Grass from the garden

[infernalis]

my apologies Infernalis, this was a cross posting, no-one had replied when I answered, and as I said it was just my opinion, not based on fact,

No worries.

I have a bio active cage set up, and it's awesome.

Now that Neeru my baby water snake has decided to take food off the hemostats for me, I am going to set him up on soil also, no chance of aspen sticking to his fish that way.

[-MARWOLAETH-]

Very fitting name for a water snake
Do you have pics of your bio-active setups?

[Selkielass]

I planted some back yard moss, grass and weeds (ground ivy) in my bioactive terrarium. Grass died first, then the ivy ans the moss slowly petered out. I think lack of light was the main problem. (It's. A deep cube.)

I did get some small gnat/fly type bugs along with a bunch of good isopods, but they didn't last long.

[infernalis]

Very fitting name for a water snake
Do you have pics of your bio-active setups?

[ConcinusMan]

Bio setups are a PITA if you ask me. Any number of things can go wrong and it's usually a battle to keep things in balance, then you end up throwing everything out anyway when it doesn't work out. People will tout that it's virtually maintenance free, but if you ask me it's a maintenance nightmare of odors, bugs, fungi, etc.. Even if does work, (which is a balancing act not unlike trying to balance a pin upright on the head of another pin) it's still a PITA and not worth the hassle. Just my opinion.

[Stefan-A]

if you ask me it's a maintenance nightmare of odors, bugs, fungi, etc..

Then you've been doing something terribly wrong.

[ConcinusMan]

Yeah, and I'm pretty sure that "something wrong" was putting anything in there that plants can grow in and adding water so they don't die. That's pretty much all it takes. Then add snake **** and you got yourself a real mess. Then in summer comes the white flies, gnats, other assorted bugs, etc. And as far as odor goes, all it takes is one big fishy **** and its all gotta be dumped or the whole room stinks.

[-MARWOLAETH-]

I'm not planning on having the full bio active substrate with detritus feeding invertebrates.Just soil that will only need to be moist enough to hold burrows yet still have the benefits of aerobic bacteria.I'll put some clumps of grass into produce pockets of higher humidity which she can use if she wants to also it'll make it look great!

[Stefan-A]

Yeah, and I'm pretty sure that "something wrong" was putting anything in there that plants can grow in and adding water so they don't die. That's pretty much all it takes. Then add snake **** and you got yourself a real mess. Then in summer comes the white flies, gnats, other assorted bugs, etc. And as far as odor goes, all it takes is one big fishy **** and its all gotta be dumped or the whole room stinks.

I think you need to look elsewhere for the cause of your troubles. The only problem I ever had was gnats and they came in with the soil and fixing that would have been as easy as tossing everything out and starting over. As far as odor goes, there was none. Even big fishy shits were odorless, not to mention small ones.

[infernalis]

I think you need to look elsewhere for the cause of your troubles. The only problem I ever had was gnats and they came in with the soil and fixing that would have been as easy as tossing everything out and starting over. As far as odor goes, there was none. Even big fishy shits were odorless, not to mention small ones.

I have to say.. If there is a stinkier feces than Monitor Lizards, I am unaware of it. One quick deuce will clear a room.

Now, my two have been crapping in their cage since March, I have not cleaned out one turd.

The inside of that cage is around 100 degrees 24/7 and the humidity is as high as 94% at times.

Not once have I ever opened up the front door and smelled any poop.

The feces literally dissolves in 36-48 hours time, even the urate clumps vanish.