Quick Bioactive Question

[distaff]

This is an older thread, but I'll add my perspective in case the OP gets back to it. I don't have a BP, but I've kept both a king and a corn in planted tanks for over a year. I also keep fish.

I think "bio-active" is a misnomer when it comes to relative large animals in standard size glass enclosures. The term works better for smaller animals like dart frogs, whose waste is so small, that the usual clean up crew of spring tails, pill bugs, earth worms and microbes can break it down efficiently. A snake enclosure will still require cleaning - the piles are too big, and the contaminated area should be removed as soon as the waste is detected.

I know of no critters that will effectively fight snake mites. IIRC, according to Vosjoli (and agree with slither seeker), one must simply prevent their introduction in the first place. I expect the only way to eradicate them would be to entirely dump the tank contents, and start over with the usual miteicide protocol.

I would not liken the planted enclosure exactly to "cycling" a fish tank. You are not so much concerned with the microflora establishing in a planted viv, as you are getting the plants to root securely enough to withstand a heavy BP. I introduced both my slender smaller animals as soon as the transplants were in.

My heat sources are radiant heat panels at the ceiling, and UTH heat pads that are inside the tank, not underneath. This placement is "off label," so to speak, so do so at your own risk. However, I don't see why my t-stat controlled heaters pose any extra danger. they are attached to a underside slab of stryofoam set on top of the substrate for a hide. The snake crawls under the styrofoam and gets back heat. This arrangement does make for an extra cord that has to exit the enclosure in some way, easy if you have an Exo-terra, less easy if you have the standard Zilla screen tops on a tank. We keep a VERY cold house in the winter (sometimes 55F) which is why I run two heat sources when it is could. Summers, I just run the UTH's.

Hope that helps.