For what it's worth, I think it is possible to start up a bioactive setup with the animal already living in it (I'm thinking of trying it myself and researching it). As I understand it, the biggest reason to set it up in advance is so that the plants can get established enough to have a decent shot at surviving getting sat on all the time.
But there's nothing to stop you from putting in the soil, leaf litter, and bugs and letting them get established slowly while your snake is already living there too. Worst thing that happens is that you have to spot clean in the meantime until your cleaners can take care of it. But you have to spot clean now anyway. I can't think of any reason you should ever have to dump the whole tub though.
You do have to provide an environment the cleaners can live in - that means soil deep enough that the lower part can be pretty humid while the top is dry enough for the snake, and/or rocks or logs or things the cleaners can hide out under, and leaf litter for them to eat. You can't just dump springtails into a tub that has half an inch of aspen or coco fiber and expect them to survive or do much of anything.
A few inches of soil instead of just a thin layer of loose substrate does have a higher capacity to hold moisture, which should help you keep the humidity up. The springtails help keep that soil clean and healthy.
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