Quote Originally Posted by jclaiborne View Post
You can generally find them used for quite a discount depending on what you are looking for. For off the shelf I use Vision Cages, they aren't the prettiest, but they are one piece and light weight. I made some mods to the them to allow for a deeper substrate, which is what led to me build my own enclosures, it isn't any cheaper but it lets me build them exactely how I want them. I assume some of the bio-tanks you saw were for frogs etc since you mentioned pools and streams. Do yourself a favor and really research like Skip and I have both said where Anteresia Childerni come from and what their natural habitat looks like. You will realize that generally when one refers to a "bio-tank" they are just referring to the fact that the soil is "alive" meaning it has springtails, isopods, and other cleaner bugs that help sustain the environment and clean up waste. It can also refer to living plants etc. While the planning takes a while once you have a direction to go the keep up really is minimal, and again I myself find it rewarding. I enjoy watch the animal in its environment just as much as I enjoy hands on with it. You can build it in stages as well. Again mine is no where near complete for any of the reptiles I keep because it is a constant evolution of "how can I make this better".

I don't know how old your kids are, but I have a 6 year old son, and he has really enjoyed helping me out, it use to be all about "I want to hold them", now he tries to do his own research and come up with ideas on how to improve the environment. Its is a fun bonding/learning experience. All that being said you have to want to do it and enjoy it or like anything else it will become a chore. You don't have to do anything right now other than research as much as you can. Skip pointed you in the direction of some great starting points.

As far as the temps in your tank. You may have added too many holes, since heat rises and your holes are at the top of the bin you are losing a bit of heat. Where are you taking the reading for your ambient temps vs the reading for your surface temp? You really should have a probe for each spot or an IR temp gun to measure the hot spot. That being said I try not to give too much advice on different Temps because what works for me may not work for someone else, but I will say this (**I am not telling you what temps to use, again do some searching**) But the ambients in MY tank are mid 70s and the hot spot fluctuates between 98-101, so a low 90s hot spot IN MY OPTION is a little too low.
i searched google for bio active python tank but it showed some for other reptiles too, moving water is just cool looking in tanks i think..
i heard you need a pretty big tank and bio set up to actually have use of the cleaner bugs cleaning things like waste?
my kids are 2 and 5 yrs old.. my 5 yr old holds the snake and enjoys it so he'll help out soon i'm sure..
i've got a probe from the thermometer 1.5-2 inches off the ground in the corner of the hot side.. i figure that could catch my ambient temp.. i don't have anything checking the belly/ground temp besides the TSTAT probe between the mat and outside of the tub.. i will say i put my finger to the bottom of the inside of the tub where the UTH is and it actually feels warm like it would be emitting good belly heat (i know you said not to use ur hand but at this time that's all i had and i think were ok there.. i think the tub is close now.. ambient is almost mid 70s.. humidity about 40% so i'm just a tad low it sounds like