Question about bioactive house snake setup

[Darknugget6588]

Hello I'm new both around here and to the reptile keeping hobby and was hoping for a bit of advice from my elders. So my query is I'm about to get a male black African house snake and I'm setting it up in a fully planted bioactive set up. Well that's the hope at least. Now I've done a vast about of research on how I should keep the parameters of the snake humidity and temp wise and made sure to pick plants that would thrive is said conditions. But my worry is that I've read that african house snake are a bit of a burrowing species and I'm afraid that he'll uproot the plants and kill them. So if anyone has any experience keeping african house snakes in bioactive planted set ups and could weight in I'd be very appreciative of the advice. Thanks very much.

[Malum Argenteum]

I don't keep house snakes. I breed quite a few snake species (boas, colubrids), and sell them to many first time reptile owners (both online and at expos, and picked up at my home). Based on my experiences with new keepers I always recommend keeping the animal in the most simple way that reliably leads to success with that species. Once a keeper gets the hang of basic care, gets to know their animal (both the species and the individual specimen), and understands what makes that animal do better or worse in captivity, then they might consider some husbandry method that's more complex. There really is enough to figure out about keeping a reptile without complicating things unnecessarily.

I keep many animal enclosures that many people would call "bioactive", and they're quite challenging to get right; they have a lot of moving parts, so to speak. I personally wouldn't keep any species in such an enclosure that doesn't (capital N) Need it just to live out a full life cycle.

There's a continuum of enclosure styles/methods from paper liner in a tub to "full bioactive". For almost all species, something in the middle is going to give the most benefit with the least chance of adding stuff that's likely to go wrong. Using more rather than less natural materials (so, a natural substrate rather than paper liner; cork bark hides rather than plastic hides; wood branches rather than a plastic pirate ship) is a great way to improve a reptile's captive life without adding things that are possibly more trouble than they're worth. This is probably best called a 'naturalistic' enclosure.

Plants, which have their own care requirements that can be at odds with those of the snake, can be more trouble than they're worth because they're not going to give much benefit to most snake species. A snake will need to have its poop removed anyway, so the 'waste processing' feature claimed of "bioactive" enclosures isn't going to be relevant anyway (unless the enclosure is at least a handful of square meters). So, attempting a "bioactive" enclosure very often ends up being functionally a naturalistic enclosure, but one with a lot of extra elements that aren't doing much work (plants and their lighting, microfauna, fancy substrates that are more suited for the plants than they are for the target species).

Even some naturalistic elements can have serious downsides. Substrate and hides both complicate heating by being insulators, and so whether a heating device/method will work well with a certain substrate or hide material is a serious consideration. If a keeper starts simple and makes husbandry decisions according to actual needs of the animal, the road to success might be less rocky.

[Bogertophis]

Personally, I think if you want to keep snakes, keep snakes, & if you want to keep plants, by all means keep them...but trying to combine their needs in a microcosm & hoping they all survive is a tall order, especially for a first time snake-keeper. Snakes just don't share our priorities & bioactive seems like a lot more trouble than it's worth...apart from aesthetics & your satisfaction if it succeeds, bioactive does nothing to improve the health & survival of a snake, & I can imagine it could add a lot of stress to the snake if you have to keep adjusting the plants & the substrate to make it work, especially when the snake is new. It's way more important to me that my snakes feel "safe" so they eat & thrive. If a "big scary human" has to keep invading their space every time they take a dump (you do realize it's more than bioactive can handle, don't you?) you might end up with a nervous snake that won't eat.

My own preferences include using scenic backdrops (outside the glass- I much prefer glass tanks for what I keep- just colubrids these days), & natural branches & driftwood for climbing, to appear as natural as possible. Sometimes I also wire a shallow woven basket to the branches as a "tree-house"- many snakes enjoy some type of "sky-hide" as a resting platform. But I'd never do bio-active for any of my snakes, though I think it's a good idea for some other smaller creatures.

[Malum Argenteum]

But I'd never do bio-active for any of my snakes, though I think it's a good idea for some other smaller creatures.

Yes, some herp species really aren't practical to keep alive long term in "traditional" housing. Smaller frogs (Dendrobatids), some of the geckos (mourning geckos; probably some of the other dwarf geckos such as Sphaerodactylus) are like this. I keep a few frog species that eat only springtails when they're very young, and need those springtails to be available at all times. These smaller species that are fairly intolerant of deviations in moisture levels are well-served by a mass of plants that transpire water into the air and provide a range of small moist hiding spots. And many of these species must carry out their full life cycle (mating, egg laying, hatching, growout of young) in the parents' enclosure -- so that enclosure cannot be cleaned by replacing substrate since the eggs get scrambled and the young don't recover from the upheaval.

These needs aren't relevant to virtually any snakes, though there probably are a few; I've not kept any Storeria species, for example, which seem interesting but are reported to be fairly poor captives, and this may be because they're prime candidates for a well thought out bioactive enclosure tailored to their specific needs. And providing for needs that the animal doesn't have makes little sense.

[Bogertophis]

Yes, some herp species really aren't practical to keep alive long term in "traditional" housing. Smaller frogs (Dendrobatids), some of the geckos (mourning geckos; probably some of the other dwarf geckos such as Sphaerodactylus) are like this. I keep a few frog species that eat only springtails when they're very young, and need those springtails to be available at all times. These smaller species that are fairly intolerant of deviations in moisture levels are well-served by a mass of plants that transpire water into the air and provide a range of small moist hiding spots. And many of these species must carry out their full life cycle (mating, egg laying, hatching, growout of young) in the parents' enclosure -- so that enclosure cannot be cleaned by replacing substrate since the eggs get scrambled and the young don't recover from the upheaval.

These needs aren't relevant to virtually any snakes, though there probably are a few; I've not kept any Storeria species, for example, which seem interesting but are reported to be fairly poor captives, and this may be because they're prime candidates for a well thought out bioactive enclosure tailored to their specific needs. And providing for needs that the animal doesn't have makes little sense.

Yes, all this! ^ ^ ^ I was trying to think of any snake species that might be exceptions, where bio-active enclosures are essential, but I couldn't. If you're not keeping herps that actually do better with bio-active or truly require it, I'd suggest you beware of all the seductive advertising to sell it to you. It's a business, after all, & sellers aren't going to talk you out of it.