glad to see i can't push a button.

many times people build these vivariums; 90 gallon fishtanks,
or custom or rooms sized habitat and there seems to be a common issue that i'm correcting. a book. one book, three books or more! all say one thing. all say nothing about soil profiles,
why uv is important, drainage, micro fauna and such. they all say orchid bark looks like, top soil is fine too but none say anything about what to do about the white mold (it's eating sugar off the wood surface, it's fine), the white strings are the roots of mushroom...yeah yeah, they don't have roots, i know...LOL...they don't say anything about what could be in the Top Soil...like fecal or chicken manure...bat turds...all of these things are bad in an enclosed habitat as there isn't an ozone, the sun and weather. instead in the habitat there will be fungus blooms, bacterial loads that are too high UNLESS the habitat, it's soil profile and the microclimates are regualted. this has to be done at the construction to ensure the right life supports are in place long before the animal is brought home, which is backward to reality many times! also i said the bit about the zoo as working with keepers for the last four years has shown me a narrow mindedness that hold fast to tradition and nothing to advancing the future of herpeticulture...maybe i'm bold but i don't want to defend my knowledge and experience, instead we should try other principal that have worked but with out the "new hobby" financing many of our older peers had, sharing the knowledge is hard...my brashness can be forgiven i'm sure but it's still important to think of all that could occur not just what some book says.

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