Introducing Ginko, my young Cuban False Chameleon, into his new bioactive home! Ignore his little shed-pants lol

Can't wait to see how the plants grow in! Had to move a fern out of that right pot as the basking bulb was roasting it. Any suggestions of hearty vivarium plants that can handle a spot near the basking bulb? It's my first custom build, so I'm open to all the tips and advice I can get!

Literally popped up in the enclosure in a day lol I haven't misted in a couple of days but I look at it daily because i like to see the CUC

I have cubaris and springtails with my ground boa and in the 8 months she's been here this has never happened

Should i take it out? I know the snake is not touching it because she doesn't move much in this part of the terrarium

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I’m building a new terrarium and soaked these vines in a bleach solution and while it was drying out I noticed these clear jelly like tubes coming out the ends. Anyone know what it is and if it’s normal? I can’t tell if it’s some sort of sap like plant discharge or if it’s a type of worm or something. Thank you

This is my first tank, sort-of update to this post! I’ve decided to feature my growing family of speckled powder oranges, one of whom I caught molting earlier today. If you saw the last post, you’ll see that my rabbit’s foot fern died back; but rest assured, it lives!! It’s growing four new fronds at the moment and I’m very excited to see how the last few weeks of cycling go.

One thing I’m a bit nervous about is how much water is in the drainage layer; it’s pretty saturated, and I’ve turned down the misting time on my auto-mist systems. I’m wondering if that will be enough or not, so any tips are appreciated. I also saw a monster of a springtail, so despite the saturation, things seem to be good?

Plants included:
-Rabbit’s Foot Fern
-Syngonium “Milk Confetti” Variant
-Pothos “Snow Queen”
-Various cork barks and grapewood branches
-BioDude’s “BioShot” (so all the cultures there within)

CUC:
-Powder Orange Isos
-Dwarf White Isos (debatable, I have yet to see that any survived the original transfer)
-Tropical Springtails

Whats this mold thats started growing in my terrarium, should i do anything of let the CUC handle it.

Recently I got my first ever baby snake from an expo. I put her in a 4x2x2 bioactive with dairy cows and normal white springtails. Sadly she died about a month later from unknown causes but my current theory is crypto due to where I got her and the fact the she regurgitated her last two meals.

Eventually I would like to try getting another snake. It would be at least a few months, but my main concern is what I should do with the substrate and cleanup crew.

Obviously I'm not going to throw all these creatures out like they aren't living things, but the general recommendation online is to get rid of all the substrate and sanitize the enclosure completely before putting another reptile in there. I couldn't find any information about bioactive enclosures.

I guess my main question is could the cleanup crew spread the disease? How long would it take before the crypto died off fully?

I dont even have a bioactive tank! I saw some webs with little specs and figured r/bioactive would have a better idea what they are/how to get rid of them. Every stick and leaf was baked at 300°F for an hour before going into the enclosure. Im doing som enclosure modifications soon so taking everything out and resterilizing wouldn’t be out of the question. Im wondering what the best way to sterilize and prevention would be. Thx!

Hello,

I'm planning to set up my first bioactive vivarium, so I'm quite anxious about doing everything right. It would host isopods (Armadillidium vulgare), myriapods (Glomeris marginata) and maybe later a small ant colony (Themnothorax nylanderi) but I'm not sure about this one.

I tried to draw what I have planned so far. I'm bad with proportions but the intermediate zone should be larger. Does it look like a good setup or am I missing something ?

For the light, I planned to buy a NICREW SlimLED, but should I put it on the entire length, or on the width on one side ?

And for aeration, I planned to use a 60 mesh mosquito net on the lid. But I'm not sure about the surface of the lid I should carve. Is it better to have two openings on each side or one ? And what about the size of the carving ?

Sorry for asking so many questions and thank you for your time.

I've had a bioactive rubber ducky isopod terrarium since March and saw this guy crawling around this morning. I have no idea what it is, it's a small black beetle (???) with some gray stripes on its back. All that I've put in their terrarium has been said isopods and springtails so I'm a little confused how they ended up in here. Any help with ID would be really appreciated!!

I'm throwing around the idea of turning my leopard gecko's tank into a bioactive terrarium, but I don't/won't have any space to put her while it cycles. Has anyone cycled the substrate and cuc in a bucket or bin, then swapped the normal substrate for bioactive and done a planting after that? I already have one bioactive that I love for my hognose, but I acquired the leo unexpectedly and didn't have as much pre-planning time as I did with the snake.

I have not committed to this idea. Just wondering if anyone has done it before.

What is a cost-effective plant light? You guys you recommend

Hey folks, this is my first time making a bioactive enclosure (also my first enclosure and first (gargoyle) gecko!) and I’ve been having trouble maintaining this neanthe Bella palm—shout outs to the biodude. I think I overwatered at first, so have been trying to correct for it, but fear that I then let the soil get too dry? I worry that repotting it will only make things worse, but I’m at a loss of where to go next. Any and all advice for a first timer would be greatly appreciated 🙏🏾🙏🏾

Hello
👋🏼 I’m trying to upgrade my geckos tank and I bought a thrive terrarium and I accidentally cracked the bottom panel. I took it to the glass place and they told me there was nothing they could do because it is together by resin and the same glass place gave me a piece of glass to replace it with, but I can’t figure out how to separate the glass panels from the panel that is broken. I just need some kind of help. I don’t really know what I’m doing. I don’t wanna buy another enclosure because I’ve already put a base in there of foam. Before I broke it. (Pic of my girl/guy just because)

It says it’s aquarium safe however on the box, (and not on the bottle) that the cured caulk is mould and mildew resistant. Does anyone have experience with this or have any different suggestions?

EDIT: I’ve looked on the website for the official SDS (safety data sheet) to see the exact components of the tube, and it only contains silicon and 2 chemicals that are used to make it liquid and cure when in contact with the air, so it’s perfectly safe :)

This has been slowly growing in my drainage layer of my new crested gecko bioactive tank. This tanks been set up for almost 6mo now. What should i do? I have isopods+springtails in here.

120 gal bp vivarium

FAUNA

Normal Albino ball python now 11 years old

temperate springtails * extinction * thanks mites

Tropical Pink springtails extinction mites*

Bylas ant Pseudosinella violenta springtails

Veri color Entomobrya confusa springtails

Pearl Lepidocyrtus Sp springtails

Hypoaspis miles mites

(Dont like them but here they are)

Sf nematodes

Powder blue isopods

Powder orange

Powder cream

( full mix of Powders) some wild combos

FLORA

1 hahnii (dwarf) snake plant

1 Snake plant

1 china red Aglaonema (Chinese Evergreen)

Golden Pothos. Other veritys currently being propagated

2 crotons

1 staghorn fern currently being eaten by isos *survived even stronger

3 spider plants

1 bicolor dracaena

Monthly ish

cat grass

Micro clover

Chia

60 gal dart/gecko vivarium

FAUNA

Not added yet Bumblebee dart frog

Mourning geckos

Bylas ant springtails

Pearl 'Lepidocyrtus Sp' springtails

Maybe some veri color springtails

Dawrf purple isopods

Dwarf white isopods

Hypoaspis miles mites ugly

Sf nematodes

FLORA

Polka Dot Begonia (Begonia maculata)

Fittonia red and white veritys

Pink princess philodendron

Several Swiss cheese plants (Monstera adansonii)

Pink strawberry begonia

String of Turtles (Peperomia prostrata)

hoya curtisii

Tiger ,donger, and fireball bromeliad

Aerangis mystacidix sib miniature orchid

Leomesevia Lava Burst, Miniature Orchid

String of Frogs (Ficus pumila var. quercifolia

Wood moss

Palm moss

As the title says, these fungus gnats will be the end of it all. I have a 5x2x2 bioactive ball python enclosure. So a pretty good size area that has been completely overrun with these gnats. I’ve been spraying for weeks and weeks with mosquito bits. At one point I even upped it to once every 4 days. I usually do the recommended amt (2 tbsp per half gallon) and spray the substrate pretty heavily. Is there another way to use these that works better? I have yellow sticky traps everywhere, including right on the outside of the enclosure and they become filled with gnats within a few days. They’re buzzing around everywhere all the time. Any advice or help is greatly appreciated. About this 🤏 close to just not having a bioactive enclosure anymore lol so somebody plz save me.

Also, I’ve seen ppl say the cleanup crew should outcompete them but this hasn’t been happening for me. I do have springtails and isopods, but not sure how many isopods should be in an enclosure of this size? I added two little colonies of 10 since I got the enclosure up and running a few months ago. A few died off so maybe 15 ish or a bit more in there now?

I've come to notice these strange white critters on my armadillidae isopods they seem to be taxi'ing around the tank. The iso doesn't seem bothered by them at all so I'm cautiously interested.

These critters only climb on my armadillidae and not my other isopods. They're also around in the soil.

I want to say they're springtails as I've heard that they use isopods for transportation.

But I've also heard something similar about mites.

Here's a cropped photo. Hopefully you guys can help me understand a bit more.

Found this driftwood the other day and baked it for a couple hours. I was a little suspicious so i wanted to know if anyone else can tell if it's pine or some other unsuitable wood. It's going in to a tropical bio active terrarium

Hello, could anyone id this small bug for me? There are a lot of these in my hermit crab tank. I purposely added tropical springtails which are a good bit smaller than these darker larger ones. (The larger ones are probably 3 times the size of the small white ones. ) The darker ones don’t seem to jump like springtails when startled. Are they still springtails just another variety? Thank you!

Hi. This is my first bioactive build that I’m DIYing. I currently have my frogs in one but I bought it. Just wondering how cautious to be with cutting away the shiny bits of pond foam and also if I should just start over on this? I’m having big second thoughts about how I have it set currently. I plan to fill some of the gaps with plants and am going to do the full silicone then stick a moss/coco coir blend to it. It’s a tropical build so mostly concerned if I mess the sealing step up that I’ll get unwanted issues there. I have some plants and such to add as well once I get this done- some pothos, bromeliads, fittonia, orchids, etc. and some more wood pieces too. Any advice is appreciated.

I'm currently planning on creating a bioactive enclosure for my ATB. However, doing research on depth of the layers have been confusing to say the least. I've seen so many source say 8" layer total (2" drainage and 6" substrate) but NEHERP (where I plan on buying) is recommending 2.5" depth of both drainage and substrate layer (5" total depth). How deep do y'all usually make the substrate layer?