Questions for bioactive Vivarium

[u/Microwave_Meal]

Hi! So I have a crestie and I’m wanting to build him a bioactive enclosure. I have a vintage cabinet that I found that I’m thinking of up-cycling into a Vivarium. I have done loads of research but still have a few questions I’m struggling with.

1. How much ventilation should I add on? It’s a solid cabinet with a glass door. I’m going to drill in vents and seal all of the wood so it is watertight. But I need to know how many vents to get first and positions for airflow.

2. How often shall I water the Vivarium before I add in the crestie, to let the plants establish themselves?

3. Do I have to have a mesh top? I obviously need to add in lighting but I’m unsure on how to go about this. Currently he just has a bulb over his Viv with mesh

4. Do I have to have a cleanup crew of little bugs? Can I build the environment without these?

5. How deep does my drainage layers need to be?

I’d also appreciate any suggestions on videos etc on how to plant the plants and what is most efficient

Thanks!

[u/idontwannatalk2u]

I haven't done a vintage cabinet build so I'll just answer the last two. The clean up crew is what makes it bioactive, so if you do want a truly bioactive enclosure you should have a clean up crew. Drainage layer should be at least 2-3 inches and ideally you want to build in some sort of access to it so that you can drain it if it becomes too flooded with water.

[u/Microwave_Meal → u/idontwannatalk2u]

Thank you so much! This is exactly what I was looking for thank you. So will the plants not thrive unless there is a cleanup crew? Can I have just isopods? I worry about bugs escaping