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The book "Rhacodactylus" by de Vosjoli et al talks about having a "biologically active" substrate that never needs changing. Apparently helpful bacteria grow in the substrate and degrade waste material to a harmless form. Does anyone have experience/opinions about this? What's a good substrate material to use? Should I still remove feces, or should I bury them in the substrate? Are there any disadvanages to this approach? It sounds even easier than paper towels, which have to be changed regularly. With the bio-active substrate, all you have to do is keep it moist and stir it occasionally.

if you go with the bioactive substrate, there are a few things to think about:

1) you need live plants. they are a key component to creating a bioactive environment.

2) these plants will need to be sturdy enough to support your crested. pothos are popular.

3) the plants will need some sort of light. you'll need to pick up a UV light for the enclosure, but watch your heat levels.

4) don't scoop the poop, turn the earth. the waste contains, among other things vital to the bioactive earth, nitrogen, which is essential to the life cycle.

Thanks for the feedback...why are live plants essential? Is it to establish bacteria in the substrate, or to extract waste products, or something else? I was going to put in some plants in pots, but it sounds like that wouldn't serve any "biological" function. But unless the plant roots pretty much permeate the substrate, I don't see why they would make much difference...

the whole point to a bio-active enclosure is that, besides needing water and food for the animals, it is self-sustaining.

think about this ... why are you turning the soil over?

(hint: it's not to simply have to avoid scoopin' the poop! LOL)

in your enclosure, you have your soil substrate, your live plants, and your cresteds. your mist the tank for the humidity, which provides both the cresteds and the plants water. you feed your cresteds crickets, CGD, babyfood, roaches ... etc. their bodies in turn take what they need from the food and pass the rest as waste (urine and feces). the waste is then turned over into the soil to provide nutrients for the plants in the enclosure to grow and thrive. the plants, in turn, provide the cresteds places to sleep and hide and feel safe.

that's why you would set-up an enclosure with a bio-active substrate.

as for how the urine and feces, think of turning the feces into the soil as similar to composting a garden with manure. it's the same basic theory.

the urine contains urea, which provides nitrogen to the plants and actually also acts as an accelerator to the composting process. if you'd like to know what nitrogen does, here's a great link to information about the nitrogen cycle in nature:

http://helios.bto.ed.ac.uk/bto/microbes/nitrogen.htm

it's just a bit much for me to speak to competently. hope this all helps.

btw, some things to think about: a bio-active enclosure is as much work if not more than a set-up w/ fake plants. you need to be certain you have plants that are strong enough for the cresteds, but you also will need to account for the plant's growth in selecting your enclosure height. you'll need an adequate light source for the plants. you need a deep enough substrate for the root structure, something also to factor in when considering enclosure size.

if you have any more questions, let me know.

whoa...it's called the nitrogen cycle. we sell a substrate that with out reading his book..don't read many of his books for a few reasons...cough...that we label bio-strate. bio-active is a term false used IMO. you can dig up dirt in your back yard and have all the benifical bacteria, micro fauna you need to start the nitrogen cycle. we use hetatrophic bacteria and some other things but then we also build habitats for darts to boas and of course cresteds.

just get a bag of super soil or the like, add some peat, outside dirt that you dug up and maybe some oak leaves for some extra
visual effects, mix well and bag for a few day. you don't need plants but it's nice. the bugs in the dirt will turn over the waste and if you do it right, you'll not have the anerobic issues but instead with hetatrophic bacteria, produce co2 directly and lower the pathenogenic bacteria as well.

if you're using regualr 5.0 flourescents you don't need to worry about heat. try something other then pythos. maybe some creeping begonia or other "weeding" type plant that will creep up your verticle hardscape. also, adding some springtails is not the best idea. they will grow to a large group and you'll not like the gnats that happen to get out. pill bugs; isopods are good but you'll need moiste soil. isopods have gills and thus you'll need some very damp soil that might even be too damp for eggs.

there are lots of way for you to establish the nitrogen cycle in your vivarium. you can create it or buy it. our has been proven over 5 years but it's only slightly different then your back yard soil.

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