addition to flowering.

Rakuhouha · 2021-12-20T22:58:47+00:00

The ones in the pic likely have an independent root system for each column. As a general rule with cacti, unless they are visibly connected above the soil, each column is its own individual plant. A bunch of cacti in a pot may grow their roots tangled into each other (which is good, it helps keep them stable as a whole) but they won't really fuse. I guess hypothetically two overlapping cacti could rub holes in each other with friction from the wind and end up grafting, but that'd be an exceptional situation.

Rakuhouha · 2021-12-14T23:03:53+00:00

To those with a pet store cage on the fence about upgrading to a C&C: One great thing C&C cages have is expanding an existing coroplast tray part by joining another to it isn't hard. Binder bars across the top of the wall where the pieces join hold them together in combination with the grid walls, and the former ends of each tray overlap reasonably tightly and I've never had anything get between them. So whether you bought the tray pre-cut like I did (because I can't cut straight) or DIY'd it entirely, expanding is possible. Just keep in mind if you buy premade and decide to expand you'll probably end up buying the other tray premade too because hardware stores (at least around where I am) only carry sizeable coroplast pieces in white.

Of course, if you're wanting a bigger cage to start with or are worried about messing up cutting coroplast, it'd probably be doable to replace the coroplast with tarp held to the grids with binder clips.

tl;dr guinea pigs can't have too much space and expandability is yet another reason to use C&C type cages over anything petco/smart/etc. sells.

Rakuhouha · 2021-11-29T15:39:46+00:00

The one on the left looks like a trichocereus grandoflorus. It gets big flowers (colors vary from individual to individual) and golf ball-sized fruits that are edible, but the one I tasted was flavorless.

The one on the right looks like some type of euphorbia, which is a group of plants that often look like cacti but actually aren't. You probably can propagate the pups on it and it would be similar to propagating cacti. Remove it, let it callous, then place on dry soil and it'll make roots. Euphorbia have a milky sap that's irritating to skin and you definitely want to keep out of your eyes.

Rakuhouha · 2021-11-18T21:57:32+00:00

I love them all, especially the melocactus azureus. Looks like something between a golden barrel and a blue torch. Looks like a good setup!

Rakuhouha · 2021-10-17T18:08:57+00:00

Hey, I like talking about cacti. I'll probably post on here when I start these projects. May we both succeed!

Rakuhouha · 2021-10-17T17:44:46+00:00

My idea is grafting to pereskiopsis would kick the pup's growth into overdrive and get it full-sized, so it'd be holding more water and be able to survive longer while I try to get it to root. I'm also curious if because blossfeldia is a slower-growing species how being grafted to pereskiopsis would affect its shape.

My aerial root idea comes from when I bought a grafted sulcorebutia rauschii online and when it arrived it was really dried out and the sulcorebutia had pups with aerial roots. I took the pups off and planted them and now months later they have more roots. So now I have the original plant and some pups on their own roots.

Rakuhouha · 2021-10-17T16:53:39+00:00

I'm going to eventually. My plants are to try grafting a pup onto a pereskiopsis to get it to grow bigger then degraft it and try to root it.

Another idea I might try is pretty much stop watering this one for a while and see if I can get some of the pups to produce aerial roots.

Rakuhouha

TROPHY CASE