These things took over both the inside and outside of my repurposed cabinet. It’s been pretty warm and dry in there lately. Any advice?

Little metallic green flies. Like really small. Bigger than gnats but smaller than your average fly. I really don't want another pest on my hands 😭

So this tank has been set up since June 28th. That’s the day I put in my substrate mix, plants, and my CUC.

I did not do anything to these plants. I just removed as much soil as I could and put them right in the tank. I did find a caterpillar and removed it lol, haven’t noticed anything else in there.

That being said I am wanted to get rid of one of the plants and replace it with a new one. Would like to add at least one more plant maybe.

Do I need to do anything special? If I need to quarantine how would I do so?

First post, and I'm extremely excited to learn. I dream of having a bioactive enclosure for my 3 year old California Kingsnake, and I'm slowly getting it together!

I have a few questions regarding backgrounds.

What do yall recommend to use? I've attempted Great Stuff, but it has shrunk too much to be considered useful at this point, which has disappointed me.

Does anyone have similar enclosures to share? I'd love to receive some inspiration!

Thank you in advance for the help!

I'm planning on setting up a bioactive enclosure for my bci and wanted to get your advice on the best substrate mix. I'm also curious if the type of isopods I use makes a difference. I've come across different opinions and information online about specific isopod species being better suited for my girls setups, and I'd love to get your take on whether it truly matters.

I recently bought this as second hand. Need help to improve it! I want it to be a paludarium with a watherfall. My inspiration is a rainforest style. Not against some animals inside maybe (Shrimp? Frog? Lezard? Nothing?), but not at first. The dimmension are 24*18*24 inch (Front, back, top).

Hi guys, this vivarium is only about 5 days old, but I was wondering if this mold was a concern? I’m assuming it’s not, but since this is my first Vivarium I’m a bit anxious.

I’ve been misting about once or twice a day and there are usually still water droplets on leaves between misting? I think I may have accidentally had the bottom vent closed, opening that may help, but should I also get a small fan for circulation? I plan on putting a gargoyle gecko in here eventually.

I haven’t really seen my springtails much? Is that normal when the viv is just starting and populations are growing?

I got my Kenyan Sand Boa (Peaches) about a month ago from a reptile expo she ended up developing a bump on her face which the vet believes to be a bacterial infection. Shes on antibiotics and in a quarantine set up for now. But I typically have her in a 40 gal bioactive set up. How do I need to go about cleaning the set up. Is there anyway I can do it without complete destroying the set up?

EDIT: The heating and lighting are not pictured because they were moved to the quarantine set up. So is the water dish. I have spring tails and isopods in this set up.

Was on a walk and saw this charming lump of wood, it had insect holes in it but could it be treated and put in a bioactive enclosure?

I’m sure the little holes the insects made would be nice habitat for springtails and other things right?

i recently started paying attention to keeping my soil moist for my CUC, i will hopefully be adding plants soon.

between the fungus gnats (main issue but i'm using mosquito bits it's just taking a few months but it did get better, but they're crawling on her) and soil mites (and who knows what else) there's so many bugs in my turtles enclosure. they crawl all over the food and i've seen a few on her.

i have isopods and just added some springtails, but it's a big enclosure so springtails will take a bit to establish.

am i doing something wrong or is this just how it is with a bioactive enclosure?

The 2.3 Elegans group will be moving in tomorrow morning! The tank is already home to a thriving springtail colony (I’ve been raising my own and the population has EXPLODED) and I’d love to add isopods as well but micro geckos will eat isopods extremely quickly 🥲 it has a super accessible design so that I can easily remove items and locate hidden eggs. The only thing siliconed in place is the spider wood- all the cork flats and cholla can be easily picked up and checked. I had to really resist making this tank too complicated 😅
Along with the leaning cork flats, I also added a nice platform rock behind the snake plant, along with various botanicals and small hollow chollas on top of a thick leaf litter layer.
Overall I’m excited for the Ashy Gecko group to move in, and I can’t wait to build better breeding tanks (similar to this one) for many of my other pairs.
I’ve learned that simple is the way to go with breeding tanks, especially for a genus that likes to hide their eggs.

I'm trying to find a CUC for my feeder Discoid roach colony. After getting some DOA isopods from online stores, I decided to just buy one of small batch cultures locally.

Unfortunately, I chose Dairy Cows and added them to the enclosure before learning that they eat other insects, and now I'm afraid of them eating the Discoid nymphs. But that's assuming they're still alive since I didn't let the population grow first.

\*If\* the Dairy Cows are dead, what isopod should I use for a Discoid roach colony? Or should I not use isopods at all?

All the videos im seeing are for setting up the enclosure, what about daily and weekly maintainance? Ive never kept isopods before so theyre mainly what im worried about. I dont want it to get too humid for my beardies and leopard gecko but I dont want to kill the isopods or springtails.

i wanted to make it more green and add creeping fig to the wall and have a bunch of moss on the ground. but my mom is worried about bug infestations and if that happens we'd have to give her away i wanted to plant grass in the enclosure but i heard it wasnt a good idea. i think moss is a safe option but shes worried about bugs getting in the plants and getting an infestation. im just not satisfied with it yet and i want to add more. what do i do? oh and she also think the isopods bother her and she thinks that she doesnt like me adding more stuff and that the snake might think its too cluttered but i tried to make it functional. i think its kind of empty though

Setting up a second bioactive enclosure. My first has been running for a year and a half, and 'm happy with how it's set up. But I kind of frankenstein-ed a bunch of products together to handle the lighting, heating, misting etc. Now that I'm setting up another one and I'm more experienced, i am wondering if there are any good products that would do what my current setup does, but cheaper or better. For reference, these are the products i use currently:

Hygrometer: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0892B3VWM/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A197YPAPAP8V04&psc=1

Thermostat for basking spot: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01HXM5UAC/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=A1RUFFFCQ74BCW&th=1

Thermostat for ambient temperature: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CQ88JMY7/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=A1RUFFFCQ74BCW&psc=1

Mister:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BXGYL8GW/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?smid=ALHMCZG7P2QCI&th=1

Timer plug to turn things off and on automatically:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B083JKSSR5/ref=ox_sc_act_title_5?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

this stuff altogether costs $205, and it lets me:

Program everything by phone

make the devices turn off and on with the sunrise/sunset

Monitor the tank parameters from my phone from anywhere

spray the tank remotely

Is there anything specifically for terrariums/vivariums that would do all this and not be vastly more expensive?

Individual flower petals (which are a pretty good size) fell off the tree and dried up. Wondering if I should add those in with the leaves, or avoid them for any reason?

Leopard gecko
36x18x18
Springtails
Will add isopods, no stores within 15+ miles had any stocked

Howdy y'all. I am researching how people actually decide what animal to get and where to buy it. Also, if others think it would be beneficial for help with where to start for builds, cost of materials, etc.

Not selling anything, I am trying to understand the process, especially for anyone who has had a bad experience with a seller or with bad care info.

If you have 10 minutes for a few questions (here in comments or DM, whichever you prefer) I would really appreciate it. Happy to share what I learn back with the sub.

I am setting up a bioactive 18x18x18 cube tank my for a juvenile crested gecko, I already have the background done and I am waiting for it to gas off.
I cut this egg crate drainage separator to fit in the tank perfectly, and it comes with 1 inch legs that raise it up. I also have hydroponic balls and charcoal, which is what I usually use for my drainage layers, but I want this one to be a little more aerated. Crested geckos need a humidity of around 80% with dry periods in between, so this will be a humid setup.

My issue is that the tanks substrate barrier is only about 4” tall and I need to have enough substrate for plants. How should I go about layering the materials I have?

Right now, I’m thinking of this: about an inch of hydro balls at the bottom, egg crate on top, charcoal layer, then mesh, and then the soil.

Is there any other way I should layer them that would be more effective at filtering water and draining the soil? I don’t know if I should layer the charcoal on top or beneath the egg crate.

My partner and I recently had our crawlspace flood. We got an ozone machine to try and treat the smell and whatever other issues may arise from it. My concern is: we have all of our pets in their own bedroom. It's not as simple as just removing them because we have; 9 tarantulas, 4 jumping spiders, 3 hermit crabs, a snake, and a gecko.

I know, obviously, that i wouldn't be able to use the ozone machine on their bedroom. Would there be any issue using it in the crawlspace, though? The area of the crawlspace i would be using it on is across the hall from them, not directly under their room, and is sort of like sectioned off. I can post pics if anyone is interested, but there is a bit of separation between their room and the area i would be using the machine on. Would it be safe to use without harming them? Does ozone rise? I kind of thought that if I sealed the vents in their room it would be ok but I love our little critter family with all my heart and if anything happened to them my partner and I would be devastated. Is there any way to safely use this machine or is it just a no go? Thank you for your time, everyone!

I just added springtails and isopods yesterday trying to make my tank more bioactive but noticed these little white egg looking things under my water bowl right now (they wernt there earlier). What are they and are they ok with my WTFs or do I need to clean out the tank and start over.

Hey folks,

I have a Florida Kingsnake that I am upgrading to a larger tank here shortly, and I don't have the clean up crew or leaf/ground litter established yet, but I do have a substrate of topsoil, play sand, and coco coir. I have three plants, all of which were good the first week, but now are all wilting and dying.

I'm fairly new to doing bioactive, and from what I've been reading, Florida Kings love it humid, and I've had one store (not a corporate chain) telling me that they usually don't recommend bioactive for Florida Kings due to the fact that the CUC needs it quite wet compared to what the snake itself actually needs and could lead to scale rot and respiratory issues.

The pothoa has since gone soft and droopy, the bushy grass is mostly dried, and the other plant has also wanted quite a bit.

Should I remove everything and add a drainage layer? Should I forgot plants and keep it as is with more rocks, litter, branches?

I'm at a loss.

Thanks!