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Globe Terrarium Total Cost of Ownership: Setup, Parts & Maintenance (2026)

Globe Terrarium Total Cost of Ownership: Setup, Parts & Maintenance (2026) A globe terrarium costs about $87 to build from individual parts in 2026, then roughly $15 a year to maintain — for a five-year total cost of ownership near $147, or about $29 per year. The glass globe and the plants are what people budget for. The parts that quietly add up are the drainage media, charcoal, substrate, and the basic tools you only buy once. Map your own parts list and total with the Terrarium Building Calculator(/crafts/terrarium-build-calculator) before you add anything to a cart. The common mistake is budgeting for the globe and the plants and assuming that is the whole bill. In practice the LECA, the activated charcoal, the sphagnum, the ABG-style substrate, and a set of long tweezers and a misting bottle quietly add up to as much as the plants. That gap between the "plants...