Progress of my bioactive build

CryptKeeper

Established Member
Started this awhile ago but never have much time so do like 2 hours at a time when I get the chance to work on it. Built the base out of 2x3s and made cabinet doors all out of pvc board and trim. The bottom was just 1/2” pvc board screwed together with silicone on the joints then spray painted black and drylok on the inside it’s hard to see the doors with the lighting in these pics. I also have a drain system underneath with a 1/2” slip bulkhead and a pvc valve.

The background is 1/2” foam insulation board. Just used a blow torch on the main piece for some texture and cut the tree out of another piece and used a wire brush wheel on a drill to add some of the detail. Used silicone to adhere it to each other. Painted with like 3 coats of drylok then used acrylic paints to add the color and attached the whole piece to the back of a reptibreeze xl with silicone. Also had a dragon ledge on the back for more support and a strip of silicone through the screen onto the back of dragon ledge and put heavy things on top of the foam and let dry overnight. Then sealed the sides/top/bottom with more silicone.

I’ll be adding the clay balls and substrate, CUC tomorrow hopefully. I lost the valve for the drain lol so waiting for it to arrive from Amazon tm before adding substrate just in case it starts to drain any water. I also have a ton of drift wood I got on Etsy that I’ll be spray foaming in and lots of plants I have to figure on how ima place them.

Hope everyone likes it and would love some feedback! Really enjoy doing this and would love to make it a side hustle if there’s a market near me since shipping something like this wouldn’t be feasible lol.

Also any recommendations on what to add etc feel free!
 

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Progress.. going to add plants next which is going to be a pain. I’m making my own potting soil and going to transfer the ones I bought plus will be using some from his old cage but need to completely wash out the soil for the tree since it has millipedes and slugs in there. The other plants attracts gnats as well. Also need to leave it intact for Rex to stay in there while I’m moving plants over. Then I’ll add more branches and whatnot after it’s fully planted but here’s the foundation for it.
 

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Trails of Pothos hanging down with Prayer Plant. Would look great!
I have some pothos in the old one. I bought some wandering Jews (pink ones too but they’ve been a little tough to maintain) zebra plants, money tree, and some other colorful ones I forget the name to lol. I’ll take a look at the prayer plants
 
I can image 😊 Don’t forget to put in enough leaf litter as food and hiding place for the CuC. That normally need a month or two to fully establish themselves
Yeah I have a ton of leaf litter and bought a powdered food for them. I had them in their containers for about 3 weeks and they multiplied quite nicely. I have started extra springtail cultures too from what I had.
 
Yeah I have a ton of leaf litter and bought a powdered food for them. I had them in their containers for about 3 weeks and they multiplied quite nicely. I have started extra springtail cultures too from what I had.
I always keep a small bin of extra clean up crew, just in case. As my chameleons devastate their numbers by hunting them, I always have more I can add.
 
I always keep a small bin of extra clean up crew, just in case. As my chameleons devastate their numbers by hunting them, I always have more I can add.
I made two extra springtail cultures and had one dwarf whites but I ended up putting in all the dwarf whites bc my area is really big and I don’t think I had enough and wanted them to populate quickly. There’s a reptile store close tk me that sells them if I ever need any. But my Cham isn’t going to eat them I really doubt. He like big things that move a lot. He won’t even eat Dubias or BSFL or flies.
 
I made two extra springtail cultures and had one dwarf whites but I ended up putting in all the dwarf whites bc my area is really big and I don’t think I had enough and wanted them to populate quickly. There’s a reptile store close tk me that sells them if I ever need any. But my Cham isn’t going to eat them I really doubt. He like big things that move a lot. He won’t even eat Dubias or BSFL or flies.
Ahh…ok. I use primarily giant canyons for my chameleons (and springtails). For my leopard geckos I use powder orange.
 
Ahh…ok. I use primarily giant canyons for my chameleons (and springtails). For my leopard geckos I use powder orange.
Idk why I got the dwarf whites bc I doubt Rex would eat any kind of isopod. Maybe I should get some bigger ones to help speed up the cleaning process. I actually found a couple brown ones in my culture idk what kind they were if they even were different but they were bigger and darker
 
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