Bio Active Soil

7/27/2019 Bio Active Soil

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Bio Active Soil

The idea behind bio-active substrates is that you will have an entire eco

system in your reptiles’ cage. The benefits from this are awesome. The

natural good bacteria, microbes, isopods, substrate mites, and other

insects that live in the soil, virtually act as a sanitation crew. Fecal

matter can be completely broken down in less than a day. Even

uneaten food items get broken down. Some of our cages have had the

same substrate for close to 5 years without ever being changed or even

spot cleaned. There are no foul oders or even any trace of fecal matter.

It works so well that we may turn up a mouse or rat skeleton everyonce in a while (in the snake cages). The uneaten food items get broken

down so fast that they never really have a chance to stink so they go

un-noticed…

Creating a bio-active substrate is quite easy. It may involve things you

are not used to hearing like, DO NOT BAKE, CLEAN, DISINFECT, OR

WASH ANYTHING. Your friends in natural dirt will take care of all that

for you.

My first step is to go to a garden shop and get some organic topsoil… I

then head to the beach to get some sand. You can also use play sand



that can be bought in home and garden shops. The I go to the woods to

collect leaf compost, branches, logs, dirt and rotten wood/logs. I prefer

to take ones filled with isopods, millipedes, centipedes, and wood

lice/substrate mites. Then I go to my yard and scoop up some fallen oakleaves…

So at the bottom of the cage we mix some of the sand, dirt, topsoil, and

leaf compost together. On top of that we add the rotten wood with all

who inhabit it… Then we put more of the dirt mix on top of that and we

then add the leaves. Your substrate ratios will depend on the species

you are keeping. For instance, for most of our varanids and leopard

geckos we use a 50% sand, 25% compost, and 25% dirt/topsoil mix.

We also add dubia roaches to the cages as well as super worm beetles

and larva.



There is never any mold growth or build up of harmful parasites,

bacteria, or other protozoa. We have actually had samples tested at the

University for free and the soil in the cage is naturally clean.

This system has been tested and works equally well in rack systems. We

find that changing the substrate in rack systems every 6 months or so

works well. We do not remove all of the substrate in rack systems when

we change it out. We only remove about 75% of it so we do not have to

start the culture from scratch.

This system may not be for everyone but those who have used it see

the huge benefits in it. We have seen huge differences in behavior.

Animals being kept on the bio active substrates seem to behave more

naturally. They are more active and are always on the hunt for food.

Our leopard geckos housed on the bioactive substrate will dig burrows

and forage for super worms, meal worms, and roaches constantly. One

of our female leopard geckos laid a pair of eggs out of the nest box that

went unnoticed by us and we found a pair of hatchlings running around

the cage one day. It took us a minute to figure out how the two

hatchlings got in the cage.

Some people will say that there is a huge risk of impaction when using

particulate substrates. The fact is NATURAL particulate substrates will

only be an issue if your husbandry is inadequate. When reptiles are

properly heated, hydrated, and supplemented, there is little to no risk

of impaction and the benefits from using bio active substrates far

outweigh the minimal risks.



Stirred in some play sand.....



Run the mix through a screen..



Filters out the junk..



Gives a nice texture, light, breathable and easy to

burrow.



The seal of approval...



The last trip back to the woods..



All set up...



And a cool lizard face....

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Bio Active Soil