Questions about waterfall drainage and bio-active vivarium setups.

[Kinstrome]

I've done a little research, but I'd like to know more on a few different things.

1) How do I set up a drainage area for a vivarium with a waterfall and eggcrate for false bottom? I've watched a lot of videos on waterfall setups, but I just can't quite figure out how, in my situation, I'm going to be able to do what I want to do. Essentially, I want to have water fall from the back wall and either immediately go through a "substrate" of rocks that is separated somehow from the other substrate so dirt can't get in that water easily, or go down a stream on the ground that is just underground pond-liner filled with rocks into the same sort of "rock substrate". (I can elaborate if this doesn't make sense.) How do I separate the rock area from the regular substrate area without making it obvious that something artificial is being used?

2) Is there an exact list of do's and don't's for vegetation inside a bio-active vivarium? I want to incorporate moss and some terrarium-type plants, but I know little more about the way such things interact with BPs than "pothos is toxic" and "BPs tend to trample grounded plants." Is there a quarantine process for plants to be used in a vivarium, or will alcohol spray take care of it? Which mosses can be used, if any? Is most planting soil okay for BPs, or should I stick to something gold-standard like ABG mix? What, if any, are the better plants to use with BPs, both as far as the snake's well-being and the plant's well-being? And is there any problem with using springtails and isopods in a BP's vivarium?

Thanks for your consideration. I am very much still in the learning process and want to know what to do and what not to do.

[distaff]

A waterfall would be a VERY advanced feature for a snake viv. You want to keep it simple until you are an expert.

If this is your first BP, leave him out of the bio-active scenario entirely, and just follow basic care sheet husbandry for several months until you know what you are doing with him.

In the meantime, you can start a viv w/o the snake in it, and not stress on the learning curve and inevitable failures you will have at the start.

A waterfall requires a small pump, and a contained water pool - not the debris water in the drainage layer. Nevertheless, I do NOT recommend any waterfalls for a BP setup, unless you working some crazy huge zoo size of a display viv. ...and even then, too much humidity. Snake's well-being comes first. Last I checked, BP's don't hangout all day soaking in the spray of waterfalls.

I have seen Potos listed as toxic. In my limited experience, it isn't. It is a good plant in both the corn and king vivs. Sanseveria also, should stand up to even a bp, if he doesn't knock it down. I also like English ivy. Get your plants from a herp seller like Josh's frogs, or NEHerpetoculture, so they don't have toxic pesticides.

[distaff]

Stick with an ABG type mix, or better yet try an experimental (plant only!) viv with just garden soil, and after you muck it out, you will understand why ABG is worth the money. I do stretch the ABG a bit with home-made compost. Others seem to get away with garden soil that has a lot of choir mixed in, but I haven't tried that myself.

Mosses are hard to grow unless the viv has a fogger and very bright lighting. The snake would probably bulldoze them anyway (mine did). Isopods and springtails should be fine with the BP. (Disclaimer, my planted vivs hold colubrids, I don't even own a BP.) Honestly, maybe you would rather set up a viv for some dartfrogs?

You can buy very realistic false rocks for the basin that are light weight, and less dangerous to the snake (and glass). I can't remember the name of the company (Universal Rock?? something like that) that has the best ones. Look up rock backgrounds for aquariums to find that company. Mag Naturals also makes some realistic fake rocky ledges that go on the glass sides of the viv. These are marketed more for gekos, and may need additional magnets to hold up under the weight of a BP. They do hold my full grown corn just fine.

[Kinstrome]

Thanks for the advice. I haven't had a chance to write a response until now, but I'm mostly done with the vivarium. A few points:

I may have made it sound like I was just getting my first snake shipped to me and dropping it into a newly-made vivarium. I've actually had another tank with the snake in it for about two months, so I've become accustomed to its lifestyle a little bit. That's not to say I'm an expert at all, but I've read the literature and I know enough to take care of it.

Weeks ago I had purchased several gallons (or liters maybe) of something that, if I recall correctly, was a variation of ABG mix. I had considered straight up buying ABG mix but the mix I got was suggested for the kind of setup I was aiming for. (It was NEHERP mix 2.)

I had already bought some kind of river rock for the vivarium a while ago, and it's really, really smooth. I think you are right that it may scratch the glass after a while, even though I applied it gently, but I don't think it will endanger the snake.

I hear you about the moss, but I'm afraid to have exposed substrate, and I wonder if dead moss wouldn't still be better to have on the ground than small particle substrate.

And yeah, it has occurred to me that my vivarium setup is way more suited to poison dart frogs than any kind of snake; every single YT tutorial for building a waterfall (or any kind of bio-active viv) used poison dart frogs. I decided a while ago, shortly after your responses, that I would just use my "practice" tank as the vivarium for the snake and not try any ridiculous three-waterfall setup in a giant viv. My line of thinking in making this viv was "if it doesn't hurt the snake, it doesn't hurt the snake." I'm taking extra precautions to prevent alien organisms from invading the viv, and I can measure humidity and temperature easily. In the worst case scenario, I can return the snake to its previous enclosure, if the measurements are off or if it just isn't comfortable inside there.

Also, although I got the waterfall to work, it isn't something I plan to keep running 24/7. It's too noisy and not worth the risk that the water flow could be slightly off and start draining into substrate, growing mold and :cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r:.

Thanks again for the advice, I'm glad I got it before I tried to build anything more ambition than what I was currently working on.