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Bioactive Substrate System

Posted By:

poweredbycoffee

In Relation To:

Manolo

Does anyone use a Bioactive Substrate System such as described in The Art of Keeping Snakes by Philippe de Vosjoli? I'm interested in hearing about people's experiences with it.

Specifically, pros/cons?
What worked, what didn't>
Do you still use it or did you give up after failed attempts?
Would you recommend it to others?
What variety of critter do (did) you use it for?

Thanks


Points:	250
Topics:	General Health , Caging , Caging Plans
Tags:	Bioactive, BSS, Substrate, Vivarium
Species:	Other Colubrids > Other Colubrids > Elaphe guttata guttata
Administrative:	Show/Hide

Assisted Answer

6/24/2009 11:55:13 AM

tmth

I use a bioactive substrate and live plant system with my Red Eyed Tree Frogs. I love it! I've had it set up from the start, which was about 2 months ago tops. The plants are thriving and it may have to do with the aquarium plant light.. but it looks great. It doesn't smell and I haven't had to clean anything out of there. I followed a guide on MVF roughly, here's the link:
http://moreliaviridis.yuku.com/topic/10981
I didn't use the NZ moss and I used a different orchid mix.
I am working on switching all of my snakes over to Bioactive. I think it enriches their environment and looks much cooler. I do plan to wait for another month or so until I move before I start filling up my IKEA china cabinet with dirt and plants (only way it'll get out the door is turn it sideways). I do have at least one live plant in everyone's cage whether or not its got the bioactive substrate. The ones that don't are just in pots for now.
Taliesin is in a tub and he doesn't get too much light in there (especially in summer when I keep my blinds shut to keep the room cooler) so the plant in his, which is a cutting from the frog's cage, isn't doing as great. Still alive though.
Haven't found any cons, minus the fact that it's heavy and makes moving a pain.

Assisted Answer

6/24/2009 1:55:30 PM

magsj387

I love using it, once upon a time I have all my lizards and snakes in planted terrariums. But with my new snake caging its really not practical, so now I have 3 large planted cages. I love it.

Accepted Answer

6/24/2009 5:45:01 PM

Aimee

I have very few cages in my house that aren't bioactive! I think it's great, depending on your critter type. for example - I have a pair of IJ's in a cage I built with a bioactive substrate system. they're big and try to perch on the plants. so, every 3 months-ish I rip it out and re-plant. however, I think they like the additional hiding places and they always shed fantastically. the tricky part is finding plants well-suited to the critter. all my geckos are smaller snakes do very well; my ball python is in a 40-gal breeder that's planted and it's a great setup for him.

Author Comment

6/24/2009 11:13:38 PM

poweredbycoffee

Thanks to all of you for the info and thanks to magsj387 for posting the cool pics. :) I think I'm going to give this a try this weekend. I enjoyed reading The Art of Keeping Snakes and was excited about trying it out but needed to hear from some real world folks who'd tried BSS. Thanks again. :)

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