anyone have any tips for making my ball python a bioactive environment and what do i need
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I haven’t actually done bioactive myself… I’m terrible with plants. (;ŏ﹏ŏ)
I do know that ball pythons are a bit difficult to start your first bioactive with. They’re heavy bodied so they bulldoze quite a lot of the greenery or pack down the substrate.
They also can overload the system with the amount of urates and poop they drop so you still will need to make sure you’re spot checking and pulling waste regularly instead of depending on the cleaner crews and plants for breakdown.
Just some food for thought. Perhaps a search for bioactive ball python videos on YouTube can help? I know a few users here have bioactive enclosures, but the holidays may be keeping them busy.
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I’d do research into safe plants that can withstand the weight of a BP, as @armiyana mentioned they will crush and smother any plant that can’t bounce back from being laid on.
Do research on their natural environment and take notes on some of the things you might be able to recreate that goes along with their reccomended care needs. I’m sure there are also a few YT videos on the subject.
Places like
Are great for getting bioactive supplies!
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Life has kept me busy.
Quickly put, sphag moss, some reptisand, snake shed, reptisoil and som cypress mulch mixed together makes a decent substrate, if you wakt plants, I have no good advice, as they get trampled. If you can keep moss alive, that could work.
Bioactive is good for having a cleanup crew, but its a lot of added work to maintain, so if you are just trying to avoid cleanup, its not worth it. That said, the cleanup benefit is nice and having a tank thays “alive” is super cool if you are willing to shoulder the extra work.
Be careful with bioactive humidity. Too dry and all of your bugs will die. Too wet and you risk infections for the snake. The moss will help regulate moisture release, but if you soak the enclosure too much, its not a good thing.
Its hard to explain fully, what i would recommend if you want to go bioactive is to make your bioactive enclosure first, then once its stable and you are getting the temps and humidity you want and your cleanup crew is established, add the snake. This is much better than adding the snake and trying to figure it out as you go. Snakes hate change, and besides the obvious health risks, the snake may hunger strike while you keep trying to finetune the enclosure.
Pictures as an example:
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Thank you very much! My feelings exactly!
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