I Made a Free Terrarium 1,814 Days Ago. How Is It? 

I can’t believe how long it’s been since I’ve made some of these projects! It feels like just yesterday that I built this terrarium nearly half a decade ago. I definitely think going the “free native terrarium” route is a great starting place for someone just starting out. I put this original build video for this in the description for reference. Anyway, what do you think of its progress now? Have a great weekend SerpaSquad!

You've had anywhere between 51 and 86 generations of springtails throughout the lifespan of that terrarium so far! With a lifespan anywhere between 3 to 5 weeks that's really cool! For perspective in humans that would bring us back anywhere between a thousand and 1700 years! Incredible :)

RU-vid commenters be like: His mother gave birth to him in a hospital, which was not free, therefore this terrarium is not free!!!!

Wow, that's amazing. I love very old terrariums, even if they may not look that good, the feeling of having created a functioning ecosystem that can last for years is just incredible 😊

Thank you for sharing this update, Tanner! I had to say goodbye to a 17 year old fur baby recently. We buried her in a wooded area nearby, and I wanted to do one of these with materials found near her burial. Knowing that it can be something that will last years is a huge relief. I've never built a terrarium before, so I'll definitely go back over some of your previous projects and take notes this time.

I threw my first one together just the other day. I used an old jar with a locking lid but I had to go to the hardware store to find a new rubber gasket. I may not have really needed it, but I wanted the jar to be as close to original as I could make it... besides it seals much better now. I took the jar with me shopping so I could have someone younger get the seal onto the lip of the jar (old hands). I used soil from the flower garden and plucked moss and other things from the yard. I found an old piece of bark for decor and pebbles from the ground. The hardware store just gave me a piece of leftover screen (small town perk😁). I forgot about charcoal... oh well. Three days later and I already see growth. I've ordered some appropriate tools from Amazon. Here I go!!

Hey Tanner! Thanks to your videos my wife and I made our first Terrariums last week. They are small and arguably have way too big of false bottoms. But I'm hooked because of you. I'm saving jars, looking for moss near creeks, and craving a riparium and Target box living wall. Thanks for the inspiration you've given us!

hey serpa can you make an enclosure from scorpions or spider??

One of the very first videos of yours I ever saw was the original free terrarium. It's always so cool to see how they've come along, as well as look back on how your channel has grown and evolved much like your terrariums. Thanks again, for inspiring myself and a million other people. Can't wait to see the update in 5 more years!

I made a free terrarium of my own in a candy jar! I had two hitchhiker worms in my moss propagation danish container lol, so I upgraded them to the candy jar. I had already been putting other plant cuttings in with the moss to propagate and a cryptanthus that didn’t have enough humidity before. I used pea gravel from my yard and landscape cloth. It looks great, sits on my desk and brings me joy! And I used your video to do it :)

So happy to see this terrarium is doing well, the original build is what got me into terrarium making, true inspiration!💚

You were the one to finally inspire me to start making terrariums. Your videos all those years ago were the best I saw and I really enjoyed your style and enthusiasm for your work. So I had to follow. And look where you are now! I haven’t had anywhere near as much success but just starting things and growing things has been a big positive in my life. Thanks, Tanner, for your inspiration and your knowledge!

I can't believe I just watched ur "how to make a terrarium for free" yesterday and made my own terrarium. I can't wait to see how well it will grow in a few months and even years later.

Love this build. I made a small terrarium a few months ago using a wine bottle, small patches of moss, and a random plant I gathered from a shady area in my backyard. It's going great so far, and it's about the only way I can have houseplants that my cats don't try to snack on lol.

Can't say I'm one to do these things but it was supper cool to watch how much you put into it very cool how nature does it's thing.

Honestly the enclosures and habitats that you make are a work of art that I would love to make as well, but I lack all of the creative ability to stage a setup on the same level as you.

I love the style of this video and it was super satisfying to see 5 years of work into this jar. Amazing!

This was literally the terrarium that finally tipped the scales for me. Picked up my wife, went into the nature and collected mats that I used to make my 1st 2 closed terrariums. Did a lot more since then. Since I spend most of my work and private life surrounded by tech this hobby provides much needed zen. Thank you for your work.

Thanks to your how to terrarium series i have a terrarium from 2017 thats still going strong! It needs a trim tho since its completely over grown 😅

My surprise at the captions was so good- I expected them to be auto generated! I have adhd and a lot of the time I zone out when watching a video and have to go back to hear something that I didn't catch but captions make it way easier, and it's very useful for your hearing impaired viewers! Thank you for putting the effort in to add captions!!

A few years ago I saw the original video. I needed a cheap/free gift, so I made one. It was free! I found everything in my kitchen, craft stash or backyard. It's still going strong with virtually no maintenance. The only thing I change would be to not add Devil's Ivy (Pothos? Pathos? IDK). I made one for my sister, one for my mom; they both loved them!

I just made my first one the other day, have low expectations as there's no filter and the false bottom is shallower than it should be but it still seems to be doing okay, didn't even realize the video I watched was five years old until I saw this pop up on my youtube homepage and clicked it.

"Are you still waiting to make one all these years later" ..... unbelievable callout lol. That video was the reason I subbed, I found it at the beginning of the pandemic (few years old at that point but w/e) and was hooked on your channel since. Awesome update!

Love love love these long-term update videos. Feels like it was just the other day you started this project. Here's to 5 more years!

Made a tiny terrarium with my brother 3 years ago in a lightbulb shaped jar. We used nothing but things from our back yard and didn't include a mesh layer or charcoal. Its been going strong ever since. The growth has definitely slowed down a bit, but its still just as green as smells great. Update: Just checked it out today and it noticed some clovers sprouted in it out of no where. So excited to see new life in there after all these years.

Just made one of these with my 16 month old daughter. She wasn't much for designing the terrarium but as for gathering materials she was surprisingly good at picking stuff out once she saw what I was grabbing. I think this may be the first interest we've ever truly shared that she could play a constructive role in. Building terrariums and keeping animals was a strong hobby of mine when I was younger that I fell out of due to a demanding career. I would never have guessed that this period of my life would be the one I could pick up an old hobby when my attention is stretched thin between a stressful job and toddler, but here we are! She was actively interested in figuring out what I was picking up and which jar I was putting certain things in, and contributed more resources than keeping her out of trouble demanded. It was an amazing afternoon which quite possibly shared a love for the hobby, and the outdoors in general, in a much deeper way than I thought she could pick up at this age. While this is absolutely something which would have been some part of her life eventually, the free terrarium video and your channel are 100% the reason we went out to do it a few days back, and made it happen much sooner than it would have otherwise. I just wanted to take the chance that you would read this and that you could know that. You may not be curing cancer or digging wells in impoverished communities in Africa (that I know of), but you are absolutely doing real good in this world, and the passions you are cultivating and nurturing may even save this planet, and one day may even help terraform another!

I made my first terrarium in November 2020 and it’s still going strong thanks to your videos ❤

You mentioned something I believe about one of the mosses needed nutrients, or something to that effect. Does moss like or need fertilizer? I don't believe I've heard you mention using fertilizer in any of your builds, I'm assuming the leaf litter and spring tails may have something to do with that? This was a fun update! Thank you for posting it! 💖💖💖

So some notes for those wishing to do a free terrarium. This build was what got me started in building them. I still use mostly jars and work on a small scale. I wish I could send you pictures. Mine was a horizontal build with in a month I found small snails moving about. It is now three years old well grown in. I managed to get carbonated wood from a friends burn pit to keep the growing environment sterile. If you are going to do this only use the backend wood not any of the white ash. I do not have a false bottom because it did not need it with the way I layered the soil stone and wood. I used chunks of found wood as the background that is slowly providing nutrients. Every so often I put in green leaf litter and dry leaf litter to revitalize the soil. some plants make it but the moss is pretty hardy. Spring tails can be caught with a sprintail trap there is a tutorial online on how to do it. Time and patience is usually key. Thanks for the content My family loves your videos.

3:00 You can easily make your own wood coal using a tin can (recycling again) and twigs and dry distill the wood over a heat source. One of the first science experiments we did in 5th grade.

i really love these revisits to old projects, it brings me back to the videos that made me subscribe to the channel. Great work, Tanner, thanks for growing with us.

Thanks for asking, I do not have my container but I just grabbed some moss! Again, thank you for the ideas! I can't hardly wait!❤❤❤😂😂😂

You can make activated charcoal for free. The activated bit just means that it's made from natural wood with the pores. Just find a tin with a lid, poke a hole in the lid then pack it full of large twigs. Put it on a fire. Be aware that there's going to be inflammable gas under pressure coming out of the hole. You end up with a tin full of (activated) charcoal sticks.

OMG!!! I'm seriously considering making one! Seems like a very interesting long-term project!

Crazy you made this when I moved into my apartment. Can't believe I've been living here for 5 years

There's an unexplainable beauty of these terrariums

I've been trying my hand at cultivating mushrooms lately and this is kind of the first time I've seen anything about terrariums like this. When cultivating mushrooms I always try to avoid contaminants and such so it might be a nice change of pace for me to try terrariums a little bit. They seem much less needy and way more forgiving.

This channel encouraged me to make my first, thank you for that.

Lovely video! So good to see it’s thriving after so many years. I’m working on a paludarium right now. My goal is to make a low maintenance bio active habitat for my baby box turtles.

Can we make this glass ecosystem in space for humans when we can make a outer space oxygen system?

I saw it with my little brothers, and it inspired us to make an ecosystem. Our dad loved the idea, and now we are traveling to the forest. Hope we're Gonna succeed.

Yes 😮‍💨 I remember when you made this, and I was gung-ho about wanting to make one with my son, but he just didn't seem interested at the time. He's way more interested in exploring new hobbies now & will be 20 years old this month! 😮 it's time we make a lasting memory like this to look back on before he gets older and leaves the nest 🪹🌱🌾🌿☘️🍀🍂

I made one of these about a year ago and the first week I had it my mom knocked it over so I had to reconstruct it. A week later all the moss became covered in white mold but I figured that if I just let it do it’s thing it would eventually turn green again. Fast forward to today and now there’s so much greenery that the different moss and plants almost fill the entire jar so I would say it’s definitely a success

I`m making one this weekend ! Can`t wait to grow my own dinosaurs

I made mine 3 years ago, with the help of your video and it's still going strong! I've had to do some trimmings and it's still really healthy!

Imagine complaining to make a point that it's not free🤦🏾

This is an incredibly made video, amazing pacing, cinematography... just... wow

It’s been almost 2k days since then?! Time really flies!

Your terrariums have inspired me to make terrariums- and it's crazy to think that this video was five years ago. I love your channel and your videos. Thanks for the update on this terrarium, I enjoy seeing how they evolve over time and the process of upkeep.

ay, its me, TON-618. if you seen the terrarium made by mr. plants? like the one made a year ago? yeah. time for me to make another planet. Earth, in a bedroom. V2 you get the jist, 1 day (round' a sec) = 1 million years, and 3 months (just like... every three mins) = 1B years... 0:21 - Earth Forming 1:21 - first volcanic islands 1:35 - first plants 3:47 - first mentioned life 4:31 - vines, first spread saplings, and other plant events occur ((with bill wurtz sounds) plant cambrian explosion!!!) 7:08 - first worms 7:30 - first jungles 8:06 - The Great Plant Endangerment 9:09 - current day

Slowly but surely, my first terrarium will come to be. Did not know how fascinated I’d be about this until I saw your video along with several others, Thank you for inspiring me.

I made 2 Free terrariums about 6 weeks ago exactly from the video you are reffering to and i love them so much! Thanks for this amazing update!

Tanner, you're just to talented for your own good!!! 😅. Love all your projects, wish you had the time to do longer vids occasionally. Thanks for all your tips and tricks over the years. 👏🏻👍🏻😅

A man's trash is other man's treasure

I like that, whether intentionally or not, you continued the theme by recycling rubber bands you got for free. Those produce bands are the best though, every time I get asparagus or green onions the bands go straight into the tool drawer.

dang, you sure know a lot about moss! Keep it uo man! Looking forward to someday making my own terrarium. :)

I’ve used your guide to build a similar terrarium two years ago and it works well and looks great. Thank you very much.

When the rest of the planet dies off, future visitors to Earth will find Tanner's terrariums -- particularly this one -- preserving life as it once was. Looking forward to the 3,650-day update.

😮That was the first video of yours RU-vid suggested to me, and then I binge watched several more of yours. • Coincidentally, I just recently (a couple weeks ago, March 12th) I FINALLY gathered some native materials for my first terrarium build, and now I’m addicted, I already have 3. 1 in a small fish bowl, 1 in a Crown Royal whiskey bottle and another in a rum bottle. • NOW I truly understand why/how you continue. Thank you for introducing this World of terrarium building to me! I hope my builds will last 1,814 days too. 🙏🏽

To answer your question, no sir, I am not still waiting. My daughter and I made a terrarium together because of this terrarium. Thank you very much for you doing this. We now have some great memories together because of you sir!

This Terrarium was what made me grow my interest in them. So cool that it's done well! 🤘🇨🇦

Man it’s hard to believe it’s been more than 3 years since that video came out

That's wild... The appereance after maintenance really shows that your smell check was 100% spot on. I like how he doesn't just scrap the whole thing just because of it's ugly appearence prior to the maintenance regardless it passes the smell check. Reminds me of that japanese art of broken pottery; I love those.

I love ur page man my 9 year old introduced me to it been watching daily.. just wanted to show some love. Think u said u were in pa.. Pittsburgh here 💪🏽.. was also wondering if u sale any of the ones u make??but really just showing some love for the page and content

I created a terrarium like this 3 years ago when I saw your vid on how to do it! It's still healthy and alive, but it's just very overgrown :) Thanks for creating the video!

So beautiful. Why did you not use the original lid?

Amazing, this build is what drew me to this channel in my burgeoning love of terrariums, it really helped me start experimenting with more local pieces and just being more relaxed and having fun with it! Can't believe it's been so long now! Thank you for keeping up with this one and updating us how it's doing!

Congratulations mate keep up the great work ❤🎉

Loved seeing this old terrarium again, it's still looks amazing 👍Please can you do a terrarium with only 1 grass seed and see ho long it takes to go through the reproduction process and fill the jar?

I have made many because of your inspiration. One of the first was around this time period. It’s still thriving and lives outdoors under cover for probably 5years.

I remember watching this build when you first made the free diy build video. Amazing to see how it’s help up the last 5 years. 😊

I would love to make my own especially since it doesn't need to be expensive.

I can't wait for spring, this will be a perfect project for my 4 year old and I. I also have a huge old vlasic pickle jar I've been holding on to for years. Now I know it's purpose!

this video has the only add I have seen all day that was int about loztotk (Legend of Zelda tears of the kingdom)

I made my first terrarium a little over a year ago after watching your original video. I appreciated how you found everything outside in your yard. So that's what we did. I have been amazed how it has grown and all the different bugs and critters that just came from the dirt. Thanks for the inspiration and the check up.

Love your revisit vids

Hey Serpa, my wife and I followed the tutorial you did in the first video to make a terrarium back in April 2022, and it's still going strong at 349 days in, and even has an active and seemingly healthy population of isopods, worms, and all sorts of other things wandering around that managed to hitch-hike their way into the system! I've opened it up a few times to trim back growth covering the glass, but other than that? It's completely self-sustaining. Really fun and easy project. I'd post some pictures of it somewhere but I have no clue if you're on socialmedia or whatever outside of RU-vid. Love your content, thanks for the uploads :-)

No, I'm not waiting to make one, all these years later, I've made two, one I'm still planting, both are actually vivariums for geckos. Thank you for your guidance in that process!

Glad to see this old slice of nature is still going strong, all these years later.

I wanna see this in 5 more years

This is so helpful! I want to make a terrarium using a similar method since I don't want to buy a bunch of stuff and it's interesting to see how it works over time.

Can’t say it’s free people wouldn’t believe that you must say “affordable” 😂

I'm literally re-watching this episode right now . Because it's one of my favorite . Especially like the recap on the old soda bottle . You're awesome

I started watching your channel because of the terrariums, now it's been years, and I can't believe it, but.. Can you believe I still didn't made one myself?! That's so inexcusable. Btw, love it, the fact that you just let it go whatever wild-way even if it's not how you're used, it's pretty admirable. 👍🏼

I actually think I remember this original video! I made my first shortly after. Not as elaborate. I’ve never done anything with mine but think I’ll open it for a sniff. 😂

Glad I got to see this. Thank you for showing us your 5-year dedication

That last question was personal 😓. Sadly, yes, i am still waiting. My kitchen is filled with things i found over the years for great hardscape (heartscape?). I sadly moved around some things over the time in my apartment, also my moss always died. I have tried several ways and substrates so far, but no success. I was foraging for the moss in the woods. It either dried out, got moldy or refused to grow then died. I constantly have a low budget, and i am kind of a perfectionist, so i did not attempt actually making a terrarium yet. A paludarium i would prefer, but getting some flat glass and non-toxic glue/foam etc. is where i struggle. Despite all your videos, i still don't really have an idea where to get those, especially when on a tight budget.

That was fascinating. I made my first terrariums about a year ago using a guide online, so I was happy to see familiar techniques being used by you like the false bottom, the coconut coir, and the different layers. I absolutely love the aesthetic of terrariums so I would definitely make another one in the future! It’s also worth noting that I only got into the idea of terrariums from playing Animal Crossing New Horizons. While decorating my home in the game, I was really drawn to terrariums and the monstera plant. I ended up getting both of those in real life :)

you can rub some grease on the rubber band to increase it's longevity

I never realized how low maintenance a terrarium could be. I think I'm going to try doing this. I love the way you've made a terrarium from free stuff, and proven that it works well. This is my first encounter with your channel by the way.

I re-use glass Spaghetti and pickle jars , I can't believe people don't just remove the paper label and put them in the dishwasher and clean them for other uses.

Ahh, I remember when the original build video for this terrarium came out! It’s absolutely amazing to see how this looks five years later 💚

I had an idea while on vacation in Tennessee. Having an extra empty whiskey bottle on hand I thought about borrowing some moss and whatnot! It's like having the opposite of a snow globe 😀

Thank you for sharing this video! I was inspired by this very project and made my own closed terrarium. Now it is a full year old and everything is going strong. I opened it up for a trim recently -- it smells like forest! How wonderful!

This is probably a really stupid question, but don’t the plants need to breathe? How do they survive with no carbon dioxide?

No way dude, I've made heaps! Thanks to your inspiration and excellent advice. Cheers mate!

I made a terrarium Like this one in spring of 2020 when I started loving your channel. Great hobby during the pandemic. My little bottle is still full of life, though now I wonder if I could clean it up a bit, haha. It’s been unopened for 3 years now

Thanks, enjoyed that! One suggestion: when you seal the closed environment weigh it. The weight should remain constant and this will be an easy check that there are no losses.

I'm coming up on 9 months of sobriety and I do landscaping.. I come across a lot of these mosses and little plants. I'm definitely going to take some and make low buck terrariums for my friends and myself 😃🙏

I remember watching that video where you made this terrarium. I got into making them a few years ago now, haven't in nearly a year due to losing all of my plant stuff that I had collected up... but this spring I'm really excited to go out into the woods around the place I'm living at and collect some stuff to make a few native terrariums for the first time in a while! Just waiting for the snow to melt off :) I loved this video. You don't need to have a bunch of fancy things to make cool stuff like this and have it last. And seeing this terrarium so many years later, still doing its thing, makes me really excited to get back into making more again here soon.