December 30, 2009 Day 45 News from the Terrarium

I visited the Monarchs In Space website today and was inspired to make some changes in the terrarium. Though we have not encountered any problems with the current set-up, I was curious about the recommendations posted to the website.

Instead of boiling water on the stove to humidify the air in the kitchen, I purchased a spray bottle so I can mist the top of the terrarium every day.

I knew the pompoms in the feeding trays needed to be replaced very soon due to the fact that they were slowly disintegrating. Instead of pmpoms, we will use 4 sponges. The sponges will soak up the Gatorade as the pompoms did in the original feeding trays.

To make the new feeding platforms, I followed the directions on the website and suspended a feeding tray from the top of the terrarium, putting the Gatorade-soaked sponges in the feeding trays.

With the trays suspended at a height the butterflies can find it on their own, I will not need to place them one by one on to the sponges every day as I had been doing with the pompoms at the bottom of the terrarium.

I will make some observations of this new feeding arrangement and post the news tomorrow!