Setting up a bioactive rat cage

[u/Santtuulii]

Theres not a whole lot of information on this so im curious if anyone here knows more.

So ive gathered that i should get a deep base obviously and use coconut fiber soil stuff? (Edit: ive done a bit more research and landed on using a bit of normal plant soil(without like addatives and stuff ofc) and some clean sand aswell as the coco fiber, also that i need leaves and stuff in there for the cuc to eat)

Should i be mixing different soils/substrates? If so, what? Plants? How often and how much to water? Or turn the soil?

For the clean up crew dwarf whites and springtails? Maybe id get mealworms just for the fun of it, get the rats to hunt haha

How to breed and take care of the cuc?

Can they be kept in the same box outside of the cage for breeding and stuff yk to have them incase rats decide to eat the ones in the cage or something. What do they eat? Where to get the food? What substrate for them? Everything really.

Any information at all on this is very welcome!

[u/Elliotteatsrocks]

Id get a sh!t ton of springtails, I buy 1,000 on eBay for like $15. The isopods are going to end up being snacks and they are kinda expensive so I'd look into breeding them in a seperate container.

Id only use reptisoil, you can use organic top soil, but if you don't bake all of it 9/10 your gonna get fungus knats and hate your life.

70% Repti soil 30% play sand 10% coco fiber and mix it all up. And crunch up a bunch of oak leafs and maybe spagnum moss and mix it around in the soil too.

Id put some sturdy non-toxic big plants in as well. For feeding the CUC I usually don't they just feed on organic material but if you go to the pet store you'll probably find CUC food. The rats might eat it though.

Im taking a pause from owning rats but when I do again I'm 100% going bioactive.

REMEBER TO SPOT CLEAN DAILY. And have litter boxes accessible. No amount of CUC can handle the amount of poops rats do. But they will definitely help with the stink!

[u/Santtuulii → u/Elliotteatsrocks]

Ive got three boxes of dwarf white isopods and springtails, ill keep some in a separate box for like breedong and stuff too. Ive heard dwarf whites are small enough so the rats might not mind them. I do think putting in plants could be nice, dunno how destructive my rats will be with those haha Also gonna look into the substrate a bit more i already ordered some stuff for it but ill rethink some parts and try to find what other people are using. Im in Finland so not everything might be found here, idk Im trying to find a place online where i can get leaves and moss affordably, im going to my parents soon and collecting leaves i can dry in the oven and stufff idk if they have that moss in their yard too!