Lepanthes felis

I had my doubts toward Lepanthes felis due to its size possibly being vulnerable. Arrived in a good shape, happily lives in my terrarium.

The plant arrived meticulously packed in its own humidity chamber, and yet the sphagnum was brittlely dry, the leaves were dessicated to the extent that their veination was prominently elevated, and several of the leaves were shriveled. I immediately soaked it and pulled the sphagnum away to find more than half the roots were dead: papery sheaths surrounding the remnant of the vascular core. All the living roots were damaged, with dead sections and no living tips. I potted the plant in a net pot with a small amount of fine fir bark. Within around 1 wk the less dessicated damaged leaves had plumped up. A few days ago I inspected the plant and found 1 live root with an active root tip. I think the plant is going to live, but the plant probably will need months to grow a new root system. A difference between L. felis vs. L. cloesii and L. genetoapophantica is the roots of this L. felis were about half the diameter of the roots of these other two species. Does that make them more vulnerable to dessication?

Packed super secure and came in heathy !