Quick Bioactive Question

[Slither Seeker]

Great reply- So you don't think Isopods AND springtails would breakdown the poop? I thought it would be too much but then read elsewhere that the combo actually does well breaking it down so I'm curious. Hoping the original OP will update. I like your "off" suggestion but one of my BP actually enjoys climbing while the other prefers burrowing so I'm going with overheat lamp. Still trying to figure out low sturdy plants since normally BP tank is 18" height and not willing to spend another few hundred on new tank just to accommodate new plants

I can say that I have not removed a dropping from the vivarium of my 5 ft BRB in over a year. yes the droppings are large, but they remain remarkably innocuous and break down to soil. the tank doesn't smell, the plants are growing like wild and the snake is very healthy. it is a relatively large, multi layered environment and the snake does have like 5 different places it likes to hang out (2 hides, below the false bottoms that is consists of pebbles, above the false bottom but below the substrate layer as well as on top of the substrate layer). I have yet to venture into setting up such a vivarium for my BP's but I am curious if something like this will work for them. their humidity requirements and droppings are quite different from my BRB, so I don't know if it can work, with big girthey snakes that produce a lot of waste, it may be a matter of making the enclosure large enough to handle the load, but that may turn out to be unrealistic. I think calling what I'm doing "bio-active" may not be what people are referring to, I've gone all in with grow lights and have some experience with terrariums/vivariums and fish tanks to help me walk the tight rope. Early on the whole thing went anaerobic before I installed a false bottom and I had to start over... I almost gave up but I'm glad I didn't. I suspect that with a full grown BP that a successful eco-dome (for lack of a better term) would have to be maybe twice the size of my current BRB vivarium, which is about 55 gallons, so maybe more like 100 gallons and would need a more extensive grow light to drive the plant mass needed to soak up that much nitrogen and propagate the necessary micro-biome. I'm just not sure if this forum is the right place to get into this too deeply, it seems that some people hold strongly to their prescribed way of doing things and are quick to cut people down if they find something to point out. I realize some folks get pretty freaked out by the idea that you could actually create a relatively contained ecosystem that can handle raw waste. being able to do it in a way that does not endanger the animal comes down to your ability to monitor biological process and know what to look for and it's a bit of a no mans land.