Bioactive enclosure questions

[Longhorn1234]

I have some questions for all of you who do bioactive.

1) What type of soil do you use as substrate?

2) Do you have problems with feeders going into the dirt? Even if you cup feed they could still get out. And since I mentioned cup feeding, where do you place the cup? Bottom or top of the enclosure?

3) Do you ever have springtails or isopods getting out of the enclosure?

4) What do you do for drainage?

Sorry to ask a lot of questions, I'm just intrigued about this topic. Thanks in advance!

 

[Goose502]

This is a huge topic, and you can literally write a book about it. In fact, there's multiple. I recommend both "The Art of Keeping Snakes", and the Arcadia guide to "Bio-Activity and the Theory of Wild Re-Creation". You can learn a life's time worth of husbandry with those two books. If readings not your thing, I recommend you check out the Bio-Dude's YouTube channel. He gives great tutorials on how to create naturalistic vivariums, and also sells great products to use. I'd go into detail on what techniques I use, but it would take forever. Look into those books and video's, they should cover most every question you have. When you have more specific questions, please ask. This community is more than willing to help.

 

[Longhorn1234]

Thanks for the reply and for the name of those books. I'll definitely try to find them.
I've seen some of the bio dude's videos and agree they're informative. I should clarify that I'm not looking into building a bioactive enclosure at the moment. In fact, as I was reading and looking into videos these questions came to my head and wanted to ask about everyone's personal experience

 

[jamest0o0]

@Goose502 have both those books, they're amazing. Art of keeping snakes is great, but slightly outdated. Still, it's an excellent place to start. Wild-recreation is simply the best bio book out there and listen to anything by John courtney Smith, he's on CBP. Here's some stuff I can answer:

1) there are tons of substrate mixes to choose from, but I at least try to make sure what I use doesn't have rocks or chunks of bark that could be swallowed

2)My cup is place high up right below the basking spot. Feeders do get out of the cup and go in the dirt, but it doesn't bother me. There's crickets and some roaches living in all my cages.

3) they are so tiny and stick to the soil, even if they did get out you wouldn't notice.

4) I'd listen to chameleon breeder podcast for drainage ideas, they go over it on the bioactive part 1&2.

 

[Longhorn1234]

Thanks for the response James. I believe I read on another thread that you were making a cage stand for a large dragon strand cage. How's that going?

 

[jamest0o0]

Here it is. My carpenter buddy helped a ton TBH. Haven't used it yet because I'm renting and can't hang stuff from the walls/ceiling(lighting, drippers, etc) so I'm just using wire shelves with a more simplistic approach for the time being...

 

[Longhorn1234]

That looks great. Does the empty space at the bottom serve any purpose? Is that your drainage plan?

 

[jamest0o0]

Yup, there's a 2 foot deep substrate layer. With a pvc pipe sticking up into the drainage layer, when excess water goes beyond the hydroball layer it will drain into the pipe and down below into a tray. This keeps the soil moist and allows the roots to reach the water-filled drainage layer without swamping the soil. That's the plan anyway.... always some obstacles that pop up when putting it into action

 

[Longhorn1234]

So you have your soil and then at the bottom hydroball, correct? Are you using anything else like screen or something similar?
Also, did you use pond liner or anything for the wood where the substrate is in?

 

[jamest0o0]

Yup pond liner, and I have a vinyl screen I'm going to use so the roots can grow into the hydroball layer. I'm going to test it first to make sure the dirt doesn't clog it though. Landscaping cloth is what I'm currently using, but it doesn't allow for roots to grow through it. Maybe I could just put holes in that though if the vinyl screen doesn't work.

 

[Longhorn1234]

That makes sense. What kind of soil are you currently using?

 

[jamest0o0]

I use sunshine mix 4, another member here recommended it and I'm really liking it. I also have cages that are a blend of Scott's topsoil and sand. I might do a more in depth homemade mix for my stands though. Check out RABS on facebook

 

[Longhorn1234]

It'll be cool to make your own. If you do that don't forget to share with the forum

I'll check that out, thanks!

 

[jamest0o0]

For sure, I haven't posted much about my stuff lately, just try to answer questions where I can. Not too many here ever seem that interested in keeping chams bio. I'm still learning a lot about it myself, but if you ever have questions or feel like sharing anything feel free to PM me.

 

[Goose502]

For sure, I haven't posted much about my stuff lately, just try to answer questions where I can. Not too many here ever seem that interested in keeping chams bio. I'm still learning a lot about it myself, but if you ever have questions or feel like sharing anything feel free to PM me.

I'll never build another enclosure that isn't completely natural/bioactive. This includes any future reptile. Benefits FAR outweigh any negatives.

 

[Longhorn1234]

Thanks James, I appreciate the help!