Help in Setting up bioactive terrarium

[Chameleonhands808]

Hey guys,

New to the forums and getting a jackson chamleon with my son. I've done some research. Looked at thebiodude but its expensive to ship to Hawaii. Anywho any tips on making my own substrate? Will this enclosure be sufficient? Enough airflow? And how would I make a drainage system?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01N...id=1530240539&sr=8-12&keywords=Carolina+Custo

Thank you in advance. Also any other tips and advice would he greatly appreciated.

 

[Matt Vanilla Gorilla]

Hang in there! You have some serious help on its way! @jamest0o0 @dshuld

They also might summon other Gurus!

 

[Remkon]

I dont see any ventilation in the bottom part of the enclosure so that will be a problem as there won't be enough airflow.

You could get a glass exotera, they do have ventilation in the bottom.

For drainage there are 2 options with glass.
1. No drainage, Figure out how to mist enough for your chameleon, but not so much that you create a swamp.
2. Drill a hole in the bottom and diy some.

It's doable to make your own soil.
You can use a layer of aquagrid, then add a sand and dirt mixture on top.
You should be able to find a good mixture of dirts online or even here, just don't use fertilized soil (unless it's biologically fertilized).

Then add plenty springtails and (tropical) isopods... I also went in the backyard to find isopods, worms etc.

I have a sand + biologically fertilized dirt mixture, hydro clay underneath and also a drainage hole. Can always mix in more soils later on. My setup is still pretty new for me so maybe @jamest0o0 can chime in.

 

[Matt Vanilla Gorilla]

I dont see any ventilation in the bottom part of the enclosure so that will be a problem as there won't be enough airflow.

You could get a glass exotera, they do have ventilation in the bottom.

For drainage there are 2 options with glass.
1. No drainage, Figure out how to mist enough for your chameleon, but not so much that you create a swamp.
2. Drill a hole in the bottom and diy some.

It's doable to make your own soil.
You can use a layer of aquagrid, then add a sand and dirt mixture on top.
You should be able to find a good mixture of dirts online or even here, just don't use fertilized soil (unless it's biologically fertilized).

Then add plenty springtails and (tropical) isopods... I also went in the backyard to find isopods, worms etc.

I have a sand + biologically fertilized dirt mixture, hydro clay underneath and also a drainage hole. Can always mix in more soils later on. My setup is still pretty new for me so maybe @jamest0o0 can chime in.

There you go! One of the other Gurus! Thanks @Remkon

 

[dshuld]

You'll also need leaf litter to cover the dirt, oak and magnolia is what I'm using. Other then that @Remkon covered it pretty well.

 

[dshuld]

Also, not sure if @JacksJill keeps her jacksons in bioactive setups but she would be a good person to ask for help with them.

 

[JacksJill]

I don't do bioactive setups. Not that they aren't great, it's a space issue for me. Jackson's questions I can help with. Horn's rule.

 

[jamest0o0]

Good info above, I'm not familiar with that brand cage. To set up your substrate and drainage we'll first need to know for certain which cage you're going with. For glass, you could make a false bottom with a small pump. When the water reaches a certain level you could turn the pump on to drain it out. Or you could have the pump on a timer. There's a lot of ways to work around drainage.

For making soil, of course you can! I've never used biodude and know tons of people who haven't. As @Remkon mentioned, whatever you use, it's nice to have a lot of playsand mixed in. I do almost half and half for my heavily watered montane enclosure. I cheated and used sunshine mix #4 mixed with sand and a 1" reptisoil layer on top(I like the texture and small particles reptisoil has). I've made mixed soil before just using organic topsoil, coco coir, sand, worm casings, and orchid bark. You could also just use organic potting soil with sand mixed in. Theres really a lot of ways that will all work out well. Depends which plants you're planning to use.

 

[Chameleonhands808]

Thanks for all the love and input guys! Ordered the cage, should be arriving soon. There is a local arboretum that is crawling with jacksons that are willing to let us catch one. Also I was hiking the other day and was wondering if I could grab moss for the wilderness. Here a picture of the moss.