New viv. set up help.

[snakekid6996]

I'm hoping to set up a new naturl viv. for my corn snake. I want it to be all live plants. Does anyone have any ideas what I could put in there?? What type of substrate should I use, what size enclosure, and what are some good kinds of moss I can buy that are easy to keep alive?? Also, i'm not very good at figuring out where to place plants and decoration to make it look good. If anyone has any information they can give me i'd greatly appriciate it. I'm open to any nd all ideas. Thanks :)

[lady_bug87]

I would use potted plants this way the snake will have a harder time killing them...

[jarich]

Hey kid,

How big is your enclosure?

Its fairly simple though, if you have the height in your enclosure (takes about 5 inches at least for substrate depth). Just get yourself some small gravel, some activated charcoal, some fibreglass screen, and some good organic soil. You start by placing about an inch of small gravel on the bottom of the tank, then put a layer (maybe 1/4 to 1/2 inch or so) of activated charcoal on top of this. Then cut a piece of your fibreglass screen (make sure it isnt metal screen as this will rust and leach bad stuff into your soil) to fully cover the bottom of the enclosure, and put that down over the charcoal. (The screen will keep your dirt from mixing down into the gravel and charcoal). Place a couple inches of soil over the screen. Take your plants out of their pots and loosen the outer roots a bit, getting the old soil out of them. Put them around the enclosure where you want them. After that you can add about 4 inches or more of dirt in and around the plants. Press the dirt down, not super hard, but firmly. Give the plants a nice bit of water after you are all packed down.

If you look in other threads in this section there are some pretty nice set ups to go by for placement and even what kind of plants. Pothos is probably the easiest to use in a tank as it grows like crazy in even the harshest of conditions. Here is a good one...

http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/natural-vivaria-plant-forum/94067-bioactive-vivariums.html

As far as your question about moss, Im not sure that you want to keep live moss in a tank with a corn snake. Moss requires a fair bit of moisture on the surface to grow. It might be problematic for your corn to be on constantly moist ground like that. Im not sure about that, as Ive never kept corns before, but I would look into it further before going that route. Dont want the little guy getting scale rot or something like that.

[snakekid6996]

Those are some beautiful enclosures! They seem like they could be difficult to clean though. Could I use 5" of eco earth, but then keep my plants in pots and burry them? Then, I could put a thin layer of dry peat moss on top and add rocks, wood, etc. Would that look as nice as a bioactive viv.?

[jarich]

I think it would still look pretty nice, yes. Although, one of the nice things about a bioactive substrate is that it is actually easier to keep clean, not harder. The bacteria, bugs etc actually help to break down the waste so you are left with less to worry about, not more. But the planting them in just the pots makes it much easier to control watering, so that might be a good way to start.

[snakekid6996]

What kind of lights would I need??

[snakekid6996]

Also what size tank would You recommend?? He's about 4-5th nd in a 55gal right now

[jarich]

The kind of lights will depend on where you put the tank and what plants you use. Potshots and some other easy plants will grow in low light, so if it's near a window, then no lights are required. However, if you are putting other plants in or it's in a basement then it's good to add a grow light. A 55 gal is a decent sized tank for a corn. I always say go as big as you can (my ball python lives in a 90 gallon), but your 55 should be just fine.

[snakekid6996]

Yeah I was actually about to get him a 120 once but couldn't pull together the money before it was sold and thanks for all the help :)