CRB Bioactive enclosure

formica · 10-11-13, 04:18 AM

Finally finished my build, planted up and cycling nicely so i've moved Ximena into her new home (you might just make her out, my camera lens needs a clean, just right of center)

next year she'll be going into a bigger version of this

Lots of tropical springtails, woodlice and earthworms doing their thing, mosses and ferns helping to boost the humidity and absorb nutriants/waste

got 6K daylight and Red nightlight lighting built in

only missing the door handle at the moment, hence the red tape tempory handle lol

Mikoh4792 · 10-11-13, 04:25 AM

That looks amazing.

How do you know how much of springtails,woodlice...etc to put in in order to make a bioactive substrate?

With a bio active substrate do you ever need to spot clean? Or does it get eaten away by the critters inside?

Terranaut · 10-11-13, 04:25 AM

Looks fantastic.

formica · 10-11-13, 04:55 AM

Thanks guys

re springtails etc, you really dont need many to get it started, they breed like crazy if they have food available, and when you have plants (dead leaves) and wood (mold) + a snake (poop and urates), there is always food. I have a tank which i breed them in (they will eat anything and everything!), and its crawling top to bottom lol so I just scoop up an egg cup full of substrate infested with springtails, and put it into which ever enclosure needs them, 4-6 weeks later and they will be everywhere.

I added about 20-30 woodlice to the enclosure, they breed allot slower, but once their numbers are up, then I shouldnt have to spot clean at all - my rule of thumb, is remove any larger pieces of waste that havent been eaten after 48hrs, i dont expect to have to do this after another 6-8weeks, I only had to spot clean her previous enclosure once in 3 months, and that had only springtails, no lice

smy_749 · 10-11-13, 04:58 AM

Mikoh, you can just throw in a whole bunch. Not like they will feed on your animals or anything. The colony will stablize on its own I believe. You have to spot clean what isn't digested by the snake and not eaten by the rest. For me this was just the occasional mouse fur, and stuff stuck higher up in the branches that looked unpleasant lol

Mikoh4792 · 10-11-13, 07:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by formica

I added about 20-30 woodlice to the enclosure, they breed allot slower, but once their numbers are up, then I shouldnt have to spot clean at all - my rule of thumb, is remove any larger pieces of waste that havent been eaten after 48hrs, i dont expect to have to do this after another 6-8weeks, I only had to spot clean her previous enclosure once in 3 months, and that had only springtails, no lice

wow sounds like it takes a lot of work off your shoulders. I may just start using bio active substrate

Do you guys find that the springtails,woodlice...etc make their way out of the enclosure?

formica · 10-11-13, 07:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mikoh4792

wow sounds like it takes a lot of work off your shoulders. I may just start using bio active substrate

Do you guys find that the springtails,woodlice...etc make their way out of the enclosure?

its worth the initial effort for sure! and if you can add blue-white lighting and a few low-light plants, the results are even better, aswell as improving humidity and air quality

both springtails and woodlice need very high humidity to survive, the levels found within moist substrate, under rocks and branches etc, so although they can leave the enclosure, they cannot survive without the substrate, i've never found them outside the enclosure personally

smy_749 · 10-11-13, 07:56 AM

Just the smell when you open an enclosure with bioactive substrate alone is worth the initial effort lol

LadyWraith · 10-11-13, 09:32 AM

That looks amazing! Got a question... those of you that have done bio active substrate, how do you go about researching it? I really want to try this but only people on this forum seem to be cool enough to do it and info has been difficult to come by otherwise. This post has given me more insight on the topic so thanks

sharthun · 10-11-13, 10:24 AM

Amazing and beautiful work!

Snakesitter · 10-11-13, 01:43 PM

Wow, amazing job!!!

LarryS · 10-11-13, 02:04 PM

Looks fantastic formica!

formica · 10-11-13, 03:13 PM

thanks guys

pleased with how its come out, Ximena seems happy with extra space and exploration opportunities too

Quote:

Originally Posted by LadyWraith

That looks amazing! Got a question... those of you that have done bio active substrate, how do you go about researching it? I really want to try this but only people on this forum seem to be cool enough to do it and info has been difficult to come by otherwise. This post has given me more insight on the topic so thanks

thanks! I'll post up a quick run down of the major parts and things to look out for when doing it, its not as difficult as you might imagine, will post it up tomorrow, off to bed now! In the mean time, dart frog forums are a good place to read up on the concepts