Do I Regret Going Bioactive?

When I first got Marbles, I was excited to make her enclosure bioactive. But, being as frugal as I am, I wanted to do a DIY because I thought it was going to be cheaper- and it was at first. I ended up having to spend lots of money replacing plants and what not.

I actually ordered some springtails to be the decomposers of the enclosure, and the package said to dump the rubber feeling charcoal in there and it'd be fine. Well, my springtailes didn't make it because  I didn't realize you had to feed them things like cucumbers slices. So now I have no clean up crew and just lots of charcoal looking things mixed into the substrate- when I change the substrate here in a few weeks I am gonna get all of it out so the charcoal goes away. It doesn't hurt Marbles and she doesn't eat it, its just annoying and doesn't flow with the aesthetic of the tank.

Before

After

Ball pythons like to bulldoze things. Marbles is four for four on destroying the plants every time I redo her enclosure. I bought some fake vines and put them up high just for now. I really like them because its more green than I have ever put in the pots on the wall and it looks cool hanging down. They're the All Living Things Medium Hanging Terrarium Plants 12". They came with suction cups on them, but I have a dirt and foam background so I just planted them as I would a real vine.




All in all I do not regret trying a bioactive enclosure, I love the idea of it, it is just hard to maintain with a reptile that destroys everything. The next reptile I get in a few years once I am in my own place, most likely a lizard of some kind, I might try going bioactive.

Hooked on a Feelin'

So a tool that I use for keeping Marbles is called a snake hook. The one in particular that I have is the ZooMed Deluxe Collapsible Snake Hook.

Why do I have it?
I feel that because I am a beginner reptile keeper the hook helps me and Marbles get used to handling as I hand-train her. I do not pick her up with it because I feel like the hook would not hold her weight and that Marbles would be uncomfortable having her entire body weight supported by a piece of metal. Additionally, I feel that using the hook more than my hand would hinder progress on hand-training her

How do I use it?
For my comfort:

• Extend the hook's shaft
• Locate Marbles' head
• Put the hook about 1/3 way down her body (to keep her head away from my hand)
• Use my hand to pick her up

Additionally, if I feel like Marbles is curled up too tight in her ball-shape, I will use the hook to kinda loosen up the ball so I can get a better grasp on her.

Also, it can be used for moving small things around in the enclosure. When I am moving a plant or am getting the water bowl, Marbles tends to get get a little curious sometimes so I just kinda move her away.

This one I bought was about $7 and I've used it numerous times and it seems to work well. Its been about two months since I have started using it and it has helped tremendously!