Opal's brand new custom, bioactive digs!

After a month or three of research, planning and building my custom vivarium is up and running. I'm happy with the result, and Opal seemed to have a good time poking around for a few hours after introducing her last night. The viv is 3' x 2' x 2', with the substrate varying from around 5-8 inches depth, plus a drainage layer, leaving around 16-18 inches head space. Substrate is coir, peat, top soil and leaf litter, and springtails and isopods have been introduced to keep the place tidy. Still fiddling around with the temperatures a bit, but ambients on the surface currently range from around 78 to 87, and humidity has been hovering in the high 70s. Six vents, three upper and three lower, should keep the air circulating. Heat is provided with a RHP, and lighting is provided by a 6500K LED bar on a timer for daytime and as well as a LED strip with various colour options for night.

http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file.../7/6/viv06.jpg

http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file.../7/6/viv10.jpg

http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file.../7/6/viv09.jpg

http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file.../7/6/viv03.jpg

http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file.../7/6/viv04.jpg

http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file.../7/6/viv07.jpg

http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file.../7/6/viv12.jpg

http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file.../7/6/viv13.jpg

http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file.../7/6/viv14.jpg


Up next on Opal's Vivarium: will the plants survive her onslaught of fury? Will I ever find my snake again in all those leaves? Tune in next week to find out.

Cool. I am looking into a bioactive substrate system for some torts. I am sure a single BP's waste can be easily handled. But how will you be churning the waste into the substrate? Will you do this by hand? With torts, I think the little buggers will stomp the waste into the dirt, but I am not sure if a snake would do that.

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Originally Posted by couscous74

Cool. I am looking into a bioactive substrate system for some torts. I am sure a single BP's waste can be easily handled. But how will you be churning the waste into the substrate? Will you do this by hand? With torts, I think the little buggers will stomp the waste into the dirt, but I am not sure if a snake would do that.

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I think, until my cleaners get really established, I'm going to be picking out the bulk of the solid waste (if I can find it...) and stirring the rest in. An occasional "fluffing" of the soil is good anyway, to improve aeration and promote good bacteria and such.

I'm actually wanting to do this for my king snakes. You've done a beautiful job.

It looks very nice, and is a nice change from the sterile tub look. Once the bugs are established you shouldnt really have to push waste into the soil, they should pretty much remove it at the surface.

I think this is amazing! It must be fun to watch Opal navigate her mini Ecosystem :)

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Originally Posted by jclaiborne

It looks very nice, and is a nice change from the sterile tub look. Once the bugs are established you shouldnt really have to push waste into the soil, they should pretty much remove it at the surface.

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Thanks! That's what I'm hoping for.

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Originally Posted by Shamri

I think this is amazing! It must be fun to watch Opal navigate her mini Ecosystem :)

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Haha, I spent a good portion of last night just sitting in front of the terrarium. OpalTV! She must have investigated every cranny and leaf, with her tongue flicking fast the whole time. She seemed very interested.

I think your tank is so interesting, and beautiful too! Please add updates in the future.

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Originally Posted by sapphira80

I think your tank is so interesting, and beautiful too! Please add updates in the future.

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Thanks, I will!

For any who are interested, I put together a step-by-step of my build here: http://imgur.com/a/vguGZ