I am going on vacation for a week, and wonder about lighting. I live in the basement of my dad's house, and there's one TINY window in the corner of the room... if I were to leave the lights off, my plants would only get residual sunlight. But I'm not sure leaving the terrarium light on for 24/7 would be a good thing, either? Don't plants need a break with darkness? So far they get 12 light and 12 dark hours.

I don't have a timer thing, and no money to get one right now, otherwise I'd just use that.

The light bulb is just the common kind you get with a beginner/start-up kit of a fish aquarium. So far it seems to be working okay.

While I know this is probably a bad thing, I planted common flowers like Canterbury Bells, Morning Glory (which are the ones GROWING right now), Lupine and catnip (which has also gotten a good start). I mainly did this, because I figured I could start them in the terrarium then move them later into the garden...and the cats won't get to them while they're growing (they ate my sprouts last time I planted in pots and set by the front door for light).