How to Setup a Bioactive Enclosure (Two Ways!) 

“And Ed insisted on using his Ed Roberts mug”,” line made my day.

Emily: Now we get to add LIFE to them! Plants: ....

Peat is an amazing thing! Peat at the bottom of the bog is, sometimes, anaerobic, meaning it contains no oxygen and therefore no bacteria.When digging for construction, workers in Britain and Scotland discovered the absolutely remarkably preserved remains of Iron Age Celts that had been sacrificed to the bog by ancient druids. This was my thesis in college. You could say peat moss...grew on me. (yeaaaaaaahhhhhh)

Half of us don't even have reptiles And here we are watching this

I'm not an expert by any means but I remember hearing in other bioactive tutorials that it's a good idea to let the tank sit by itself for around a month or so before introducing the reptile so that the bacteria and cleanup crew has time to establish itself. Otherwise the reptile may introduce more waste than the rest of the tank can keep up with. That's just something I've seen people say, at least. If you and Ed are also new to bioactive setups then this may be something to look into further.

Yay! Setting one up for a rescue rough green snake rn ❤

Me: Doesnt have pets and don't plan to have anytime soon... Also me: Watches video on setting up bioactive setups for pets...

FINALLY somebody explained the components of a bioactive environment!!! Thank you!!!

Have you considered looking into Serpadesigns or Ant Canada? They both do some amazing Bioactive works on their channels which could definitely give you some inspiration for your displays at the new building. Best of luck Emily, and have a great 2020! Edit: The Substrate mix that Sepra uses is 1 Part Coco Fiber, 1 Part Orchid Bark, 1 Part Charcoal, 2 Parts Sphagnum Moss and 0.5-1 part sand. This seems pretty similar to what you used, so I imagine you'll have good results.

I didn’t know Peat moss was bad for the environment! I will change to a different soil when I run out!! Edit: I meant Peat Moss harvesting is bad for the environment, not the Peat Moss itself

"Sorry for the focus problem. Ed was playing with the camera" God damnit, Ed! You had one job! XD

Hey Chad!! Is your false chameleon a girl or a boy!? CHAD we want to know! 😉

I'm honestly so happy to see how much more animated Ed gets overtime. I'm glad he feels more comfortable with his presence on the channel.

I’ve grown orchids, usually miniatures and want to build an orchidarium with some kind of small animal.

Emily setting up some cages: alright this is how you do this/that The people who disliked the video: cages are weird I don’t like this stick. DISLIKED!! Me: oooooooooooooohh I like that dirt it’s nice I want it.

I love how you care about your animals some people just neglect them keep up the great work

Using beneficial bacteria from aquarium filters is a great idea! When looking into ecosystems for fish tanks, someone found that the beneficial bacteria in aquariums live in soil as well! They don't need water to survive, so I'm sure that using the filter media helped with establishing the terrarium faster.

You're like the patron saint of snakes. My mom and I were discussing setting up a bioactive tank for Honey, and BOOM! you post a video on that very subject. You're the reason I got a snake and one of the reasons I'm able to take good care of her. Thank you so much for everything you do!

There are springtails in the soil naturally in my area, and there are Rollie pollies here too, so I usually just wake some dirt from behind my garage and use that in my enclosures Toads do sometimes eat the Rollie pollies though

Have you made an update video on this build? Would love to see the results :) Really enjoy all of your videos and always learn a lot from them!

Went to visit my friend and meet her new wife, luckily we both watch your videos so we were able to bond over our love of snakes and your videos 😀

Fantastic that this video came out the same day I decided to start remaking my corns habitat into a bioactive one! I'm happy you're shining a light on the peat-issue. Thank you so much!

Oh my gosh I’m so glad that you are talking about the problems with using pete moss

i'd love to see a bioactive enclosure specifically for ball pythons! also - any thoughts about bioactives without false bottoms? i've seen a few people make them so they can still use heat mats, but i'd love to hear yalls opinion on this!

I Swear im not stalking your channel its just luck! But that being said, Love your channel!! Edit: Also, the video so far is so useful, im looking to get a reptile sometime and these videos are a lifesaver!

I was just looking through and saw this pop up. I’ve never seen one of your videos so early!! They’re so interesting and also so educational and you always explain everything perfectly for me (sometimes I can find it hard to understand what people are trying to say and need it explained in a different way) so thank you for that ...I just LOVE your videos. xx

Thank you for the peat sensitivity!

Love this video! Quick question re the experiment: Will the different sizes of the chameleons (small vs big) possibly affect the results? Like, if the smaller chameleon produces less feces will the good bacteria have less to eat? Or if the larger produces too much, could the enclosure get dirtier?

my only questions are how often the enclosures actually need to be cleaned and if so what products would be recommended?

Thank you so much for consistently focusing on environmental impacts and trying to offer alternates. Such important information

I always make my own substrates for Bioactive Enclosures. This last time I used charcoal and gravel for the drainage layer, and then Coco coir, Organic Super Soil (Bat Guano), and Sphagnum Moss for the soil layer! I also mixed in some ReptiBark for soil aeration! I'm very excited to see how it all works! But so far, I'm very thrilled.

Really appreciate you describing the problems associated with peat moss, how to look for it in an ingredients list, and alternatives.

I finished setting up my second arid bioactive enclosure for my rescued Leo.. he’s doing really well (and before people come for me I watch the humidity and everything). I always love to mix my own substrate for both of my enclosures I used coco fiber, organic cacti potting soil, earthworm castings, a bit of sand for drainage and clay to compact it a bit. (I also have some moss on the humid side) Ps: my female is in a 50 gallon and my male (he’s a lot smaller) is in a 30 gallon so they gave a good range of heat and humidity

I keep dart frogs, and bioactive is basically the best way to keep them. One thing for people to be aware of setting up a bioactive tank is that you dont add unwanted pests. It's usually recommended that you rinse your plants, and boil or bake any sticks you bring in from outside to kill any hitch hikers. My first frog tank now has a bunch of unplanned millipedes. Yay.

This is absolutely beautiful I love the live plants. Bio active enclosers are kind of their own little worlds it's super cool. Thanks for the inspiration!

i don't have any reptiles or inverts yet, but ive had great success with lightly crushing the clay balls, to massively increase the surface area, this has worked amazingly for a hybrid hydroponic setup ive been running with sensitive veggies and herbs.

Can’t wait to see an update! It’s crazy how different they look just being male/female!

Could you do a video for setting up a bioactive vivarium for a woma? As I have built 2 vivs for my womas but I'm unsure what substrate and plants to use for them

Why do people even DISLIKE Emily's videos! Her every video is very educational and amazing!

Very informative video Emily! I really liked how you explained the reasoning behind each layer/component of the bio-active enclosure. I can't wait to see the progress video in a couple months.

I recently saw someone set up a bioactive tank and found it kinda soothing so i was excited to get the notification for this video!

Hi Emily! I just wanted to say that I really thoroughly enjoyed your video. Your habitat looks well built but in reality it's very simple. I enjoyed the way that you explain the information was simple for me to understand. I recently did a bioactive enclosure for my ball python. My substrate mix consisted of orchid bark, sphagnum Moss, Coco fiber and charcoal. like your mixture it was mostly I balled and not actually measured out but the consistency was somewhat similar to what you have. It's worked really well so far although it's only been 2 months. At the suggestion of some people on a bio-active Facebook group I added in organic topsoil because my plants were not doing very well and since then my plants have done much better. Another thing that I did was I have not added in my ball python yet in order to allow my plans to establish rootsbefore I have a somewhat heavy bodied snake slithering around them although that won't be a problem with your false chameleons. I baste my substrate a mix that circle design here on RU-vid as well as a video that Clint's reptiles posted on building bio-active. I like that your video was much more informational as to what the elements in the terrarium actually do. the majority of videos that I've seen have just been how to build it with little to no explanation of why to do things a certain way. Excellent video!!!

thank you for letting me know about the peat moss issue, i had no idea that it was so damaging to harvest. i will make sure in the future to never get peat moss or anythign with it as an ingredient.

Absolutely love your videos! I set up a bioactive just a few weeks ago after a ton of research online. I ended up doing my own mix for substrate, geared more towards a ball python since that’s what’s being housed in it currently. I went with reptibark, coir, topsoil, spagnum, and leaf litter. I even used water from my aquarium to hydrate the soil and in my drainage layer just on a whim for the same reasons you gave here. That beneficial bacteria can only help! You guys are always sooo motivating and I love watching all your stuff! Thank you for being so passionate and dedicated to both your animals, and the education you provide for all of us!

I been looking on a video like this for ever, love your vids snake discovery.

Awesome video! The false chameleons look so cute and beautiful. Love how you explain everything and mention where people can buy the supplies you mention. I'm wondering if you're gonna make a video about the springtails/baby snails and the isopods. Because I'm curious about when you started with them, how you keep them and how you take care of them.

I am Doing a bioactive set up in a week and this video gave a good idea of what I'm doing this for my anole that I'm getting soon. Thank you so much, Emily and Ed. This Bioactive set up was awsome.

This is by far the best and most informative video on bio active enclosure setup. Great job!

They're so adorable 😍😍

Emily: now we get to add life now!! Me: ummm. If it’s bioactive isn’t *everything* alive?

Cant wait to see them in a few months. I like learning about bio-active set ups. Really interesting learning the difference between bio active and other set ups. Thanks for the info!! Also I think this is the most Ed sightings I've ever seen!

Such a timely video! I'm planning to convert a 20g fish aquarium to a planted, bioactive terrarium this week. I'm planning a DIY substrate mix, and this video is so helpful!

1:25 oh my god she’s so smol I want to very gently pat her

Emily: *puts in a bunch of fancy layers* Me: *puts in paper towels and bedding for my gecko* Also me: *cries*

I made my own substrate mix for my crested gecko enclosure. I used coconut fiber, jungle mix, reptile bark, charcoal, sand, sphagnum moss and crumbled leaf litter. I covered the whole thing with a layer of live carpet moss. It seems to be holding moisture well and my gecko loves it.

Such a great informational video Emily. I have no idea how your remember all of that information. Hopefully they both work out great for you. And the baby is so cute.

I want another video with just ed again! I love him so much!!

Emily have you ever thought about keeping land hermit crabs? They are very reptile-like in their care, but it is like a mix between caring for a reptile and caring for an isopod. They are a ton of fun and it would be great if a large youtube channel made educational videos about them. I rescue and rehome them and they are so interesting!!

I have been wanting to redo both of my snake's terrariums for a long time (they were my sons babies who passed away). I watched this video and fell in love with it and have just ordered all the items from Josh's Frog to set up the 36x18x18 first. Wish me luck since this is my first time doing a bio terrarium but I can't wait to get started. Thank you for doing this video and believe me I am following this channel and will watch more to help my snakes live the best life they can.

I made a bio enclosure for my two garter snakes based off this video! However, to the substrate I added coco blocks and cypress mulch so it wasn’t overly humid for them. I’ll see how this setup goes! Thanks so much for the video 😊

This is great, I'm in the process of making a bigger terrarium for our cornsnakes and it's a big help to see how bioactive enclosures work. I do wonder where I can find the bugs...

Hi Emily, I was wondering if you could reply to me when your business is done because I would love to come when your there! I really want to meet you! I recently got a crested gecko and will soon get a snake, this is all because of you! You got me to love reptiles and now my mom is getting into reptiles too (still working on snakes though)

I'm looking forward to setting up a bioactive enclosure for my Timor monitor, and this video gave me some great ideas.

I've had my critters in bioactive setups for several years now and they have done beautifully in them! It is much lower mantinence than the more classic setups I had them in before and I am no longer having the same shedding/appetite problems that I was having before switching. My leopard gecko will now sometimes give herself a soak in her water dish instead of me needing to give her a bath which would have never happened before. I wasn't expecting the change of enclosure to change her behavior all that much but it certainly has! Love the channel, curious to see how they do as I have always made my own mix of soil.

Concerning compost, if you can't find any, I suggest making your own ^^ it's really easy, especially if you have a garden: just purchase a specialized type of bin (or make your own with wood, it's pretty easy) then plonk all your green (banana skins, vegetable peels, tea...) waste into it. DIY compost in just a couple months :)

1:25 so smol Her:Wait what I'm getting a mansion 😏

I have a Gopher snake how loves to dig around and make tunnels. I also really wanted plants in my tank, but thought having a planted enclosure would make it a pain to dig her out if I had to. So I put potted plants in there. Made it look like a little porch garden.

I love love love that you're looking for alternatives for peat!!

When I watched a snake video I lost the fear of snakes thank you so much

I love ur videos u inspired me to get a corn snake and I love him 😍

Respect on a educational talk on peat moss, I didn’t know that but it’s important thanks!

So fascinating to see both this take on bioactive enclosures for reptiles and Ants Canada's take on bioactive habitats for his ants! I feel like between the two, I'm learning so much.

No views. 64 likes and 8 comments. Makes a lot of sense youtube 😂 btw love the videos. Im a big fan of yours. Thanks for making very good eductional videos for all of us 😁😁

Can you possibly do some more videos on the green trees? Like the breeding of them or rescuing of them? Since you said you picked one up from craiglist! I'd love to see the breeding plans for those cuties!

You don’t understand that this channel is my life it’s so good like I really like the content like Ik I sound so weird but it’s really educational and I actually have an interest in learning this stuff it’s amazing and I have 9 pet snails and a moss garden and wood lice or whatever u call them to help clean up and I really love them ur content makes me so excited I cant describe it and I feel so educated like Ik what I’m talking about I love it

Oh my gosh what great timing... I'm in the process of setting up a bioactive enclosure right now!

Emily: Talks about different dirt Me: DIRT IS DIRT

I’m going to Repticon tomorrow! (Basically a reptile expo thing.) But I can’t buy anything.

Thanks for informing us about why peat moss is not a very good option, Emily! I was just gonna order some for my plants, now I'm gonna look for alternatives. I'm excited to see the comparison video between the two enclosures you set up!

Ed & Emily you should look into getting one of those chemical compression bottles as a water mister. The larger ones work really well to mist your aquariums and they have a long hose from the bottle to the mister spout so you don't have to hold the bottle. A friend of mine has hers on a 3 castors rolling plant stand so she wheels it around 🚿misting her aquariums.

Thanks for telling us about peat moss! I had no idea that extracting it was so damaging to the environment.

I really want a snake now that i've seen your channel.

I had no idea about peat moss, thank you for sharing that info! I actually made my own bioactive enclosure about 3 months ago using a diy substrate. I got the basic 'recipe' from SerpaDesign here on youtube, then tweaked it a little based on what I had/what I could find. I started with a coco fiber base, I think it was eco earth, then added sphagnum moss, lump wood charcoal, sand, and orchid bark. I have a magnolia tree in my front yard, so I collected some leaves from there, baked them, then crunched them up and scattered them around on top of the substrate. I also did a custom background for mine which I put small pots in so I could have plants all over the back and sides. I used similar plants as you guys, an arrowhead plant, and 2 varieties of pothos, plus creeping fig, a white vein fittonia, a maidenhair fern and a "janet craig compacta" draceana. (there were other plants, but they died off from the shock of the move) I of course added springtails and isopods to mine, but I also added some redworms I bought in the fishing section of Walmart, to help break down the soil and feed the plants. Unfortunately I didn't think to get a bacteria starter culture, but I have a feeling mine is pretty well established at this point. You guys provided some great info and if you, or anyone else wants to learn more about bioactive enclosures, I highly recommend SerpaDesign. He's amazing and makes some absolutely GORGEOUS terrariums, vivariums, and paludariums.

Oh wow that looks a lot easier than I thought. Definitely gonna look into this when I upgrade enclosures for my babies.

When it said “Ed was messing with the camera” I said out loud “god damn it Ed” and everyone else in the room looked at me 😂

I think antscanada does the fish tank filter thing for his ant colonies. He’s has a great channel, and you might want to check him out if you want more ideas!

I have to vicariously live through you since I'm not in the financial position to own reptiles, but I love them so much! So, thank you for the videos! 🖤

Coconut coir is amazing! Also, in lieu of compost, you could use worm castings. They're my go-to nutrients source for all my plants, and my soil mixtures. Best yet, they're commonly found in most garden supply stores! Thank you for the video!

I would love to move to bioactive setups for my snakes once they get to adult size. I do have one question though, is there a good way to treat for snake mites without having to completely tear down a bioactive enclosure and rebuild it later when the mites have been taken care of?

The clay balls look like cocoa puffs! Lol 😜 and who could watch Emily and be like I dislike this! This sweet funny smart girl I dislike it. People are weird

Please never ever ever end your youtube chanel

This is really cool. I've done a bioactive fish tank. The setup is a bit different, but the results are fantastic. I never had to do a water change over the life of the tank or even let it cycle. I left it for a week before adding fish but the nitrates and ammonia where always stable so that wasn't actually needed.

I’ve been having problems with my bio active tank my spring tails keep on disappearing but the isopods I put in are fine

This is so awesome! I have a question about working with the enclosure! How do you keep mold from forming in your enclosures? I don't have a reptile myself yet, but I can already see this being a problem for me as my plant babies have had a few mold issues in the past in their soil. This is easy to care for and fix, but it seems like it would be difficult to cure in an enclosure. I'd just love to know from you or other commentors! ♡

I plan on setting up my first bioactive enclosure ever for a crested gecko I'm planning on getting eventually so I'm grateful this video is here to help!

I didnt know this was how peat moss was sourced until now :( Thank you, I use it frequently to top dress my lawn and as a general mix and wont any longer. Love you videos!

Just out of curiosity, what’s the cleaning and upkeep regiment for a bioactive enclosure?

One suggestion I had. I quarantined my plants. Basically I washed them in water to take as much of the existing soil off and then replanted them in my prepared substrate and placed them in a plastic tote for a few weeks. Basically I did this because a lot of plants sold at garden departments and in similar places have soils with chemicals and fertilizers that won't be good to have in your finished vivarium. My logic behind it was that plants are very sensitive to changes in soil and this way they had some time to get rid of the fertilizers in their roots as well as to get accustomed to the soil they would now be living in. Personally I would at least wash the roots of all the plants that I put in a vivararium that I intended to put my pets in just to make sure that I get all the chemicals and fertilizers out.

I've been planning on something bioactive for a Chinese Water Dragon when I eventually get one! Love watching and learning about it even if the animal is different

Thank you so much for this video, I just realized a day ago about bioactive enclosures and I already ordered the same abg mix and have the 12x12x24 for my dumpy tree frogs. This video really helped me visualize what it's like to go through all the steps to create a bioactive vivarium! But for me personally I'm going to wait for my plants and micro fauna to breed and settle for a month before I add my frogs.