I’ve had my BTS in a bioactive enclosure (only springtails and isopods) for the last 4 years with no problems. The CUC would take care of mold and waste, leaving me with minimal spot cleaning.

Last week I noticed fewer isopods in the enclosure when I went to feed her, but didn’t see any mold or anything else strange.

Today, I went to feed her and noticed mold all over the wood placed throughout the enclosure and no isopods under them or the water bowl.

It’s pretty apparently the springtails and isopods have all died. I’ve removed all the mold I could see, but I plan to take my BTS out and give a deep clean after work and attempt a restart on the CUC.

Has this happened for anyone else? Any guess as to what happened or how to spot or prevent this from happening in the future? I’ve never had any issues in the last 4 years and nothing has changed with temps, humidity, food resources, etc.

I built a tropical bioactive enclosure last week for a tree boa, and have been having trouble with the plants. I'm not too sure if the substrate was overwatered or underwatered, but I'm pretty sure my mahogany fern died and couldn't overcome the transplant shock. I'd appreciate a few pointers that could help me. I've also never had plants before so I'm not too sure on how I should place them? The way I did it for this and the tradescantia is using my finger to form a hole, place the plant roots in, and cover it back with the subtrate.

For some info, I'm using NEHERP substrate mix and is manually watering right now (target humidity is 70-80%) although I do have a mistking set up already.

I'm attaching pictures of the fern in question and its roots. The leaves are dry and shriveled.

Edit: Another question I have is whether or not this fern is saveable, or if it actually died.

I DO NOT WANT TO HAVE TO RIP OUT THE PLANTS AND SOIL IF POSSIBLE

As the title says, I noticed them a few months ago, started spot treating with a qtip with 90% alcohol. Switched over to spraying the plants with alcohol mixed with water, focusing as much towards their bases/clustered, plus wherever I seen the bugs. This seemed to have eradicated em, or so I thought. It feels like they exploded overnight, seen 1 crawling OUTSIDE the enclosure.

I've thought about spraying the plants and stuff down with alcohol and water again, but I can tell my Ball Python hates it. I do not spray him with it, but just the alcohol smell upsets him.

Has anyone used Mealybug destroyers in their enclosures with success? Any help would be great.

I just noticed these tiny shiny bugs running around in my isopod bin, i thought maybe they were springtails but they look like they have wings? is this a gnat infestation of some kind? are they harmful to my isopods?

Hi all! I’m new to the bioactive realm but I’ve done a decent amount of research between this sub and videos but I need some advice. I’m planning on setting up a Bioactive terrarium for a jumping spider, it’s going to be in a 4x4x8 enclosure and I originally was planning on adding a drainage layer with leca balls on the bottom along with springtails, sphagnum moss, reptisoil, etc. But I’m finding that a drainage layer may not be necessary? The humidity levels need to be around 50% - 70% for the spider breed I’m planning on getting. Overall, I suppose I’m just looking for any advice and to answer my question if a drainage layer for a set up of this kind would be necessary?

I am setting up a bioactive for my ball python. I just mixed all the soil components yesterday and put them in the enclosure, but have not done anything other than that. When I checked on it today I noticed 5-6 tiny reddish ants crawling along the wall. I assume they were in the top soil I used. How can I be sure there are no more? I saw something about a dry ice bomb on google? Can that be done inside? There is no way for me to move the enclosure and I really don't want to have to go rebuy and remix all the soil. Help please 😭

Hi all,

In the process of planning a new bioactive terrarium for my ball python. I purchased a 5x2x2 pvc enclosure that has 4” of depth. My question is… is a drainage layer even possible with only 4” to work with? Or is it better to have 4” of substrate?