Hi, first, I am sorry if this is the wrong forum to ask in, I am a newbie here. So I am going to add isopods and spring tails to my chameleon habitat but I have cocopeat so I asked an online shop and he said that cocopeat is low on nutrients for the insects, so he told me to add these: volcanic rock, charcoal, sphagnum moss, and either living soil or compost to the cocopeat, are they all safe for the chameleon or should I seek for other alternatives?
Bioactive Vivarium
- Thread starter rycz_
- Start date
MissSkittles
Chameleon Enthusiast
Hi and welcome. 
That’s awesome that you’re wanting to go bioactive. While it’s pretty easy to do, there are some aspects that are essential to doing it correctly. This is what I use as a guide. https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/intro-to-bio-activity.2429/
The very first consideration is what will you be using to hold your substrate? If you have an all glass enclosure or other solid enclosed bottom, you will need to have a way to remove excess water from the bottom. The simplest way is to use a pvc pipe. Put some notches on the bottom where it will be in the drainage layer. Have it extend a bit above the top of your entire substrate and use a cap. When needing to be drained, simply remove the cap and however you will be doing it, remove the excess water. *If it were me, I’d be using a small wet vac. I use fabric root pouches sitting on top of ReptiBreeze substrate trays with my all screen enclosures and I’ve never had any need to remove excess.
Then you need the drainage layer. Clay balls are great, but you can also use lava rock if needed. I use medium weight landscape fabric generously to seperate the drainage layer from the substrate. Then I add my organic soil, chopped up fine sphagnum moss, a bit of washed play sand, a little coco coir and some horticultural charcoal* and a couple of handfuls of orchid bark. Mix it all well, put in my cleaned to the root plants, a nice layer of leaf litter, a chunk of cork bark for the isopods to hide under and lastly add my clean up crew of springtails and I use giant canyon isopods. Until things get better established, I will put some veggie scraps under the cork for the clean up crew.
*on a whim I tried regular charcoal (like is used for grilling, but not briquettes) and it works great. I break it up with a hammer into small pieces before using.
That’s awesome that you’re wanting to go bioactive. While it’s pretty easy to do, there are some aspects that are essential to doing it correctly. This is what I use as a guide. https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/intro-to-bio-activity.2429/The very first consideration is what will you be using to hold your substrate? If you have an all glass enclosure or other solid enclosed bottom, you will need to have a way to remove excess water from the bottom. The simplest way is to use a pvc pipe. Put some notches on the bottom where it will be in the drainage layer. Have it extend a bit above the top of your entire substrate and use a cap. When needing to be drained, simply remove the cap and however you will be doing it, remove the excess water. *If it were me, I’d be using a small wet vac. I use fabric root pouches sitting on top of ReptiBreeze substrate trays with my all screen enclosures and I’ve never had any need to remove excess.
Then you need the drainage layer. Clay balls are great, but you can also use lava rock if needed. I use medium weight landscape fabric generously to seperate the drainage layer from the substrate. Then I add my organic soil, chopped up fine sphagnum moss, a bit of washed play sand, a little coco coir and some horticultural charcoal* and a couple of handfuls of orchid bark. Mix it all well, put in my cleaned to the root plants, a nice layer of leaf litter, a chunk of cork bark for the isopods to hide under and lastly add my clean up crew of springtails and I use giant canyon isopods. Until things get better established, I will put some veggie scraps under the cork for the clean up crew.
*on a whim I tried regular charcoal (like is used for grilling, but not briquettes) and it works great. I break it up with a hammer into small pieces before using.
Hi, below I listed all the stuff that I have can you please tell me if I need anything else?Hi and welcome.
The very first consideration is what will you be using to hold your substrate? If you have an all glass enclosure or other solid enclosed bottom, you will need to have a way to remove excess water from the bottom. The simplest way is to use a pvc pipe. Put some notches on the bottom where it will be in the drainage layer. Have it extend a bit above the top of your entire substrate and use a cap. When needing to be drained, simply remove the cap and however you will be doing it, remove the excess water. *If it were me, I’d be using a small wet vac. I use fabric root pouches sitting on top of ReptiBreeze substrate trays with my all screen enclosures and I’ve never had any need to remove excess.
Then you need the drainage layer. Clay balls are great, but you can also use lava rock if needed. I use medium weight landscape fabric generously to seperate the drainage layer from the substrate. Then I add my organic soil, chopped up fine sphagnum moss, a bit of washed play sand, a little coco coir and some horticultural charcoal* and a couple of handfuls of orchid bark. Mix it all well, put in my cleaned to the root plants, a nice layer of leaf litter, a chunk of cork bark for the isopods to hide under and lastly add my clean up crew of springtails and I use giant canyon isopods. Until things get better established, I will put some veggie scraps under the cork for the clean up crew.
*on a whim I tried regular charcoal (like is used for grilling, but not briquettes) and it works great. I break it up with a hammer into small pieces before using.
View attachment 361860
- Glass cage
- Heating/UVB light
- Reptile heating mat
- Real plants: 1- Spider plant 2- Devil's ivy 3- Swiss cheese monstera
- Fake bendable branch
- Thermometer
- Water pump (for river and waterfall)
- Food plate
- Smart water fogger
- Cocopeat
- Supplementals
I thought of creating a water fall/river that circulates in the cage and then gets sucked up back by the water pump, like in the picture below, but after how you told me about the excess water, I thought of hooking the "water in" in the excess water place.
MissSkittles
Chameleon Enthusiast
Ok, well I do have some questions to go with my feedback.
What size is your glass enclosure? The minimum size enclosure for an adult chameleon is 2x2x4’ and as far as I know, they are not made that size in glass. The closest equivalent would be Exo Terra Large X tall https://exo-terra.com/products/terrariums/natural-terrariums/natural-terrarium-large-x-tall/ Then there is this https://reptizoo.store/products/135...2W_wO--WiX2caI4sX7T28ibyTv6OibUoaArF2EALw_wcB But that lacks appropriate ventilation/air circulation.
What type of UVB lighting do you have? Is it a screw in bulb or long tube? What is the strength?
A heating mat is useless for chameleons. A healthy chameleon spends almost no time on the enclosure floor. Putting it on the side of the tank won’t be of any better use either.
Your live plants are good.
Bendy vine is good, but do avoid the black Exo Terra one. It sheds tiny particles.
A water pump or any type of water feature is not recommended for chameleons, especially in a glass enclosure. Besides the potential for humidity being too high (causing respiratory infection), they tend to become breeding grounds for nasty bacteria and molds no matter how clean you try to keep them.
The coco peat is a good additive to the rest of your substrate, but you don’t add very much. You want the main substrate to be organic soil.
I’m going to be very honest with you and going to risk sounding mean…the items you have would make a great set up for some frogs or even possibly a crested gecko. (I don’t have one of those so only minimally know their needs). If you try to put a chameleon in the type of set up you can make with what you have, I’m afraid it won’t take very long until you no longer have a chameleon. I’m so sorry to tell you this, but I want you to be successful in keeping a healthy and happy chameleon that you’ll have for many years. What I strongly suggest for you to do is to do more research on chameleons and their husbandry. There is a ton of bad info out there, so the only places I trust for correct information is https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-husbandry-program-getting-started-with-chameleons/ and Neptune the Chameleon on YouTube. Neptune has even partnered with Pangea Reptile and created a chameleon kit that is perfect for getting started and has almost everything needed. https://www.pangeareptile.com/colle...tarter-chameleon-kit-by-neptune-the-chameleon (Unlike the ZooMed kit which has almost nothing useful for a chameleon).
What size is your glass enclosure? The minimum size enclosure for an adult chameleon is 2x2x4’ and as far as I know, they are not made that size in glass. The closest equivalent would be Exo Terra Large X tall https://exo-terra.com/products/terrariums/natural-terrariums/natural-terrarium-large-x-tall/ Then there is this https://reptizoo.store/products/135...2W_wO--WiX2caI4sX7T28ibyTv6OibUoaArF2EALw_wcB But that lacks appropriate ventilation/air circulation.
What type of UVB lighting do you have? Is it a screw in bulb or long tube? What is the strength?
A heating mat is useless for chameleons. A healthy chameleon spends almost no time on the enclosure floor. Putting it on the side of the tank won’t be of any better use either.
Your live plants are good.
Bendy vine is good, but do avoid the black Exo Terra one. It sheds tiny particles.
A water pump or any type of water feature is not recommended for chameleons, especially in a glass enclosure. Besides the potential for humidity being too high (causing respiratory infection), they tend to become breeding grounds for nasty bacteria and molds no matter how clean you try to keep them.
The coco peat is a good additive to the rest of your substrate, but you don’t add very much. You want the main substrate to be organic soil.
I’m going to be very honest with you and going to risk sounding mean…the items you have would make a great set up for some frogs or even possibly a crested gecko. (I don’t have one of those so only minimally know their needs). If you try to put a chameleon in the type of set up you can make with what you have, I’m afraid it won’t take very long until you no longer have a chameleon. I’m so sorry to tell you this, but I want you to be successful in keeping a healthy and happy chameleon that you’ll have for many years. What I strongly suggest for you to do is to do more research on chameleons and their husbandry. There is a ton of bad info out there, so the only places I trust for correct information is https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-husbandry-program-getting-started-with-chameleons/ and Neptune the Chameleon on YouTube. Neptune has even partnered with Pangea Reptile and created a chameleon kit that is perfect for getting started and has almost everything needed. https://www.pangeareptile.com/colle...tarter-chameleon-kit-by-neptune-the-chameleon (Unlike the ZooMed kit which has almost nothing useful for a chameleon).
