Bio diverse and self sustain soil, bioactive?

[Redjunior]

Has anyone tried this stuff or similar? Is it effective? Is it worth a try? Seems like it might be okay in a large enclosure. But wanted some thoughts on this type of set up?

Website is just 1 example. Found a few others like it once stumbling upon this.

https://www.thebiodude.com/blogs/how-do-i-create-a-bioactive-vivarium/tagged/spider-terrarium

 

[The Snark]

Bio-active=Birth, life, death. Grow, sustain, die and decompose. Anything else is temporary, transient, and inevitably doomed. Closed biospheres are almost impossible to maintain.

 

[moricollins]

Bio-active=Birth, life, death. Grow, sustain, die and decompose. Anything else is temporary, transient, and inevitably doomed. Closed biospheres are almost impossible to maintain.

That's quite the fatalistic outlook, Snark.

 

[Redjunior]

Well, I think I'll try it in a large tank. 20 gal or so. With my jacksoni setups. I keep a communal setup with babycurus so maybe that'll give some ideas to what it's good for. as its not closed off entirely. It's a mesh lid so it has lots of ventilation. Maybe even drop some live plants in, see if the soil breaks down cricket bodies and helps the plants feed off them. We shall see. Should be interesting. Fingers crossed I don't condemn my jacksoni.

 

[The Snark]

That's quite the fatalistic outlook, Snark.

Yes. And too negative. I read about various zoos that endeavored to not just emulate the natural environment of certain animals but replicate the ecosystem. Their trials and tribulations were unreal. Mom nature throwing ringers at them from all directions. Everything ended up being a series of compromises and free form waiting for the next problem to arise.

But the mention of jacksoni reminds me of a friend that had a pair of Jackson Horned chameleons. He selected a tree in his back yard and spent weeks manicuring it until the foliage was thin enough for him to see the profiles of the chameleons and still thick enough for them to hide from predators. They had no pathway of escape except down the trunk which would be extremely unusual. He put a zillion hours into that yard and was rewarded with 30 some babies after about a year. Working with mom nature, her providing the natural environment and him carefully adapting it to the requirements of the animals.