Bioactive Enclosure Curiosity

Jevin

Chameleon Enthusiast
Well I'm back again, haven't had much to post because I don't have a chameleon currently. However, I do have the bioactive enclosure still running.

I'm curious what people here have used as cleanup crews for bioactive terrariums. My bioactive enclosure has dairy cow isopods, red wrigglers, springtails and millipedes. I would have white dwarf isopods too, but every time I've introduced them to the enclosure, they haven't taken to it. Just curious as to what others have used for cleanup crews.
 
Several years ago, I was advised to use and sold some giant canyon isopods from our then, acting Bug Lord. (You know who you are ;) ). Many generations later and they have been little workhorses of my enclosures, keeping everything clean and happy. I’ve tried and have a breeding colony of powder orange, but they aren’t as hardy.
Do your chams eat them? I feel like Poppy would just devour them all if they were that big.
 
Do your chams eat them? I feel like Poppy would just devour them all if they were that big.
I try to keep a nice thick layer of leaf litter and provide some pieces of cork bark for the isopods to hide under. My chameleons have pretty much all figured out they are there and will often be hanging upside down patiently waiting to ambush some. The isopods have a very well established population, and are primarily active at night. The few that my chameleons may catch makes no difference to the isopod numbers and has no effect on my chams’ weights. I see it as enrichment/natural hunting behavior. It’s hard to entertain a chameleon, so I think it’s great that they hunt.
 
Several years ago, I was advised to use and sold some giant canyon isopods from our then, acting Bug Lord. (You know who you are ;) ). Many generations later and they have been little workhorses of my enclosures, keeping everything clean and happy. I’ve tried and have a breeding colony of powder orange, but they aren’t as hardy.

Sounds like a great guy🤔, I would have loved to meet him.
 
Do your chams eat them? I feel like Poppy would just devour them all if they were that big.
Giant canyons are like the roaches of isopods(in a good way). They make a nice snack for the Cham, but establish fast and efficiently enough that the Cham won’t wipe them out. I believe it helps that their young tend to burrow while the adults stay up top usually. Helps give you some aeration in the soil as well while they inhabit different zones. I have had giant canyons survive(barely… but they did) overwinter in my garage that gets to 10-20 degrees in the winter.

One thing is, they will probably outcompete any of your other cleaners, which is fine if your purpose is to have a clean enclosure. They also chow down on leaf litter.
 
The lawn shrimp have exploded in my crab’s tank. Every handful of soil has them crawling through it, and they burrow deep which is great since it helps keep things aerated in deep substrates.
 
They also chow down on leaf litter.
Yes! I’m always having to add more. :rolleyes: Not having a single tree in my yard means I have to pay for dead leaves, which kills me. I grew up in a freaking forest and used to play in the leaves!
:unsure: You and the Bug Lord are a lot alike. :unsure: 😂
When you said “lawn shrimp” I thought you were calling regular isopods that. I had no idea that there are actually little animals called that! They look too much like fleas.
 
Back
Top Bottom