Re: Setting up my Naturalistic Vivarium
im looking into building a vivarium too. just have a question for you, or anyone else really.
with adding a springtail culture or any other cleaning crew member, how do you keep the colony under control? im thinking of housing a green tree python in it, but i'm just worried about the cleaning crew becoming to massive since there wont be a frog or lizard in there to help control population. am i just over thinking this?
Re: Setting up my Naturalistic Vivarium
Quote:
Originally Posted by
lpnaz480
im looking into building a vivarium too. just have a question for you, or anyone else really.
with adding a springtail culture or any other cleaning crew member, how do you keep the colony under control? im thinking of housing a green tree python in it, but i'm just worried about the cleaning crew becoming to massive since there wont be a frog or lizard in there to help control population. am i just over thinking this?
I had the same question when I was looking into this. My answer would be that you don't need one. The only reason you would need a cleaning crew is if you plan on stirring in the snakes poop as well as urine. I'm not sure how it would work out, whether they would over populate due to the lack of predators or die off due to the infrequency of defecation a snake. One way of avoiding this is to scoop out all the poop and allow the benificial bacteria break down the urine.
Re: Setting up my Naturalistic Vivarium
oh that will make it much easier. i was planning to spot clean the fecal matter and leave urine and stir it into the dirt, like you. just didnt know if my ph levels in the substrate would be strong enough to break it down without a cleaning crew. so i started looking up spring tails and isopods which my wife would probably hate in the house. i'm thinking if they are needed, a cleaning crew that is, maybe red worms wouldnt be that bad
Re: Setting up my Naturalistic Vivarium
Okay so I'm new to all of this, so new that I don't even have my BP yet just still doing research. I was considering doing a natural vivarium as well but I know that BPs are heavy bodied snakes and would probably crush any live plants placed in their enclosures. I for one would really hate to spend all that time setting up such a beautifully landscaped vivarium only to have in crushed by a roaming snake. So I'm curious what your experience has been with this particular issue?
Cheers,
Matt
Re: Setting up my Naturalistic Vivarium
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Mike41793
How do you keep a hot spot with such a thick layer of substrate?
With substrate that thick it actually holds the heat really well. I did a similar set up for a kingsnake a couple years ago, using a heat lamp on a timer for a hotspot (was going for a natural setup, heat lamp seemed much more natural to me than a heat pad) and while the rest of the house would drop down into the 60's during the day the tank never dropped below 75 or so. Was definitely cool to see the snake acting more natural with burrowing through the dirt, hiding, and basking at different points in the day. I also used earthworms in my setup to help keep the soil aerated, and it was always cool to see the tunnels they had burrowed against the glass in the mornings. I'd definitely recommend this for anyone who wants to set up a nice display enclosure!
Re: Setting up my Naturalistic Vivarium
Quote:
Originally Posted by
mgodwin3568
Okay so I'm new to all of this, so new that I don't even have my BP yet just still doing research. I was considering doing a natural vivarium as well but I know that BPs are heavy bodied snakes and would probably crush any live plants placed in their enclosures. I for one would really hate to spend all that time setting up such a beautifully landscaped vivarium only to have in crushed by a roaming snake. So I'm curious what your experience has been with this particular issue?
Cheers,
Matt
I actually have had very few problems with this. In the beginning she did break one of the leaves of the Sansevieria, but it didnt break completely and the plant has done great ever since. She has also broken off a few new sprouts on my Hoya. The thicker more mature leaves have done fine so I plan on using some sort of plastic container with some holes to cover up the plant at night while my snake is active at least until the new sprouts can grow in. As far as choosing plants I would stick to heartier shrub or tree like plants. My Ficus has done well and my Sansevieria has done awesome. As long as you purchase them at a size in which the snake can't do any major damage to them they should be fine. Another plant I plan on trying in the near future is a Dracaena Marginata. When smaller it is a grass like shrub plant that should give a good effect in simulating the central African grasslands look.
Quote:
Was definitely cool to see the snake acting more natural with burrowing through the dirt, hiding, and basking at different points in the day. I also used earthworms in my setup to help keep the soil aerated, and it was always cool to see the tunnels they had burrowed against the glass in the mornings. I'd definitely recommend this for anyone who wants to set up a nice display enclosure!
-m00kfu
I definetly agree with this. It has been really cool to see how my snakes behavior has changed. Her habits such as basking times, when she comes out at night, etc. have become much more patterned and natural. Your also right, when it comes to aesthetic appeal the naturalistic vivarium is hard to beat.
Re: Setting up my Naturalistic Vivarium
Quote:
Originally Posted by
kitedemon
I've had friends whom have a set of very large Bio active systems. They use an equivalent to rhp for heat. (very large 12foot square and 6 tall) it is actually a radiant heat system for homes. I would think that with a water sublayer a uth would not be adequate. It might be possible to have dual sublayers one that is just regular and one side with a heated circulation system. This should allow heat to penatrate the soil layers above it. Just thinking out side the box. A aquarium heater in a circulation box might work really well . Although re-inventing the wheel might not be the most sensible way to proceed. RHP s are safe and efficient and a good solution.
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You are right about the UTH as being an inadequate heat source. However I do use one to help maintain adequate soil temperatures for the benificial bacteria to multiply. It isn't a huge necessity but it does help. Another thing it helps with is evaporating the water trapped in the drainage layer up into the soil. Again, I could get by without it but I have observed that it does help.
When you describe your friends large room sized setup, which is awesome BTW, what do you meen by RHP?
