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  1. #1
    BPnet Veteran baldegale's Avatar
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    hognose bioactive?

    hey! im wanting to make a bioactive 15 gal for my male hognose. and its seemingly to be extremely hard to find actual information and bioactives for hognoses. the only thing ive even come up with is the kit from TheBioDude and its a little pricey. i could just go with the normal bland aspen snake shavings and a couple branches but i feel like bioactive would be a lot better. do you guys have any suggestions on where to buy and things to buy?


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  2. #2
    Telling it like it is! Stewart_Reptiles's Avatar
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    Everything the biodude sells can be bought separately on other sites. Decoration are easy to find and making your own substrate for a bioactive setup is pretty easy, what you need to keep in mind is that you need a low humidity environment, with plants that requires low humidity as well.

    As for Isopods to help break downs waste you will have to research that the most commonly found are usually isopods that thrive in high humidity environment for tropical and sub tropical species.
    Deborah Stewart


  3. #3
    BPnet Veteran baldegale's Avatar
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    Re: hognose bioactive?

    Quote Originally Posted by Deborah View Post
    Everything the biodude sells can be bought separately on other sites. Decoration are easy to find and making your own substrate for a bioactive setup is pretty easy, what you need to keep in mind is that you need a low humidity environment, with plants that requires low humidity as well.

    As for Isopods to help break downs waste you will have to research that the most commonly found are usually isopods that thrive in high humidity environment for tropical and sub tropical species.
    ended up joining a group on FB and got the same info. went out today and bought some organic garden soul to mix with sand for the substrate. might get some sphag to mix in aswell. im gonna plant some aloe and other succulents and i have some wood and rocks im gonna use. then i have to buy leaf litter aswell


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  4. #4
    BPnet Veteran baldegale's Avatar
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    Re: hognose bioactive?

    the only thing im having trouble figuring out now is the clean up crew, theres like no info on it anywhere for hognoses


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  5. #5
    Telling it like it is! Stewart_Reptiles's Avatar
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    Re: hognose bioactive?

    Quote Originally Posted by baldegale View Post
    the only thing im having trouble figuring out now is the clean up crew, theres like no info on it anywhere for hognoses


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    That was my point earlier the clean up crew that you will find on the market are as I mentioned before thriving in higher humidity environment so finding the right ones might be tricky.

    Here is part of a good article


    Cleanup Crew:

    Most of the bugs mentioned and available as cleanup crew (or custodians) of a bioactive setup are tropical inhabitants and humid lovers. Desertic bioactive setups have not been used enough to establish thriving invertebrates for such habitats, so it is still in the steps of experimenting. In my first attempt of bioactive, I had left patches of the substrate with just coco-fibre and compost mixed with leaf litter, and kept moist under flat rocks and wood, in order for the custodians to have a humid retreat. I introduced springtails (tropical and native), woodlice (tropical and natives), mealworms, lesser (mini) mealworms and their beetles. The springtails survived for a week at and around the moist patches but died off eventually. The tropical woodlice survived for a while longer but followed the same fate eventually, leaving the native woodlice, mealworms, lesser mealworms and their beetles to survive the longest. For a while these last custodians were doing a great job eliminating the wastes, pieces of shed and leftover food from the setup.

    Eventually, the substrate was too dry for even these invertebrates and the big majority died off soon. When I redid the setup, I laid a bottom layer of humid coco-fibre and compost soil to provide the invertebrates an underground moist layer throughout the whole setup and not just in patches. I have also provided a moist patch of humid soil directly linked to the bottom moist layer, hidden under a flat rock as well as, a humid corner covered by pieces of wood, bark and withering plants. Was hopeful that this would provide a better chance for the invertebrates and so far after a month, they are starting to show signs of breeding. I have mealworms, lesser mealworms and their beetles; and native woodlice as the cleanup crew for my desertic habitat and I have witnessed wastes and left over food disappearing in one night.

    (Moist patch under a flat rock with mealworms, lesser mealworms and their beetles. Photos by Sheriyar Bokhari)

    Other custodians that can be used for desertic setups, though I haven’t tried them myself yet, are superworms (morios), dermestids and their beetles. After a bit of research, it would seem that the most effective of all dry setups custodians, would be the blue death feigning beetles (Asbolus verrucosus), but it seems that due to their high difficulty in getting the larvae to pupate in captivity, they are rarely imported outside of the U.S.A.

    Conclusion:

    Doing a bioactive setup for desertic to dry inhabitants is still in the path for trial and error, there are still no foolproof ways of doing this kind of setup. For this reason, all observations and anecdotes are welcomed in regarding the setting up of the enclosure as well as the running of the setup. The substrate should be more sand or any other dry substrate than humid-retaining substrate and plants should be those species able to withstand the very low levels of humidity. Although the invertebrates mentioned above will tolerate the dry environment, they will still need moist retreats, and the more accessible retreats they have, the better toensure their breeding. All aspects need to be carefully monitored in order to have the environmental and behavioural requirements of all living beings in the setup met in a common scale.
    More here http://animalias.boards.net/thread/5...ve-dry-set-ups
    Deborah Stewart


  6. #6
    BPnet Veteran baldegale's Avatar
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    Re: hognose bioactive?

    Quote Originally Posted by Deborah View Post
    That was my point earlier the clean up crew that you will find on the market are as I mentioned before thriving in higher humidity environment so finding the right ones might be tricky.

    Here is part of a good article




    More here http://animalias.boards.net/thread/5...ve-dry-set-ups
    i actually JUST read that over on the RABS facebook page! i understood the CUC part. but the substrate was entirely confusing to me, the author just kept adding on to what they already said an in the end didn’t summarize what the actually ended up going with. as of right now im just doing an organic topsoil/pool filter sand (quartz sand instead of silica, dont think it makes a difference) mix, of 70% top soil and 30% sand and throwing in some leaf litter as well as maybe some sphag moss into the mix. but it looks like im just gonna go with some normal isos and get some superworms


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  7. #7
    Registered User scarThePiedBall's Avatar
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    I was looking to go bio active for my BP....but haven't fully committed yet. I was able to find a cheaper cuc on amazon. Since your cuc might be different, you can reach out to the company selling, they might have something for you or know of a mix? Search for "Critters Direct"

  8. #8
    BPnet Veteran baldegale's Avatar
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    Re: hognose bioactive?

    Quote Originally Posted by scarThePiedBall View Post
    I was looking to go bio active for my BP....but haven't fully committed yet. I was able to find a cheaper cuc on amazon. Since your cuc might be different, you can reach out to the company selling, they might have something for you or know of a mix? Search for "Critters Direct"
    join this page on facebook: https://m.facebook.com/groups/300589990105820?ref=share theres a lot of knowledgeable people but you kinda have to ask a person for more detail. make sure before you make a post you search the group for “ball python bioactive” or something of the like and look through as many files as you think will pertain to you. cause thats what theyll tell you to do first!

    but gonna look them up rn!


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    scarThePiedBall (12-31-2018)

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