# Bioactive vivarium for tarantulas



## Eli02 (Apr 6, 2017)

So far for all my tarantulas i have done plain tanks and am wanting to try something new. I want to try a bioactive vivarium but dont really know how, or what tarantula I'd put in it. Do you guys have any tips for bioactive setups or any suggestions for tarantulas i could put in it? (Terrestial or aboreal)

Reactions: Like 1


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## TheGhostOfAkina (Apr 7, 2017)

I too am interested, really hoping someone has some interesting enclosures


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## Tyler187 (Jun 14, 2017)

There are a lot of good vivarium builds on YouTube. One in specific was by "The Dark Den " check it out & maybe you can steal some ideas from it.


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## photographer11 (Jun 19, 2017)

I've put isopods and  springtails in my Dart Frog enclosures.  Is this something I can do in my Ts enclosure?


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## Josh215 (Jun 26, 2017)

Isopods definitely, but they (generally) need high moisture.  I have a couple colonies of dwarf whites and they struggle if the soil gets dry and thrive when it's extremely moist (to the point that if you take a handful of dirt and squeeze, water will drip out).  Which is all just to say that they would do great in a high humidity spider enclosure with moist soil but would likely die in a dry enclosure.  I seed my pokie tanks with dwarf whites and they do well.  Arboreal spiders don't leave a whole lot of waste on the ground (unlike frogs) but the isopods take care of anything they do as well as potential mold.  Especially if you have live plants, the isopods are great.  They'll eat any dead plant matter and aerate the soil...  Pic attached of an enclosure for an adult female P. regalis.  The clean up crew keep everything tidy.  (And yes, I recognize the size of the tank is overkill for the spider.)...  Anywho, long story short, isopods are nice in high humidity enclosures.

Reactions: Like 7


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## The Snark (Jun 26, 2017)

Got to love these Taj Mahal set ups.


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## jaycied (Jun 28, 2017)

Bioactive enclosure are great, but isopods and springtails really only thrive in moist enclosures. I don't keep any in with Ts for now, that will probably change soon. I do keep them in my crested gecko enclosure as a cleanup crew, and the isopods are a great source of calcium for Tyran(osaurus)


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## PetrZ (Feb 24, 2018)

Josh215 said:


> Isopods definitely, but they (generally) need high moisture.  I have a couple colonies of dwarf whites and they struggle if the soil gets dry and thrive when it's extremely moist (to the point that if you take a handful of dirt and squeeze, water will drip out).  Which is all just to say that they would do great in a high humidity spider enclosure with moist soil but would likely die in a dry enclosure.  I seed my pokie tanks with dwarf whites and they do well.  Arboreal spiders don't leave a whole lot of waste on the ground (unlike frogs) but the isopods take care of anything they do as well as potential mold.  Especially if you have live plants, the isopods are great.  They'll eat any dead plant matter and aerate the soil...  Pic attached of an enclosure for an adult female P. regalis.  The clean up crew keep everything tidy.  (And yes, I recognize the size of the tank is overkill for the spider.)...  Anywho, long story short, isopods are nice in high humidity enclosures.
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> ...


Hallo, enclosure is fine. Can I ask you about lightning? What are you using? I am experiencing a lot, but I can not find proper mix of led lights. Under light spectrum for plants looks averything odd, when I add white led, plants are growing, but in a bad way (they are short, small leaves), so I am adding one or two red...   It could be ok, but plants need also near IR spectrum and it seems to be a problem. How long do you have plants in your viarium and how do they thrive in long term? Thank you.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Josh215 (Feb 26, 2018)

PetrZ said:


> Hallo, enclosure is fine. Can I ask you about lightning? What are you using? I am experiencing a lot, but I can not find proper mix of led lights. Under light spectrum for plants looks averything odd, when I add white led, plants are growing, but in a bad way (they are short, small leaves), so I am adding one or two red...   It could be ok, but plants need also near IR spectrum and it seems to be a problem. How long do you have plants in your viarium and how do they thrive in long term? Thank you.


I don't use any artificial lighting for the plants.  I have an LED strip on top just for display, but it's off most of the time.  The pic I posted above is a bit old and the ferns didn't make it...  Now I only have low light plants in that tank (and most of my other T vivs as well).  My T room has a couple windows which provide more than enough light for pothos.  I use a ton of pothos.  It's pretty, hardy, grows well, and doesn't need a ton of light.

I'm not a big plant guy.  I just stick to low light plants and don't worry about the lighting.


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## Dennis Nedry (Feb 26, 2018)

Let the enclosure develop a good population of bacteria and fungi before adding springtails and Isopods, that way it'll be a more stable environment for them. I'd also add some dead leaves and stuff for them to munch on


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## PetrZ (Mar 2, 2018)

Josh215 said:


> I don't use any artificial lighting for the plants.  I have an LED strip on top just for display, but it's off most of the time.  The pic I posted above is a bit old and the ferns didn't make it...  Now I only have low light plants in that tank (and most of my other T vivs as well).  My T room has a couple windows which provide more than enough light for pothos.  I use a ton of pothos.  It's pretty, hardy, grows well, and doesn't need a ton of light.
> 
> I'm not a big plant guy.  I just stick to low light plants and don't worry about the lighting.


Thank you


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## pirminiamac (Mar 2, 2018)

With those LED's you want blue light to make the plants stockier but a strong white light should give good results for most plants, up your lumens or look for LED's for horticultural use or marine aquariums with a mix of colours, red light will help with flowering btw


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