Bioactive Substrate System

[mainbutter]

My tips from my extended use of bioactive substrate in a few vivariums:

You need larger volume of caging and substrate than "typical" setups for any given animal.

Removing waste when you can is still a fantastic idea.

I've had less success with "stirring" and more success with "fluffing" the substrate occasionally. Anaerobic bacteria aren't what you want to promote, but you also dont really want to bury any waste as deep as possible.

Isopods and springtails make great janitors. Isopods and fungus helps take care of any waste, and springtails help get rid of excess fungus growth.

Fungus growth is often a good thing, but not always. Usually though it means that waste of some sort is getting taken care of. Mushrooms are kinda cool when/if they start to appear. If you see one in the morning and it's disappeared by nighttime, that's normal from my experience. Fungus growth in an established vivarium is also a good indicator that some spot cleaning would be a good idea. I don't like the "fuzzy" fungus, usually means I missed a big poop.

Terrestrial snakes aren't the best choice for bioactive substrate, but that doesn't mean it can't/shouldn't be done. Always be willing to evaluate your progress and determine if your snake's home is a healthy one. The only snakes I've kept on bioactive substrate were carpet pythons that were under 250 grams, in large exo terras.

I've only ever done bioactive substrate successfully with tropical, humid, jungle-y environments. I use a Mistking for multiple mistings every day, more mistings in the dry winter and fewer in the humid summer months. I highly recommend mistkings for planted vivariums and bioactive substrates. Bone dry substrate doesn't do a good job to support the kind of beneficial bacteria, microfauna, and fungi that keep the world clean.

My substrate setup is hydroton drainage layer, a sheet of some kind of non-rusting screen mesh over the hydroton (various types of window screen will work), and "ABG mix" substrate, you can probably find an old thread on it by searching for "atlanta botanical gardens". I'm getting close to a 2 year mark for some of my vivariums running on the same substrate in my crested gecko cages. If I ever get around to it I might do an update for how it is holding up (very well, plants and geckos are HAPPY!), I've also been thinking of performing a soil test on my substrate.