FLZooMom
Bearded Dragon Egg
- Messages
- 19
- Location
- SW Florida
My buddy, York, is about 6 years old, 19" long, and weighs about 630 grams. He has an outside enclosure that I built for him a couple years ago and he absolutely loves it out there, but it's the rainy season here in South Florida so he's been spending a lot more time inside. I noticed about a month ago that he's really outgrown his 55 gallon tank so I decided he needed an upgrade. I found a 75 gallon tank for a good price and I figured since I was already upgrading his tank, why not upgrade the inside, too, to bioactive. I read @jarich's post about it several times and when I felt I understood it well enough I started gathering everything together.
I couldn't find coconut coir so I used peat moss, but other than that it's pretty much spot on. A layer of river pebbles for drainage, 50% top soil, 30% play sand, and 20% peat moss. Live oak leaves for the leaf litter, and I have flat rocks for the isopods and African nightcrawlers to hide under. I saw a neighbor getting a tree cut down so I asked one of the tree guys to cut me a branch so I could bring it home. It's carrotwood, which is the same kind of branch I have in his outdoor enclosure. Really hard wood, and despite being outside in the elements for the last couple years it's showing no signs of rot. There are about 30 isopods of different sizes (two different kinds), about 50 springtails, and 150 African nightcrawlers of different sizes.
Inside, I planted a couple of succulents and some sweet basil, I arranged and rearranged the branches and other stuff until I had it the way I like it. He's got a couple places to use as hides, although the half log hide hasn't been used yet. His basking spot on the left side is kept at about 100 degrees and the cool side on the right is about 80 - 85 degrees. His UVB light is a Reptisun 10.0 HO T5 48" tube light so it stretches the full length of the tank, but he has areas he can get away from or lessen it.
One advantage that I've notice already is that York is more active. I know part of that is because he's exploring his new surroundings, but he just doesn't seem as bored as he was in his old tank. He hangs out in many different places instead of just one or two in his old tank. I fed him some crickets in his new tank and instead of being able to just grab and eat them all as fast as possible he actually had to hunt for them. At one point I actually saw him stalking them! He hasn't figured out yet that he can dig, but I expect that he will and that'll make him even happier. He used to try to dig in his old tank, but of course he didn't get anywhere.
I watered the soil the other day and right away I noticed some of the isopods and a few crickets come out from hiding. That was really really cool. Having a whole natural habitat in my living room is pretty neat. There's always something to look at in there, and it's really interesting to see living things poking out here and there.
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I couldn't find coconut coir so I used peat moss, but other than that it's pretty much spot on. A layer of river pebbles for drainage, 50% top soil, 30% play sand, and 20% peat moss. Live oak leaves for the leaf litter, and I have flat rocks for the isopods and African nightcrawlers to hide under. I saw a neighbor getting a tree cut down so I asked one of the tree guys to cut me a branch so I could bring it home. It's carrotwood, which is the same kind of branch I have in his outdoor enclosure. Really hard wood, and despite being outside in the elements for the last couple years it's showing no signs of rot. There are about 30 isopods of different sizes (two different kinds), about 50 springtails, and 150 African nightcrawlers of different sizes.
Inside, I planted a couple of succulents and some sweet basil, I arranged and rearranged the branches and other stuff until I had it the way I like it. He's got a couple places to use as hides, although the half log hide hasn't been used yet. His basking spot on the left side is kept at about 100 degrees and the cool side on the right is about 80 - 85 degrees. His UVB light is a Reptisun 10.0 HO T5 48" tube light so it stretches the full length of the tank, but he has areas he can get away from or lessen it.
One advantage that I've notice already is that York is more active. I know part of that is because he's exploring his new surroundings, but he just doesn't seem as bored as he was in his old tank. He hangs out in many different places instead of just one or two in his old tank. I fed him some crickets in his new tank and instead of being able to just grab and eat them all as fast as possible he actually had to hunt for them. At one point I actually saw him stalking them! He hasn't figured out yet that he can dig, but I expect that he will and that'll make him even happier. He used to try to dig in his old tank, but of course he didn't get anywhere.
I watered the soil the other day and right away I noticed some of the isopods and a few crickets come out from hiding. That was really really cool. Having a whole natural habitat in my living room is pretty neat. There's always something to look at in there, and it's really interesting to see living things poking out here and there.
