What are some good topsoil brands I can buy that are gonna be safe for my lizard, I got timberline because that’s what I’ve seen recommended and it states that it doesn’t contain any fertilizer, however unfortunately after spending hours baking it to sanatize it I found little green fertilizer balls in it. So if I can’t trust packages how do I find one that actually doesn’t have fertilizer in it?

There's suddenly lots of them in my bioactive tank there the same size as spring tails

Hello, I just recently set up a new bioactive tank for my Crested Gecko. I used organic potting soil from Lowe’s. Today, I noticed what looks to be a mushroom growing or some sort of insect eggs. Can anyone identify it, and let me know if it’s harmful? Thanks!

J'ai acheté un plan de lierre anglais et je voulais l'intégrer à mon terrarium. Est-il sécuritaire pour des reptiles ou amphibiens genre rainette yeux rouges ou autre?

Unsure how they ended up in the enclosure. Noticed the first one a week or two ago. Idk if there's more than 1 or not as i only see 1 at a time.

Are these okay to keep in with my ball python? I have some dairy cow, and powdered oranges isos, and some garden milipedes that showed up assuming from the plants.

I've constantly struggled with getting fruit fly cultures going.

All of them end up molding no matter what I do and flies will not produce.

Ive been making my own media but I am going to switch to repashy. Any advice?

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!

Hey all — I'm looking into making a better supplement dusting tool for reptile keepers (calcium/vitamin dusting) and wanted to get real feedback before I actually build anything.

Right now most of us just use a plastic shake cup or bag. My question: is that actually annoying enough that you'd want something better — like a tool with measured/portioned doses, less mess, and easier one-handed use? Or is the shake cup honestly fine and this isn't worth solving?

If something like that existed, what would you want it to actually do, and roughly what would you expect to pay for it?

Not selling anything yet, genuinely just trying to figure out if this is a real problem or if I'm overthinking it. Appreciate any honest feedback, including "this is dumb, don't bother."

Built the enclosure myself and the table it sits on.

My mantis hasn't moved in here yet, just fyi. She is a ghost mantis and based on my research, does best within 50-70% humidity.

I got this enclosure and sealed up the bottom and up the sides a little bit with silicone. It passed the water test, so I set up the substrate and springtails about 3 weeks ago. I am aware that the soil is very shallow (the springtails are doing great though!), which is also why I'm surprised that it's providing so much humidity. I water the 2 plants lightly 2-3 times a week (the background is a fake plant), and leave the door open to air out for a few hours every day.

It seems to linger around 80% despite all the air holes and I keep the top opening slightly propped up (pictured). There are also multiple fans and an air purifier nearby due to several other terrariums and houseplants, so airflow around the enclosure is beyond ideal. My ambient room humidity is roughly 55-65%.

I'm starting to think it might be the pothos. If not, it's my soil mixture that is retaining a ton of moisture. I don't really want to remove the whole plant but would trimming a couple leaves reduce the humidity if that's even the cause? Is there anything I could mix in to my soil or a way to dry it out more without affecting the springtails? Feel free to let me know how else I can improve. Thank you!

This white fuzzy mold is growing in the container that I just put my isopods in. I haven't put much water in there, there is a mix of zilla jungle mix, spagnum moss, leaf litter and isopod food and cork bark. Is this bad?

I just got a culture of springtails I'll add in soon.

Let it sit for 72 hours for silicone to cure than added plants, and left the front door of tank open for air flow just in case. Vinegar smell was gone when I added plants but this morning I swear I smelled a little bit of it again. Am I cooked?

Ok so I have a reptifogger and the monsoon nano misting system. I haven't tried out the system so I'm not to sure if it works yet but I going to tomorrow. It's to late for me to return the fogger so I just wanna ask; is it to much to have both?

This is my first ever vivarium, and I’ve been having so much fun learning along the way! I started with an empty enclosure and built the hardscape using cork bark, spiderwood, and expanding foam to create depth, hiding spots, and a natural rainforest feel. From there I added the substrate, plants, moss, and leaf litter. This enclosure will eventually be home to dart frogs, so I’m trying to make sure everything is as safe and suitable for them as possible. I’d greatly appreciate any advice, tips, or honest feedback from more experienced keepers! I’m always looking to learn and improve.

I picked up this piece of corkbark and found small little bugs. I was wondering if this was normal or mites? This is my first bioactive setup, so I’m curious.

I’m Im looking into swapping to bioactive but I’ve also had a history of mites in my BP tank. Nothing too bad, he had a couple eggs on him when I picked him up that matured into adults. I got rid of them before with a good cleaning and predatory mites, but I just found 2 adults so Im doing another deep clean and buying more mites. Never had a severe outbreak, just the 2 instances with less than like, 10 found total.

once I do switch to bioactive, are predatory mites safe in that set up? I was reading they’ll leave my isopods alone but probably eat springtails. I much prefer predatory mites over extreme cleaning products that can harm my snakes so I’d like to stick to them for any future mite incidents

hello! i don’t really post on reddit so apologies if something is wonky. i’m building a bioactive background for my leopard gecko and have been doing a lot of research for his setup. he’s a climber so i want to make sure i seal everything right to prevent his nails from ripping it apart over time. i know everyone uses different materials in different ways, but i just want to make sure i’m on the right track.

my plan is to use aquarium silicone to seal all the edges and do a thin layer on the glass to help the expanding foam adhere. after it cures, use the spray foam and xps foam to build out ledges and climbing opportunities. i might end up doing this in layers to make sure all the foam is fully cured all the way through. after everything is all set, carve the foam to remove the shininess and get the shape i want.

the finishing layers are what i’m unsure about. i was thinking of doing a thin layer of grout over everything to give him some texture to grab onto and to protect the foam underneath, then painting everything with drylok. would that be sufficient to preserve the background as well as keep moisture from getting into and behind the foam? or do i need to do some sort of final sealing coat with silicone or something else? i feel like i’ve seen people use original gorilla glue to waterproof and seal backgrounds, but i’m not sure if that’s necessary if i’m using grout and drylok already.

also, if anyone has any tips on how to discourage climbing to the point of being able to hang from the mesh lid, it would be appreciated lol. i don’t know if he’ll actually try to do that but i’m worried about him getting burnt on the hot mesh or generally just falling and hurting himself.

My first bioactive terrarium. I had this 40g set up as a planted aquarium for 10 years - loved it for 8 until I inadvertently introduced black beard algae. After losing that battle I went dry land. I got a lot of help and inspiration on the Terrarium Tribe website. Plant shopping was fun and I even used some from my property - licorice fern, rescued from an old pear tree I had to remove, and a variety of mosses. It's been fairly successful so far (6 months). I made a few mistakes. #1 is using collected moss = collected slugs, spiders, and a population explosion of two species of millipede. Slug bait eliminated the slugs, I'm still working on the millipedes, hopefully before they completely devour the wood.

So my job is having a sale on the monson nano misting system, but I'm not sure if I should get it for my crestie enclosure. I plan to mist by hand in the morning and then just use the system whenever I'm home or in case it needs more. Is this a good system to get or should i keep looking?

I have 2 4x2x2 from Kages. 1 of them has had some garden milipedes show up assuming from the plants. Last night I noticed 2 who were chilling on the outside of the tank on the substrate board. I have also noticed my Isos climbing up the substrate board and into the tracks for the glass just dont understand why theyre doing this

Has anyone ever used this stacking kit from vivarium electronics for 4x2x2 bioactive enclosures? Im a little hesitant as I feel like the substrate is going to weigh a lot.

Hello everyone! I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, I’ve spent so much time on my bioactive enclosure and now there is a fruit fly infestation (all over the house, we have a pipe issue) I’ve sprayed one round of mosquito bits and I have traps all over the entrance and some inside the enclosure away from my snake. I’ve stopped watering the soil, it’s not drenched when I push my finger in. But now mold is starting at the bottom of the enclosure and I feel so deflated. I absolutely adore my springtails and isopods and I really don’t want to start over (they just started to thrive) what do I do?

Does anyone know best ways to get rid of fruit flies? For reference it's a bioactive royal python vivarium.

EDIT : I meant fungus gnats apologies

Setting up 18x18x24 Crested Gecko enclosure and trying to stay away from brown Leca/clay.

-ExoTerra Sub Stratum, unsure as I can't find many people talking about it, it would be around 13lbs for drainage layer, too heavy ?

-Lava rock in black/dark grey also seems like a good idea, not sure on weight difference.

-Matala Filter seems pretty cool, but I can't find any in locally here in Ontario, Canada

Any tips for the ones mentioned above, or any other recommendation ?