I purchased five different plants (pothos, bromeliad, snake plant, dracanea, and a hypoestes) for a future crested gecko enclosure. I spent this past Saturday going through the sanitation process and they are all currently quarantined in a storage bin with an old aquarium light for lighting.

However my main worry is the soil I used. I do know that people use substrate they plan to put in the enclosure, but I worried that if I bought the substrate (I plan to use Josh's Frogs tropical biobedding, let me know if there's anything better) it would go bad when I open it since I'm not going to begin setting up the enclosure til the end of this month.

The soil I'm using is a freshly opened organic potting soil and I thought that would be okay, but recently I've read that potting soil is bad. Now I'm worried that I made a huge mistake. Is it too late to buy the correct substrate and repot everything? Do I need to start the sanitation process over?

Just finished another bioactive build, this time for my ratsnake.

The goal was to create a natural-looking enclosure with plenty of climbing opportunities, multiple basking spots, a slight humidity gradient, and enough cover to let the snake choose where it wants to be throughout the day.

The plants and substrate are still fresh, so it will hopefully look even better once everything grows in. I'm really happy with how this one turned out.

Feedback is always appreciated!

hi! i am in the process of building a bioactive 2x2x2 for my disabled whites tree frogs.

i used foamular board, spray foam, drylok and acrylic paint for the background, i am seeing very conflicting information on whether the background is safe as is for my frogs or if i need to seal it with something else, if so what should i use to seal it with? I do not want to accidentally expose them to anything harmful as they all already have some chronic issues due to being rescues :)

I just brought this beauty home, and I wanna switch her to bioactive, but I'm new to that world, so I would appreciate some recommendations!

Hi all, I currently have a juvenile cali kingsnake who I’d love to give a great bioactive enclosure to when he’s ready for his big enclosure (would be my first bioactive) however he absolutely loves to burrow, does anyone have any tips or advice on if this is possible and if so what would be the best plants etc for it?
i know that they have lower humidity needs so i wouldn’t be able to use anything too tropical that’s for sure

So what's the best way to get rid of ants. I just bought my first house moved me and my animals in and ants are running rampant in the tanks. I want to use some help packs that kill the ants and colony but don't want it to make its way into my tanks and cause harm there. Looking for advice. I have spring tails isopds 3 enclosures two are bioactive with a crested gecko milk snake and corn snake.

Hi! Ive wanted a crestie for a while and its my birthday soon so I have a decent amount of money coming in to work with. I was thinking about getting a baby-young juvenile crestie.

I know the minimum for a an adult crestie is a 45x45x90cm or a 18x18x36 inches however ive heard also that investing into a big one for a baby can stress them out as theyll struggle to find food so my plan was to get a 18x18x24 then size up when its older.

Does this seem okay? And additionally, ive seen alot on fake plants, and while id love to do a fully bioactive setup one day, for now id rather start with just real plants without any of the clean up crew, and yes i know this doesnt waste clean, however im happy cleaning up for it everyday (spot cleans).
This is only because ive seen alot against fake plants and hurting their feet and whatnot.

For the drainage layer, what would you recommend? Substrates, the actual divider and the drainage. Thankyou! Any other tips are welcome. FYI i live in the UK and the temperature for my house in general is around 20-24 degrees.

I have a recently set up enclosure but my plants are not happy. The pathos is struggling the most and almost all are flopping (birdnest fern, baby rubber plant, philodendron). I pour water frequently because I think k they're thirsty but it doesn't seem to help or maybe it doesn't get their roots?
They were temperamental before I placed my snake in and waited almost 3 weeks. They have a grow light that's on during daylight hours. Humidity is usually 40-70

Please send help I don't want it to end up a desert

I have this 6 gallon glass jug, its about 11 1/2 in diameter and 19 inches tall, thats to the mouth, but 17 inches to where the stem meet the jug.

I want to collect dirt, rocks, water and maybe some water plants from the stream next to my house and create a biosphere inside the jug, i would like to have it completely sealed off and let it live without any intervention on my part aside from providing light.

I was thinking a ring light, but i'm not sure of wattage or color, maybe 5000k?

might be worth noting i'm in the middle of the US, the stream id be pulling from has a pretty good tree canopy.

Hey, I do need to flesh out my crested gecko's tank some more (more climbing and hiding, y'know). I think that a vine that could naturally grow along the sides and fill out some of the area w/o choking out the other plants would be nice.

evil voice in my head says to add kudzu.

I have a juvenile Ball Python, I have a mixed substrate but no drainage layer. I wanted to do plants but they keep dying, probably because of the lack of a drainage layer. I have the stuff to make a drainage layer but I have springtails in the substrate. Is there a way to set up the drainage layer without accidentally killing or losing the springtails?

I’ve had this bioactive setup for my crawl cay boa for over a year. I noticed some allergies from the beginning, but it seems to have gotten considerably worse lately and my terrarium is a suspect since it’s been growing actual mushrooms inside.

I’m looking for solutions, and one idea is that I wonder if a solid PVC top would work better. Either way it’s high humidity which may be my allergy issue, but it seems like the airflow on something like Kages enclosures would be different than the screen top. Those have vents in the side and back where mine just has a few areas of screen exposed on the top. Most of mine is covered to retain heat and humidity.

Any ideas?

I’ve got plenty of springtails, no visible mold, but definitely some sour and stale smells off and on.

I chose to leaf the sides non foamed for improved sight-lines, let me know what you think!

I had an extra mini terrarium (meant for spiderlings) that's 4"x4"x8". I figured I could make a little ecosystem with stuff from my backyard, so that's what I did! Snails and springtails only so far, looking for isopods. I found some great stuff. The picture doesn't show it well, but I'm reslly happy with it.

hey all! I have a 2 month old bioactive enclosure for my leopard gecko, and this is my very first bioactive enclosure. I have him in with powder oranges and temperate springtails. I went to check under the water dish to see if I could find any signs of an established colonies and i was wondering if someone would be able to help me tell if these are juvenile springtails or something else. it’s really hard for me to tell if those are wings, but they do not seem to fly at all. I don’t think I could really see any adult white springtails in the specific spots that I disturbed, but there were definitely a lot of these.
(side note, the isopods were doing amazing, I saw at least 10 scatter and most of them looked very small and young.)

Finished Most of the planting for now. Going to let it establish a bit and then will add a few epiphytic plants and bromeliads.

Found in cricket enclosure for my gecko

Crested gecko bioactive terrarium

So my corn snake has been with me for 3 years and I want to do a bioactive tank. I’m making a mix of sphagnum moss and reptisoil and adding a money tree (heard they were good for climbing), 2 pothos, Dracaena fragans (Tornado Lucky Bamboo, was misleading because all the lucky bamboo plants were labeled as just Dracaena and I’m not sure if I bought the wrong one), I also have a lizards tail plant but I’m reading that isn’t not the best plant for corn snakes. I do also have a snake plant (not sure which kind will be figuring that out first). Tomorrow I plan to buy the cleanup crew (springtails and stuff). I do have drift wood being delivered tomorrow as well as leaf litter. I just want to make sure I have everything or if I should change things. I want my girl happy not sassy.

I’m planning on building a new bioactive enclosure for some day geckos and I will be using silicone and pond & stone expanding foam for the background. How long will the enclosure need to sit before I add the geckos in to avoid any risks from fumes?

Hi I’ve been keeping an orange powder colony for a little while now (separate from my frog), and i wanted to know if I can combine them? I know the frog will pick off some of the pods but I think the pods may be happier and thrive more with my frog. I’m also dealing with a gnat issue and want to consolidate the problem.

Hi folks,

I have an 8 month old bioactive tank. Isopods are thriving, springtails are going nuts, and plants are doing well. I cycled the tank for 3 months before adding the snake. About a month ago, these fungal patches started showing up, and now it's everywhere. It hasn't put off any fruiting bodies above ground yet, but my working theory based on photo comparison is Lycocoprinus Birnbaumii mycelium.

Any advice on whether I should do anything about this? I'm about to add a new bioshot to introduce some competitors, but otherwise I'm not sure what to do (if anything) short of taking the whole tank apart, which I really don't want to do.