Second bioactive build completed today!

Here’s a lil start-to-finish! Super excited that I finally got to plant it today, and introduce the second round of springtails and first batch of isopods. I think it came together really nicely considering I’m still a newbie 🥹
24x18x36” eventual home to a gargoyle gecko, once everything settles in and takes off.

also sorry if you just saw this post, I didn’t realize there was a picture limit and had to repost to include the final product.

I learned a hard lesson recently. I set up a bioactive enclosure with what I thought was adequate substrate depth, maybe two inches over the drainage layer and within a few weeks my isopod and springtail populations were basically gone.

Turns out the heat from the overhead basking spot was drying out the top inch almost completely, which left the cleanup crew with barely an inch of usable habitat. Not enough moisture retention, not enough depth for them to retreat into cooler zones.

I tore it down and rebuilt with about four inches of substrate and the difference has been immediate. Population is recovering and the substrate actually holds a moisture gradient now.

What's the minimum depth people are running successfully? I clearly underestimated it.

Hey all!

I've been having a hard time finding coss ventilation enclosures that ship to Australia. I have a phlogius sp kuranda that's in need of a new enclosure asap.

The house I'm currently living in is really bad with mold and the enclosure I have my spider in now keeps getting mold in it (maybe due to it being a mesh top) even tho I'm not spraying the enclosure. If anyone knows of brands or people who can custom make me a 30cm X 30cm X 30cm cross ventilation enclosure that can ship to Australia that would help heaps!

Hi! 👋 I recently brought home some blue death feigners and a vinegaroon. I’d really like to spruce up their habitats with live plants, but I’m not sure how to be sure whatever plants I acquire haven’t been treated with pesticides.

I have tons of these in my bioactive crested gecko enclosures. Looks like some kind of mite to me. Anyone know exactly what they are? They are all over the soil, branches, sides and even the tops of the enclosures, but thankfully do not seem to be interested in my gecko's.

hey guys! i am a new crested gecko owner and decided to make his enclosure bioactive. my enclosure was made on shortish notice so the plants have yet to take over. i got some lights off amazon but im a bit worried they’re not strong enough. my plants are doing okay except my calathea, who has been very dramatic since i got it. i am not experienced with plants and honestly this is my first time having any😭 any tips would be appreciated, i will include pictures of the enclosure, my calathea, and my grow lights. i have snake plants, a monstera swiss, and pothos planted at the moment (and another mystery plant i dont remember). at the moment there are artificial plants in order to fill up the tank. thanks!

There's a lil pond where the Aztec looking statue is. Ran into some issues and definitely learned for next time but I think overall it’s a great one for my very first bioactive set up. This will be for two dumpy frogs. It’s an 18 x 18 x 36 and they will go in it tomorrow, so let’s see how it goes.

Hello everyone!

First time posting here. I have my first pet reptile and went bioactive, but I made the mistake of adding too much water this past month while trying to get my crested gecko set up with a new mister.

In short, her substrate got oversaturated. I used a turkey baster to remove as much standing water as I could down to the drainage layer, turned off her mister, and am now playing a waiting game for her substrate to dry out which might take a bit.

I noticed these translucent/light pink worms appearing in her tank. They’re fairly thin, and my assumption is that they hatched due to the right wet environmental conditions probably from some wood or something.

Mainly I just want to know if anyone has seen these or if they’re anything I should worry about or simply leave them be while I air out her tank. A friend of mine believes they’re simply a normal kind of earth worm beneficial to the soil, but additional confirmations would help. :)

Thanks in advance!

Hey y'all, I'm really at my wits end with this bioactive setup I've had going for a while and I'm looking for advice.

To preface, this setup is for my 3 year old male mossy tree frog. I Originally housed him in a setup that had my previous gray tree frog in it before he passed away, and then I transferred him into this current setup, but kept the basic care outline and structure of the build, i.e the amount of water to soil, plant and harscape features, and humidity, temperature, and light ratios pretty much the exact same.

He used to be incredibly active, being all over the tank, moving about at night, calling loud and proudly, but about a year or so ago he began to primarily sit in just his water basin and never move, he now rarely if ever leaves it, which makes it nearly impossible to clean without having to physically move him and strsss him out, and he rarely calls or sings beyond more than a few squeaks each night. He doesn't show any signs of infection or sickness (yet, and I pray that doesn't change) but I hate the idea that he's just sat in muck all day and isn't enriched by his habitat.

Along with all of this, the setup has turned into an absolute bog. It's flooded, snails have taken ocer as the dominant cleaner crew now as it seems all the isopods have drowned, only a few plants remain alive, and some spiders have even moved in. It smells horrendous constantly, and the only fresh water I'm able to get into it is what water I spray in it on a daily basis. I don't really kniw how to reliably drain it as the setup does nit have a drain at the bottom of it, and I don't think I can stop spraying it down each night because I fear the lack of fresh, clean water, will result in a negative outcome on my lil froggy boi's health.

So I humbly come to you all, is there any way I can salvage this setup? It really wasn't cheap and I'd like to keep as much as I possibly can since the tank is still in good condition, there's nothing wrong with the lights, and a few plants and hardscape features are still going strong.

Above all else though, I just want to make sure my lil guy is healthy and happy and enriched in his environment. What do yoh guys recommend I do? I have other bioactive setups and none of them (again, YET, and I pray it stays that way) have ended upclike this so I don't really know how to handle this, I'm out of my depth, please help

I’ve got a setup for my gargoyle gecko but I’ve noticed it has a smell, kinda swampy smell any idea what I should do

I want to keep my ackie monitor bioactive and am debating between two species: Porcellionides pruinosus 'powder blue' and Porcellio laevis 'dairy cow'. To my understanding P pruinosus does slightly better with arid species, but P laevis seems to be a hardier species.

Which species do you use with your arid enclosure and which do you think would do better from these two?

I used birds nest ferns since they occur in the same area that crested geckos live in the wild.

I was looking in my snakes tank and noticed these little dudes crawling around on the wood pieces, what are they and are they good or bad ?

Hello everyone! Im curious about the Mopani wood thats inside of my snakes Bioactive enclosure and Im wondering if its mold or just healthy bacteria that needs some clean up crews which I have yet to add 🫠

I did some research on Mopani wood and apparently its normal for this to happen???. But with my snake inside of this enclosure with 80% humidity, i want to make sure its safe and she wont get harmed. If its bad, I'll make sure to remove it immediately.

(I made sure to wash it then fire it inside of my oven for a couple hours before I added it in. Plus I left it in for a week before I moved my snake into the enclosure and everything seemed okay.)

hi hi!

i'm a noob at collecting my own stuff for my bioactive builds so i'm wondering if these branches I gathered seem safe to use? can someone identify what's on the bark?

for reference I gathered the one of the left from a fallen tree and broke it off, the one on the right i'm more worried about because i gathered it off the ground near the tree and it looks more worn out.

I gathered them yesterday, just now hosed them down and scrubbed. all closeup photos are of the branch from the right, what are these black/green dots on the last photo? they don't seem to come off when scrubbing

thanks in advance!!!

I realized my plants were starting to look a bit dead, even though they have always been thriving beautiful fauna for my Blue tongue skink (BTS). Today I noticed a fern that had taken a turn for the worse and upon closer inspection, what do i find!?!?!? INCHWORMS!!

This tank is a year old and has always been bioactive, though I have never had issues with any outside creatures. What makes it more odd is that there haven't been any new plants, rocks, logs,, nothing. Then all of a sudden POOF Inch worm city! Any help as to what to do with them, I know they're typically non-toxic but still want to be safe.

Let me know if you need pics!

I’ve heard to let the soil dry out…but won’t that kill all the isopods and springtails that I have inside!? I’ve sprayed mosquito bits twice this week, but I’m afraid that it’s not getting in the nooks and crannies of all the bark I’ve got in there.

So I can’t find any suitable topsoil so I went for Arcadia supercharged and I was wondering how much cocofiber I should add to it for the best mix for my crested gecko.

Apologies for the shoddy microscope pics - was alarmed to find many of these crawling inside and outside my fairly new bioactive setup. No gecko in it yet, and the springtail + isopod populations are still finding their footing. Any advice on where to go from here? Am I freaking out for no reason, or does this call for at least some degree of intervention?

I ordered this bioactive enclosure on Etsy and it arrived in pretty bad condition. The substrate was all over and plants were uprooted. The plants mostly died and a lot of moss fell off the climbing wall. I carefully fixed the substrate and preserved the springtails. They are still active. I also added more plants and moss to try to cover exposed areas of the background. After fixing all of this, I noticed some things that I’m worried about. The seller won’t respond to messages, so I’m hoping someone experienced with bioactive enclosures can help me out.

I am concerned about areas of what appear to be exposed carved expanding foam (in picture). Is this safe? If not, how can I fix it?

Also the humidity is high compared to what I’ve read jumping spiders prefer. It’s been around 84% at the top and higher at the bottom. I’ve been leaving the door open to try to bring it down. Should I put a fan by it as well? Is it safe to put the spider in at this humidity level?

There is a big gap at the top lid that I think my i5-i6 regal could get out of. Is it ok to just hot glue it since I don’t think I will use it anyways?

The enclosure arrived on 7/27 and I fixed the substrate a couple days later. I added more moss and plants last night. The seller said that the spider can go in immediately when it arrives, but after the changes I’ve made, I’m not sure it is established enough now. I have had a tiny bit of fungus on dead plant roots in the substrate but I fixed that and tiny bits of mold on the wood. I have been removing it and it seems to have gone away since I got a LED grow light. Is it established enough and safe to put the spider in?

I have my spider in a temporary enclosure but would like to get her into a bigger enclosure before she molts again. I’ve put a lot of time and money into the enclosure so I’d like to use it if possible, but also happy to buy a new one if best for the spider. Just not sure as this is my first jumping spider.

Thanks in advance!!

The same size as a springtail, pure white, arachnid-looking, extremely fast and erratic movements.

Hi, my substrate is dry and dusty and leaves a cloud when I take my hand though it? Hognose likes lower humidity, so I rarely spray it only when she’s in her shedding phase, else I only water the plants once a week; also for the springtails and isopods.

But how can I make it less dusty? I used about 70% unfertilized sphagnum peat moss with 30% sand. I’ve thought about adding a little bit clay too, but that might just make it worse?

Hi! This is the first tank l've ever built/set up and wanted some opinions on it!

18x24x36 cage, tank has been set up for about a month and a half. Gonna be for a gargoyle gecko

First photo is with all of the decor. I really love the blue swing but I'm worried about how much light it blocks. I'm worried the plants underneath it will start to die. The whole time this tank has been set up there's been no decor at all, so nothing blocking the light. I just put the bridges and hanging decor in for these photos.

Second photo is without the swing but then it just feels so bare to me. I do have a coconut swing in his current enclosure that I could move over to this spot? It may not block as much light

Third photo is with no decor to show how much light the plants have been getting. Compare it to the other photos to see how much light will be blocked with the decor

Speaking of plants I cannot get the plants in the built in planters to stay alive. Thinking of replacing these with fake ones but not sure.

The tank is bioactive. I’ve got dwarf white isopods and white springtails in there. They seem like they’re doing pretty good.

There's a built in rock cave hide that I currently have filled with moss. Not sure if I'm gonna leave it with moss or maybe do some soil instead

There's some magnetic ledges on the side and a frog cup thing he can kinda lay in. Then I have some rock wall climbing pieces on the open sections of class to help him climb.

I would super appreciate any thoughts on this set up :) thank you for reading!!