Little question, did you get the sand from the beach?

Thank you buddy

Oooo good luck . There amazing animals

Awww that's amazing thank you

If your clean up crew is okay. Your plants are doing well then no need to fix what's not broken. Just consider it if you re do the setup. What animal do you have in the set up

@@NORTHERNEXOTICS I have a golden gecko in there at the moment and everything seems to be doing good so far xxx

I love watching a bioactive setup mature over time. Great to look back on photos from when it was first setup

Depends on the species

I've never thought of using dubia roaches tbh

I have wonder about letting dubias live in the viv as part of the clean up crew but have not seen anyone on youtube do this. I have Giant Orange Isopods, (super prolific and very efficient cleaners), they are so much better than Tropical Greys. Also Springtails. ( I have backup colonies in large pickle jars so I do not have to buy any). I also have Darkling Beetles from Morio and meal worms that escaped being eaten and have colonised the substrate they do an excellent job cleaning up too. Anything that drops to the vivarium floor vanishes within a minute. I do remove the Darkling Beetles to keep the numbers down as they can annoy my Cresties. I also wash and then add lettuce leaves to the floor so that there is always plant matter that can be eaten as the Isopods get so numerous they will eat my live plants. Also a milkbottle lid full of buggrub keeps them going and is a handy way to catch and remove to a separate colony when the numbers get too high. Also Dendrobia (earth worms) to keep the soil turned over and aerated.

@@starbyray7828 do you use any of them as feeders? Or sell any? Or are you keeping the insects themselves as pet? Also how often do you have to clean up since it sounds like they'll clean themselves. Sorry, I'm just a curious person lbs.

@@SlickzyTTV Happy to answer your questions. The only cleaning I have to do in the vivarium is to clean the glass mainly from calcium deposits (I live in a very hard water area) and urites. Occasionally boil some cork bark tubes, although the darkling Beetles will climb up and clean it. That is my Leos toilet spot of choice. Anything that falls to the viv floor is gone very quickly. Any poop that is stuck on plants or glass usually gets removed by the Darkling Beetles or dislodged when I mist. I have a colony of meal worms (and their Beetles), one of morio worms (and their Beetles). These are in plastic terrariums of varying sizes. The Morio and Meal worms are fed off to my reptiles. I hand pick various sizes and put them into a separate box where they are fed fresh veg, fruit and powdered repashy of various flavours that my Cresties won't eat, to ensure they are all fully gut loaded before being fed to my Cresties and Leos. I keep Pickle jars with springtails colonies in as back ups in case of die off in the vivariums. I have a small colony of Dubias, they need their tub upgraded now their numbers have recently increased (it took a long time to get males but finally I have 3 full grown). I also have a large plastic storage bin that contains the overflow of Darkling Beetles, Giant Orange Isopods (of which there are loads) and Morios, that I remove from my vivs. I also put clean up crew into my Cricket tank and my Locust tank (i.e. meal worms,morios and isopods. Keeps the floor of both clean. So again there is not too much clean up needed. I still buy Crickets and Locusts these I transfer from the plastic boxes they come in making sure none of the bran gets transferred. I usually clean those tanks out once the current batch of insects has been fed off. It keeps them from smelling too. The locusts are messy insects as they poop all over the sides so that tank needs cleaning more intensely. Everything gets cleaned with F10 solution The Crickets and Locust get Swells bug grub and fresh fruit and veg. I don't give them water as they either drown in it or poo in it but they get lettuce leaves daily that are rinsed and shaken but left wet. This works well to keep them hydrated. I even had a colony of Fruit Bug Beetles as my Geckos would not eat the grubs and they ended up in a plastic terrarium of their own. After while they began building an egg shaped cocoon each out of the substrate they came in. That was fascinating especially when they emerged. No I do not sell any of them, so yes they are kind of additional pets as well as a food supply. I wish I could breed Crickets and Locusts then i could be self sufficient :0) One thing I have noticed is my Geckos prefer home raised meal and morio worms and these don't smell like the bought ones do. Hope this reply was not too long winded lol

@@starbyray7828 thank you, this helped out quite a bit. What types of insects do you have all in 1 terrieram? (With the dubia roaches) I'm new to all of this bug stuff lol. I'm trying to figure out a way to have my dubia roaches cleaned up after, without any flying bugs, or escape artist bugs.

They eat the soil which makes compost :) I love the little story about your tegu

Haha there awesome names

@@NORTHERNEXOTICS It's hard to name snakes... I did have a male green iguana called 'Colin' for 18+ years. He was like my dog. Only reptile I've ever named.

Welcome to the family

Thanks for replying

I wouldn't say so.

I don't see why not

Did you use this method ?

@@fishingwithliam2460 I live in the US so it's not exactly the same. I have done a similar mixture and I have also used a premixed bioactive substrate. I like both in the tanks I have them in.

The pack man frog will choke on loose moss

@@jacobrentfro8282 my pacman has never invested any substrate. If you cut the moss small enough it doesn’t matter. They would have to eat a substantial amount. I don’t feed my pacman in her tank and it’s never been a problem.

Hey man, doing the same with my pacman frog. How did it go? You have some tips?

Yes that's a great ratio

why he only liked the comment and not answering :(

lucada32 I know. Kinda sad

Charcoal was from an aquarium shop. Wood was from my local forest. Hard wood. I cooked it for an hour then left it for a month before using it

@@NORTHERNEXOTICS Thanks Richard, I have often seen good pieces of fallen wood in my local woodland and thought "now that would look good in a vivarium", but not used it because of a fear of contamination with bacteria or parasites etcetera

I've added springtails a few days ago so just got too see if they help keep the mold dwn now.

I was about to say springtails sort out the mould. That and good ventalation

@@NORTHERNEXOTICS I've got good ventilation in my enclosures there exo terra's mesh tops so plenty ventilation when I 1st mixed the mixture off top soil vermiculite and exo terra forest moss I think I wetted it too much and that's what as caused the mold out break or the exo terra forest moss cause I've noticed that there's mold growing on the forest moss white fury mold nothing worse I hate it lol 😂

Tannings and they don't break down to easy either. Slow break down mean better substrate firtalier and healthier for the clean up crew

@@NORTHERNEXOTICS ty

Love the names ❤🔥

No, you can't use a tropical base for bearded dragons. It'll hold way too much humidity. You need much more sand (about 30%), much less sphagnum (maybe 10% or less), and more soil. Actual organic topsoil is better than coconut coir for that. No orchid bark. You still need about the same amount of the charcoal.

I have done in the past

Depends on the species and plants. Burrowing species deeper. Bigger plants deeper. Bigger bodied animals deeper

@@NORTHERNEXOTICS okay thank you 😁

Depends on how heavy you mist and the animals

Wünderbar

Add charcoal and a clean up crew. Your pH levels are to high and the charcoal will neutralise it

@@NORTHERNEXOTICS somewhat the ammonia smell has lessen after the charcoal has been added. Do i need to ferment the soil for a few days before using it right?

Clean up crew. Springtails will eat the mould

@@NORTHERNEXOTICS I have springtails in there. The isopods just eat everything up together with the living plants in there. That was a quick reply huh

Probably not enough ventilation.

thanks!