new interest in snakes, trying to learn.

[artgecko]

Cage maintanance is something that I haven't seen many people comment about.. you, OP, said something in a post several pages ago (something like "clean the cage once a month or not at all if you do bioactive". I wanted to address this because it is a big mis conception for those not keeping.

When maintaning animals, especially growing, young, or breeding animals that are fed weekly, you can expect them to urinate at least once a week, with solid waste correlating with feedings, so feed 1x a week, expect 1x a week urination and poop. This can sometimes take longer (for solid waste) but usually urination is frequent. I check my racks and cages daily and spot clean (remove soiled areas of the bedding) or remove all the bedding (for rack with paper). Sometimes, a snake will urinate on Monday (and I'll clean it) then that same snake will deficate on Tuesday, necessitating a complete cage clean that day too. For animals in racks, this means removing it, cleaning the tub with a disinfectant (I use vinegar water, chlorhexidine spray), drying, then replacing it. For animals in a tub or enclosure with loose substrate, this means removing the whole soiled area, if it touches the tub, using disinfectant, then replacing with fresh bedding.

Animals have to be checked daily and cleaning done as quickly as possible. The reason behind this is that animals will sit on soiled or wet substrate and if that happens, can develop scale rot and have to be taken to the vet.

I have some terrariums for gecko species which are bioactive. Bioactive enclosures really only work if you either have very small inhabitants with very small waste (compared to enclosure size) or if you are basically still spot-cleaning and removing urates and solid waste. This is becaue, even with a CUC and "good" bacteria in the soil used, there is note enough room for the waste of such a large animal to be processed..It could take months for a CUC to completely consume the solid waste a BP produces and within that time, the animal might be slithering over it, sitting on it, bacteria will be growing on it, etc. all things that can lead to an infection.

For my geckos, I remove solid waste if I see it, I clean the glass and plant leaves, and I stir the substrate.

I agree with others' comments about housing. If you don't want to do tubs or racks, you need to look at pvc cages like animal plastics. These insulate and hold humidity much better and are stackable. If doing arboreal species you will need radient heat panels (RHP) if doing more terrestrial species, you will need heat tape. A quality thermostat like a herpstat is also a must for safety reasons.