Some background before my questions. I have an adult male Argentinian Black & White in an 8x4x4 Animal Plastics enclosure. I recently relocated for a new job and I want to redo his substrate arrangements.
I previously used several inches of cypress mulch for substrate and these are my observations on that. It was extremely expensive. Water tended to accumulate on the bottom of the enclosure since I would occasionally splash the inside with a bucket of water to keep up the humidity. He never burrowed in it, just pushed it around. These were my three biggest issues prior to the new job.
Now I have a fourth issue to consider. I am away for a week at a time at least once a month for the job. I have someone who can stop in and feed him, change his water, etc mid week while I’m gone. I have his lights on a timer. His humidifier almost lasts until my check-in person comes to visit him. My only issue is his “business” while I’m gone.
Would bioactive substrate with isopods and stuff alleviate this issue? One person at my local reptile store (DFW Reptarium if anyone is from Dallas) told me it would work perfect and I could avoid having to do just about anything. The next person I talked to said there’s no way it would work with an animal and enclosure this large and that it would require attentive spot cleaning. He said that bioactive substrate that can accommodate an animal’s business and allow substrate to be used for more than a year at a time only worked for smaller animals. I asked if it wouldn’t be possible to just scale up the isopods to match the animal and enclosure size. He told me that I could but then the creepy crawlies would overwhelm the enclosure and eventually need to be replaced as a whole because they would be out of control.
What are the community’s thoughts? Am I better off just using a tried and true substrate and paying my check-in person to come twice as often and clean up after him, too? Does anyone have first hand success at accomplishing this level of “automation” in enclosure maintenance? If so, how did you do it or how do you suggest doing it? I’d prefer to spend a little more and buy from a reputable source rather than learn as I go and potentially mess it up, if that makes sense. Any online vendors recommended? Or any within Texas? Any thoughts of the other issues I had with cypress?
I previously used several inches of cypress mulch for substrate and these are my observations on that. It was extremely expensive. Water tended to accumulate on the bottom of the enclosure since I would occasionally splash the inside with a bucket of water to keep up the humidity. He never burrowed in it, just pushed it around. These were my three biggest issues prior to the new job.
Now I have a fourth issue to consider. I am away for a week at a time at least once a month for the job. I have someone who can stop in and feed him, change his water, etc mid week while I’m gone. I have his lights on a timer. His humidifier almost lasts until my check-in person comes to visit him. My only issue is his “business” while I’m gone.
Would bioactive substrate with isopods and stuff alleviate this issue? One person at my local reptile store (DFW Reptarium if anyone is from Dallas) told me it would work perfect and I could avoid having to do just about anything. The next person I talked to said there’s no way it would work with an animal and enclosure this large and that it would require attentive spot cleaning. He said that bioactive substrate that can accommodate an animal’s business and allow substrate to be used for more than a year at a time only worked for smaller animals. I asked if it wouldn’t be possible to just scale up the isopods to match the animal and enclosure size. He told me that I could but then the creepy crawlies would overwhelm the enclosure and eventually need to be replaced as a whole because they would be out of control.
What are the community’s thoughts? Am I better off just using a tried and true substrate and paying my check-in person to come twice as often and clean up after him, too? Does anyone have first hand success at accomplishing this level of “automation” in enclosure maintenance? If so, how did you do it or how do you suggest doing it? I’d prefer to spend a little more and buy from a reputable source rather than learn as I go and potentially mess it up, if that makes sense. Any online vendors recommended? Or any within Texas? Any thoughts of the other issues I had with cypress?