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USING A CLEANER CREW TO KEEP NATURAL VIVS
JOHN WILSON
www.reptileforums.net
How to use cleaner bugs to keep a naturalistic viv with lots of dirt and not have to worry about replacing or cleaning the ton of soil all the time. You might have wonder how to do this if you have a reptile that naturally burrows for various reasons, such as a Savannah Monitor (which is what I keep).
The simple answer is seek to create an actual working ecosystem with your Reptile/Invert/... at the top of the food chain. As He/She eats, sheds, deficates.... they will be creating food for your cleaning crew, which in turn create ultra rich soil in case you plan to plant up the Viv.
First you need to start off with a soil that is practical for burrowing if you have a digging species. A lot of people recommend a 50/50 mix of sand and dirt. I use a mix of clayish dirt, with sand, and coir, but ultimately you want something that when damp makes a nice ball when you compact it with your fist but still falls apart when poked.
Now once you have the cage filled up with the dirt and not planning to move it around too much more you can add in your first cleaner bugs. Basically your standard earthworm, often called red wrigglers in the composting industry on this side of the pond. Avoid Night crawlers as they can't generally handle the higher temps of your vivarium and will usually die. If you buy them at a store just take the lid off the tub and turn it upside down on top of your substrate overnight and then throw the container away the next day.
Here is a photograph of one in my Viv.
Now you can finish setting up everything else, basking spots, hides, ponds, branches.... if you have to move too much dirt do this step before adding the worms.
Now comes a really important part to set up the chemistry and flora. Go to your yard, park, work, or any other place you know doesn't have pesticides and collect a bunch of fallen leaves. Make sure you don't use anything that naturally has harsh chemicals, such as walnut. Collect enough to cover the ground in your Viv. Not only will it add an important part to the Flora/fauna but my Sav/Bosc loves to hide out in the leaves. The reason you do this is to jump start things. The leaves since they were fallen an already in a state of decomposition are pretty much coated with beneficial bacteria, bugs, spores... all of your Detritivores ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detritus_feeder ). The reason this is important is that your system needs a jumpstart, to get things balanced. If you have worked with yeast in either beer or bread you know that once the yeast is established it will kill off most invading harmful bacteria. That is what you are shooting for here... with the leaves you will get the good bacteria that will mingle and do their magic in your Viv and keep the bad bacteria out.
In addition if you will have a humid environment you can go out to your yard, or find a seller online for isopods. Add as many of these as you want to the set up... the more the merrier. They will breed and multiply, and if you have smaller reptiles they are an excellent source of calcium. Also if you are a roach feeder, like myself, you can add some of your feeder roaches (blaberus cranifer, dubias,...) to the mix. The nice thing about this is that they will help keep things clean, and also provide a steady source of food for those days you forget to feed, or go out of town.
Here is a shot of an isopod in my Viv.
Now comes a really important part to set up the chemistry and flora. Go to your yard, park, work, or any other place you know doesn't have pesticides and collect a bunch of fallen leaves. Make sure you don't use anything that naturally has harsh chemicals, such as walnut. Collect enough to cover the ground in your Viv. Not only will it add an important part to the Flora/fauna but my Sav/Bosc loves to hide out in the leaves. The reason you do this is to jump start things. The leaves since they were fallen an already in a state of decomposition are pretty much coated with beneficial bacteria, bugs, spores... all of your Detritivores ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detritus_feeder ). The reason this is important is that your system needs a jumpstart, to get things balanced. If you have worked with yeast in either beer or bread you know that once the yeast is established it will kill off most invading harmful bacteria. That is what you are shooting for here... with the leaves you will get the good bacteria that will mingle and do their magic in your Viv and keep the bad bacteria out.
In addition if you will have a humid environment you can go out to your yard, or find a seller online for isopods. Add as many of these as you want to the set up... the more the merrier. They will breed and multiply, and if you have smaller reptiles they are an excellent source of calcium. Also if you are a roach feeder, like myself, you can add some of your feeder roaches (blaberus cranifer, dubias,...) to the mix. The nice thing about this is that they will help keep things clean, and also provide a steady source of food for those days you forget to feed, or go out of town.
Here is a shot of an isopod in my Viv.
Naturalistic Viv using Cleaner Bugs « on: November 04, 2010, 07:06:23 AM » I know it's a long time in coming but it has been a really busy year. But I am finally getting around to this post.
How to use cleaner bugs to keep a naturalistic viv with lots of dirt and not have to worry about replacing or cleaning the ton of soil all the time. You might have wonder how to do this if you have a reptile that naturally burrows for various reasons, such as a Savannah Monitor (which is what I keep).
The simple answer is seek to create an actual working ecosystem with your Reptile/Invert/... at the top of the food chain. As He/She eats, sheds, deficates.... they will be creating food for your cleaning crew, which in turn create ultra rich soil in case you plan to plant up the Viv.
First you need to start off with a soil that is practical for burrowing if you have a digging species. A lot of people recommend a 50/50 mix of sand and dirt. I use a mix of clayish dirt, with sand, and coir, but ultimately you want something that when damp makes a nice ball when you compact it with your fist but still falls apart when poked.
Now once you have the cage filled up with the dirt and not planning to move it around too much more you can add in your first cleaner bugs. Basically your standard earthworm, often called red wrigglers in the composting industry on this side of the pond. Avoid Night crawlers as they can't generally handle the higher temps of your vivarium and will usually die. If you buy them at a store just take the lid off the tub and turn it upside down on top of your substrate overnight and then throw the container away the next day.
Here is a photograph of one in my Viv.
Now you can finish setting up everything else, basking spots, hides, ponds, branches.... if you have to move too much dirt do this step before adding the worms.
Now comes a really important part to set up the chemistry and flora. Go to your yard, park, work, or any other place you know doesn't have pesticides and collect a bunch of fallen leaves. Make sure you don't use anything that naturally has harsh chemicals, such as walnut. Collect enough to cover the ground in your Viv. Not only will it add an important part to the Flora/fauna but my Sav/Bosc loves to hide out in the leaves. The reason you do this is to jump start things. The leaves since they were fallen an already in a state of decomposition are pretty much coated with beneficial bacteria, bugs, spores... all of your Detritivores ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detritus_feeder ). The reason this is important is that your system needs a jumpstart, to get things balanced. If you have worked with yeast in either beer or bread you know that once the yeast is established it will kill off most invading harmful bacteria. That is what you are shooting for here... with the leaves you will get the good bacteria that will mingle and do their magic in your Viv and keep the bad bacteria out.
In addition if you will have a humid environment you can go out to your yard, or find a seller online for isopods. Add as many of these as you want to the set up... the more the merrier. They will breed and multiply, and if you have smaller reptiles they are an excellent source of calcium. Also if you are a roach feeder, like myself, you can add some of your feeder roaches (blaberus cranifer, dubias,...) to the mix. The nice thing about this is that they will help keep things clean, and also provide a steady source of food for those days you forget to feed, or go out of town.
Here is a shot of an isopod in my Viv.
I've had my Viv set up for only 6 months so far, but currently if you check things out with a flashlight late at night you can catch all of the above and more eating dropped sheds, scraps of food, leaf litter, ... Tonight I was able to spot earthworms, isopods (even a white baby about the size of a grain of sand), spring tails, small plants, and roaches all working on eating something. I have also see mushrooms come and go.
I do still spot clean with he defecates on soil but in generally everything else is taken care of really quickly by everything else in the cage.
Links:
Reptile Blog discussing Spring Tails and Isopods:
http://bsteel-amixedspeciesexperience.blogspot.com/search/label/Detritivore
And i will try and add more links to the link section so you can do more research on your own if you want... I'm definitely not the expert on this subject it is just something that was the answer to my issues with keeping a large burrowing reptile, and what has worked for me so far.
Additionally this doesn't have to just work for big cages. I use a similar set up, but on a smaller scale, with my tarantulas.
How to use cleaner bugs to keep a naturalistic viv with lots of dirt and not have to worry about replacing or cleaning the ton of soil all the time. You might have wonder how to do this if you have a reptile that naturally burrows for various reasons, such as a Savannah Monitor (which is what I keep).
The simple answer is seek to create an actual working ecosystem with your Reptile/Invert/... at the top of the food chain. As He/She eats, sheds, deficates.... they will be creating food for your cleaning crew, which in turn create ultra rich soil in case you plan to plant up the Viv.
First you need to start off with a soil that is practical for burrowing if you have a digging species. A lot of people recommend a 50/50 mix of sand and dirt. I use a mix of clayish dirt, with sand, and coir, but ultimately you want something that when damp makes a nice ball when you compact it with your fist but still falls apart when poked.
Now once you have the cage filled up with the dirt and not planning to move it around too much more you can add in your first cleaner bugs. Basically your standard earthworm, often called red wrigglers in the composting industry on this side of the pond. Avoid Night crawlers as they can't generally handle the higher temps of your vivarium and will usually die. If you buy them at a store just take the lid off the tub and turn it upside down on top of your substrate overnight and then throw the container away the next day.
Here is a photograph of one in my Viv.
Now you can finish setting up everything else, basking spots, hides, ponds, branches.... if you have to move too much dirt do this step before adding the worms.
Now comes a really important part to set up the chemistry and flora. Go to your yard, park, work, or any other place you know doesn't have pesticides and collect a bunch of fallen leaves. Make sure you don't use anything that naturally has harsh chemicals, such as walnut. Collect enough to cover the ground in your Viv. Not only will it add an important part to the Flora/fauna but my Sav/Bosc loves to hide out in the leaves. The reason you do this is to jump start things. The leaves since they were fallen an already in a state of decomposition are pretty much coated with beneficial bacteria, bugs, spores... all of your Detritivores ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detritus_feeder ). The reason this is important is that your system needs a jumpstart, to get things balanced. If you have worked with yeast in either beer or bread you know that once the yeast is established it will kill off most invading harmful bacteria. That is what you are shooting for here... with the leaves you will get the good bacteria that will mingle and do their magic in your Viv and keep the bad bacteria out.
In addition if you will have a humid environment you can go out to your yard, or find a seller online for isopods. Add as many of these as you want to the set up... the more the merrier. They will breed and multiply, and if you have smaller reptiles they are an excellent source of calcium. Also if you are a roach feeder, like myself, you can add some of your feeder roaches (blaberus cranifer, dubias,...) to the mix. The nice thing about this is that they will help keep things clean, and also provide a steady source of food for those days you forget to feed, or go out of town.
Here is a shot of an isopod in my Viv.
I've had my Viv set up for only 6 months so far, but currently if you check things out with a flashlight late at night you can catch all of the above and more eating dropped sheds, scraps of food, leaf litter, ... Tonight I was able to spot earthworms, isopods (even a white baby about the size of a grain of sand), spring tails, small plants, and roaches all working on eating something. I have also see mushrooms come and go.
I do still spot clean with he defecates on soil but in generally everything else is taken care of really quickly by everything else in the cage.
Links:
Reptile Blog discussing Spring Tails and Isopods:
http://bsteel-amixedspeciesexperience.blogspot.com/search/label/Detritivore
And i will try and add more links to the link section so you can do more research on your own if you want... I'm definitely not the expert on this subject it is just something that was the answer to my issues with keeping a large burrowing reptile, and what has worked for me so far.
Additionally this doesn't have to just work for big cages. I use a similar set up, but on a smaller scale, with my tarantulas.
