Arid Bioactive Setup - How to Guide

In this video, we discuss how to create an arid bioactive setup for reptiles

Dr. Connor Long is a veterinarian and long-time reptile keeper out of California. In this episode, we discuss how going through vet school changed the way Connor practices herpetoculture, including how to avoid one of the most common reasons for death in captive reptiles. Dr. Long also talks about an incredible arid bioactive setup he created for his leopard gecko. He tells us about the aspects of the build that worked as well as the aspects that failed. We wrap up the episode discussing his 25-year-old ball python and how an equipment failure led to a life-threatening illness as well as a new enclosure design intended to prevent that from occurring in the future.

LINKS FROM THE EPISODE:

Video Clips and Photos Used in Episode:

0:00 Coming Up
1:09 Guest Introduction
3:16 Housekeeping
3:18 Welcome Dr. Connor Long / Background
9:54 Why pursue vet med?
12:50 How did vet school change your hobby?
24:01 Bioactive Arid Set Up Leopard Gecko
25:10 Arid Clean up Crew | Problems with Set Up
51:10 Using Non-Reptile Specific products
59:05 Using Wood from outside for reptiles
1:02:24 25 Year old Ball Python
1:10:28 Bioactive ball python enclosure
1:14:56 Equipment Failure and Illness
1:30:45 Is offering more space dangerous?
1:32:52 Carnivours plants for fungus gnats
1:38:08 Vivarium/ Tub hybrid enclosure
1:51:35 Closing Thoughts
1:54:43 Outro

SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST:
_________________________________________

PODCAST EQUIPMENT:

FILM & OTHER EQUIPMENT:

ABOUT DILLON:
Welcome to my channel, Animals at Home! Here you will find the reptile videos I have made as well as video versions of The Animals at Home Podcast! The podcast mainly focuses on the pet reptile industry. My mission with Animals at Home is simple: To inspire others to push the limits of their reptile husbandry by promoting the importance of high-level, creative husbandry individualized for each reptile.

DISCLAIMER:
Try this at your own risk! I take full responsibility for the safety of this setup for myself but cannot recommend anyone copy what I have done unless you are willing to do the same.

[TeaCupSimmer]

I clicked on this immediately, ive watched the leopard gecko build multiple times just for arid inspiration and for how awesome it is to see someone try to replicate a natural environment in such a creative way. can’t wait to watch the episode

[SnakeCakeExotics]

Great episode, The only hour+ reptile videos I can truly enjoy and pay attention to!

[dantan]

So true about landscaping and masonry companies. I searched high and low for a decorative rock for my enclosure. Aquarium store was charging like 70$ but I found one at a masonry company for $3

[NathanButh]

The landscaping supplies bit is funny to me, mostly because I'm surprised it doesnt come up more often.

When I was a kid I was setting up a large Uromastyx enclosure with my parents. They had me do a lot of research before getting any animal, and trusted me to direct them on needs, but they figured out where to source a lot of our supplies.

As such, when we needed a lot of slate and coarse sand, we went to a rockyard of some sort. To get the substrate and rocks from a pet shop, we would have had to spend a fortune, but not at the rockyard. 😅

[AnimalsatHomePodcast]

*Thank you for watching this week's episode! Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to the channel so you don't miss the next episode!*

[melissaleandro]

I’ve listened to this episode a few times now since it first came out and it seems like each time I get more information from his experiences with bioactive. Thanks for having in your podcast!

[rickcroney]

Very interesting episode. Nice to have a veterinarian speak on husbandry and set ups. Soon I'll be doing a bioactive for our leopard gecko, so I was very interested in many of the points presented. I'll have to check out his actual videos. Great episode!

[tinksmith]

Ahhh this was super helpful - thanks for sharing your successes and mistakes for us all to learn from ♡

[YochevedDesigns]

This is a MASTER CLASS in husbandry and conservation ethics. I am so inspired and impressed. I live in Israel, and we have native chameleons, even though it can be extremely dry here depending on the season. I think that you have to be very aware of the species of chameleon, and their native environment. Our local zoo is very successful at keeping them happy and healthy, and they are also very hand tame, so lots of tourist interactions. I had a Mediterranean house gecko once, and I killed it by keeping it on reptisoil and too much humidity. 😞

[bobmosh]

I love the naturally sourced bioactive route. My vivaria are all temperate and look like a slice of canadian forest floor. All my decor, leaf litter, bark hides, branches and even my clean up crew of a.vulgares, p.scaber and little millipedes are all wild collected. I personally disagree with putting anything wild collected or even store bought in my vivs without sterilization first because I've had to tear down two early enclosures because of bark mites one time and globular springtails another... both harmless, but they were everywhere and possibly stressful to my snakes and definitely stressful to me, so they had to go!
I make cultures of my clean up crew and quarantine them for six months before use. I wash all dirt from the roots of plants and dip them in mild bleach solution before they go in the vivs. I bake and or boil all substrate and decor. I know it seems a bit obsessive, but since I started being careful, my tanks have been going strong for years now with only partial soil changes to avoid ammonia buildup.
Also having a pet toad is a perfect way to control populations of isopods. I knock the excess isopods off the bark hides into his tank and he gets a more nutritious food source for free!
I love the hybrid tub/bioactive enclosure idea for pythons and boas! That truly seems like the best life for those guys as far as security and enriching space to explore. Amazing! Great video, and very interesting guest. Thanks Dillon!

[moetthepoet]

Excellent episode. I really liked this guy. I might be bias here as he kept saying stuff I find myself telling people, like that reptile branded products aren't safer, or to shop at landscape supply stores or garden centers.
He also has an excellent artistic sensibility. I liked his enclosures.
The only place I disagreed was on darkling beetles. I really find them great as CUC and I have never seen them harm any of my plants, even when I had way too many. Also they only make noise as worms so give it a few weeks and they hatch

[SamGlife]

Brilliant episode! loved the clean up crew section and the hybrid enclosure seems very interesting.

[speedymadr]

Great episode and some great tips on creating an arid set up. I’ve always been paranoid about using super worms and now I know why!

For our Leopard gecko I’ve used Arcadia earth mix arid plus habistat leopard gecko substrate which is more sand/rock based. Combination works well.

[sjsmith]

The A. Vulgare have a few fun color varieties.St. Lucia variety has tons of variety and apparently they come from an island. Pennypack comes from a specific park in Pennsylvania and are bright gold. The "zebra" isopod is another Armidilitium species and they don't overpopulate as well. All to say there are fun colorful isopods that don't go out of control like the powders.

[nataliaprado]

Great episode! So nice to hear of a 25 year old royal python still getting husbandry updates and enclosure upgrades as the keeper progresses, it's what our hobby should be about progress! Really liked the brief discussion on the carnivorous plants, such a good alternative to chemicals. But what do you do when you run out of fungus gnats bcs they did such an awesome job? Do you have to catch flies now or can supplement with something else? I feel a nerd out session coming on, lol.

[Hamburglar]

Lol the landscaping supplies bit. I bought $40 worth of “irregular” slate. So just slate chunks, not pavers. I can’t pick up the container that it’s in. I have to separate it to move the tub. It’s way more than I can use for my massive collection of 1 ball python, 1 leopard gecko, and my future carpet python

[Amzer]

Really interesting topic. I enjoyed the topic about carnivorous plant, as we have a rainforest habitat for our cresties. We have been bombarded with these small, annoying-as hell flies. I highly suspect it’s these fungus gnats. They’re everywhere and are also laying eggs in our cricket egg boxes. So the question stuck in my head is: does anyone know how these Butterworth plants would work in a rainforest habitat and how would it be working with our cresties who climbs all over. Would their feet get stuck in the sticky substance the plant is secreting?

[janawild]

Really interesting about the springtails, because I have tons that showed up in my turtle enclosure. I got some out and put them on charcoal and they just really don’t seem to be doing that great. I did not know that some don’t propagate on charcoal, so that’s interesting I’ve been trying to research what I’ve been doing wrong.

[royaldesignpythonsorionjon]

Mist with fish tank water from a established/cycled aquarium it contains aerobic bacterias and fish amino acids that will gently feed your plants fungus and bacterias

[samf]

Interesting that with chameleons you've found guides are written for humid local conditions and really don't work for drier areas. I've noticed the converse problems with advice on tropical reptiles and amphibians (I keep mourning geckos and dart frogs) where they recommend almost constant misting. Here in the UK I find in my bioactive vivs, even though they're Exo Terra with full airflow, I never need to mist at all. The substrate and plants maintain appropriate humidity just fine. Very confusing at first. I'd love to see local conditions considered much more in herp guides and when giving advice.