bioactive for dry set ups!

below is text copied from the reptile and amphibian bioactive setups group on facebook. the text was written by sheri bokhari. I do not claim it to be my own.

the photos were not copied when I copied it from the document on the group so I am screenshotting them for accessibility. to access the original photos, you will need to join the group on facebook and access the file yourself. the file is not downloadable so I cannot attach it to this document!

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Bioactive Setup for Desertic Reptiles



Introduction:



The Bioactive system of keeping reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates has been going on for years. Its how early herp keepers kept their captive animals before the “sterile” and “hygienic” way was enforced (1). I say enforced because NOBODY is forced to keep their animals in one way or the other, it is YOUR choice. BUT we MUST give them the best in temperatures, humidity, nutrition and natural enrichment…we owe them at least that effort. And personally, it is worth every bit of effort to watch the final result. Bioactive setups have started to come out to the surface once again, starting with the keeping of the majority of amphibians. But most of the setups that have been tried, tested and successfully running are leaned towards tropical and humid habitats, leaving little to no information on dry to desertic habitat bioactive setups (1).



Before I get into the topic at hand, I would like to remind everyone what keeping an animal in a bioactive setup means that those setups are to some extent self sufficient in all their needs (1). In other words, every living thing in that setup is being nourished and hygienically taken care of by a source or natural reaction. Of course, this is to some extent, this does not mean that the setup is free of your supervision and you can forget about it. You will still need to supervise how the setup grows and settles in, fix any problems and tend to those in need; but the everyday needs would be taken care of eventually and your work in maintaining the setup cut down considerably. You may have to spot clean wastes and skin sheds at the first couple of months of the setup, and of course, you need to feed your animals. Insectivores will need less food from you if they have a stable population of invertebrates acting as the cleanup crew for your setup (1).



I would like to point out that the following guide is written with steps on how a desertic bioactive setup worked for me. I have done and redone my ornate spiny tailed lizard (Uromastyx ornata), and am still learning and testing as I go by. But for now, after 5 months, things are going



smoothly. Again, this may not work for you word by word but you are welcomed to use the idea behind this guide to setup a dry to desertic habitat for your reptile.



Types of Dry Habitats:



Desert biomes are habitats that have a very low rate of rainfall and high rate of evaporation. The soil of deserts have an abundant of nutrients because they need only water to become productive and have little to no organic matter. Specialized plants and animals inhabit these habitats, which have evolved a way of storing water when needed. Most of the animals inhabiting deserts are non-mammalian vertebrates, such as reptiles, and invertebrates (2).



Desert biomes can be classified according to several characteristics, but there are 4 major types of deserts:



* Hot and Dry



* Semiarid



* Coastal



* Cold



Hot and Dry deserts are present in the American continent, Southeast Asian realm, Ethiopian (Africa) and Australian. Soil are rocky or gravely, has good drainage and no subsurface water. During the day temperatures are harsh, getting up to 49°C (120°F). For this reason the majority of the animals are nocturnal, taking shelter during the day and becoming active at dusk, dawn and night. Plants typical of these deserts are Agave, Yucca, Ocotillo, Ephedras, etc. Semiarid deserts also have very hot summers, with winter bringing limited rainfall, although temperatures doesn’t seem to go above 38°C (100°F). The soil of these deserts ranges from sandy and fine-textured to loose rock, gravel or sand. The spiny nature of many plants living in semiarid deserts provides protection in such a harsh environment, as well as containing a foul odor or taste in the plant itself. The coastal deserts have more moderate rainfall with plants having extensive root systems near the surface to take advantage of any rainwater. The animals have also adapted to hot weather and little water, having much more variety of species too. Cold deserts occur in the Antarctic, Greenland and Neartic
 realms. They receive heavy snowfall and rainfall, with soil being heavy and salty. Plants are widely scattered and deciduous, and the widely scattered animals consist mainly on mammals, although there are a few species of lizards (e.g. Zootoca vivipara) that survive in these cold conditions, waiting out the colder winters underground (2).



Captive Animals Considerations:



Reptiles coming from one of these habitats are prone to burrow or hide inside crevices, under logs, rocks or other types of shelter to stay safe from the scorching Sun. It is important to provide these animals with the adequate temperature, humidity, behavioral enrichment and nutrition for which they have evolved to practice and live by. That is, provide them with similar if not the same gradient of temperatures from morning to night, very hot during the day (depending on species) and cool at night. The humidity should be to the minimum, so good ventilation is needed. As for enrichment, they should be provided with the possibilities to dig, create tunnels and hide in crevices or other shelters. There are many ways to achieve this by mixing the right mix of substrate and providing suitable rocks and wood. Please, ensure the rock formations and wood are stable and secured, so they wont collapse on the animal. It is also important to provide a healthy diet, correctly supplemented with the needed minerals. All cases of impaction happens solely because of bad husbandry. The small amount of substrate a lizard will ingest when capturing a live prey should be easily passed on with the correct temperatures and humidity. Taking large amount of substrate on purpose (licking the sand, etc) would only be very likely if the animal feels they are lacking in minerals and will take their need of the minerals from the substrate. Remember that the soil of the deserts have a great abundant of nutrients. In order to avoid this, properly supplement the food and try to vary the diet in order to cover all aspects of nutrition the animal needs.



Dry-Desertic Setups:



I would like to remind everyone that the following will a be step by step guide anecdotes of my personal experience and testing of my desertic setup. It is by no means the norm, as you may have different results, specially if its not for the same species I house mine in. I’ll go through a
 small guide on how I did a bioactive setup for my spiny-tailed lizard and in the end, summarize a brief list of what would work in a general desertic or dry setup. I did the desertic bioactive setup once, noted down improvements and mistakes, and redid it again. So far its going much better than the previous attempt.



Substrate:



The first time I did the setup, I first started by mixing the components I intended to use as substrate, in the approximate quantity of 70% playsand, 10% coco-fibre, 10% compost soil, 5% crushed leaf litter and 5% volcanic stones. The coco-fibre I got from an exotic pet store, the leaf litter from my garden and the rest from my local gardening centre. This is what it looked like:




(Photos by Sheriyar Bokhari)



I noticed that this mix would not hold up tunnels properly and so my uromastyx having nowhere to dig a proper burrow, ended up digging everywhere, uprooting plants. Also, the substrate was too dry for the



invertebrates and the majority died off. In my second attempt, I laid a layer of humid coco fibre, mixed with compost soil and leaf litter throughout the base of the setup (details covered in the Cleanup Crew section). This would allow a humid underground similar to what the desertic animal would get in the wild.




(Photo by Sheriyar Bokhari)



I mixed Excavator clay (ÓZoomed) with the playsand, which I left to dry beforehand. As I added clay and sand to mix, I misted the mix with water in order to get a not too humid but not too dry texture. After mixing, the final texture should be dry but if you poke your finger in, it should be able to hold the shape of the hole your finger made.




(Photo by Sheriyar Bokhari)



In order to avoid the animal from tunneling through the plant’s roots, I placed a barrier of wet clay around the area intended for the plants. Once dry, it would harden and therefore give the plants some protection.



I placed the clay/sand mix in the areas I intend to have the animal burrow, and covered the surface with the mix I mentioned on my first attempt.




(Photo by Sheriyar Bokhari)



So far the mix is holding up my lizard’s burrows perfectly! Its nice to see him dig his own shelters.



Plants:



Many of the readily available plants for purchase suitable for these habitats are succulent plants. They are easy to recognize for their broad, waxy leaves which enables them to store water over long periods of time. All of these plants barely need watering, some like the living stones (Lithops sp.) require watering once or twice a year and are very sensitive to humid substrate, causing them to rot. When planning on getting plants and if you have an animal that may nibble on them, please research whether said plants would be safe to have in the setup. I have tried Agaves, Lithops, Aloes and Thillandsias and all are perfectly safe for plant nibblers and non-plant nibblers. The Thillandsias are air plants which means they are epiphytes; plants that grow on other plants or rock formations and do not require soil. In fact, soil will risk the plant rotting easily. The current plants I have planted in the bio vivarium have a bottom most layer of humid compost soil and leaf mould, volcanic
 stones on top of that, then semi-dried compost soil with leaf mould mixed in it, and topped with the desertic substrate mix.



Cleanup Crew:



Most of the bugs mentioned and available as cleanup crew (or custodians) of a bioactive setup are tropical inhabitants and humid lovers. Desertic bioactive setups have not been used enough to establish thriving invertebrates for such habitats, so it is still in the steps of experimenting. In my first attempt of bioactive, I had left patches of the substrate with just coco-fibre and compost mixed with leaf litter, and kept moist under flat rocks and wood, in order for the custodians to have a humid retreat. I introduced springtails (tropical and native), woodlice (tropical and natives), mealworms, lesser (mini) mealworms and their beetles. The springtails survived for a week at and around the moist patches but died off eventually. The tropical woodlice survived for a while longer but followed the same fate eventually, leaving the native woodlice, mealworms, lesser mealworms and their beetles to survive the longest. For a while these last custodians were doing a great job eliminating the wastes, pieces of shed and leftover food from the setup.



Eventually, the substrate was too dry for even these invertebrates and the big majority died off soon. When I redid the setup, I laid a bottom layer of humid coco-fibre and compost soil to provide the invertebrates an underground moist layer throughout the whole setup and not just in patches. I have also provided a moist patch of humid soil directly linked to the bottom moist layer, hidden under a flat rock as well as, a humid corner covered by pieces of wood, bark and withering plants. Was hopeful that this would provide a better chance for the invertebrates and so far after a month, they are starting to show signs of breeding. I have mealworms, lesser mealworms and their beetles; and native woodlice as the cleanup crew for my desertic habitat and I have witnessed wastes and left over food disappearing in one night.




(Moist patch under a flat rock with mealworms, lesser mealworms and their beetles. Photos by Sheriyar Bokhari)



Other custodians that can be used for desertic setups, though I haven’t tried them myself yet, are superworms (morios), dermestids and their beetles. After a bit of research, it would seem that the most effective of all dry setups custodians, would be the blue death feigning beetles (Asbolus verrucosus), but it seems that due to their high difficulty in getting the larvae to pupate in captivity, they are rarely imported outside of the U.S.A.



Conclusion:



Doing a bioactive setup for desertic to dry inhabitants is still in the path for trial and error, there are still no foolproof ways of doing this kind of setup. For this reason, all observations and anecdotes are welcomed in regarding the setting up of the enclosure as well as the running of the setup. The substrate should be more sand or any other dry substrate than humid-retaining substrate and plants should be those species able to withstand the very low levels of humidity. Although the invertebrates mentioned above will tolerate the dry environment, they will still need moist retreats, and the more accessible retreats they have, the better to



ensure their breeding. All aspects need to be carefully monitored in order to have the environmental and behavioural requirements of all living beings in the setup met in a common scale.



References:



(1) Reptile and Amphibian Bioactive Setups files; by Danniella Sherwood, Janine Haime and Ron Eddy.



(2) www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/exhibits/biomes/deserts.php



By Sheriyar Bokhari Bokhari