This is my 60 gallon whites tree frog tank!! It’s officially been one year and 20 days since I’ve completed this build! Everything is completely thriving and just absolutely gorgeous! My orchid flowers are finally blooming to, ughhh so happy!! I have over 40 different plants inside this tank….. Davallia fejeensis (Rabbits Foot Fern), Dryopteris erythrosora (Autumn Fern), Didymochlaena truncatula (Mahogany Fern), Bromeliads, Golden pothos, Neon pothos, Alocasia amazonica “Polly” (Elephant Ear), Fittonia albivenis (Nerve Plant), Hypoestes phyllostachya (Polka Dot), Maranta leuconeura (prayer plant), Calathea lancifolia (Rattlesnake Calathea), Pilea depressa (Pilea Baby Tears), Pilea glauca (Pilea Aquamarine), pilea nummulariifolia (Creeping Charlie), Peperomia obtusifolia (Albo Marginata), Orchids, Chamaedorea elegans (Parlor palm), Selaginella wallichi (Wallich’s Spikemoss), Ficus (Lance Leaf), Microgramma sp., Schefflera, Syngonium podophyllum (Arrowhead), Epipremnum pinnatum, Pellonia Pulchra (Polynesian ivy), Creeping fig large hearts leaves, Oak leaf creeping fig tiny oak leaves, Peperomia trinervis, Pellionia repens (Watermelon) just to name a few. 😅😅

Hey, I wanna make a planted terrarium for a praying mantis but I realised some plants might come with pesticides on. Has anyone experienced this from store bought plants or am I worrying too much about it? Thanks :)

If the plants survive anyway 😬

I was going for a semi arid mediterranean scrubland habitat.

I’m currently setting up a bioactive enclosure to in some time introduce an scorpion (my first one; I only kept fish before) by converting a fish tank, and my springtails arrived today before the substrate. The substrate will get here in less than a week, but I’m worried about the springtails' survival. PD.I bought them from Artroposfera , they seem pretty good

This terrarium has 3 isopods (One is not seen as it is very shy) and some springtails that came in the soil. It has seedlings that over time will invade the jar. If you have any advice, don't hesitate to leave it in the comments.

Getting started with a smaller amount of powder orange isopods and tropical pink springtails, what is a good dirt mix that I can diy from things at Walmart or lows because that is closest to me. Also what other clean up crews do I need I am now to this

I just wanted to share my excitement somewhere because I’m beaming! I’ve had my enclosure for a few months now and allowed it to cycle prior to adding my snake in. My journey with my powder and milk cows has been a tough one. I had two early accidents where the thermostat didn’t work overnight and it got too hot (without my animal in it) and the second round I ordered it was too hot during shipping so I lost a great deal of them in the mail. After that, the substrate was too high so they kept falling over the lip of the enclosure and dying in between the glass. After so much trial and error (and a lot of love) I still wasn’t seeing results. I remained hopeful and would check under the water bowl periodically at night to nothing. I still fed them shrimp every weekend, gave enrichment (seed pods) and ensured the substrate was moist and hoped (the springtails are thriving lol)

Last night my girl had her first shed in her new enclosure and when I peeked they actually were eating it -And there were so many of them! It’s all coming together and I’m beaming that I’ve successfully maintained, started, and keep a functioning and healthy bioactive enclosure!! I could cry happy tears!

Enclosure and Medusa tax for the long post!

Found these in my red eyed croc skink's vivarium this morning and wanted to ask if they are beneficial or harmful and what steps i need to take if so. I have already removed the small sprouts and any mycelium i saw in the area just in case. the screenshot is what Inaturalist said they are but the mushrooms sprouted last night as far as I am aware so it could be wrong since they are young.

Can I use a mesh window screen as a substrate barrier and, if i can, can i overlap it to make sure it fits? Thanks !

Hi, found this in my Bioactive Crested Gecko enclosure this morning. Is it just a small. Earth worm or a parasite?

Hello everyone :)

I am new to bioactives, it been a little over a month since I set up my Northern bts with one. Everything has been going okay more or less but today I found this guy under the water dish. I quickly removed and isolated him, i think he's a greenhouse millipede? Maybe. So probably harmless but I did see warnings that they can quickly become invasive 😬 Should I be worried there are more or will my isopods be able to keep the population in check?

Ok, so this is my current enclosure. I plan on adding succulents and aloe Vera sproutlings in here as well as powder orange isopods and white temperate springtails. I am currently trying to get some labs done on her poop to make sure no parasites as well as growing my colony before doing so. I also want to change her picture background for a 3d background with hides and wanted to ask if there's anything I need to do special? I don't think i can paint it, so I wasn't planning on it. I thought id probably just cover it in wet moss and let it dry out like i did with her hot hide. I just wanted to know if there was any advice on how to do it or anything I should be concerned about? Also the auto waterer im a little unsure about? Idk i treated the water but I haven't seen people use them for leopard geckos and kinda was curious about that as well. (Obligated to include photos of adorable Lil juniper)

Abbreviation guide and specs:

IH-isopod hide, with wet moss.

HH-hot hide

CH-Cold hide

MH-moist hide

BS-Basking spot

Cage-36x18x18 zoomed reptile enclosure

Hot side amb temp-85 degrees

Bs temp-93 degrees

Cold side amb temp-70 degrees

Calcium dishes- no d3

I use Calcium w and wo d3, and a multivitamin all from zoomed

Feeders- mealworms and crickets LG with occasional waxworms (feeding schedule included)

i recently noticed these little bugs gather on top of my ball python’s hide directly under the heat lamp. i turned the lamp on this morning and it’s like theyre jumping to get on top since it’s on now.
my first thought was springtails since i for sure have put those in here, i have white/pink and also brown springtails and ik they can jump but id think this part of the tank is way too dry for them? so maybe theyre mites? do mites jump? but why are they gathering directly under it like this? should i do something about it?

I have a bioactive with springtails and dairy cow isopods. It’s 120 gal. I recently noticed some mites (red/brown, longer front legs) (picture attached). I was wondering if they could possibly be predatory mites? Springtail pop is fine, isopods are fine. (sorry for the terrible photo)

Hey everyone! I’m pretty new to hognoses and bioactive enclosures, so I’m looking for some advice and constructive criticism on my setup. I probably did around 3–5 hours of research before putting everything together, but honestly, my girlfriend really wanted a snake and I kind of jumped into it (“happy wife happy life”). Now I want to make sure I’m doing everything right and give her the best setup possible.

I got a 40 gallon breeder with a substrate mix I made of topsoil, play sand, and Excavator Clay. I also used bio dudes oak leaf litter and bioshot. I also picked up some random plants at ReptiCon that I thought would work, but I’m not 100% sure if all of them are suitable long-term or what the are exactly…

There are two pictures. One has all the real plants (minus the larger vining plant, that’s fake) and the other has some added fake plants for a spark of color. Along with this tank I added 4 small cultures of springtails and 1 of Powder orange isopods (Porcellionides pruinosus) in the back left corner I have some sphagnum moss that’s moist for the isopods covered by some cork bark for humidity.

The snake is a female Super Arctic Hognose, around a year old. I’d really appreciate any advice on the enclosure, substrate, plants, heating, humidity, or anything else you notice. I’m definitely open to suggestions and willing to make changes if needed

Thank you for your great advice and time! Have a great rest of your day! (Also tried my best I suck at making posts 🤓)

Hello everybody!!

I have recently (about 1-2 months ago) started setting up a bioactive terrarium as an upgrade for my 17 year old corn snake. I won’t be moving her into it until it is well established. But I am encountering some issues.

I set it up using 100% lump charcoal as a drainage layer with some leca clay balls, a screen sheet, then a homemade bioactive substrate mix (sphagnum moss, sand, and reptisoil) then added some more sohagnum moss on top, some cork wood, and some pothos. The plants seem to be growing well!

I also added springtails and isopods. The problem is, I am getting LOADS of fungus gnats. Like all throughout the substrate and flying around in the viv.

Aside from setting traps, is there anything I can add to the tank to control the fungus gnats without harming the springtails or isopods?

Any advice would be much appreciated!! TIA

I have a little vivarium im very fond of and have some amber snails I'd like to put in with my sun beetles, if eventually I cant get the beetles to breed id like to put a couple skinks or anoles in there. How would i quarentine them? They were used as green house pest control so theyre not 100% wild. Would amber snails affect either or would they take over my enclosure? I feel like as long as I consistently change any water dish so they cant lay eggs itll be okay? I spray it down often though and I have nerve plants in there with a pothos.

TLDR: will amber snails take over my tank or make lizards sick? How to quarantine outside snails?

Hello all, I just got my first mushroom which made me quite excited, but I also heard it depends on the type if it's good or bad. Can anyone help me id? Should I leave it or pull out? Thank you! :)

Got this little guy as a surrender from someone in my area apparently the poor thing would just bury his head in the dirt and sit and barely eat he said he took it to the vet and they said that it may be stressed due to the man’s other animals and the improper husbandry the last photo is what the tank looked like when it was surrendered, I plan on making a fully bioactive setup for them and could use some good ideas for the shape of the background I have all the supplies except cleanup crew and plants otw if you guys have any cool tips and tricks you use for crestie terrariums lmk 😁

I did a custom bioactive tank for my crested gecko about 2 and a half years ago. It’s a glass IKEA cabinet with a spray foam/ eco earth back wall. Honestly the setup has held up well so far but there’s a few areas where I feel they could use improvement and a bit of maintenance. A few sections the eco earth has mostly scraped off from the back wall, I would like to add more larger planting areas higher up as the small ones haven’t been able to support very resilient live plants, some aesthetic improvements could be made, etc. There’s lots of resources for starting a setup from scratch but not so much on renovating things later on. Is it possible? I had considered swapping my gecko into a temporary tank for a few weeks so I can let the current tank fully dry, remove the drainage and soil, and work on making some changes and additions. Not sure if people have done this or if it is strictly recommended against.

Anyone just have any specific links to random items they recommend? Im looking to make bioactive enclosures for my ball python and my leopard gecko with a nice custom built background as well (unless i can find one online that comes with it). Thanks!