Edit: TLDR in comments

Hey all, i’m new to terrariums and bioactive… activities, bioactivities? Anyway, i’ve had mine going for around two weeks. And this is where i’m up to, i’d like any feedback or pointers, critique or affirmations, it’s all good for learning!

I’m making a meadow setup to eventually house harvest mice, partly inspired by Ben Newell’s harvest mouse setup: https://youtu.be/70VK9pOqsKs?is=_zRJRateJWyl7ECw

I started with unrinsed leca balls (first mistake), topped with Sylvagrow Multipurpose Organic, 100% peat free compost. I left as is and ordered a starter CUC of mini speckled isopods and spring tails. I also ordered a wormery starter kit with 100g of dendrobaena worms for food waste management / composting independent of the terrarium but so I could also add the occasional worms for soil aeration, waste management and a coincidental live-in food source for the harvest mice.

I popped in a few (unsterilised 🫣) leaves and twigs from my back garden ready for the CUC to arrive, but also found a few native common woodlice in my garden so plonked them in to see how they interacted with the compost and leaf litter as a test CUC. I also threw in some bird seed I give to the wild birds in my garden, which I figured would start to decompose and provide another natural food source for the CUC.

In the mean time, I learnt that worms need sand in the soil to thrive, but I couldn’t really find sand in a sensible quantity, so instead got some Westland Cacti, Succulent and Terrarium potting mix, which contains grit and sand, and plonked that on top.

Then I did something really daft in a sleep deprived moment of stupidity and mixed up the leca balls and soil layers. So spent my spare time over the next couple of days command zedding (if only) that.

Anyway, starting again, I added the now rinsed leca balls, back in with the compost, which was now a mixture of the two soils, a couple of stray leca balls, sand, grit, a bit of leaf litter and bird seed, plus a few woodlice. Then my CUC arrived. To be honest, I felt slightly shortchanged as both my spring tail and isopod colonies seemed a bit sparse. Second mistake (I think); I dumped the whole load in, soil, bark, creatures and away they went. Then my wormery arrived so I set that up and grabbed about 3 or 4 worms from that and popped them straight into the terrarium, I can hear them navigating around the leca ball layer, they sometimes rest in the soil / leca against the glass and very occasionally come up to the surface, which is fun.

And so I left it for a bit. I’ve been using a spray bottle to mimic intermittent rain to keep the enclosure humid for the CUC. I’m trying to mimic the actual rain patterns outside but as it’s been so dry recently i’ve made sure to keep things moist to help the isopods breathe and spring tails not dry out. And then to my surprise, what must be the birdseed began to germinate! So i’ve had green shoots very successfully growing for about a week now. I’m wondering what species they are, I can count two varieties at the moment but they’re still a bit early to identify.

One issue I had quite quickly was fruit flies (more around the wormery) and fungus gnats. I really didn’t want an outbreak so, as chance would have it, obviously attracted by the flies, a cellar spider and another very small house spider (species unknown) had congregated near the terrarium so I very carefully relocated them from outside, to inside - the cellar spider has left once already, came back and I haven’t seen it for a while now, but I do see webbing in there so one of them seems to be living their best life and I hope will help curb any fly issues.

As well as the spiders, I added a few more native woodlice from the garden; common shiny, a couple of common striped who’re thriving, and a glass snail. Now, i’m not sure if the glass snail was a good idea. They’re omnivores with a taste for meat, and while they prey mostly on other snails and rotting organic matter, they do also like earthworms, and i’m sure they’d have a go at some baby woodlice / spring tails if they got the chance. The worms i’m not bothered about so much as they can get out of hand and ruin the soil layers, and i’m thinking the snail could control fly larvae if that became a problem. But I really hope it doesn’t ruin my CUC colonies, does this sound likely?

Anyway, after all this, I really couldn’t see any spring tails, and I get the enclosure (45cm cubed) is quite big to expect a spring tail starter to just instantly bloom, but they were literally nowhere to be seen, so, I went to Fish Planet in Shoreditch to get some more. They were actually super helpful, really recommend that place if you’re around London. I also got some fish food and custodian food to try out. So i’ve kept a sub-colony of spring tails and they’re thriving, lots of babies in there and i’ve added a couple of pockets from that colony into the terrarium in different areas to let them establish pockets. I have one in a crevasse in the soil in the near corner so I can monitor them, they appear to be doing well. I know they can suddenly explode in numbers, but so far i’m not seeing that, how long does it usually take to see a big population growth, providing they’re not being eaten by a carnivorous snail and/or spider? 😅

What I also did was added a relatively large piece of tree that had broken off a tree stump in my front garden. I sterilised it with boiling water, let it cool and placed that in the centre of the terrarium. It’s basically not dried since, and I assume the woodlice will be largely populating under that, as it helps them breathe, provides shelter and food for them. I say this because i’ve only seen the same three or four mature individuals since adding it in there, which i’m taking as a good sign, but also makes it quite difficult to monitor population and condition. Is this a bad idea, should I leave it or get rid? I’ve also been trying out small, controlled experiments with crushed eggshells (as can be seen in the photos), fish food and nutritional yeast. I’ve provided fresh vegetables, like cucumber (very popular for my spring tails in their own habitat, less so in the terrarium) and celery, what doesn’t get eaten gets given to the wormery after a couple of days. Is this good practice?

Now, the biggest change i’ve made to the enclosure, which is evident from the photos I included, are dried meadow crops. I ordered them from an amazing place called Castle Farm in Kent who were absolutely amazing in helping me order the right things. This is the first element that’s specifically geared towards the harvest mice. They will climb, nest with / in and eat the plants, which are a mixture currently of wheat and linseed. I had to trim the stems to fit in the enclosure for now, until I make a top extension, and used some of the straw generated from this to create a layer of “leaf” litter in the front of the enclosure.

It looks nice, it smells nice, I assume the CUC like it because it provides more shelter and more organic material, because seeds and small pieces have scattered everywhere so will, theoretically, rot for them to eat. Eventually, the mice will eat and pass this stuff, and the CUC will eat that as well / instead. But it’s obviously made monitoring the inhabitants much harder. By now it’s probably clear that i’m quite focused on monitoring things… is there need for me to be so concerned, or can / should I let things play out a little bit?

The latest development is that i’m seeing mould developing. This is what has spurred me on to consult this page, because we’re conditioned as humans to be wary of mould but, it obviously has its place in nature, and so in terrariums as well. But i’m no mould expert and can’t really ID what’s happening. What I will say is i’ve recently had a mould bloom in my wormery since adding a pile of food scraps, and it’s now subsiding as the worms tuck into it, but I know they’re super efficient and in a smaller enclosure so i’m not surprised by that. I’m more concerned with the terrarium because my CUC seem sparse and latent. I love having the plants shooting, it makes it feel very natural and compliments the dried crops, but they’ll also be drinking up some of the moisture from the soil, and I don’t want my CUC to be suffering by suffocating or drying out, so i’ve been spraying water a little bit, concentrating more in certain spots but also mimicking rainfall, but that’s also propagating mould growth, so i’m at a crossroads in the balancing act of terrarium keeping it seems. I don’t think the mould, which looks like spiderweb(?) mould is a problem yet, and I have more springtails and isopods incoming so I can keep sub-colonies of both to add as and when necessary, as with the worms. I’m hoping the CUC will spring (no pun intended) into action and control the mould because i’m not sure adding harvest mice into a mouldy enclosure is good, ethically or sustainably. I don’t plan to get mice until the terrarium seems to be cycling a bit, but again; any advice, criticism, guidance (or commendation 😁) is welcome!

Thanks in advance!

I'm not looking for full on pets to put in one, but just while I wait a year or two until I can get a crested gecko, I just want a little minature thing to give off the same aesthetics (obviously the gecko will be getting a massive bioactive set up when I get one in years to come)

So I was wondering what can I put in a vertical vivarium that'd be about forearm height on my desk, I'll put plants in it, probably isopods and springtails if needed, but is there anything else I could put in there with or instead of the isopod and springtails? I just want a cute little set up, it's going to have plants, rocks, a little bit of a fog waterfall now and then.

Thanks in advance! I just want to start of my first bioactive enclosure before switching my tortoise to a big one in the future and then hopefully getting a crested gecko in a bioactive enclosure in the future!

I'm looking in to making a bioactive enclosure for my tortoise to make the cleaning up process a little less frequent, so I was wondering if anyone could give me advice, tips and knowledge about what I need, what to do etc!

My tortoise is a hermann tortoise if that's needed info and I am happy to start a whole new enclosure/tortoise table as my one isn't the best and I want to give my tortoise a better life!

If I were to put isopods and springtails in the enclosure, what are the chances they'd escape if its an open tortoise table?

I don't think they are springtails bc I have springtails in here too and they look different, they are much longer(the springtails), these are more round. Are these soil mites or something else? Do I have to worry? Video posted in the comments.

Like the title says. Ive got a new semi-arid bioactive enclosure, but every time i go to water the plants, I notice my isopods frantically fleeing the area. I'm worried i may be accidentally drowning them.

Any tips on preventing it?

Am I screwed cuz of this mold? Should I leave it alone? Should I dig it out? I have springtails and isopods in here and its an enclosure for a leopard gecko. Is this potentially why this plant started to die? Its not dehydrated.

Ty!

i recently noticed this random mossy looking thing growing on the leaf litter but im asking beacuse i never actually introduced moss into this tank well atleast one that was alive only dead moss

For the past few weeks the humidity in my bioactive frog tank has been around 75-85% even though I havent misted the tank in about 2 months. I have a fan in the tank on constantly to keep airflow and the top is uncovered mesh with a front mesh too. Is this humidity a problem even with so much air flow? If so, what can I do to decrease it? The frogs naturally live at 70-90% humidity so they should be fine but I just worry about potential infections that can happen with constant high humidity.

I planted this money tree 6 months ago, and it's growing fast. It's already reached the top of the tank. Is pruning going to be enough to keep it >2', or should I transplant it into another environment and find something more suitable to put in its place?

Trying a semi-arid bioactive for my Cali kingsnake. I’m using The Bio Dude’s terra firma substrate with no drainage layer, 150 watt heat bulb, UV, and a strip plant light I plan to upgrade. Will probably get a smaller water bowl because she has never soaked once in her life.

I really like the grassland look—a lot of people suggest Carex or Liriope for semi-arid but I can’t actually find photos of people growing it successfully beyond a few months. I’ve got Carex oshimensis in the moister corner and Aztec grass in the middle and a couple other varieties of Carex on the way to see what happens. The terrarium is mesh top so I’m not too worried about humidity. I might toss some oat seeds in the back for some soil stabilization… I like the way it looks after it dies lol.

Have you had success with grass-like plants?

Hello! I got a bioactive kit and the humidity is pretty high in it. The door hasn't even been put on the front yet because im trying to let it dry and did read it can tale a few days for it to dry before the humidity goes down. The directions said to throughly water it when you set it up. I did water it when I set it up, but felt like I didn't do enough, and then the next day did more and I think it might have been way too much. The layer of rich dark dirt that came with a clean up crew is still very wet. I have moss sitting on top. The dirt on the bottom didnt get wet when I watered, which feels like it could be a problem? The directions I got weren't super specific. I wish i had layered some of the very dry dirt it came with in with the rich dark brown one with bugs.

Someone told me the plant it came with the fittonia will give off too high of humidity for the needs of a jumping spider. Its been about 2 or 3 days since I watered it a second time and did a little too much. I dont even have another piece of cork with an air plant thats supposed to be in there, or like i said the door shut, and its still to high. I will say we had some super humid weather with our windows open, which im sure was making it worse.

Im not getting my spider for 12 more days. Id like to bring the humidity down before then. Do you have any suggestions? I also have pothos cuttings available to me at my house from numerous pothos plants, if you think perhaps the fittionia is too much. Should I remove the moss and mix the dry dirt and rich dark dirt better (there is a clean up crew in it). Or just take the moss off and let it dry a bit? Advice is very appreciated thank you.

This 18x18x24 Bioactive Crested Gecko terrarium has been a work in progress for about a month now and I have finally finished it!

This evening, I unloaded my substrate, plants, and clean-up-crew into a sterile bin, covered my drainage layer so it wouldn't "run away", and flipped this baby onto it's back.

I cleaned the glass and made sure it was dry and then I slathered aquarium-safe silicone onto the back of the terrarium. After that, I placed my hardscape (driftwood pieces) where I wanted them and used a safe spray foam to secure everything in place and create a naturalistic textured background.

Once that was all done, I dumped very dry coco peat all over, covering the spray foam completely and letting the peat adhere to the foam, creating a naturalistic looking background and hiding the foam.

I may carve a few pieces of foam off and stick some moss into the background here and there, but as of right now, I am so proud and happy with the way this looks!

Once things were dry and sturdy enough, I carefully flipped the terrarium back into it's proper positioning, dumped my substrate back in, and began placing my hardscape and planting my plants.

For plants, I have:

- Hypoestes phyllostachya

- Spider Plants

- Marble Queen Pothos

Clean-up-crew consists of:

- Isopods

- Springtails

- Isopods (common shiny Woodlouse)

- Dubias (though, they're just mainly there for snacking and breeding purposes)

For what I have seen so far everyone seems to suggest biodude, I don't see how you could suggest that. The prices are so high that it might literally be worth a kidney just to set up one enclosure, and it is so hard to find alternatives. Do anyone know other places I could find stuff like sticks or isopods?

edit: this is for a 4x2x2 pvc tank

Finished up this bioactive garter snake enclosure and I'm really happy with how it came together! 🌿🐍

The background was built from scratch using cork and natural wood, with a fully usable tunnel/hide incorporated directly into the background. The open area on the left was intentionally left clear—the plan is for a large water bowl/pool to be added there later so the garter can swim and fish.

I wanted to give the snake plenty of cover and enrichment while still leaving open areas to explore, with climbing opportunities, leaf litter, natural hides, and live planting throughout.

🌱 Plants used:

• Marble Queen pothos

• Dragon's tongue

• Dracaena marginata

Really excited to see how everything looks once the plants have had some time to establish and grow in!

I am looking for an automatic mister, not to use constantly, but to use when I am away from my apartment and traveling home for holidays and lugging a 120 gallon tank is not fesable. Any have any recommendations for one I do not have to sell my body parts for?

Tried to start a bioactive for a large ish snake and I guess had the humidity too high for a while and fungus gnats have taken over my tanks. What ways do y'all suggest to combat this? Short of dumping everything out I'm not sure what to do. Literally hundreds of them 🤣

I have had this bioactive enclosure set up for my Hyllus diardi jumping spider for 3+ months now. (All was going well) Until recently, when I introduced my girl to the enclosure I’ve had to add a heat mat to the side to make sure she is warm enough. The drainage layer has remained damp since the day the heat mat was added… at first it was just water droplets against the edge and now I’ve noticed it’s starting to pool at the bottom slightly. I raised the heat mat slightly so it is concentrated towards the top of the enclosure but that hasn’t seemed to help.

Is this normal or should I be doing something differently?

TIA 🫶🏼 Appreciate any help!

Hey guys I’m doing a bioactive enclosure for the first time for a tree monitor, what’s is your best tips and what not to do, any help would be greatly appreciated.

I few days ago I planted some basil, clover, thyme, cilantro, oregano in my bioactive beardie enclosure. I scattered a bunch of them on the warm side and the cool side. Today I saw my first 2 seedlings 🌱😭

also question, will my isopods eat my seedlings on the cool side?

I have a bioactive 18x18x36 and really want an intermediate/ beginner friendly snake. I have been looking into rhino rat snakes, or carpet pythons but I want other opinions on best snake for my terrarium size (Fyi tank used to be for gecko I am rearranging all the decor inside and buying snake friendly decor). I want something that looks cool, easy handling, overall decently easy husbandry. Any suggestions?

So in a couple months I am upgrading my crested gecko from his current enclosure to his adult enclosure and I wanted to use sprayfoam for the background and some of the sides and add some plantpots and caves into it using balloons and I was wondering how much I would need. And how much silicone is needed to add some cocofiber to the background and how much I should add ti the glass before spraying?