About the drainage layers: My arid one doesn't have one, and doesn't need one because of its limited water and faster draining substrate. Japanese rat snake's does, and we got the "deep" version of the enclosure. I think from the surface where the snake touches, down to the clay ball things on the bottom, it's probably 6"?
Regarding the UTH I have in my arid enclosure: I do actually want to heat part of my substrate in my case, but this is to encourage my blue death-feigning beetle larvae to do well. I have about four inches of substrate there, and I don't think much of the heat reaches the top. However, I did build underground "caves" for my snake, one of which should be heated because it touches the bottom or almost the bottom of the substrate. (I don't know if bps like underground hides or not; I don't have much experience with them?) I may need to adjust this once my snake is in it, though, if it isn't enough heat. If that's the case, I will either go with a ceramic heat emitter on top (I have one that I had used for my iguana in the past, but no longer need), or I will try another UTH on the side. I'm also thinking about doing a UVB bulb in the future to encourage basking, but I'm not sure if the low-UVB bulbs for snakes emit any heat; I am guessing they probably don't, unlike the stronger heat-UVB bulb combo I use for my iguana. So I may end up adding some more bulbs and stuff, if my snake needs it.
In your case, I think the easiest thing to try would be a side UTH? This seems the best way to heat an area without having it obscured by substrate. I would think it would still help with the heat needed for digestion, but just wouldn't be directly under them. I know some people also use radiant heat panels or heat tape, but I don't have experience with them. I think RHPs go on the top?
I think the best advice would be to set it up without the snake first. Both of the enclosures existed without the animal in it for a while first. Mine has beetles in it but no snake yet, like I've said, but my beetles will have lived in there for one year on Halloween (not because I think it needed to be this long; I just didn't find my snake till recently lol). The more typical bioactive one for our Japanese rat snake, which has the isopods, springtails, drainage layer, planted plants, existed for I think at least a couple of weeks to a month without the snake (and I had the isopods for 2-4 weeks in their own plastic container before then). I had wanted the isopods to get settled in there, and also wanted to see if the plants would live. In addition, I wanted the bamboo to root itself so if the snake climbed on it, the bamboo wouldn't fall over.
The NEherp site tells you to "process" plants with a diluted bleach. I... didn't do this... but what I did do, was completely submerge the spike moss in a bucket for a day, which I figured would kill any insects on it (obviously, I also removed all of the soil from the plant.). The lucky bamboo, I just grew in some water in the kitchen for a while to see if any pests appeared on it, but that plant was an exception because they don't need to be grown in soil (they are growing in soil in the enclosure now, though, but it was good to not have to worry about the soil). I dunno if this was advisable or not--like not "processing" the bamboo with bleach--but for the spike moss in particular, I thought it would damage it because it's a sensitive species.
Most plants that will do well in a vivarium for a bp are pretty easy houseplants, like pothos and other resilient plants. These are usually taken care of pretty well at garden centers, but sometimes look bad in big-box stores if they have had them for a while. I would guess those have lots of chemicals on them to prevent pests, and usually they look sad because they aren't getting enough light or water. I would "process" these
according to NEherp just in case? But, if you have had the plant for a while (I would say, over a month, but some may disagree), I wouldn't bother with it, especially since you said you cleaned yours off. Plants do expel pest treatments, which is why they need to be re-applied at the greenhouse and stuff, although I don't know exactly how long that takes. No matter what, I would remove as much of the soil as possible from the roots--rinse under water and pick off soil from the plants before putting it in the bioactive.
If you look at lists of plant species sold on bioactive sites, like NEherp, Josh's frogs, you can get some good ideas for plants (or even buy from them, if you can't find them locally). Weirdly, I don't recommend the BioDude's selection of plants, not because they're bad quality or whatever, but because most of the ones I saw on their site or in their pre-made kits will grow to be way too big? It confuses me.
Just a general tip: water less than you think you'll need to. Pothos are good to start with because they will "guttate" (make a water droplet on the edge of the leaf--not to be confused with like mist droplets if you just sprayed it lol), and this will show you that you definitely don't need to water it yet. When first planting both of my terrariums, I poured an entire gallon of spring water into them to hydrate their roots; then I think it was once every couple of days for a week or two. Plants take 1-2 weeks to establish their roots and settle in, but after that point, watering should be pretty infrequent for adult plants (less than once per week, for ours anyway). You can literally just tug on the roots and see if they are rooted or not! And that will let you know you can cut back on the waterings and see how it does.
People may argue this point, but I don't think snakes can have "too big" of an enclosure. If you put a younger snake in an adult-sized enclosure, just make sure you clutter up the enclosure a LOT; this will give him more places to explore and will let him feel safe. In nature, there are lots of places to hide despite being mostly unlimited space. My only general advice would be giving him time to be comfortable in his current place first, though--again, idk how long you've had him so far? But maybe after 3 months or something? There may be other advice on this timeline, though. I personally like to direct my efforts into one nice permanent enclosure than several steps transitioning to it, but I understand some people have circumstances like limited space or specific housing situations that wouldn't allow it yet.
For sure though, it's much preferable to have the bioactive tank set up first and then move the snake into it. This way, the plants and isopod/springtail colonies can establish, and you can get to a point where the plants do not need to be watered as frequently. I'd say having it without the snake for one month is good, because that way you can troubleshoot without the animal in it and learn if you need to tweak anything.
Originally Posted by TofuTofuTofu
About the drainage layers: My arid one doesn't have one, and doesn't need one because of its limited water and faster draining substrate. Japanese rat snake's does, and we got the "deep" version of the enclosure. I think from the surface where the snake touches, down to the clay ball things on the bottom, it's probably 6"?
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