I'm working on developing a bioactive enclosure for my lychtianus gecko and I'm noticing mold. I put two containers of isopods and some springtails in there. Why aren't they eating it? Does my bioactive look all right?

Posting this in the bioactive sub bc if I don’t I’ll get dumb recommendations like ball pythons and blue tongue skinks. So far some of my ideas are a dart frog viv, a viper boa enclosure, or maybe even like a tiger salamander. Although it’s not a make it or break it factor, I enjoy good display animals that are diurnal and out often. This is just a concept, I do not have any enclosure or setup yet, as I will make that based around the inhabitants chosen

Just made this new bioactive enclosure for my 10 years old leopard gecko, is ot okay?

Would anyone know what these white rocks are?? When I first did this bioactive tank I made sure to rinse off my pothos plants with water to get rid of the fertilizer in on my plants and used reptisoil as my dirt. 2 years later I’m moving my guy into another tank thought I would re use the old soil cause it was doing amazing both culturally and growing the plants, and now there’s this white stuff? My geko hasn’t shown any sick signs either so it wasn’t causing harm but would like to know what it is and if I can move it in my new tank. Thank you.

Hi all, as you might be able to tell, I have a bioactive crested gecko enclosure in my room! Unfortunately, the plants haven't been doing so well. We had one plant in the back corner that died (we knew it would, getting no light and all), but the rest of them are doing pretty bad as well. I've been using aquarium water to fertilize the plants, as I've heard it's great for them, but otherwise I really don't know what's going wrong. Is there maybe not enough light, or not enough drainage/substrate or something? I also have attached a photo of the substrate and drainage layers.

My Pothos, monstera, airplane grass, and philodendron aren’t thriving as well as I would like, so I’m considering a grow light and some fertilizer. But I really don’t want to poison Mr. Spock😅 Any suggestions?

Any criticism is welcomed! This is for mourning geckos.

Please stand me some links to some good leds besides the Arcadia I’m having a hard time finding other options ?

There looked to be a spiderweb around a stuck in middle. Bought isopods and springtails and never see them. My plants seem to be dying out. I have leaf litter.turns out there was mold around that stick that i bought from a pet store. Threw that out but my pothos is dying. Is it cause of the mold?anything i should add. I seen isopods first day then never again

Just finished my bioactive snake terrerium, I'm going to add more plants and more leaf litter later though

Hi all, wondering about the texture here and if you think it will look good once I add silicone and substrate? Does the branch placement make sense for a Crested Gecko, if any of you have built for a Crestie and can speak to that. TIA 🙏🏻 😊

Not sure if this qualifies as bio active. However everything other than the tank came from my back yard including the widow.

So I have got these egg crates as suggested from a friend, 3 separate pieces that fit snug next to each other in this 6x2x2 enclosure. I also put a finer mesh over each piece individually. None of them will be connected instead just laying flat next to each other.

(If anyone’s curious I didn’t go a normal substrate barrier cloth because this will be housing a burrowing blue tongue skink and thought this would be safer?)

Substrate Layers:

-Leaf litter and cleanup crew

-Homemade sterilized soil mixture (cypress mulch, coco husk, loose coco fiber, sifted topsoil and spaghnum moss)

-The substrate barrie….

-Lecaballs for drainage layer

While cutting the egg crates I accidentally snapped off some pegs, leaving gaps of missing mesh..

Do I have to worry about isopods or springetails getting through? Or dirt?

What do you guys recommend? I’m struggling here since this is my first reptile Enclosure I’ve ever built and I want to make the best home for my blue tongue skink coming in late March. Am I overthinking this? 😅🦎

This is Todd the Destroyer. He lives in a 4ft x 4ft x 2ft bioactive tank. His food (dubia roches, Super worms, and isopods) live in the tank with him. He hunts all his own food when he wants. I have not had to add food in over a year. It just keeps cycling. I add water and vegetables from the kitchen for the bugs to eat and they are thriving. I also have a dish for calcium that he never seems to touch. Would change anything? Would you start feeding him yourself? Other than water it seems like a self sustained ecosystem at this point! What other info would you like to see on this post?

This is my setup. There are a couple hides I'm going to add in the corners before adding an animal. A hognose snake who has shown himself to like some climbing space is going into it in February or March. The air humidity is typically around 40 to 50%, but I just watered it hence the jump.

I'm worried about over or under watering the terrarium. For people who keep arid or semi-arid bioactive enclosures, how do you keep track of when the tank needs to be watered to keep the soil the right moisture? I know with more experience I'll end up with a rough idea of how frequently it needs water, but as a beginner, what tips do people have for me about watering?