# Bio Active Substrate Adventure



## Dazzo (Jan 19, 2008)

I've been reading alot about this topic lately and been wanting to give it a try. Going to use this thread as a diary so to speak.

Anyone had success using this for snakes?

Firstly I'm going to try it in an old glass tank to see how it goes and then try it on a larger scale at a later date.

At my disposal so far I have:

1 Glass Tank
1 Heat Mat
2 Bricks Eco Earth
1 Bag of Gravel
1 Garden
1 Local Woods 

My plan is to get success with this enclosure using added 'waste' from other vivs and then tryin it in a larger wooden Viv. With the wooden viv I'm thinking of lining the part where the substrate will be with Pond lining to protect the wood.

Thoughts?


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## mooshu (Mar 24, 2010)

Will definitely be keeping an eye on this Im going to do the same for mine but not sure about the WC bugs and stuff I'v done it previously with CB tropical woodlice and tropical sprintails, It works well in my gecko viv and my cham viv, Im thinking about adding earthworms to help a little. Im doing my GTP viv soon and was to put a bio active substrate in that!
Good luck buddy


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## sambridge15 (Nov 22, 2009)

go into the woods and fill a bag with rotting leaf litter do not wash treat or clean this in anywayspot check for slug eggs or anything else you find undesirable:devil: this will be full of useful bugs like springtails woodlice and much much smaller bugs then dig up some worms add those in as well:2thumb:

a visit to dartfrog.co.uk is also a good call to grab some tropical woodlice and springtails these along with the many species found in the leaf litter should do brilliantly at breaking down any waste i find that spraying animal waste into the soil speeds up the process as this is where most of the bugs will be found allthough woodlice are far more adventurous 

leaves i find are key to bioactive substrate they provide food a culture medium and a mincrohabitat to all the custodian bugs

no idea if it will work with an animal as big as a snake but im lucky if i see any waste in my dartviv :no1:


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## Dazzo (Jan 19, 2008)

sambridge15 said:


> go into the woods and fill a bag with rotting leaf litter do not wash treat or clean this in anywayspot check for slug eggs or anything else you find undesirable:devil: this will be full of useful bugs like springtails woodlice and much much smaller bugs then dig up some worms add those in as well:2thumb:
> 
> a visit to dartfrog.co.uk is also a good call to grab some tropical woodlice and springtails these along with the many species found in the leaf litter should do brilliantly at breaking down any waste i find that spraying animal waste into the soil speeds up the process as this is where most of the bugs will be found allthough woodlice are far more adventurous
> 
> ...


Thanks for the help !

I'll probably scoop out most of the waste as it may be too much for it to cope with, especially in the early stages (2 months after set up).

Going to check dartfrog out now and carry on research tonight.


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## Dazzo (Jan 19, 2008)

Just had a thought. If a UTH is required to keep the usual tropical species added to the substrate (woodlice, springtails etc.) would you require one if you were only collecting and using local material?

Or is this mainly beneficial to the bacteria?

Say a 2ft³ wooden vivarium lined with pond lining to protect the wood, and a ceramic heater above?!


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

I use a dryish mix of orchid bark and 'live' leafmould with my corn snake; the woodlice and things mostly congregate in the damper areas, but do venture out to clean up; especially at night or after I've sprayed. I usually spot clean the bigger lumps of faeces, but they seem to take care of the rest quite efficiently. :2thumb:

EDIT: And to back up Sam, I also add dried leaves fairly regularly- they give the bugs hiding places and additional food, and broken down are incorporated into the substrate.


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## Dazzo (Jan 19, 2008)

Ron Magpie said:


> I use a dryish mix of orchid bark and 'live' leafmould with my corn snake; the woodlice and things mostly congregate in the damper areas, but do venture out to clean up; especially at night or after I've sprayed. I usually spot clean the bigger lumps of faeces, but they seem to take care of the rest quite efficiently. :2thumb:
> 
> EDIT: And to back up Sam, I also add dried leaves fairly regularly- they give the bugs hiding places and additional food, and broken down are incorporated into the substrate.


Thanks Ron, I will try it out then.

Thinking of this for sub;

Layers:
Gravel
Orchid Bark/Leaf Mould/Soil
Eco Earth/ Dry Leaf Mix

See how that goes and try a Plant in there adding faeces to see how well it is dealt with.

Watch this space! lol


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## mooshu (Mar 24, 2010)

in a planted viv you need a drainage layer, So a layer of hydrolecea an a membrane to keep the soil out of the drainage layer and then the soily stuff on top to stop the soil getting bogged! thisstops the plants getting root rot!


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## sambridge15 (Nov 22, 2009)

mooshu said:


> in a planted viv you need a drainage layer, So a layer of hydrolecea an a membrane to keep the soil out of the drainage layer and then the soily stuff on top to stop the soil getting bogged! thisstops the plants getting root rot!


i think thats what the gravel is for but indeed some sort of anti weed fabric to act as a membrain will also help


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## mooshu (Mar 24, 2010)

you can use the sacks that bulk livefood come in or a pillow case! good luck!


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## Dazzo (Jan 19, 2008)

Yeah that's the gravels purpose but I'll give the pillow case a try as a membrane! Spotted some good soil behind the shed before, lots of old leaves back there etc so will be out digging in the garden soon like a child again :2thumb:


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## Janine00 (Sep 20, 2008)

If you are using any form of wooden viv, you may be better giving thought to G4 pond sealant rather than liner, as try as you may, water or condensation will get underneath a pond liner, as will all sorts of other stuff!.... bit like beach sand... damned stuff gets everywhere... :gasp: 

Use bio active with a couple of my snakes and frog and is good... just remember to give it a stir once a week if you have no 'big critters' in there to mix it up a bit... I'm a wuss and don't have anything bigger than springtails in there as I don't like to mess around with plants with bigger critters in :blush:


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## Dazzo (Jan 19, 2008)

Janine00 said:


> If you are using any form of wooden viv, you may be better giving thought to G4 pond sealant rather than liner, as try as you may, water or condensation will get underneath a pond liner, as will all sorts of other stuff!.... bit like beach sand... damned stuff gets everywhere... :gasp:
> 
> Use bio active with a couple of my snakes and frog and is good... just remember to give it a stir once a week if you have no 'big critters' in there to mix it up a bit... I'm a wuss and don't have anything bigger than springtails in there as I don't like to mess around with plants with bigger critters in :blush:


So seal the viv and then seal the liner to the viv itself?

I don't mind waging war against the bigger critters if it comes to that but I'll get a plant or two in after I get all the material and see what else I can find!

Do you have pics of the one you use for your snakes?


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

Cheapo nylon net curtain makes a pretty good layer between the soil and drainage layer- I use that in my treefrog tank :2thumb: I don't have a drainage layer in my corn tank 'cos the soil is pretty shallow- one to two inches- the only plant I'm using at the moment is an ivy in a pot. There's a fairly crappy phone pic on my profile- the snake is called Blue.


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## Dazzo (Jan 19, 2008)

I've started gathering most of the stuff, just need to get an idea of plants now.

What would be the most robust climbing species? After this test it will be then going into the corn viv, and he's a mad man when the lights go out!

So far all I can think of is Pothos!


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## mooshu (Mar 24, 2010)

The best place I find for plants is dartfrog.co.uk or justairplants on here, You need something strong to go in with snakes. Let me know what you find!


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## Dazzo (Jan 19, 2008)

mooshu said:


> The best place I find for plants is dartfrog.co.uk or justairplants on here, You need something strong to go in with snakes. Let me know what you find!


All I can find that says it's strong is Pothos on dartfrog I'll check the other out later! I might try Ivy aswell?!


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## Spikebrit (Oct 23, 2006)

Pothos will work well i think. Just pop into focus, morrosions or B&Q as all three have loads in at the moment and very cheap about £2.50 for a large plant. 

jay


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## mooshu (Mar 24, 2010)

I have these in my viv. (Gecko and Cham vivs) and I think they would be ok in a snakes viv!? 
Cryptanthus 'novistar'
Silver Pothos/Vine Scindapsus
and a Croton Codiaeum species
Hope this helps


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## Becky Wheeler (Jun 15, 2006)

WOW!! I would love to see how this all works does anyone have any pics of there setups.


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## Dazzo (Jan 19, 2008)

Ok Update, I've sourced a viv to try this out on, picking it up on Sunday and starting with a 2ft³.

Just need to get all the stuff and I'll get started, cleaning the room out tomorrow and looking for most of it but may order the rest from Dartfrog as they seem to have everything I need.


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

Becky Wheeler said:


> WOW!! I would love to see how this all works does anyone have any pics of there setups.


 There's a couple on my profile. I started with a pothos, but it just didn't look right in a set-up for a temperate snake, so I changed to ivy. The ivy is tough and stands up to being flopped all over pretty well.


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## Dazzo (Jan 19, 2008)

Ron Magpie said:


> There's a couple on my profile. I started with a pothos, but it just didn't look right in a set-up for a temperate snake, so I changed to ivy. The ivy is tough and stands up to being flopped all over pretty well.


Yeah I saw you post that a couple replies back thanks, I'll have a look for it and try grow both in the viv, then remove the one that doesn't look as good! We'll see I could like both haha!


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## Spikebrit (Oct 23, 2006)

some pictures of my latest viv build are here

http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/foru...ropically-planted-community-viv-pictures.html


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## Dazzo (Jan 19, 2008)

New update!

Got everything ready and got started yesterday. I sealed the inside of the viv and left it for a good few hours then cut some squares of pondliner. I fixed one on and using a tyle and stanley knife trimmed it so it has a small lip on each side. Left that to dry over night and will check when I return home with the plan tonight is to cut all the pond liner so this can be put away and then stick the squares on all the sides and leave to stick over night and touch it up tomorrow.

Most of items, Sealant, stat, ceramic, leaves, eco earth and orchid bark.

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Viv, background and pond liner !

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And the aftermath 

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## Dazzo (Jan 19, 2008)

Latest work done, didn't get any good pics during all this. Basically I secured all the pondliner to the walls ceilling floor etc and then resealed again. Added all the coco fiber to the walls and left the bottom and top as they won't be very visable.

Back of the Tank i've put in a drainage pipe with tap attached, sealed and left to solidify over night. Going in toniht to install the ceramic and probably seal the inside drainage again to be on the safe side.

Then it's a case of adding gravel, weed membrane then bio active sub that i've got going!


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## Dazzo (Jan 19, 2008)

Got lots of work done on it and it's finished minus the plants being fully planted, could do with finding some ivy to use.

Gravel added:


Weed membrane + orchid bark layer:


Eco Earth + plant to see size:


Little bits added:


Bamboo added with leaf litter:


Let me know what you think....going to look for bugs


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