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I recently set up a terrarium for some poison dart frogs. on a whim, i added some earthworms from the bait store (after i had feasted them on compost for a while to clean them out) and a colony of mushrooms sprung up also. with all these decomposers in there, there is absolutely no waste produced. all i add is fruitflies and water.

Has any one tried this kind of thing with snakes? i have a pair of cornsnakes that i would like to setup in an "ecosystem" terrarium. Some problems i'm running across include: increased amount of waste, difference in composition of snake waste, and finding a substrate that would facilitate the decomposition.

I'm sure any number of inverts and fungi would readily feast on the snake feces, but i'm having trouble finding something to decompose the urates. as i understand, the urates generally are broken down into nitrogen compounds (by bacteria, as in a fish tank filter) and then into elemental nitrogen by certain plants. Can the same bacteria in a fishtank thrive in a terrarium, or are there an entirely different set of mechanisms?

The substrate problem: Both of the decomposers in my frog tank love the same moist compost that the frogs require. But the idea of keeping my snakes on such a moist substrate makes me abit nervous. Granted, cornsnakes are incredibly hardy, but i've battled bellyrot in my girlfriend's snake before, and it wasn't pretty.

any ideas, suggestions, or nay-sayers? i'd love to hear from you.
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Edited on December 20, 2003 at 19:35:05 by phwyvern.

I would say it could be done, and hae thought about it as well. But the size of the cage would be huge. You would have to have enough floor space for the "ecosystem" to work correctly. One of the first questions I think would have to be answered is: How long would it take for snake waste to be broken down. You wouldnt want alot of waste build up in the cage. And 99% of the time my snakes poop in the same spot. So if your snake did this, you would have an area that would have alot of waste and would be hard to decompose quick enough. However you could periodically remove it to help "sanitize" your setup. You would have to have a moist/cool end and a dry/warm end as well. As you stated most big terrestrial snakes do not do well on moist/damp substrate. Ringnecks, dekays, redbellied browns, worm snakes, and earth snakes would do great in this kind of setup. The only problem is you would have to have an abundant supply of earthworms, as all of these snakes will readily devour earthworms. I think it would be a neat idea for these little snakes, but they are very secretive and you wouldnt see them much, if at all!

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Good luck and Happy Herping
Brian