Bioactive setup for a sulcata?

[haroldthehermann]

Hello guys! You may remember me and my sick baby sulcata named Pip. For those wondering Pip is doing great and thriving. He is now off his meds and even with the possibility of hatching failure syndrome coming back to bite us in later months (I won't know for sure unless he doesn't grow much) I think he has a bright and long-lived future. I am hoping that he will start growing soon, which means we'll have to say goodbye to the 2ft by 3ft cement mixing bin and get him a good sized cage. While I was looking into ideas I came across the idea of a bioactive setup, though I couldn't find them being used for tortoises. Has anyone made a bioactive setup for a tortoise and would it work for a sulcata? Thanks and all help will be much appreciated.

 

[Wright78]

I have added springtails and pill bugs to my enclosure, they attack all extra food that falls on the substrate and poop that doesn't get cleaned up right away. They don't bother the tortoise.
This was a thread about them:
https://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/pill-bug-cost.172855/

 

[haroldthehermann]

And I also apologize for any drama that occurred because I panicked when the Pip's health declined. I got confused and ended up confusing everyone else. I do hope everyone will forgive my panic and redundancy and a I do plan to try and delete those threads (though I don't know if it is possible) so that they don't confuse anyone else.

 

[haroldthehermann]

I have added springtails and pill bugs to my enclosure, they attack all extra food that falls on the substrate and poop that doesn't get cleaned up right away. They don't bother the tortoise.
This was a thread about them:
https://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/pill-bug-cost.172855/

Thank you!

 

[Reptilony]

Glad to see you got the situation in hand. The people here know what they are talking about. Ask all the questions you want and if you see some contradicting infos just ask for clarifications theres no need to panic ; ). Btw you can’t delete these post yourself an admin have to do it.

 

[TechnoCheese]

Very glad you’re back! Hate to see new members leave.

Bioactive would likely work with a smaller tortoise, just keep in mind that a larger one will likely trample and eat everything. Be sure to use a 6500k white fluorescent for plant lighting

 

[KatApril]

For now Binky is a baby and kept indoors. Fungus gnata are an issue so i keep springtails and pillbugs in the enclosure and add more every two weeks. If the enclosure is moist enough they do very well. I always keep a culture of one bug or another on hand plus nomore moldiness and funny stuff in the enclosure anymore