New Bioactive Vivarium Build! 

I LOVE ancient ruins in snake enclosures! Make them look like a giant guardian of the ruin. My House Snake lives in an overgrown peace garden setup with fake ferns and sphagnum moss to cover his hiding tubes, with a rock hide where there's a tiny Buddha statue. It's gorgeous to look at even when I can't see him.

Can I just say, I'm so happy I found your channel. I've been looking to redo my BP's bioactive and gathering inspiration and you are the FIRST person to consider the snakes PERSONAL needs and behavior and I freaking love it. So many people are enamored with making things visual for their needs and rarely if ever the snakes'. Thank you for being an awesome keeper, a level headed person and a freakin' delightful youtuber.

Okay, the double decker hide on the warm side is super neat! I think the Inspector is going to love the new bioactive (because I do, so he probably will too)!! Can't wait to see the updates with the tree roots in the temple and the additional plants and such! Great job!!

We did the same gorilla glue method also from Clint’s reptiles for our ball python. Super easy and very pleased with the outcome.

I’m so excited for The Inspector! I hope he likes his new enclosure and I’m sure we are ALL excited for the video showing him inspecting his new digs. Love what you’ve done so far and the finished enclosure is going to be amazing, I’m sure!🐍❤️🐍

You might want to add leaf litter, isopods eat it and hide in it, also they add extra enrichment for the snake.

Double decker hides are popular with many of my snakes. Good choice.

SERIOUSLY you do not know how utterly helpful this video was…..I was getting bits here and bits there of info about doing this set up in a certain way, and TF I found Bobs video……Thank you so so much this is incredibley helpful ❤❤❤❤❤

Amazing, wonderful!!! Loved learning about the gorilla glue technique, thank you (and Clint) so much! We've used the great stuff foam before in our dart frog tanks and it always ended up disappointing as it got disgustingly soggy and spongey overtime and didn't remain stuck to the glass. I really like the look and thought you've put in the new setup for Inspector. I'm not sure if you're already intending to do so, but adding leaf litter on top of the soil can be very beneficial giving nutrients for the plants as they break down and also add an appealing look! Thanks again for the video, this gave me some inspiration for future setups. 😊

I can't wait until the market is saturated with 4x2x2 enclosures...so that all of the reptile RU-vidrs can start recommending 6x4x2 as the minimum standard for adult Ball Pythons.

Very cool thank you for sharing

Oh my god, both subterranean hides are absolutely AWESOME and I *need* to replicate that. Thanks for sharing this awesome idea!!

I have been using Gorilla glue since I saw Clint build the enclosure on Snake Discoveries build off .... It works great, now i keep a bottle always . I am extremely smart , I get my ideas from Clint and you !!!!! See extra smart

11:25 you're going to get springtails in your beard. Maybe even a couple isopods

This is such a cool setup!

Fn AWESOME Bob!!!

That looks great! I am confident that Detective Inspector Rorschach will be very happy in there when his snoot bump is all healed up.

Love it bob that’s so sick love your videos bud

Ok, that subterranean hide is genius! I love that idea! Thank you for this! I've been looking for adult bioactive tanks WITH plants. Going to upgrade to one of these PVC enclosures soon as well. Love this set up!!!!

Big love, Bob. Double decker hide - what a treat! Ours is off her food right now, knew it had to happen some time. She made it way past the 1000 gram wall, at least.

Bob I love love love this video! Great video going over your process. I’m definitely going to refer to this video when I make a new tank in the future. And I’m going to steal your double decker hide. That is magnificent!

OMG!! I absolutely love the “Kent” section I CRACK UP!! I really enjoy your videos ty and keep up the good work! 🎉

Loooooove Black Box Cages!!! 🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽

That looks great, I am planning on doing something very similar akin to Clints method as well! Your enclosure works great, you should go on the next snake discovery build off!

I totally used gorilla glue…because of Clint’s video! Funny 😆 Also….loving your gear today. Prayers to Brian ❤

For the “vines”, I learned a great trick where you can get some twine or rope, cover it with clue and the rub it around in coconut fiber. It was another RU-vidr I saw this on but it might work well in this setup

I am OBSESSED with this new bioactive!!! I love the innovative design that went into it! All I kept thinking with the gorilla glue is “that’s alot of glue musta been expensive!” Then I remembered you showing it in a video with the horde and saying you judge it based on dollar amounts hahaha

wow the inspector is going to live this new setup!the temple ide a is great .can't wait to see how he enjoys this ❤ heal up inspector , aww w.

Love your channel Bob! Super excited for The Inspector’s new home! I just got my first ball python a month and a half ago and your videos helped me so much when I was doing my research before getting my sweet boy Onyx! Keep doing what you’re doing & make sure to give Kent a day off here and there, he risks his life every day for you! 😂

That's awesome! Love his 2-story hide! The curing time on silicone was kinda holding me back from creating a background in my non-bioactive since my snake already lives in it but I'm going to try the gorilla glue and she can go to a temporary tub for a shorter time.

Looks awesome! Also, try a sky hide! I just built out a blackbox 24-24-36 bioG, and Marauder (ball python) loves his sky hide. I did a deep heat projector, and in working out the heat gradients, the sky hide is 89-90 degrees.

ahhhh I want to give you the biggest snake hug, I'm planning on getting my first ball python after owning a few cornsnakes and yours has been my favorite channel to learn about them, I'll be sure to send you a pic of Bimbo once I get him! :)

Looks great! And when you have a good colony of isopods and springtails they will absolutley demolish any shed that is left behind. It's fascinating to see how fast they work! Try it! Put a good chunk(or a whole one) of shed in there and watch it desintegrate in a few days.

Hi Bob. I'm really tempted to have a go at this. Here in the tropics every enclosure wants to be bioactive whether we like it or not! I spend all my time trying to keep unwanted additional wildlife out. My garden would be a perfect, already established, bioactive set-up and the climate is spot on. Ball Pythons can be kept outdoors here. I would just need an escape proof cage and I have my own little slice of the wild and it isn't space limited! This is how snakes are kept at the Melaka Reptile Sanctuary, but they have concrete floors in the enclosures for ease of cleaning. A landscaped terrarium with a flowing stream and yes, a temple with real vines really got me enthusiastic! One thing you said put me off about attempting this indoors in my snake room. If you still need to clean poop and sheds, where is the advantage of a bioactive set-up vs a conventional one? If I was to set up a bioactive terrarium, my intention would be to never have to clean at all. My GTP lives in a naturalistic terrarium with dry coco husk substrate on the ground (where he never goes) and I still spot clean this. It's pretty easy to do and minimal work, so what would I gain from going bioactive? I never spray this enclosure because there is no need and damp substrate would be smelly and moldy in no time. My current set-up works really well and looks fantastic. My biggest worry is that if springtails and isopods can live in the substrate, then it's going to be way too damp for a Ball Python to sit on. We don't use heat mats here because there is no need, which means the snake also will not have a "dry" spot to sit on. We have 80% humidity at 30C plus centigrade year round here so we actually spend all our time trying to keep things dry. Scale rot can develop very quickly if we leave substrate damp. Humidity is something that needs to be in the air, not from the ground on which they sit. I know many people require substrate to hold humidity, but here its the opposite. We don't use substrate because it makes things soggy and moldy. We need to have really good ventilation to ensure we don't get condensation and PVC enclosures are not necessary to retain either heat or humidity. The only bioactive setups that seem to work here are either for amphibians which naturally need to be damp, or for tree dwelling species like GTP's that don't spend all their time sitting in damp substrate. The choice of tropical plants is obviously endless here and I have seen some really nice terrariums with all sorts of different tropical plants, but no animals live in them. I'm going to think about this some more and see if I can't modify things a little to try it. I think it needs to be drier than your arrangement to work here, which might not suit the clean-up crew. It will go well with my terrarium behavioural experiments I have been doing with snakes in tubs vs snakes in terrariums, which would be my main reason for looking at this. And my main reason for wanting to set-up an outdoor enclosure as well. The subterranean hide is a great idea. I extended this to incorporate the whole bottom of the terrarium I built. I actually build a terrarium with a subterranean bottom section simulating a rodent burrow system with tunnels and a "breeding chamber" accessed via tunnel entrances at ground level. Sort of like the windowless basement. I also built in climbing opportunities in the main terrarium so they have a high rise penthouse as well. Because there is no added heat and therefore no behaviour associated with thermoregulation moving on and off hot spots (we're in the tropics here, heat is already perfect), no prizes for guessing where my snakes spend all their time. I have a fully decorated terrarium with all sorts of enrichment opportunity and they don't use it. They go underground and stay there for months at a time. They poke their heads out of the tunnel to be fed. I have used a spy cam to track their movements at night and apart from a couple of hours around dusk and dawn, where they consistently set up an ambush position where they have been successful before, they don't move around at night either. And it's a right royal pain to strip it down to clean the underground tunnel system. I have tried this with several different ball pythons now and they all do exactly the same thing. And yet when allowed out to free roam, they are all willing participants in moving around confidently and without shy and fearful behaviour. And breeding season where they do get a bit more active.

Hey man - just started following your channel, great stuff very entertaining and informative! Also, I think I just randomly saw you in a 2013 movie call “Biggest Spider”?!?….or was that Kent?! 😂

Double decker hide is genius

Been subbed for a few months. I breed BPs Hognose, MBKs, Leo's and a few other types of reptiles. So im just here for the content and a good laugh. Kent is so different than anyone else.

Hey, have you considered trying African Nightcrawlers (Eudrilus eugeniae) as part of the cleanup crew? They might actually be able to eat poop quickly for you (they are used in Vermicomposting), and they do best in the same temps as Ball Pythons. I haven't heard of anyone trying them in bioactive before, so it's an interesting thought... Maybe something you could experiment with?

((( Great Show ,,, Great Knowledge ,,,,,,,, )))

Your videos are awesome... I live in Los Angeles and have 2 ball pythons in a 332 vision cage. What substrates would you recommend for both non bio active setup and bio active setup. This is my first ball python experience. You mentioned in one of your videos you're substrate could depend on your area climate.

Need an update. Working on a 4x2x2 bioactive right now!!!

Hey Bob, I love your show! I have a question for you. I live in Texas and our yard has isopods everywhere. If I don't use pesticides, would it be safe to snag a few and throw them in the tanks with the balls? Do isopods require live plants? Please let me know. Thanks! Keep up the strong work! 😊

Sadly I can't get the Bio Dude's substrate where I'm from. Do you have any idea if I'd need a drainage layer if I used Exo Terra Rainforest substrate? Love the look with that temple!

I would love your advice. I have a 50 gallon tank. I’m going to be setting up bio active. I’m going to use ceramic heat emitter. What wattage of heat emitter should I use? I will also have a heat pad underneath the enclosure on the Hot side.

Love the new set up but I have a quick question where do you have ur thermostats probe I’m not sure where to place mine for a heat panel

When you have a radiant heat panel do you not need a heat mat for belly heat? Do you have to have the heat panel up high so inside the hide is 91 deg? I always thought that belly heat was more important than above heat.

And that’s a really nice set up, I’m considering going bioactive but girlfriend isn’t okay with living bugs in it

Can you use the Bio Dude background blend on nonbioactive enclosures. I just got a black box cage so I'd like to mimic your background because it looks great.

"Hi" 😂

I’m sorry for the question but I was wondering what temp do you like to keep his “hot” hide at?

Is it going to be difficult to clean when the snake smears poop on the decors attached to the background or the underground box?

I have a RHP/ thermostat probe question! I need to set mine up in the new enclosures to monitor temps before moving my BPs in, but I’m debating the probe placement. I’ve heard both arguments of cool side to not overheat vs warm side to keep heat high enough. What do you recommend? I’m being very indecisive because I don’t want to drill a hole in the wrong place lol. Thanks!

Would you consider selling the file for the temple so others could buy it and print it? I would love to add it to my enclosure, it looks great!

Hi Bob. How did the heat in the hide work out? I am thinking about getting a blackbox cage and was wondering if I would be able to get the heat in the hide correct. Currently I have a glass enclosure and have to run a heat mat to get heat in the hide.

Well ball python still hasn’t eaten going to try 1 more time before going back to the vet, but she’s got grey eyes and is about to shed for the 3rd time since the hunger strike, so still shedding but not eating

im kent when it comes to bioactive tanks lol i hate bugs

would you suggest heat panels over heat mats for ball pythons? i will be ordering two new 4x2 cages for mine soon and they are currently on heat mats. one seems to be giving me a bit of trouble but i’m concerned heat panels or heat emitters might kill humidity.

kind of a random question, but what type of temperature probe do you use?

I love the bio active inclosure but in watching the subterranean hides i became curious. Would you not want to do that for a regular inclosure or is it a bad idea?

Could I do this for a dwarf retic (10-14) ?

Hey I just got my first ball python less then a week ago and I have been misting it twice a day to keep the humidity up but I’ve noticed when I most it the water doesn’t get soaked up. I use eco earth and spaghnum moss right now and it is jsut soaking wet I usually re spray it in the morning and at night when the humidity gauge gets down to about 38% has anyone had this issue or now how to help it I don’t wanna take him out and stress him too much but I don’t want stuck she’d issues

Do you have an update on the Inspector's vivarium? I was hoping to do something similar for my new BP, Chai but was wondering how yours was going.

Which gorilla glue are you using

I’m interested in something like this, I understand why you need all the bugs (isopods as well) but I’m leaning away from voluntarily allowing them space in my home… but I love love plants. Can I do this with only plants and leave out the clean up crew? Really don’t enjoy the thought of bugs and things in the house

So I got my crested gecko a PVC enclosure and considering doing the gorilla glue background, but quick question if you see this! How thick did your background end up being? Would it stay relatively flat as long as you keep pressing it while it expands?

How often should I handle a 6 month old store bought ball python to create a friendly and safe bond with her?

My snake shedded by his head isn’t fully shed, what do I do? It hasn’t eaten yet and I just got him for 2 weeks. How can I help him with his shed???

I love gorilla glue, i used this for my gargoyle gecko tank

Would Cody (Hi) make us copies of handsome Dan's 3d ball?

i tried bioactive but my girl kept sitting on all the plants XD i just got 6 rats :) 2 breeding pairs. ive decided to breed my own food but also my girl is hunger striking and ive tried everything other then a live feed and assist feed so im hoping when i get my first litter to smalls she will take a live rat

Well my friend, Little Kent has decided he no longer likes black rats...... I buy in bulk , so i don't want to waste any , do you think giving 2 oe 3 of the smaller rats to my big girl would be ok for a meal ? or just give her one here and there extra as a snack ?

Can we be friend