Quote Originally Posted by Clay View Post
curious about the "naturalistic enclosure" since i'm new what is the best way to achieve this.. glass tank or a custom built, can it be done with a tub, mine is one of the bigger tubs height wise, i could maybe look for one that's a little longer in length.. as for glass tanks i have a super hard time heating them, i know you can cover the top half and most do around the sides and back but i like to handle my pets so i don't want a lid i have to fight with to get him out.. my beardy tank has no lid and is a 110 gal glass tank and i had to change up my lighting/heating situation like 3-4 times to get it near right, the cost got pretty pricey figuring it out.. i don't wanna seem cheap but i figured if you buy the right stuff which was suprisly not much the tub would be the cheaper option to go and the snake would still be fine.. i also don't wanna look like the guy who can't afford his pet cuz i've had my beardy 7 yrs now and he's big, healthy and still going strong.. i would rather have natural set up however but i'm not super handy and don't have a ton of free money to throw into the set up plus i live in Canada so we don't have a lot of the less pricey options for DIY..

as an update after my noob mistake with the UTH my tubs ambient temps have went up to 76-77.5 from 73-74.5 but strangely after putting in the bigger water dish my humidity has dropped from 50% to 30% which makes no sense to me but it could be that lid was off for a bit today while i had him out, not really sure? will have to check again tomorrow

keep the feedback rolling, i need input input and information like Johnny 5 haha sorry
This is something we can discuss through PM or private email. The process can be daunting, but in reality it's fairly easy.

There has been a lot written on "recipes" for bioactive substrate but I kinda stumbled on a formula by accident. Where I work there is slide material that has a high amount of natural DG and top soil mixed in with some sandy loam. Once dried and spread it makes a wonderful bioactive substrate medium. during the winter, we stockpile this stuff (it comes from a National Park) in our staging area and I literally have access to thousands of cubic yards of it.

I was using it in my monitor enclosures because it is perfect for many of the odataria species. After awhile I noticed that I had a ton of isopods in the enclosures. I actually use these to seed additional set ups.

This substrate is self cleaning...the isopods and other organisms rapidly break down waste.

After you find a suitable substrate, the next trick is researching the natural environment of your children. As J pointed out, there are numerous resources you can draw on to give you ideas. Do they utilize burrows? Do they use rock formations? Do they climb? Do they drink from puddled water or from accumulated moisture? What temps have they been observed basking at? Do they seem to benefit from UV light at all? Are they nocturnal, diurnal or crepuscular?

Find those answers out for yourself. If they utilize burrows, a terra cota pot buried in the bioactive substrate will do a great job of wicking water from the soil and making a nice humid burrow. If they utilize rock ledges, you can buy some nice ones made of foam from several sources....the options are endless and the results are...as others have attested to....rewarding.

As J related, PVC enclosures are nice because they not only hold humidity and temps better, but also their dimension tend to work better for reptile species.

At some point I'm going to put my current clelia rustica naturalistic build up..from start to finish. Again, if you have any questions regarding the process, feel free to PM me.