JessJohnson87
New member
I had decided long before I got a crested gecko that I wanted to do a planted vivarium. I bought a gecko after Thanksgiving and brought him home, I had made my mind up that I wanted to house him in a plastic storage tub. After I spend a week trying to find the perfect tub, I did. So began the conversion to a permanent crested gecko "home." Once it was all done, I added my coco-fiber and fake plants to start off with. I then began researching which plants I wanted, something low maintenance that does not require regular fertilization and a bunch of light. Found 3 that were perfect: Pothos (of course), bird's nest fern and bromeliad. Placed the pothos and bird's nest fern into terra cotta pots and put them in there, but had no where else to put the bomeliad. I had picked out which janitors I wanted long before I started beginning the bio-active vivarium as well.
The tub before I did the overhaul today.
So today I decided to get rid of the terra cotta pots and put my plants into the soil. I added an extra bit of organic seedling starter mix (50-60% peat moss, perlite, lime and yucca extract) to help keep the soil (coco-fiber) from staying soggy and for my janitors to easily burrow in.
On to my janitors, I've been asked about the mealworm beetles and earthworms so I'm going to ramble a bit. I got my inspiration on adding something other than springtails and isopods from this article: Creating a Bioactive Leopard Gecko Setup - Gecko Time - Gecko Time
-Mealworm beetles are apparently really good at eating poop and other things in the tank, like springtails and isopods. Since my crestie is not interested in bugs what so ever, I do not foresee a problem with having the occasional mealworm in my tub, if they get out of hand I have a leopard gecko that would not mind eating them.
-On to the earthworms. I am an avid gardener and love when I find earthworms in my flower beds! 1. Their poop is an amazing fertilizer for your plants and they help breakdown organic matter in the soil. 2. They help aerate the soil for better oxygen flow to the roots of the plants and I'm hoping to decrease the amount of mold I do find in the soil itself. Now as far as the poo, not sure if they eat and break that down but only time will tell. Also and article in earthworms in the soil: Worm Composting
I decided on a warm day here in Virginia a few weeks ago, that I would scavenge in my yard for earthworms and found about 10 isopods along with about 10 or so earthworms. Out of the 10 isopods, I found 3 today that are still alive and kicking, not sure what happened to the others...oh well. The earthworms are doing fantastic! I did not see any springtails hopping around so not sure what happened to the culture I added around the time I added everything else, I did find some fungus gnats and possibly phorid flies so I added my small venus fly trap to the tub (under a leaf to the bird's nest fern) to hopefully take care of those nasty things. I added a thin layer of sphagnum moss to the top layer for the janitors to hide under until I get some leaf litter and I also added a bromeliad into the tree stump decoration I had a fake plant in. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed reading this and now on to the photo dump :biggrin:
The tub before I did the overhaul today.
So today I decided to get rid of the terra cotta pots and put my plants into the soil. I added an extra bit of organic seedling starter mix (50-60% peat moss, perlite, lime and yucca extract) to help keep the soil (coco-fiber) from staying soggy and for my janitors to easily burrow in.
On to my janitors, I've been asked about the mealworm beetles and earthworms so I'm going to ramble a bit. I got my inspiration on adding something other than springtails and isopods from this article: Creating a Bioactive Leopard Gecko Setup - Gecko Time - Gecko Time
-Mealworm beetles are apparently really good at eating poop and other things in the tank, like springtails and isopods. Since my crestie is not interested in bugs what so ever, I do not foresee a problem with having the occasional mealworm in my tub, if they get out of hand I have a leopard gecko that would not mind eating them.
-On to the earthworms. I am an avid gardener and love when I find earthworms in my flower beds! 1. Their poop is an amazing fertilizer for your plants and they help breakdown organic matter in the soil. 2. They help aerate the soil for better oxygen flow to the roots of the plants and I'm hoping to decrease the amount of mold I do find in the soil itself. Now as far as the poo, not sure if they eat and break that down but only time will tell. Also and article in earthworms in the soil: Worm Composting
I decided on a warm day here in Virginia a few weeks ago, that I would scavenge in my yard for earthworms and found about 10 isopods along with about 10 or so earthworms. Out of the 10 isopods, I found 3 today that are still alive and kicking, not sure what happened to the others...oh well. The earthworms are doing fantastic! I did not see any springtails hopping around so not sure what happened to the culture I added around the time I added everything else, I did find some fungus gnats and possibly phorid flies so I added my small venus fly trap to the tub (under a leaf to the bird's nest fern) to hopefully take care of those nasty things. I added a thin layer of sphagnum moss to the top layer for the janitors to hide under until I get some leaf litter and I also added a bromeliad into the tree stump decoration I had a fake plant in. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed reading this and now on to the photo dump :biggrin:
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