Feedback needed for my first bioactive enclosure

ivythechammy

New Member
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Hello friends,


I built my first bioactive enclosure based on my some research and people’s advise. I just want to get some feedback from you all, but first I have a few concerns.

The chameleons (female veiled) is doing well as far as I can tell. She eats and drinks normally, and I don’t see obvious signs of stress.

0. I think I may not have enough branches and plants
However, she seems content with it. She hangs out on the outer edge of the vegetation most of the time, and she hides in the inner most part of the vegetation when she doesn't want to be bothered. (When she does that, I have to look really hard to find her). I'm considering to add more plants for her, but I would like to keep it minimalistic if possible.

1. I realized afterwards that hibiscus is not a good indoor plant as they require a lot of direct sunlight

About 2-3 leaves turn yellow every day, and I remove them regularly. That said, there seems to be a very vigorous growth of new leaves, so I can’t tell if the tree is dying or it’s just adjusting to the new environment. Does anyone have any experience with growing hibiscus indoor? Any advise?

2. I have never ever seen the isopods that I put in

I lift the leaf litter daily to check what’s happening underneath, but I have never seen them around. Will I ever see them? or should I just assume that they are there?


3. I also introduced some red wigglers

Later I learned that they are horrible as CUCs because they break down the substrate extremely fast. People said that the substrate turned into mud balls. Can anyone comment on that based on personal experience?


4. My house is constantly at a temperature between 70-80F

Do I still need a heat source for basking? I am trying to slow her metabolism so she has a smaller clutch of eggs. I almost never see her basking under the ceramic heat emitter anyways.

5. I put some moss that I harvested from the outside

I don't know if there's enough lighting. I'm going to get a brighter light. Does anyone have experience working with moss? Is my setup compatible with the moss that I put in?

6. This is a general question regarding the cham’s health.

She shed her skin recently. The process seems a bit slow to me, it’s been 1.5-2 weeks, and she still has some skin on her back and tail. The thing that concerns me the most is the skin between her toes, they seem calloused and it is bothering her a bit. I successfully removed some using a tong, but there’s still some left. I don’t have a hygrometer, but the average humidity in my area is abut 50-60. I played with the misting schedule, but it didn’t seem to help either. What should I do at this point? FYI, she was egg bound 2 months ago, and this is her first shed since 6 months ago.



Thanks guys!
 

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1) the plant is probably adjusting, you need very good lighting to keep them long term.

2) what kind of isopods...?

3) I believe you're right about the red wrigglers. It's a common misconception that they aerate soil. Over time they will make it compact and mud-like in a closed system. Not sure how long this will take. A user on here, extensionofgreen talked about it a while back and he is a legit expert on plants so I trust his word. All that said, I've had earthworms in my enclosures for a pretty long time without causing problems, but there weren't tons.

4) I'd go for low 80s basking spot. Can probably turn it off if your ambient is 80 though.

5) yup I have used moss. Your set up is pretty cool, but idk if that moss will make it long term. Moss generally likes very good lighting and very high moisture. Mine mostly thrived around the misters+well lit spots(in a parsonii enclosure that got 1 hr of mist a day). No harm leaving it there to see how it does. Some might adjust over time.

6) let her shed at her own pace. Make sure you are supplying her enough calcium/nutrients. Don't change your humidity at all, they are said to dry shed. Sometimes older chams will take a little longer to shed.
 
1) the plant is probably adjusting, you need very good lighting to keep them long term.

2) what kind of isopods...?

3) I believe you're right about the red wrigglers. It's a common misconception that they aerate soil. Over time they will make it compact and mud-like in a closed system. Not sure how long this will take. A user on here, extensionofgreen talked about it a while back and he is a legit expert on plants so I trust his word. All that said, I've had earthworms in my enclosures for a pretty long time without causing problems, but there weren't tons.

4) I'd go for low 80s basking spot. Can probably turn it off if your ambient is 80 though.

5) yup I have used moss. Your set up is pretty cool, but idk if that moss will make it long term. Moss generally likes very good lighting and very high moisture. Mine mostly thrived around the misters+well lit spots(in a parsonii enclosure that got 1 hr of mist a day). No harm leaving it there to see how it does. Some might adjust over time.

6) let her shed at her own pace. Make sure you are supplying her enough calcium/nutrients. Don't change your humidity at all, they are said to dry shed. Sometimes older chams will take a little longer to shed.

Thank you so much for the feedback!

Do you think I need to add more plants and horizontal branches?

I got the isopod from a seller who sells them as pocket pets for kids. Needless to say, the seller has no idea what kind of isopod this is. Checkout the image below and maybe you can tell me... The largest ones are about 1/4 of an inch.
isopod.jpg

I forgot to mention that my mist nozzle is directly above the middle of the hibiscus, and the mist doesn't really travel for more than 3 inches until it is caught by the leaves and drizzle down near the base of the trunk. This leaves the rest of the enclosure pretty dry. I do hand mist the rest of the enclosure once a day. I'll keep doing it until I'm tired of it.
 
Oh yeah I wanted to mention, a few branches would be beneficial I think. Probably don't need anymore plants, if you want to add something to fill in part of the middle that could be good.

Those look like porcellio scaber. They should do alright, I prefer porcellio dilatatus for my bio enclosures personally.
 
Thank you so much for the feedback!

Do you think I need to add more plants and horizontal branches?

I got the isopod from a seller who sells them as pocket pets for kids. Needless to say, the seller has no idea what kind of isopod this is. Checkout the image below and maybe you can tell me... The largest ones are about 1/4 of an inch.
View attachment 269580
I forgot to mention that my mist nozzle is directly above the middle of the hibiscus, and the mist doesn't really travel for more than 3 inches until it is caught by the leaves and drizzle down near the base of the trunk. This leaves the rest of the enclosure pretty dry. I do hand mist the rest of the enclosure once a day. I'll keep doing it until I'm tired of it.
Not related to the bioactive part of the setup, but maybe you could add a bit more branches so your cham has more space to move around?
As for not seeing the isopods, how many did you put it? I put maybe 60, and within a month I couldn't look under a single piece of wood without seeing hundreds of baby isopods.
Did you add springtails? They will take care of any mold that forms.
 

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Thanks guys,

I was on the fence about adding additional branches or jungle vines. I want to have a small piece of a forest in my living room, and random branches that appear out of nowhere looks very unnatural.

@PabloTheCham

I put in 30 isopods into the enclosure, but I didn't let the enclosure cycle for one month because her original enclosure was way too small. I wanted her to move in ASAP.

I will go ahead and get some springtails because the mold is very troubling. I also have a HUGE infestation of mushrooms in my substrate. It is somewhat under controlled now as I completely stopped manually watering the substrate. However, I still have chunks of substrate that is frosty white and completely colonized by the mycelium. Is there any CUC that would take care of that?

Finally, the gnats are such a pain in the butt, how can I dial in my settings to get rid of them?
 
Thanks guys,

I was on the fence about adding additional branches or jungle vines. I want to have a small piece of a forest in my living room, and random branches that appear out of nowhere looks very unnatural.

@PabloTheCham

I put in 30 isopods into the enclosure, but I didn't let the enclosure cycle for one month because her original enclosure was way too small. I wanted her to move in ASAP.

I will go ahead and get some springtails because the mold is very troubling. I also have a HUGE infestation of mushrooms in my substrate. It is somewhat under controlled now as I completely stopped manually watering the substrate. However, I still have chunks of substrate that is frosty white and completely colonized by the mycelium. Is there any CUC that would take care of that?

Finally, the gnats are such a pain in the butt, how can I dial in my settings to get rid of them?
Well, I personally never went through the cycle phase. I made the bin, added the plants and the CUC, and no mold showed up.
As for the mushrooms, I suppose the springtails will eat them, since mushrooms are fungi and springtails eat fungi.
I have no idea how you can get rid of the gnats, never had an issue with them and didn't know they existed till I googled it just now. Maybe them cham can help you out with the gnats ;)
 
Thanks guys,

I was on the fence about adding additional branches or jungle vines. I want to have a small piece of a forest in my living room, and random branches that appear out of nowhere looks very unnatural.

@PabloTheCham

I put in 30 isopods into the enclosure, but I didn't let the enclosure cycle for one month because her original enclosure was way too small. I wanted her to move in ASAP.

I will go ahead and get some springtails because the mold is very troubling. I also have a HUGE infestation of mushrooms in my substrate. It is somewhat under controlled now as I completely stopped manually watering the substrate. However, I still have chunks of substrate that is frosty white and completely colonized by the mycelium. Is there any CUC that would take care of that?

Finally, the gnats are such a pain in the butt, how can I dial in my settings to get rid of them?

Maybe try a ficus alii. They're a nice branchy plant/tree.

I never really cycled my enclosures either, just put the cham in. Let the mushrooms run their course, cuc will feed on most fungi, some it won't touch, but it's all generally harmless and nothing to worry about. Part of the cycle.

Soil gnats are another common part of new substrates. I've battled soil gnats for a long time and the only thing that effectively and easily got rid of them was drosera capensis(sundew). You can place one in a saucer of distilled water where it can get a lot of light, like a windowsill. The soil gnats are drawn to them and will get wiped out by the hundreds. Your sundew will grow a lot too!
 
I like the idea of schefflera. I would like to replace my centerpiece plant, but I'm not sure if it's feasible to uproot the whole plant without majorly disrupting the substrate.

Right now I am just catching the gnats daily with a vacuum cleaner, and it seems to help a lot. I read about sundew, but it seems like they can't survive indoor as they require a lot of sun. I may give it a try anyways.

Today I have confirmed sighting of one isopod, but for some reason they don't want to touch the poop. It makes sense because they have plenty of food in the leaf litter, why would they risk desiccation by coming to the surface? Maybe I will just need to give them sometime to reproduce.

Thanks for the input.

P.S. I also want to add that it is true that the red wigglers WILL escape the enclosure and die in random locations in your house! This morning I found a dead red wiggler two rooms away from where the enclosure is. My substrate container has about 1-2" of head space, and I was not expecting them to crawl out of it. For those who are considering adding them into the CUC, you may want to reconsider.......
 
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Maybe try a ficus alii. They're a nice branchy plant/tree.

I never really cycled my enclosures either, just put the cham in. Let the mushrooms run their course, cuc will feed on most fungi, some it won't touch, but it's all generally harmless and nothing to worry about. Part of the cycle.

Soil gnats are another common part of new substrates. I've battled soil gnats for a long time and the only thing that effectively and easily got rid of them was drosera capensis(sundew). You can place one in a saucer of distilled water where it can get a lot of light, like a windowsill. The soil gnats are drawn to them and will get wiped out by the hundreds. Your sundew will grow a lot too!
I thought the cuc helps to get rid of soil gnats by eating their eggs. :unsure: Maybe I need to get some sundews.
 
I thought the cuc helps to get rid of soil gnats by eating their eggs. :unsure: Maybe I need to get some sundews.

Many times there are just too many gnats at first. Also, I haven't seen anything that indicates they do eat their eggs, maybe in small amounts, but if you're going to have a soil gnat explosion, it's going to happen with or without CuC lol. Definitely recommend the sundews.
 
I like the idea of schefflera. I would like to replace my centerpiece plant, but I'm not sure if it's feasible to uproot the whole plant without majorly disrupting the substrate.

Right now I am just catching the gnats daily with a vacuum cleaner, and it seems to help a lot. I read about sundew, but it seems like they can't survive indoor as they require a lot of sun. I may give it a try anyways.

Today I have confirmed sighting of one isopod, but for some reason they don't want to touch the poop. It makes sense because they have plenty of food in the leaf litter, why would they risk desiccation by coming to the surface? Maybe I will just need to give them sometime to reproduce.

Thanks for the input.

P.S. I also want to add that it is true that the red wigglers WILL escape the enclosure and die in random locations in your house! This morning I found a dead red wiggler two rooms away from where the enclosure is. My substrate container has about 1-2" of head space, and I was not expecting them to crawl out of it. For those who are considering adding them into the CUC, you may want to reconsider.......

Sundews do fine on a windowsill or under a grow light. I've grown them for few years now, got them to flower and spread without much effort. They're hardy plants given the right water/substrate.

You need P. Dilatatus aka giant canyon. They live well in dry and humid environments and love poop...
 
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