Should you go Bioactive with Reptiles and Amphibians? 

I just want to throw this out there. If you have a bioactive setup for one of your animals and they somehow acquire mites, it's not the end of the world and you don't need to tear down the tank. You can add predatory mites to the tank which will eat the harmful mites but not feed on your animal. They also will feed on some of the springtails but they won't be significant enough to seriously lower the population. They will however completely get rid of the harmful mites.

Some isopods are really colorful and ad to the aesthetic nature of the tank.

The biggest pro for me with wanting to setup a bio active enclosure is that iv read studies where snakes have been shown to be better thinkers and problem solvers when provided with more environmental enrichment as opposed to snakes under basic rack conditions. Science has told me more about snakes than most breeders and anyone in the hobby has its incredible the depth of knowledge there is on these animals if you look hard enough in scientific journals

Heck I've got a lot of homework today... time to get it done *goherping posts* SCREW IT PHYSICS CAN WAIT

I loved the bioactive look for my corn snake, however due to the fact that he was so used to burrowing into the shaved aspen, he tried to dig into the eco earth and ended up clogging his nostrils with dirt and got a mild respatory infection. Through trial and error I've found that the reptile shredded aspen with some plants and his water dish does just fine for him! Happy and healthy 8 years old now. Every animal has their preference!

There are many pros and cons, but I think that a bioactive vivarium is great, you just gotta quarantine your animal before introducing it to the enclosure.

I went bioactive for my rosy boa and boa constrictor and they absolutely love it

Personally, I would go for the leopard gecko. I don't know, but I feel like it would feel the most happy in a bioactive enclosure.

I do Bioactive for all my reptiles and Amphibians, I love how they look!

I've gone bioactive for my mice lol it works really well for small mammals too! (Though you do have to take extra care of what type of plants you use and prepare to replace regularly, they WILL destroy & shred them!) :)

I am going to vote for your cornsnake to get the upgrade. Setting up all of that natural decor in shades of tan, brown, green and grey and then BAM! Some orange snake slithers right through it all...total contrast, totally awesome.

This is awesome. I'm super into plants and snakes and I've been planning on having a snake tank and a terrarium, but this way I could do both and have a miniature ecosystem. It's wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing this.

Great videos my man. Thanks for the info!

Really needed this vid thank go herping

really helpful! love your videos, i'm planning on getting a bearded dragon, so i'm trying to educate myself a lot before i go and buy anything. thank you!!

Please do a bioactive for your corn snake. I would really appreciate it. Its what I was searching for when this popped up. I saw the ones for you ball python and turtle. Great decorating skills. Thank you.

Your bioactive enclosure look so cool! Once I'll move in 2y to a bigger place, I'll for sure want to make one for my BP, and if it works well then continue for the other reptiles I'll buy.

Never mind I found it here! Thumbs up for being thorough and insightful!

Thx dude, making my crested gecko a bioactive Viv and this helped a lot! Go goherping!

Did you ever end up doing a video for a bioactive corn snake setup? Id LOVE to see that as im about to do the same and get my first cornsnake :)

I have a grey banded king snake and a bearded dragon and you have inspired me to get more reptiles and amphibians

One of your best videos. Very interested in the self-sustaining housing.

Hi, Alex! Just found your channel and am really enjoying “binge”watching all your videos. I know what I want (a Western Hognose) and am getting everything ready before I actually get it. My main 2 problems are: 1. Where to get it...so. Many places and so many bad reviews... and 2. I have had a hard time finding Isopods and Springtails at a reasonable cost. The “bugs” and shipping is $65 at one place and actually the only place I have really been able to find them that I would more then likely trust. Any help or direction would be greatly appreciated! Thank you and keep up the most excellent work, you’re a pleasure to watch! 🤗

I got my first reptile today due to your vids! Thank you so much!

Awesome. Still hoping on doing one of these for Ash.

If you're wanting to get into plant keeping this is a great way to start- especially if you're not the best at keeping plants. I think marrying it with your reptile upkeep will motivate you to be more attentive and try harder, plus most of the plants you'll keep in the tank will be plants that thrive in that specific environment so some of the work is done for you.

Your channel is pretty cool I like all the information videos you have. :) Also I'm going to a pet expo in 10 days to get a bearded dragon hatchling I'm so excited

Can you make a video on quarantining a new ball python or any reptile for that matter

I think it's important to stress that an enclosure doesn't have to be bioactive to be enriching. Obviously real plants make an environment more similar to the wild, and springtails and isopods are generally useful for making it somewhat self sustaining, but a large amount of fake plants, things to climb on, naturalistic hides, sticks, and a good substrate can be almost as fulfilling in my opinion. I can't do bioactive because don't feel comfortable with springtails and isopods running free and suck at keeping plants alive. But my crested gecko's tank is absolutely covered in hanging leaves, leaf litter, climbing vines, hiding spots, coconut fibre and even though there's only one real plant in the tank, it still looks like a jungle that even I wouldn't mind living in lol. I guess all I'm saying is that there is a middle ground between bioactive and a simplistic rack system.

Do a video on how to clean a bio active enclosure!

I put my hognose on bioactive and he loooves it. He is always moving around instead of just sitting in his hide for days on end in his old enclosure. I can understand how it could not be for everyone/every species but if you can do it I would definitely give it a try! It provides so much enrichment for the animal and is also aesthetically pleasing! It looks like his own tiny grassland with grass, a spineless prickly pair, and another succulent.

I really love the setup. Do you have your lights programmed?

Great vid thx for info because I'm getting a ball python

love your videos i hope you get the chance to do a bioactive for the cornsnake i would like to follow that and try it out

Very nice tank. Always enjoy your videos. Very informative. Where can I find long sticks like you have in enclosure?

When you said to try focusing less on the animal but more on the area they're living in, it got me curious if you were ever interested in the fish keeping hobby for those reasons, planted aquariums or native biotope aquariums are really fun to build and design with the goal of the tank being to sustain itself almost completely. Love the videos! stumbled upon you recently, had my leopard geckos some time now but you sparked the want for a snake again haha :)

DO A BIOACTIVE SETUP FOR YOUR NEW BOA !!!!!!! Doin one of my own and will someday be posting a video of the construction. Eventually X)

Hey bud! What kind of lid would this enclosure need? I'm going to give this a shot in the spring!

Hello, I was wandering what kind of camera and editing software you use? Thanks!

Cool! im totaly gonna switch to bio active. but i have to learn to care for plants first because ive never done that before

Could you leave a list of some of the items we would need to create a bioactive inclosure such as the plants that are safe for ball pythons and easier to keep alive and the best soil for a bioactive in closure. Love this video and the enclosure is so pretty!! ☺️

I plan to put my snek in a bioactive setup once it goes from a 10 to 20 long. It is more money up front but when you factor in that you are not continuously buying and throwing out substrate I think it pays for itself after a while.

How often should I spray the ground with water? If I had a bioactive setup with springtails and isopods? I had one to my ball python and my corn snake.

Do the corn snake because they love climbing and being out and about thats how i always keep mine in vivariums that looked like a little bit of their natural homes did that for years

i am also using the led uvb

Did you use a drainage layer? Or just forest floor and eco earth?

I'm about to get a leopard gecko and while I'm just going to focus of caring for the animal at first, I would love to look into creating a dessert vivarium down the line.

im considering live viv. was really concerned about parasites and mold but i can always ask my vet what is safest for my snake son

Big fan of your channel I have learned a lot could you by chance do a bearded dragon video? I'm stuck between getting a dragon or a ball python trying to see what would be easier and a better pet

We have the same container for springtails.

Do you think a bioactive setup would work for a Kenny??? I just ordered some plants for my corn, but was wondering about how much they would affect humidity... I'll find out once I set em up in mah corn's tank...

Lol that sticker sticks out like a pimple on a runway model.

How often do you clean your bioactive tank and more importantly how do you clean it ???

Do i really need to put isopods and springtails on the bioactive setup?

Any decent websites you suggest for buying live plants for my ball python setup?

Question... what do you do as far as a warm side vs cool side of tank with a bioactive? I currently dont have bioactive but want to switch my ball python over but I currently use an U.T.H. heat pad.

I add just isopods to most of my animals tanks i have them in my box turtle and fowler toads enclosure because my turtle poops a lot and buries her food so yeah.... My toad just eats them

I have a bio active set up for my Vietnamese moss frogs

What website do you use to order stuff

I am looking to get a ball python after keeping fish for several years. I have a spare 36 inch broad spectrum LED light from my planted fish tank, and wondered if that's good lighting for a python? i want to have a heating pad for warmth, because the LED doesn't give off much. will it be good for my python? :)

I'm getting a blue Tounge skink, do you think because I'm using a plastic tub as an enclosure the plastic will melt because of the heat pad?

I'd love to see you do a bioactive Leopard Gecko enclosure!

When you have layers of substrate like that, and are using live plants, how often do you change the substrate? Or do you just scoop the poop?

Thank you for all of the great information! You certainly produce interesting content! What about humidity? I have heard that it is difficult to keep any humidity in glass tanks. Thanks!

So I recently got a garter snake and I have heard many people say that should eat insects like crickets or grass hoppers and other people have said that they need to eat pinkie mice and I don't know what I should feed it

What will happen if you get mold?

I'm interested in a bioactive bearded dragon setup (please dont get nasty, I'm open to learning). Is it possible to achieve? Or is the risk of impaction top high?

I think I might do a 40 gallon bioactive setup for a ball python I want to adopt.

"I have some ball python kits ....*thinks* Not including the ball python" 😂😂👍🏻

I just went bioactive with my Merauke BTS and I will never go back. The benefits are substantial - my animal is healthier and happier than ever.

You should resell the frank turtle pins

I'm so sorry if you have talked about this in one of your videos (if so just let me know what one and I'll watch it haha) BUT what plants (live and fake) are safe for a ball python? I have been binge watching your videos this weekend trying to get all the information I can before I bring one home! Thank you!!

Do Boston Ferns work well in these sorts of enclosures?

Did them for my crested geckos, and about to do one for my Lepord Gecko.

I just set up an arid bioactive tank for my bearded dragon.

Should i go bioactive for arachnids?

The tank looks nice now its growing i like it but we buy vivarium in the uk and they are cheaper and easier to get a ball python viv from a big reptile company is about 90 bucks thats why we don't get the fish tanks you use till you said in a video last week its nice now

I’m going bioactive for my ball python it’s so much fun. Right now I’m growing grass in the terrarium 😁

How would a heating mat work through all the substrate

Hey Alex I have a major question, I did a bioactive for my crested gecko and a few months later there was slugs in it and some really small bugs I can't tell what they are. I added isopods but it seemed like they all died any suggestions? Thanks😀

please do a bioactive for your corn snake

Do a leopard gecko bioactive please what substrate is safest

You need to do another reptile room

I heard that spring tails and Isopoda eat snake mite eggs and when the adult mites die their aren't any eggs left to replace the adults

Do bioactive for Goldie the leopard gecko 🦎

If you can do crested gecko bioactive tank that be dope

I was under the impression that a bioactive set up meant you did not have to clean the cage. Do you still have to go through and clean the feces? Can you do a video about bioactive maintenance because this video showed me there is a lot more than just the initial set up

Do olives next!

Pleaseee make a video on olives tank if you make it bioactive

This is a neat concept; I think you could still use some of the major components from this without committing fully to a bioactive enclosure - adding different textures and elements to your non-bioactive cages will still offer that stimulation to your animal.

I'm wondering if the bugs will crawl out?

#hypoaspismites (incase they do have mites). They're quite a bit more expensive lol. Just spent well over 700$ on my chameleons bioactive vivarium. So so worth it.

my frend told me that ball pythons are fireproof and u can have a fire feature inside your enclosure. im setting it up so that half the encloshure is on fire and half is not so that he can thermoregulated. I make sure the fire isn't too hot tho because the ball pythons are less resistant to hot fire, it's the colder fire that they like. wat do u think???

How do you replace the substrate, or do you at all, with all those insects inside of it?

I know this video is so old and im just watching it...but i vote for Rosie!! I loooooove rosie.

Is 2 years good enough

what is the best place to get cheap aquariums

Guys, what's some of the most interesting colubrids? OTHER THAN CORN SNAKES, thinking of getting a Hognose snake but I want to know if theirs any other cool colubrids, I do kinda want a green tree Python but it would be killed off within a year since I'm a beginner so I guess my fav snake is off limits for now.

Just curious. What's your opinion on the loose substrate? Do you feed outside of the cage or do you think the risk of impaction is low enough?

I want one for Jaxon. But my question is, how big of a enclosure should I get for Jaxon to start a bio active enclosure? Im asking because she/he is about 4ft or so already but if Jaxon is a she, she could get bigger and I dont want to have to transplant everything to a bigger enclosure when I can have Jaxon in a proper full size enclosure that doesn't stress it out due to the plants and nooks and hide places, and I think it'll decrease her wanting out to explore because she is happy in her enclosure