Would you ever consider owning poison dart frogs as pets? Sorry that there wasn't a full-length video in the last two weeks! As you saw in the sneak peek, I've been VERY BUSY building something VERY BIG for my green tree monitor lizards ;)! Don't forget to answer today's question of the day! As always, special thanks to my Reptiliatus patrons for their additional support www.patreon.com/Reptiliatus !
I love dart frogs but I don't keep any animals that eat live insects. Live to far from a store that sells insects to go for every feeding and I refuse to keep/grow bugs in my house. It's just not the kind of thing I enjoy
You can put the repashy calcium dust into the cup before you put the flies in, just one swish and they won't climb out and you can focus on closing up your culture
Bioactive tanks pros are:they look amazing, better for the animal and you don’t have to clean it out as much but there are cons like pruning the plants also if the plants don't do well having to revive them or get new ones is annoying but it’s definitely better than just getting plastic leaves I’m about to buy som3 plants for my gargoyle gecko today for his enclosure
This has honestly happened with me and my white's tree frog enclosure where the pothos absolutely took over, killing all other plants and over grew the canopy where it made harder for the vines at the enclosure floor to get sunlight. I love bioactive enclosures, I feel like the common misconception is if people spend the bucks to have bioactive, then they don't need to do any maintenance, and that's just never the case
100% agree! I actually like updates/refreshes MORE than new builds - because its closer to the reality. People with bioactive tanks generally arent doing a new build every few months, but they SHOULD be doing maintenance and we need to see that reflected on yt.
Im in bioactive set up for 30years when i started thehobby obeserving nature. If big enough enclousure there are nothing to worry about. And not building it to big if animals are not use to you first, because if you do that it go wild. Good job man!
I have just started getting my terrariums back in order again because I added soil that ended up having mulch in it and it was heavily dyed. The leaves of the plants turned black and the plants died. Thankfully I never put all of my favorite plants in one place and I have been able to grow more from clippings. I also got a very nice variety of moss that is very resilient and easy to maintain.
Ahhh finally another great video! You never fail to amaze me Dion. P.S. your my fav reptile RU-vidr! Keep up the great work and good luck in the project!
First off you may want to add isopods as the springtails are more of a mold consumer. Also what’ll the plants are still growing in you may want to add something like a fern to provide temporary coverage as when the enclosure is to bare the frogs can get stressed. Lastly I definitely prefer Bioactive for its ability to look beautiful and be easy to maintain at the same time!
One of the biggest pros for me of a bioactive tank is that it is much easier to maintain humidity. Something about a thick substrate layer, drainage, and plants that take up water from the drainage and release it to the air just makes a really easy to manage tank. The plants also tell you when there are dry and wet areas which can be really nice to give the animals options. The con for me is that it makes finding my gecko's eggs a big pain. I leave them in there to incubate but tracking down the tiny Eurydactylodes babies can be... difficult.
I don’t really think there are many cons of keeping a bio active enclosure except for when you keep nocturnal animals in nicely planted enclosures you don’t see them that often
i am SO HAPPY i stumbled across Wickens Wicked Reptiles videos of reptile creators, holy cow this was so fun to watch!!! i am so glad i checked out your channel!!!
Nice upgrade to the enclosure. Although I don't have any animals I think the pro for Bioactive is how it incorporates a naturalist look of the habitat the animal is from and a con would be maintenance on the plants. 🙂👍🐸
The plants and bugs brought by the plants also are a plus for the inhabitants. Not just through enrichment, but the buggies break down waste left by the larger species - reducing maintenance. The plants then use the broken down waste as fertilizer. It does a great job of mimicking the wilderness if you do it right. Plus bioactive, or even more basic planted tanks, will reduce fluxuations in temperature and humidity - again beneficial to your inhabitants. Especially more sensitive species. Lastly, some species have delicate skin and plastic plants can actually leave wounds! As long as youre picking your live plants with care (no bromeliads for delicate babies!) live plants have fewer sharp edges.
Beautiful setup! I just got my first dendrobates auratus froglets and am designing a bioactive vivarium for them. Have you ever/ would you recommend installing a waterfall feature with a shallow 1/4” bathing pool?
So I like to get a pair of Poison Dart frogs, what's the best one for a beginner I would like to set up a Bioactive Vivarium 18x18x18 what do you think
Thanks for another fabulous video. I actually learned about bioactive setups from your channel years and years ago. I moved my leachie to a bioactive enclosure about three years ago. I absolutely love it and could never go back. The only con that I have experienced is just from my gecko tearing up the plants. I guess it gives her some enrichment, but she seems to have certain plants that she doesn't like and will night after night uproot them. Even the plants she leaves alone get trampled. After all these years the only plants that are still doing well are the pathos and wandering Jews (such a weird name), so it's not as diverse as it was in the beginning.
The "wandering Jew" name was given as a slur against Jewish people. 😬 The houseplant community is switching over to calling them by the scientific name of tradescantia (trad-ess-cant-ee-a), or Inch Plant (because of how fast it grows). Since you mentioned it being an odd name I thought Id mention it. ❤
i would recommend not using ficus! i had to tear down my two year old setup because it slowly choked out all my smaller plants! was heart breaking to say the least 😭
I have still been propagating my golden pothos because the price has went up and a hanging basket is going for 50-60 dollars at the stores like Home depot and lowes.
Plants will crater in some; bugs will crater in some; critters may crater or consume any of the above in others. Just keep tweaking your husbandry until you reach a balance for your system.
how do you get mold to stop growing on the spider wood??? i’ve made a few bioactive vivariums and every single one with wood grew mold within a few days.
Woooow! That enclosure is a BEAST! Can't wait to see you set it up. A nice long build video by Dayyon would really hit the spot. Or better yet, a build series!
I have to redo my Azureus Viv way over grown... I find putting the supplements into the container first then the flies helps to prevent them from climbing out of the feeder cup
First, thank you so much for the shout out. I love being part of this community. This tank came out amazing and cannot wait to see it grow in, especially the creeping fig...all time favorite. As for having 42 frogs and 13 reptiles, all of which are in bioactive setups. I honestly think the only con is keeping up with the plants. Sometimes they get enormous in a short time and if you aren't keeping up, then you most of time need to start over.
You are most welcome Casey! Thank you so much for being a channel patron! I'm looking forward to the tank growing in as well! Ironically, I will have to be careful with that ficus because it can also grow aggressively and outcompete other plants haha. That's a great point! Thanks for sharing! I didn't realize you had that many frogs! Awesome!
I trim all the fast growing, tall plants 1/2 way down when they reach the top. This prevents them from blocking out light, getting too leggy and actually makes them grow back fuller by putting out side bracts at the leaf junctures. Once those vines you salvaged take root in the pot you can cut them back so they will also return fuller. I will sometimes use “RootTone” on cuttings to stimulate new root growth but I don’t use it if starting cuttings in the animal enclosure itself as it is a plant hormone.
You should do a quick vid on your lighting you use for everything you keep. I keep a lot of the same species and it would be nice to see what you do, especially with the uroplatus.
if you give the philodendron some soil or sphagnum around its node/aerial roots it will give you much larger and more impressive leaves, as well allowing for you to be able to prop it whenever you want and already have a semi established root system.
Dart frogs are terrestrial, not aquatic. While a water feature can be fine, a paludarium often wastes horizontal area by making it unusable for the frogs. It is not recommended. You'd be better off with a more aquatic species in a paludarium.
