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Ima send u a pic of a giant tank I have on Instagram only way I can find a way to send you a pic lol tell me what u think im wanting to fix it up for my bp but I gotta do stuff to is b4 she could ever go in ir
This was perfect! I keep going back and forth on this. I want to start a cave gecko project but to set each up in its own bioactive is $$$$$$. Eventually I have mine in bioactives, but while they're growing/breeding, minimalistic just makes more sense.
I think are a few things to take into consideration when getting any pet. One is housing. I fully believe in replicating their natural environment with real plants and such. So I am for bio active enclosures. However if the risks for the animal are higher to keep them that way, then I will go for what's best for the animal. It's about them, not you!
It really comes down to giving the animal a good life. You don't need bioactive to do that, but you can't just put them in a box where they have no enrichment. Giving the animal a way to exercise and enjoy themselves is so important, no matter what the species or if it's a breeder or not. Even breeder animals deserve to have enrichment and things to do in their life
100% agree. I don't think the enrichement always has to be bioactive, you can try to replicate with other things. And breeder animals deserve a decent life too. Reptiles and humans can't either communicate well (like show if they're unhappy, uncomfortable, bored and even sick sometimes) so they're really at our mercy.
Exactly. And there are many ways of being able to provide enrichment that don't need to be all about just the enclosure or putting in pretty plants. Sometimes, we may be providing enrichment without even realizing we're doing it. Taking animals out for regular and routine maintainance and interaction? Bringing them to schools and other educational outreach events in the community? That's all enrichment! Both for us, and for the animal(s). At the end of the day, do whatever makes you feel better about keeping said animal.
Let's not kid ourselves, the whole point of keeping an animal is for our entertainment, but by us keeping these animals we are prolonging their lives & giving them more love than in the wild. I love that you addressed that! Great video Adam, keep it coming!
They don't have the capacity to understand that love though, so even that's for ourselves. Loving something for the sake of your own pleasure, hoping it'll form an attachment, etc. Keepers should keep the animal enriched, try to replicate their environment to the best of your ability and in a way that doesn't chance too much harm. Pet traders should do right by the animal as much as can be expected, if that means minimalism then that's that. Just no arborials in flat racks with no room to climb, we can all agree to that I think, even breeders.
@@appalachiabrauchfrau I understand what you mean, by love I meant care and attention, something they could never find in the wild! But regardless of our feelings the animals needs should always be met, anything less would be abuse and unfair to the animals. Even as intelligent as they are, reptiles or any animal does not always understand they are pets, and I think that adjustment is easier on them in a bioactive.
I think it's very important that the reptiles needs are set and that we try to replicate how they live in the nature because we specially have difficulties communicating with teptiles, they can't tell and often show us if they're unhappy. Maybe some reptiles don't have that much avareness or needs but still it's hard for us to know. Like cats and dogs can tell us much better if they're bored, unhappy, in pain, sick, hungry.
I realize I'm likely anthropomorphizing, but I just don't have the heart to keep my pythons in a rack system. I much prefer to offer them access to a large water bowl, circulating air, climbing opportunities, and a clearly defined day/night cycle. It might not hurt them to live in a rack but I do believe it is more enriching for them to live in a nicely sized glass or pvc terrarium.
I wouldn't call this anthropomorphisizing. All vertebrates, even some types of inverts dare I say, do best with mental enrichment in their life. If a species is supposed to climb as a part of its lifestyle, it should be allowed to. All animals should be able to exhibit all of their natural behaviors in their enclosure. I understand the benefit of racks, especially for breeders who have a ton of babies to be sold but long-term adults should have all of their species' needs met. Good air circulation is a very basic requirement and is by no means only important to humans lol
Direct and to the point!! Totally agree regarding live plants in bioactive setups. I won't put any in my Bearded Dragons enclosures because all they do is eat them. Loki actually pulled a whole spaghetti agave right out, roots and all.
@@WickensWickedReptiles Speaking of, have you considered a video about getting bearded dragons to eat their salad? Mine is two months old; absolutely refuses to touch anything green or fruity. Must be a bug, and it has to move on its own or he won’t do it.
@@WickensWickedReptiles I must have a magical beardie! She loves her salads and will stuff herself on greens before going for buggies. Unless she's being offered superworms then it's definitely the worms.
THANK YOU so much for this. I've seen a growing idea (not only in reptiles, but other animals) that if an animal's living situation isn't "perfect," then that equals abuse. For instance, if a person don't have his/her dog's teeth cleaned professionally, or if a horse isn't kept in a stable, then that is "abuse." Similarly, there's the idea that if a reptile is in a rather spartan enclosure, then that equals "abuse" to some people. At the far end are those who also confuse any type of animal illness or accident with abuse/neglect. Some of this mindset is great for animal supply and animal service-providers, but sets a VERY high, often unattainable and usually expensive, bar for the novice or casual pet-owner. This perfectionist mindset also often turns toxic toward new pet owners, or pet owners without the means to provide extra bells and whistles. You have a large platform. Maybe you can help balance this all-or-nothing mindset.
I personally think that more should be done for all pets then just the minimum/basic care. Needs being met is super important, but so is enrichment. I think it's better to give them the best life. Of course you can only do what your budget will allow, but that's a part of why research beforehand is needed; find out if you can afford to give them everything they need and more before getting them. I do agree that if done right minimalist set ups aren't abuse though.
Same here, can't even keep fake plants in her enclosure without her trying to eat or destroy them.. you'd think she'd figure out they're plastic but it's just not worth the risk. She gets rocks and branches and hammocks to climb on instead
Being a new snake owner, we weren't sure of how to setup a tank for our corn snake. We watched all the channels and we went with an approach that was sort of in the middle. He has enough room that he can completely stretch out. Then he has a total of 5 hides in the tank, 2 on the cool side, 2 on the warm side and one in the middle. Also, we let our daughter have input so she put several of her toy dinosaurs in the tank with him. Add a few fake flowers and that is Herbie's setup. He uses all of the hides, and climbs on all of the toys, the cloth and silk flowers as well. So, it's definitely not naturalistic but it's not minimalistic either. His favorite hides are the ones where he can hide yet still watch us.
My biggest pet peeve is when they have a huge and tall enclosure but don’t have any platforms/branches for the pet to actually make use of the enclosure’s vast space, wasting the purpose.
Kevin from New England Reptiles said it best I think. He says if you get an animals from him it has most likely been kept in a minimalist setup, so when you first receive the animal it should be kept in a minimalist setup. Not only is the animal used to it so it will adjust better to its new home, but it allows you to keep really good track of if the animal's health like if it is eating/pooping or not. Once the animal gets comfortable with you & its new environment, it is totally ok & good to move it to a bioactive setup. Not everything in this world is absolutes.
Thank you for this video… it helped alleviate some of the guilt I’ve felt about not going bioactive. My two pets, a beardie and a leopard gecko, are NOT in minimalist racks, but I’ve always thought that my lack of loose substrate made my spacious, enriched tanks “minimalistic.” I now realize that there is a spectrum of types of habitats. And that makes me feel better. Maybe someday - if I can learn how to keep plants alive in an arid/ desert hab - I’ll try bioactive. Until then, I’ll just focus on keeping my pets as happy and healthy as possible.
I strongly recommend switching to a suitable loose substrate ASAP, digging/burrowing enrichment is extremely beneficial for both species. A soil/playsand or soil/sand/clay mix is ideal.
I think it's important to understand that breeders are only keeping the animals temporarily too. The goal is to get them to a new home as soon as they are ready, and until that point monitoring health is the most important thing. Hopefully their adult breeders are getting a little more than the basic baby bin setup. For pets though, you're giving them a long term home and should want them to thrive. If you need to keep snakes in a rack as a regular pet owner, you probably have too many.
One important point to make is for special needs reptiles- many need a minimalistic enclosure to stay safe and retain what health they have left. Snakes with the spider wobble, enigma geckos, MBD cases where they can no longer move normally even after treatment (Check out Winnie, the paralyzed leopard gecko!), blind reptiles and etc.
Hey Adam awesome video! One thing that I think most of us miss about bioactive enclosures (including myself) is that the real clean up crew is the microorganisms (bacteria, good fungus,etc) it is similar to an aquarium that needs to be cycled for this filter to be properly established. Simply having plants, springtails and isopods does not make an enclosure bioactive. The Animals at home podcast has a great episode talking all about bioactive enclosures that I think more people should listen to if they are considered setting up bioactive enclosures.
Being a new herp owner I honestly thought those rack systems were terrible. Until I begun watching channels like snake discovery, this one, reach out reptiles, NERD' etc and educating myself on why exactly people wwho clearly are excellent keepers and breeders would do this. And now I know not only is it financially necessary but also not at all harmful to the animals. And in some cases as you pointed out better for the animals. This was an excellent video and fair and to the point keeping is a varied hobby and as we learn and grow we find what works for both us and the animals we keep.
I swear there's a disconnect for some people who in one breath say, "buy your reptiles from reputable, ethical breeders" and in the next breath continue, "the setups that those reputable, ethical breeders use to produce their animals is by nature unethical and abusive." I'm limiting my collection to 7 or 8 animals total because that's what I can manage alone. My species interests are also pretty niche, which leads me to smaller scale breeders who are better equipped to meet or exceed my standards for rack husbandry with their smaller collections.
As someone who was a former employee at NERD all I will say is that I honestly have to disagree slightly, the way they keep almost every single one of the 6-8,000 snakes they have is not the standard I think the community should follow. The place is practically a puppy mill and a lot of the animals go without water, or proper maintenance for months. They have 16,000 or 17,000 animals under that roof and have maybe and I mean MAYBE 10 employees. Those people are incredibly under payed a ton of them drive long distances to be there and often times they will go well over 12 hours a day but you do not get overtime and if you miss a punch you will often times not get paid for the day at all. Enough about personal issues but imagine trying to take care of over 1,000 animals a day by yourself. A ton of that building gets not only neglected but they would be euthanized in masses by stomping on their heads or being frozen in the freezer. Not to mention some of the purely incompetent staff and or staff training to the point where I’ve seen some pretty gnarly injuries that needed stitches. But I can remember a day incredibly vividly while working with ball pythons I witnessed two employees who were instructed to take 4 ball pythons with ri’s place them in small bins tape them shut and throw it in a freezer in the back of the building. That place all though they deserve a lot of credit because they do a lot and Kevin is a genius but they are now only it for money, they have become an utter clown show. But honestly believe me or don’t maybe 10 or 15 years down the road the truth will come out completely but till then my identity will remain a secret so my face doesn’t become among the missing in the herptecultre community (no they won’t kill me but if I came with my real name and people figured out who I was I would literally be denied an opinion in the community)
If you can't afford to keep an animal well, don't have them. Racks are fine for temporary short term enclosures like hatchlings, but to lock animals in dark boxes their whole lives, that's abuse. This video and others are making excuses. They don't have to go bioactive, but you need to provide animals with a life worth living
This is such a great video. You are so non judgemental. You don't go around acting like your way is the high way. I enjoy your channel so much. Thank you for all your wonderful and useful content
I 100% with everything in this video. I use 'racks' for certain snakes but only when species suitable. (when young or for higher humidity species plastic is easier to control that) but I think racks get a bad rap because of how so many 'keepers' use them incorrectly. my tubs still have 2 hides minimum, substrate, enrichment, proper size water bowls, leaves logs etc. and are appropriate size for the animal inside. As a small breeder they work for me in terms of keeping a closer eye on the animal, meeting the animals needs and keeping parents and offspring healthy with good quality of life.
I love how you don't push your opinions on people. Many hobbiests push their opinions and believe that their way is the only way. I believe that there are so many different ways of doing things, you just need to find what works for you and your animals. Thank you for sharing.
Another meaningful thing to mention here is that rack system or bin based habitats don’t necessarily = minimalist enclosures. you can make rack systems and bin habitats well large enough and naturalistic. To match even the most complex of bioactive habitats if Properly done. For example a bin equivalent to a 40 gallon breeder enclosure in space is only like 20 dollars max at the right places. In fact many people who breed dart frogs and smaller species of tree frog frequently keep them in fully planted bioactive bins I have even seen bioactive bins for animals like leopard geckos, crested geckos, some smaller snakes, and even as grow out indoor habitats for baby turtles
Where would you suggest buying the type of bins you suggested? Such as the 40 gallon bins for around $20? But even just good places to look for bins in general.
@@ExoticCritter Walmart!! Or even dollar general! Just look for plastic storage bins with a clear lid and locks that hold the door down enough where you can't slip all your fingers through the crack. Amazon also have them, but they often come cracked.
Love it! I agree on all points. Especially the one about the key thing being that all the animals needs are met. No way could breeders afford to put their whole collections in fancy enclosures and sell animals at reasonable prices.
I think if you're a breeder you should at least try to keep the adult breeding animals in bit better conditions as they're sort of your animals and responsibility. The babies who are going to go to new owners don't of course need that much space and enrichement, just simple basis needs.
These animals have the whole world as an enclosure, until we interfere. The least we can do is give them a larger than recommended enclosure with as much enrichment as possible. I feel so sad when I see snakes basically kept in drawers. Especially ball pythons, because when offered height to climb and explore they will definitely use it. And its not like reptiles can tell us when they are bored or stressed, unlike dogs that can pace and stare at you when they want some exercise, or cats that start chasing your feet when they need to play.
Wild snakes don't have the whole world, they have microhabitats, some of these very small in area, and they can have many dangers. They do not put themselves out there all day to be looked at. They seek security much of the time. While any enclosure needs to be fair - give the animal enough room, proper humidity range, proper temperature range - the naturalistic looking part of it is not all that necessary. The functional part is, but natural-looking is not. It does not hurt, it just does not matter that much. When a person keeps various snakes in various setups, that person will start to see certain behaviors that the snakes do regardless of how natural something looks. All that said, I think it is great that some folks go all-out with enclosures. And when they finally show that their snakes in particular are better for it, I will be all in. I just have not seen that yet.
I think bioactive is the best option without factoring in anything else, but the middle ground is the right set up in most cases. I have a bioactive set ups for both my reptiles, but my african fat tailed gecko has way more live plants because the other is for a BTS that digs up plants for fun, so he gets more fake plants.
With me mostly keeping giants, I like minimalistic, but in large enclosures. No racks when it comes to them. I've seen people try to do naturalistic, but they end up needing a whole shed or at least half a room for that to be possible. Cleaning it is incredibly tedious, and it could be hard to spot anything off in those enclosures. What I'm doing is keeping their enclosures minimal so it's mostly for sleeping, digesting their meals, and getting heat/chilling in shed. I will have a massive shed built for them as a play & exercise area in my backyard and somewhat inside the house. Fully heated and everything. To me, if your animal is having enriching activities outside of its enclosure (mostly if they're solely pets and you have a manageable amount), then minimal for the larger species is definitely alright. I'd hate for them to just always be in an enclosure with minimal interaction. I heavily appreciate this video from you. It's literally one of the most debated and controversial topics due to some people seeing a lame setup vs an incredible one by someone that has invested heavily in 1-3 animals and people end up thinking that should be the norm. This gives very good insight and explanations for why each has its use and I'm all for it!
When I had my collection< I kept some in the classic rack with Rubbermaid tubs. And some in enclosures such as Boaphile. Then a friend said it was sad that the snakes could not see out. So the ones in the rack I put in a Freedom Breeder rack which the could see out of. I found no difference in their behavior. Now my iguana had 1/2 of my walk in closet. She loved it. You have the best vids and info ever.
I'm currently busy with a project to make a inside pond for my musk turtle because where i live is most of the time bad weather. And I really agree with this vid try to make it more like their natural habitat because I noticed a transparent enclosure can stress a musk turtle out, so doing a lot of research and came to conclusion that a mortar box was the best option for them and ever since he seems to me a lot more happier.
I think all forms of enclosures, racks, terrariums, bins etc., can be done well or badly. I have seen videos of retics having to live in glass terrariums that would've been great for another species, but were way too small for them and I have seen racks that are spacious, let in light and are filled with enrichment (like snake discovery). I keep some of my snakes in a rack as well, but my rack provides them just as much space and enrichment as most other enclosures would. There are many breeders on UA-cam though (especially for ball pythons) who squish their snakes into rack tubs that are so small, they have to "fold" the animal into it for it to even close. No substrate, no enrichment, they just sit on plastic in the dark with a dirty little water bowl and the only things that ever happens is feeding time and breeding. That is just cruel, no matter how much these people will tell you that the animals "thrive" (cause they're not dead after all, right?) and that ball pythons don't need anything at all except water and a rat every now and then.
Thank you for this comment, I didn't understand how they were getting lighting and heating. I don't think his racks have lighting or heating at least from what I have seen in newer and older videos also the tubs in general are just to small.
Exactly. Racks do not have to be dungeons. I have one baby boa that prefers a tub - he is much less defensive and his willingness to feed went from 0 to 100 just a few days after being moved to a tub. I can keep the humidity in there perfect with Babi-Chip substrate, and I can keep the temps nice and stable in the back. It would be silly to deny that snake the enclosure that he does best in just because it is a rack. I have a sub-adult - same thing. Loves the tub. And I have another that does great in a big Vision cage. No reason to force one method on all.
Hey I’m a 13 year old kid with a large animal and reptile collection I love the fact that u keep your reptiles the way WE should not the way a Breeder does and u keep it as Practically and ethically as possible thank you so much it’s super helpful and inspiring one day I hope to be like u just wt some mammals 2 I already have a lot of experience and I have a full barn I watch all the reptile and animal videos and I think urs is the most ethical tysm have a great day!
I watched a video recently where a reptile keeper showed off his favorite ball python, professed how much he loved her. She was in his collection for 25 yrs. Every single one of those years was lived in a bin, no light, no enrichment except when she was fed. Yes she had food, water and was kept clean...her basic physical needs were met but I think there has to be more, she deserved better.
Don’t snakes like ball pythons prefer dark enclosed spaces in the first place? Most of the time if you give the snake a hide they’ll spend most of their time in it.
The animal can be taken out and allowed to explore outside the tub, weather permitting, etc. In fact, choice-based handling outside the cage does wonders. In that case, a rack can be just fine. In fact, it probably mimics wild activity time lengths where active time is roughly 10% and hide time is 90%. But yes, just stuck in the tub 100%, well, clearly limits the snake's usage of its brain. I think racks + handling can be the best setup for some species. Lets face it, a ball python in a 3ft or 4ft cage is still far from the choices it will have to make in the wild. Still super limited. Should still be handled.
Respectfully, I don’t think I can justify racks being ok solely based on the fact that it makes thing like producing and buying animals cheaper for the hobby. It’s hard for me to look at big production area like Bryan b and say “I think this is fine because they have food and water even though they are in a borderline Tupperware container with some paper towels. I’m a firm believe that if people can’t afford to house and care and enrich their animals, the shouldn’t have the animals. I think as people we look at puppy mills with disgust (as we should) but seems to do the same things with reptiles and say it’s totally fine because they aren’t pets, we are just forcing them to have babies to sell for money. All in all this is just my personal opinion though.
Right on, brother! This is the best point I have heard to determining tank size. I am all for appropriately sized enclosures but it all has to be balanced. Just to emphasize what you said - if every ball python breeder had each snake in say a 125 gallon (really would be ideal!) the price of balls would be astronomical. Few people could afford them. The hobby would die. We would all have to start a new hobby - maybe stamp collecting or ant farming (illegal now anyway), comic book collecting - you get the idea. People quit shaming people when you aren't looking at the whole picture! I know this is off topic a titch, but you started it. And thanks for saying it.
Hey Adam, just wanted to tell you that I got a baby hognose snake this week and he's a precious baby. Your content has made me realize how many incredible species there are, and Caspian (my hodnose) is so wonderful. Thank you so much for what you do.
Hey Adam! Glad you loved the hot sauce my bro! I'm cooking up some more in the Mad Lab for you in the new year 🤣😜☺️ Thanks for the shout out, and thanks for addressing this important topic! Love your videos as always! Sincerely Adrian - @ReptilesofLustria
Respectfully, the number of animals produced already far exceeds the demand for them. Thats why even "cool" morphs end up as feeders all the time, why wholesalers are able to buy at rock bottom prices, and worse, why animals of some morphs get culled, to keep supply low and thus prices high. I understand streamlining a business and cutting costs on products, but reptiles arent a product, theyre living beings and it is the responsibility of the keeper, breeder of hobbyist, to keep the animals in the best most complete condition possible. A snake can survive without UV? Who cares, provide it anyways on the chance it would help them. A snake can survive its whole life eating only mice? Who cares, feed them a varied diet on the chance it would help them. Would keeping animals in this way end up driving costs up? Sure, but if you cant afford the upfront price you cant afford the animal. I am a big believer in enjoying things, even if they might be beyond your means, if you can save and indulge once in a while then go for it. I dont believe this when it comes to living creatures however. If you cant afford to give an animal the best possible life, then dont get the animal. Now watch as soon as demand dies how many of these breeders who do it for the "love" of the animals melt away. You end up with groups of people who are actually passionate about the animals they keep, and invested in keeping them the best way possible.
@@darcieclements4880 cornsnakes, retics, burms, leopard geckos, bearded dragons, pretty much everything common is victim to the same mass breeder mentality. And even obscure stuff is affected, for example indigos are terribly inbred. Finally? No matter the species, the common way of keeping stuff today is unfortunately “minimalism” no enrichment, usually a tiny enclosure
UV has actually been proven to be harmful to certain nocturnal species. It can cause burns, skin lesions, and cancers. Just be careful with your UV output
I feel like minimalism is better (generally speaking) for breeders/quarantine as long as the requirements for the animal's health and safety are met. Of course there's a bunch of factors that need to be considered. Naturally the choice should be made after plenty of research has been done.
Studies have been proven that animals don't do well in breeder minimalistic setups. They're alive and thats it, quite the depressing life if you ask me.
Completely agree there is a time and place for both bioactive and sterile environments. My water dragon Hunter is in a full bioactive setup and benefits greatly from it, while my corn snake is in a sterile environment because I don't feel she would gain anything more from bioactive than what I've accomplished with the sterile. It's each to their own though and always good to discuss
Correction on your bioactive statement that could actually cause damage/issues. Bioactive needs to have living plants. Your cuc (clean up crew) will help mitigate the waste from the animals but then they in turn produce waste as well. The plants are required to absorb the cuc waste as nutrients otherwise you will have an incomplete cycle and your enclosure will still be full of animal waste. This is why people who just throw in isopods and call it a day without live plants, will still wind up with foul or musty smelling enclosures as the cuc waste builds up with nowhere to go.
So much this! People don't understand nutrient cycles and don't realise without plants you're just having a waste build up and the substrate eventually becomes toxic due to ammonia and nitrate+nitrite build up. I thought basic biology classes covered this but it seems not.
Tubs can be abuse though. Not in generell. It doesn't really matter if you use a tub or a tank or if you want to make it bioactive or sterile. Everything can be approipriate. It's how you do it. But if I see people keeping a huge snake in a small tub where the snake fills up half the tub and will never be able to move their full body with only a water bowl in the tub, that's abuse in my mind. It's a difference if you do that or if you have at least two hides in the tub and room to let the snake stretch out.
That part around 13:40 , you did a really good job and getting your point across while intentionally not stepping on anybody else's toes about how they do it. Good job dude! Great Vid as always.
This is a really good video, touched up on a good comparison between these two terrarium types. For certain species, such as dart frogs, I'd say a bioactive is a must for them since they need the high humidity and lots of places to hide to remain bold. I couldn't bring myself to keeping a dart frog in a minimalistic enclosure. The closest I would stray from a planted fully bioactive viv would be an enclosure that is still densely packed with fake plants (or low-light live such as Pothos), moss and springtails.
I tend to stick to a middle ground. My enclosures are what I would consider to be "naturalistic" but not bioactive. I suck at keeping plants alive and I like to make sure EVERYTHING is clean aha
Agree on all points. My Fl King has been in a bioactive for nearly a year now and I've been battling fruit flies since October (uhg, the pumpkin on the doorstep brought them in) and I've been day dreaming on tearing it down. But seeing him climb, dig, explore, and use the plants to ambush the tweezers has been one of the most rewarding experiences. He's all snake and I would hate to take that away from him just because I'm annoyed because of the flies (and the smell of soaking mosquito bits)
Thank you so much for touching on this man, twice already I've almost quit the reptile community and almost rehomed my first only snake of 6 years due to some people calling me an animal abuser all cause I have my sub adult bp in a 40 gallon, but is soon being moved into a 65 gallon tree bin to help with humidity, she may be in in for a long long time, but I do hope to save enough for a PVC in the near future, I'm glad you touched on that we keep animals all sorts of ways but there is indeed a right and wrong way to do either way... I was actually scared at first to join your discord cause I was scared you'd be mad at me for currently having my sub adult bp in a 40 gallon 😅😅😅😅
40gal breeder tanks is commonly recommended for adults from what I remember idk why people would complain now. They’re very cryptic and prefer snug than open spaces. You’d have to modify the top mesh with some foil/plastic etc for the humidity issue, but the bin is superior agree for this issue. just not for viewing wise tho.
My bearded dragon usually poops in the same spot. I use elevation around the enclosure and down in the center where he feeds he will usually just poop there and I go in with a small vacuum and wipe
Awesome video. 100% agree on everything. Right now I have all my snakes in a rack system because it's more efficient when you have 10 snakes in a 1 bedroom apartment. But as soon as I get my own place and can dedicate a whole room to my reptiles, at least half of my snakes are going into display enclosures, similar to your ball python and boa enclosures, or like the enclosure Diamond has. Probably won't go full bioactive. But they'll have deeper substrate for burrowing. More height for climbing. And just over-all more space.
My animal husbandry hill to die on is "cats belong indoors, period, and letting them out off leash is irresponsible" but ... I also hope every person who's ever proudly showed off their (usually rack-kept) collection featuring masses of disgusting slimy water dishes steps on a Lego every day for the rest of their life. (This is the one place where I think Dāv Kaufman stumbles--way too many people whose collections he's featured have opened drawer after drawer with disgusting, slimy water bowls. And that makes me question their husbandry and animals' overall welfare) I have my rosy boa in a naturalistic setup because there just isn't a lot of information about arid bioactive setups out there. I'd love to see you take on an arid build sometime--maybe for a leopard gecko?
I understand why breeders use rack systems, but racks can be enriching, look at snake discovery as great examples. However some breeders keep their animals in a tray with just a water bowl, to me this is where they are putting money first and not the welfare of the animal. The worst example I saw was when Dave Kaufman went to buy a new snake from Freedom Breeders, it made my children cry at the fact these large animals were being kept in a tiny draw and being advertised as a good way to keep your animals. I also get upset when people start saying they’ve run out of room so what’s the best rack to buy so I can keep more animals. Should the welfare of the animal come first and not how many can I keep? This is what the animal activists will use to shut the hobby down. It’s already happening, a recent study was commissioned by activists to look at how corn snakes behave in a rub vs vivarium. No surprise what the study found. So racks can work but we need to ensure the welfare of the animal comes first including things like uvb. But a bad bioactive can be just as bad as minimalistic set up. Plants are hugely important to draw the bad stuff out the soil, you can’t just chuck in some isopods and springtails and go hey I’m bioactive. I’ve actually just stripped out my hognose enclosure and put him back on lignocel as I couldn’t get the bioactive set up going. Still lots going on but not as pretty. Which is better? The one that allows you to put the welfare of the animal first and allows you as the keep to enjoy owning them.
@@WickensWickedReptiles would love to visit one day, just a few 000 miles in the way! I think if more people took their way of doing things the rack debate would extinguish itself.
THANK YOU for the activist point!!! I don't see a lot of people talk about it, but in this current era of rampant anti-exotics laws it's so important! We cannot simultaneously try to endear reptiles to the public whilst touting "professionals" who keep their reptiles with next to nothing in tubs. These are the people who come up when people go to youtube and type 'ball python', after all.
@@Creekpaw Absolutely agree. I normally do not watch BB for example but found myself watching one on Saturday and his son was trying to remove a retic from an enclosure and behaving like a fool. He was flooding the animals enclosure, clearly causing it stress and rather than leave them alone continued for entertainment purposes. I switched off. This is the sort of thing as you say that comes up when people google 'ball python' which is not the best representation!
I didn't think how much my ball python would like being up high as a snake that loves caves but I notice around nighttime he retreats to his cool hide while during the day to his hot hide
They will absolutely utilize and benefit from climbing enrichment, they’re semi-arboreal and have been observed climbing in the wild. They definitely don’t hide in caves all the time.
I keep my ball python on paper towels in a 40gal enclosure with some foliage, a hide on each side, and a good size water dish. He gets plenty of enrichment with supervised outside time in the summer and supervised floor time indoors when it gets cold out.
You make some good points! I also feel like there's a situation that's appropriate for either. I once bought like $40 worth of very sturdy looking plants for a young monitor that I was going to make look SO COOL, and.... he dug up and shredded all of them, despite being 1/4th of their size in most cases. Cried in my soul a little bit. There's a lot of fake plants in there now.... lmao
I’m on the same boat man. There’s some situations where bioactive enclosures are the way to go and I’ve heard some animals do best in those set ups. But also there are animals that really need a less complicated system because of the already difficult requirements they have like space they need and a variety of surface like solid ground, water, climbs, etc. this is a difficult thing to explain sometimes because it is easy to get stuck on one side or the other and it gets a bit too polarized. I feel the same about racks as well. There are some situations that they can be beneficial though I personally don’t have any desire to have them. I also don’t have a lot of animals so its not an issue lol
I agree with every point I have racks but most of my pets are in enclosure I did my first bioactive for my dragon snake I had for 6 months I can’t really do that with monitors because they run over everything & love the channel by the way
Great video on an over discussed but somehow under-explained topic. Also, I'm loving the newer content. I still enjoy a good top 5 but this and the Costa Rica video (so good dude. So damn good) are heading in a really dope direction.
Great video with Interesting points from both sides of the spectrum, I don't use bioactive setups myself (yet) but I try to do my best with enrichment, space and quality of life for my Reptiles. I can fully understand breeders using rack and tub systems though, it would be insane to have full sized vivariums for the hundreds to thousands of animals they keep. I'd like a system of that if an animal has had a few years of breeding, afterwards it can retire to a luxury life in a nice big explorable enclosure full of enrichment. I know this sometimes happens for reptiles who become too old to breed but I wonder if it would be kinder to offer them this a little earlier in life so they can enjoy it at their best? These are my thoughts for the few of you lovely people who possibly fancy reading them 🙂
I've had like zero understanding for racks earlier, but I recently watched Snake Discovery's video about their rodent breeding setup, and now this and it is eye-opening, that keeping a rack or other minimalistic setup doesn't mean the bare minimum, you just need to think outside the box a bit. I nowadays think that big breeders can actually keep their animals in better condition in more simple setups, because it saves so much time. Of c a bad "breeder" is a bad breeder No matter what the setup, so as you always say, do your research🤣
I have a bearded dragon and I was going to get fake plants and get some new substrate I had to get rid of the substrait that was in his enclosure because it was getting dirty so my bearded dragon didn't get sick because cleaning it was hard I have paper towels for now but once I get new substrate I am going to get fake plants... I just have to wait until after winter so I can get fake plant ... The substrate that I use is a mix of coconut fiber and sand I do have to Change the sand tho because it clumps up
I know this may be a small thing but, even if your (incredible) costa rica visit video wasn't as successful as you would have hoped, I really feel like the b-roll clips from the trip add a lot of quality to your other videos as well!
I think that people need to ask the question: do you want to try to get reasonably close to ideal or just good enough? The pet trade has to do, "good enough." A keeper should shoot for as close to ideal as possible, noting that ideal isn't the same for all species.
Thanks for all of the information! Very helpful in deciding how to make an environment for many different reptiles. Love Diamond! He's a great sidekick!
I currently have a bioactive Dubai roach tank but currently I feel it would be better if it would be minimal like how I used to do it, as their colony grows it's harder to age and dot them (non-toxic safe paint. Think of queen bee dotting.) For me especially when I'm grabbing random babies to sell as feeders at expos
Love this video. I'm 100% a bioactive fan but every animal I have can thrive in them. I understand that some can't. I also do them just as much (if not more) for me than for them. I love just sitting and looking at my bios. Great video.
I got in an argument with a person on you tube over this, he breeds leopard gecko's I don't really like tub systems in my but I understand why. With that being said this person had his animals in hardware cabinet probably 4 inch by 12 inch drawers that's what makes me mad when an animal can't even turn around. Sometimes abuse when ignorant people are keeping in "tubs"
Over here in Sweden the reptile hobby is quite alive and pretty thriving even growing. There is also government regulations playing along with rules on how animals are being kept. One of these are size of enclosure. Basically the law is that the size of the reptile dictate the size of the enclosure. And most of these sizes are larger than the sizes that are 'recommended' for the species by north american youtubers. So no, I dont think there is a place for minimalistic tub enclosures even for a breeder no matter how much it simplifies things for the breeder.
@@supertacticaldroid1751 I dont technically disagree. Im just following the laws and regulations in place in Sweden and stating that if it works here, why wouldn't it work else where?
Maybe you don't have the money starting out. I'm planning to get a new ball python and I will keep him in a tub for the first 1-1.5 years of his/her life because I unfortunately do not have the budget at this point for 120x60x60 enclosure. I will definitely find the biggest tub I can for the animal and try to make it as hospitable as possible. There's a place for minimalistic enclosures, but you need to do it right and should be temporarily imo, people keep their reptiles in stupid small enclosures, which is unethical.
Ideally I lean towards bioactive enclosures. That said when there are a ton of enclosures, it's kind of hard to keep up on all of them. So if you've got a ton of animals I kind of lean towards minimalist. I also think minimalist husbandry is best for animals who suffer from severe MBD & other health issues. End of the day I think it depends on making sure you don't spread yourself too thin that you can't take care of all your animals. There are pros and cons for both, and frankly so long as the animal is getting the vitamins they need as well as the lighting that is necessary, and at least some form of enrichment whether that be inside or outside, that's all that matters.
I'd say if your husbandry becomes overwhelming to the point that there's some accidental neglect then it's time to stop collecting or maybe time to rehome one very demanding animal. I wouldn't impose minimalism just so I can keep collecting, I'd give that out to breeders but not hobbyist keepers with no plans on producing clutches. That's just me, though.
I'd love to see you make a video to walk newbies through setting up a BioActive enclosure, especially for those of us (like myself) who absolutely suck ass at keeping plants alive because they never seem to get enough water, or they get too much water, not enough sunlight etc, I'd love BioActive, they look beautiful, seems like the animals would love them and yeah, it would be great to have that time saver as well 😆
I have a juvenile Beardie in a 75 gallon which is minimalistic and semi-realistic. I have some fake plants and some real ones. I currently have a aloe and a succulent. I also got a three foot long branch for him out from the wild, I left it alone for months till I gave it to him so there's no bugs or parasites. He loves his tank. I personally can't do a bioactive enclosure because I'm a minor and I don't have a job.
I have a fish tank it's been setup for 2 years and no water changes. I have so many plants that the water stays crystal clear my shrimp have been breeding the whole time and the fish are very healthy
Whenever someone mentions minimalistic enclosures I feel Clint staring, with that piercing gaze. "You too can be kept in a small box for long periods of time with little to no stimuli."
Here is my issue that I never see anyone really addressing. Let's exclude breeders, which is everyone's go to in this kind of videos. I am not talking breeders, I am talking hobbyists, collectors, the like. Can anyone give me a single reason that benefits the animal, aside from quarantine for new/ill animals, that you should use a rack system? Typically, when I meet NON-BREEDER hobbyists, the ONLY excuse they have is "they prefer tight/dark spaces", which we all know can be provided adequately in naturalistic setups with the proper amount of hides and clutter. THAT is my issue. I see no ethical reason to go minimalistic over naturalistic, the only benefits are to the owner. If you can't afford to give your pets the better lifestyle, maybe you shouldn't have 60 ball pythons just for the sake of living out your Pokemon fantasy of catching them all. Again, I know I'm going to get torn to shreds regardless, but I am talking about people who are NOT breeding.
I agree. The only point I have is that it's up to the animals what they prefer. I've seen blood pythons get very defensive and go off feed in open enclosures and when put in a rack style cage calm down and be normal and resume eating. I think one has to be open to their animals reactions and needs
Hey bud great video! I honestly believe that bio active set ups are best for tropical animals, just because of the humidity and moisture they need, they are also amazing for tropical scorpions which I’ll be eventually trying it out for my adult male Emperor scorpion 😃 not that they necessarily need to be a tropical species to be kept bio active but it suites them the best, makes it a lot easier to make things real and natural :)
I agree with alot of what he said! I've found it a bit harder to keep desert or just very hot and dry species in bioactive enclosures, than species with a more high humidity species
Do you keep Diamond in a bioactive? Moving my beardie out of their quarantine soon and we haven't decided about bioactive yet. Going for naturalistic at least
@@WickensWickedReptilessorry if I came off rude. I've been looking for many years at this point. Haven't found anyone in USA who will ship to BC, most don't even respond. The 2 posible leads I've found in Canada only had sickly deformed wildcaught individuals and also wouldn't ship to BC. My current one I've had for over 8 years is my favorite reptile I've owned and unfortunately he's started showing signs of ageing(he's atleast 14yrs old) and I can't think of being without one or a few of this species. I know info for captive breeding them is greatly lacking, but I want to try breeding them if I can get a pair. If you can give me any spesific info of which people bring them into Canada or sell them it would be greatly appreciated. Thankyou.
I've talked to atleast 30 reptile petstores in BC asking if it is posible for them to get any in and all tell me no. I've asked 3 company's that specialize in importing reptiles from other countries and they all say they don't have a source and haven't seen any in a while. Price isent an issue, avalibility is a huge downside to this species and a disturbing lack of captive breeding o4 knowlege on it
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Ima send u a pic of a giant tank I have on Instagram only way I can find a way to send you a pic lol tell me what u think im wanting to fix it up for my bp but I gotta do stuff to is b4 she could ever go in ir
This was perfect! I keep going back and forth on this. I want to start a cave gecko project but to set each up in its own bioactive is $$$$$$. Eventually I have mine in bioactives, but while they're growing/breeding, minimalistic just makes more sense.
I think are a few things to take into consideration when getting any pet. One is housing. I fully believe in replicating their natural environment with real plants and such. So I am for bio active enclosures. However if the risks for the animal are higher to keep them that way, then I will go for what's best for the animal. It's about them, not you!
It really comes down to giving the animal a good life. You don't need bioactive to do that, but you can't just put them in a box where they have no enrichment. Giving the animal a way to exercise and enjoy themselves is so important, no matter what the species or if it's a breeder or not. Even breeder animals deserve to have enrichment and things to do in their life
I want you to know i love you and people like you
100% agree. I don't think the enrichement always has to be bioactive, you can try to replicate with other things. And breeder animals deserve a decent life too. Reptiles and humans can't either communicate well (like show if they're unhappy, uncomfortable, bored and even sick sometimes) so they're really at our mercy.
10000%
Exactly. And there are many ways of being able to provide enrichment that don't need to be all about just the enclosure or putting in pretty plants. Sometimes, we may be providing enrichment without even realizing we're doing it. Taking animals out for regular and routine maintainance and interaction? Bringing them to schools and other educational outreach events in the community? That's all enrichment! Both for us, and for the animal(s).
At the end of the day, do whatever makes you feel better about keeping said animal.
I really agree. When I see stacks and stacks of Tupperware I can't imagine those animals have quality lives at all.
Let's not kid ourselves, the whole point of keeping an animal is for our entertainment, but by us keeping these animals we are prolonging their lives & giving them more love than in the wild. I love that you addressed that! Great video Adam, keep it coming!
You are so kind!
They don't have the capacity to understand that love though, so even that's for ourselves. Loving something for the sake of your own pleasure, hoping it'll form an attachment, etc. Keepers should keep the animal enriched, try to replicate their environment to the best of your ability and in a way that doesn't chance too much harm. Pet traders should do right by the animal as much as can be expected, if that means minimalism then that's that. Just no arborials in flat racks with no room to climb, we can all agree to that I think, even breeders.
@@appalachiabrauchfrau I understand what you mean, by love I meant care and attention, something they could never find in the wild! But regardless of our feelings the animals needs should always be met, anything less would be abuse and unfair to the animals. Even as intelligent as they are, reptiles or any animal does not always understand they are pets, and I think that adjustment is easier on them in a bioactive.
I think it's very important that the reptiles needs are set and that we try to replicate how they live in the nature because we specially have difficulties communicating with teptiles, they can't tell and often show us if they're unhappy. Maybe some reptiles don't have that much avareness or needs but still it's hard for us to know. Like cats and dogs can tell us much better if they're bored, unhappy, in pain, sick, hungry.
@@appalachiabrauchfrau They can still be attached to us though cant they?
I realize I'm likely anthropomorphizing, but I just don't have the heart to keep my pythons in a rack system. I much prefer to offer them access to a large water bowl, circulating air, climbing opportunities, and a clearly defined day/night cycle. It might not hurt them to live in a rack but I do believe it is more enriching for them to live in a nicely sized glass or pvc terrarium.
Good point!
same! and some countries say forbid you to keep snakes in racks (other than young snakes who will be sold)
I wouldn't call this anthropomorphisizing. All vertebrates, even some types of inverts dare I say, do best with mental enrichment in their life. If a species is supposed to climb as a part of its lifestyle, it should be allowed to. All animals should be able to exhibit all of their natural behaviors in their enclosure. I understand the benefit of racks, especially for breeders who have a ton of babies to be sold but long-term adults should have all of their species' needs met. Good air circulation is a very basic requirement and is by no means only important to humans lol
@@dagmar0904 Yes, rack systems are illegal in my counrty and people come to check on you sometimes to see if you're keeping your reptiles correrctly.
@@tiredmedusa77 Damn, what country? (If you don't mind asking.)
Direct and to the point!! Totally agree regarding live plants in bioactive setups. I won't put any in my Bearded Dragons enclosures because all they do is eat them. Loki actually pulled a whole spaghetti agave right out, roots and all.
those beardies I tell ye, plants, ears, anything but their salads! haha
@@WickensWickedReptiles 😂😂😂
@@WickensWickedReptiles Speaking of, have you considered a video about getting bearded dragons to eat their salad?
Mine is two months old; absolutely refuses to touch anything green or fruity. Must be a bug, and it has to move on its own or he won’t do it.
@@WickensWickedReptiles I must have a magical beardie! She loves her salads and will stuff herself on greens before going for buggies. Unless she's being offered superworms then it's definitely the worms.
I mean, you did name him after the god of mischief 😂
THANK YOU so much for this. I've seen a growing idea (not only in reptiles, but other animals) that if an animal's living situation isn't "perfect," then that equals abuse. For instance, if a person don't have his/her dog's teeth cleaned professionally, or if a horse isn't kept in a stable, then that is "abuse." Similarly, there's the idea that if a reptile is in a rather spartan enclosure, then that equals "abuse" to some people. At the far end are those who also confuse any type of animal illness or accident with abuse/neglect. Some of this mindset is great for animal supply and animal service-providers, but sets a VERY high, often unattainable and usually expensive, bar for the novice or casual pet-owner. This perfectionist mindset also often turns toxic toward new pet owners, or pet owners without the means to provide extra bells and whistles. You have a large platform. Maybe you can help balance this all-or-nothing mindset.
I personally think that more should be done for all pets then just the minimum/basic care. Needs being met is super important, but so is enrichment. I think it's better to give them the best life. Of course you can only do what your budget will allow, but that's a part of why research beforehand is needed; find out if you can afford to give them everything they need and more before getting them. I do agree that if done right minimalist set ups aren't abuse though.
well said!
My Beardy lost his bio active privilege rofl, he ate and killed all his plants in about a month, now he has to settle with a naturalistic tank
sounds about right
Same here, can't even keep fake plants in her enclosure without her trying to eat or destroy them.. you'd think she'd figure out they're plastic but it's just not worth the risk. She gets rocks and branches and hammocks to climb on instead
@thatonegrill6070 she probably won't use the hammock
@@Breviparopus I have several in there designed to help her get around since she's in a 160 gal, some she uses more than others.
@@thatonegrill6070 that's interesting. I thought most don't use them
Being a new snake owner, we weren't sure of how to setup a tank for our corn snake. We watched all the channels and we went with an approach that was sort of in the middle. He has enough room that he can completely stretch out. Then he has a total of 5 hides in the tank, 2 on the cool side, 2 on the warm side and one in the middle. Also, we let our daughter have input so she put several of her toy dinosaurs in the tank with him. Add a few fake flowers and that is Herbie's setup. He uses all of the hides, and climbs on all of the toys, the cloth and silk flowers as well. So, it's definitely not naturalistic but it's not minimalistic either. His favorite hides are the ones where he can hide yet still watch us.
My biggest pet peeve is when they have a huge and tall enclosure but don’t have any platforms/branches for the pet to actually make use of the enclosure’s vast space, wasting the purpose.
for sure!
Kevin from New England Reptiles said it best I think. He says if you get an animals from him it has most likely been kept in a minimalist setup, so when you first receive the animal it should be kept in a minimalist setup. Not only is the animal used to it so it will adjust better to its new home, but it allows you to keep really good track of if the animal's health like if it is eating/pooping or not. Once the animal gets comfortable with you & its new environment, it is totally ok & good to move it to a bioactive setup.
Not everything in this world is absolutes.
Thank you for this video… it helped alleviate some of the guilt I’ve felt about not going bioactive. My two pets, a beardie and a leopard gecko, are NOT in minimalist racks, but I’ve always thought that my lack of loose substrate made my spacious, enriched tanks “minimalistic.” I now realize that there is a spectrum of types of habitats. And that makes me feel better. Maybe someday - if I can learn how to keep plants alive in an arid/ desert hab - I’ll try bioactive. Until then, I’ll just focus on keeping my pets as happy and healthy as possible.
I strongly recommend switching to a suitable loose substrate ASAP, digging/burrowing enrichment is extremely beneficial for both species. A soil/playsand or soil/sand/clay mix is ideal.
I think it's important to understand that breeders are only keeping the animals temporarily too. The goal is to get them to a new home as soon as they are ready, and until that point monitoring health is the most important thing. Hopefully their adult breeders are getting a little more than the basic baby bin setup. For pets though, you're giving them a long term home and should want them to thrive. If you need to keep snakes in a rack as a regular pet owner, you probably have too many.
One important point to make is for special needs reptiles- many need a minimalistic enclosure to stay safe and retain what health they have left. Snakes with the spider wobble, enigma geckos, MBD cases where they can no longer move normally even after treatment (Check out Winnie, the paralyzed leopard gecko!), blind reptiles and etc.
For sure.
Hey Adam awesome video! One thing that I think most of us miss about bioactive enclosures (including myself) is that the real clean up crew is the microorganisms (bacteria, good fungus,etc) it is similar to an aquarium that needs to be cycled for this filter to be properly established. Simply having plants, springtails and isopods does not make an enclosure bioactive. The Animals at home podcast has a great episode talking all about bioactive enclosures that I think more people should listen to if they are considered setting up bioactive enclosures.
Being a new herp owner I honestly thought those rack systems were terrible. Until I begun watching channels like snake discovery, this one, reach out reptiles, NERD' etc and educating myself on why exactly people wwho clearly are excellent keepers and breeders would do this. And now I know not only is it financially necessary but also not at all harmful to the animals. And in some cases as you pointed out better for the animals. This was an excellent video and fair and to the point keeping is a varied hobby and as we learn and grow we find what works for both us and the animals we keep.
well said
Wonderful comment as a breeder I appreciated this perspective a lot
I swear there's a disconnect for some people who in one breath say, "buy your reptiles from reputable, ethical breeders" and in the next breath continue, "the setups that those reputable, ethical breeders use to produce their animals is by nature unethical and abusive."
I'm limiting my collection to 7 or 8 animals total because that's what I can manage alone. My species interests are also pretty niche, which leads me to smaller scale breeders who are better equipped to meet or exceed my standards for rack husbandry with their smaller collections.
As someone who was a former employee at NERD all I will say is that I honestly have to disagree slightly, the way they keep almost every single one of the 6-8,000 snakes they have is not the standard I think the community should follow. The place is practically a puppy mill and a lot of the animals go without water, or proper maintenance for months. They have 16,000 or 17,000 animals under that roof and have maybe and I mean MAYBE 10 employees. Those people are incredibly under payed a ton of them drive long distances to be there and often times they will go well over 12 hours a day but you do not get overtime and if you miss a punch you will often times not get paid for the day at all. Enough about personal issues but imagine trying to take care of over 1,000 animals a day by yourself. A ton of that building gets not only neglected but they would be euthanized in masses by stomping on their heads or being frozen in the freezer. Not to mention some of the purely incompetent staff and or staff training to the point where I’ve seen some pretty gnarly injuries that needed stitches. But I can remember a day incredibly vividly while working with ball pythons I witnessed two employees who were instructed to take 4 ball pythons with ri’s place them in small bins tape them shut and throw it in a freezer in the back of the building. That place all though they deserve a lot of credit because they do a lot and Kevin is a genius but they are now only it for money, they have become an utter clown show. But honestly believe me or don’t maybe 10 or 15 years down the road the truth will come out completely but till then my identity will remain a secret so my face doesn’t become among the missing in the herptecultre community (no they won’t kill me but if I came with my real name and people figured out who I was I would literally be denied an opinion in the community)
If you can't afford to keep an animal well, don't have them. Racks are fine for temporary short term enclosures like hatchlings, but to lock animals in dark boxes their whole lives, that's abuse. This video and others are making excuses. They don't have to go bioactive, but you need to provide animals with a life worth living
This is such a great video. You are so non judgemental. You don't go around acting like your way is the high way. I enjoy your channel so much. Thank you for all your wonderful and useful content
Thank you so much!
I 100% with everything in this video. I use 'racks' for certain snakes but only when species suitable. (when young or for higher humidity species plastic is easier to control that) but I think racks get a bad rap because of how so many 'keepers' use them incorrectly. my tubs still have 2 hides minimum, substrate, enrichment, proper size water bowls, leaves logs etc. and are appropriate size for the animal inside. As a small breeder they work for me in terms of keeping a closer eye on the animal, meeting the animals needs and keeping parents and offspring healthy with good quality of life.
It’s good that they have good setups. Although overhead heating/lighting is very beneficial for them long term, and that can’t be provided in racks.
I love how you don't push your opinions on people. Many hobbiests push their opinions and believe that their way is the only way. I believe that there are so many different ways of doing things, you just need to find what works for you and your animals. Thank you for sharing.
Another meaningful thing to mention here is that rack system or bin based habitats don’t necessarily = minimalist enclosures.
you can make rack systems and bin habitats well large enough and naturalistic. To match even the most complex of bioactive habitats if Properly done.
For example a bin equivalent to a 40 gallon breeder enclosure in space is only like 20 dollars max at the right places.
In fact many people who breed dart frogs and smaller species of tree frog frequently keep them in fully planted bioactive bins
I have even seen bioactive bins for animals like leopard geckos, crested geckos, some smaller snakes, and even as grow out indoor habitats for baby turtles
for sure!
Where would you suggest buying the type of bins you suggested? Such as the 40 gallon bins for around $20? But even just good places to look for bins in general.
@@ExoticCritter Walmart!! Or even dollar general! Just look for plastic storage bins with a clear lid and locks that hold the door down enough where you can't slip all your fingers through the crack. Amazon also have them, but they often come cracked.
Love it! I agree on all points. Especially the one about the key thing being that all the animals needs are met. No way could breeders afford to put their whole collections in fancy enclosures and sell animals at reasonable prices.
Totally agree!
I think if you're a breeder you should at least try to keep the adult breeding animals in bit better conditions as they're sort of your animals and responsibility. The babies who are going to go to new owners don't of course need that much space and enrichement, just simple basis needs.
then they shouldnt be breeders if their animals are suffering just bc its cheaper ;)
@Emma brown I specifically said as long as the animals needs are being met. That by nature implies the animal is not suffering.
These animals have the whole world as an enclosure, until we interfere. The least we can do is give them a larger than recommended enclosure with as much enrichment as possible. I feel so sad when I see snakes basically kept in drawers. Especially ball pythons, because when offered height to climb and explore they will definitely use it.
And its not like reptiles can tell us when they are bored or stressed, unlike dogs that can pace and stare at you when they want some exercise, or cats that start chasing your feet when they need to play.
Wild snakes don't have the whole world, they have microhabitats, some of these very small in area, and they can have many dangers. They do not put themselves out there all day to be looked at. They seek security much of the time.
While any enclosure needs to be fair - give the animal enough room, proper humidity range, proper temperature range - the naturalistic looking part of it is not all that necessary. The functional part is, but natural-looking is not. It does not hurt, it just does not matter that much. When a person keeps various snakes in various setups, that person will start to see certain behaviors that the snakes do regardless of how natural something looks.
All that said, I think it is great that some folks go all-out with enclosures. And when they finally show that their snakes in particular are better for it, I will be all in. I just have not seen that yet.
I switched my blue tongue to bioactive and she has never been so happy so I would always recommend bioactive
same!
I think bioactive is the best option without factoring in anything else, but the middle ground is the right set up in most cases. I have a bioactive set ups for both my reptiles, but my african fat tailed gecko has way more live plants because the other is for a BTS that digs up plants for fun, so he gets more fake plants.
that makes sense!
With me mostly keeping giants, I like minimalistic, but in large enclosures. No racks when it comes to them. I've seen people try to do naturalistic, but they end up needing a whole shed or at least half a room for that to be possible. Cleaning it is incredibly tedious, and it could be hard to spot anything off in those enclosures. What I'm doing is keeping their enclosures minimal so it's mostly for sleeping, digesting their meals, and getting heat/chilling in shed. I will have a massive shed built for them as a play & exercise area in my backyard and somewhat inside the house. Fully heated and everything. To me, if your animal is having enriching activities outside of its enclosure (mostly if they're solely pets and you have a manageable amount), then minimal for the larger species is definitely alright. I'd hate for them to just always be in an enclosure with minimal interaction.
I heavily appreciate this video from you. It's literally one of the most debated and controversial topics due to some people seeing a lame setup vs an incredible one by someone that has invested heavily in 1-3 animals and people end up thinking that should be the norm. This gives very good insight and explanations for why each has its use and I'm all for it!
When I had my collection< I kept some in the classic rack with Rubbermaid tubs. And some in enclosures such as Boaphile. Then a friend said it was sad that the snakes could not see out. So the ones in the rack I put in a Freedom Breeder rack which the could see out of. I found no difference in their behavior. Now my iguana had 1/2 of my walk in closet. She loved it. You have the best vids and info ever.
I'm currently busy with a project to make a inside pond for my musk turtle because where i live is most of the time bad weather. And I really agree with this vid try to make it more like their natural habitat because I noticed a transparent enclosure can stress a musk turtle out, so doing a lot of research and came to conclusion that a mortar box was the best option for them and ever since he seems to me a lot more happier.
I think all forms of enclosures, racks, terrariums, bins etc., can be done well or badly. I have seen videos of retics having to live in glass terrariums that would've been great for another species, but were way too small for them and I have seen racks that are spacious, let in light and are filled with enrichment (like snake discovery). I keep some of my snakes in a rack as well, but my rack provides them just as much space and enrichment as most other enclosures would. There are many breeders on UA-cam though (especially for ball pythons) who squish their snakes into rack tubs that are so small, they have to "fold" the animal into it for it to even close. No substrate, no enrichment, they just sit on plastic in the dark with a dirty little water bowl and the only things that ever happens is feeding time and breeding. That is just cruel, no matter how much these people will tell you that the animals "thrive" (cause they're not dead after all, right?) and that ball pythons don't need anything at all except water and a rat every now and then.
Thank you for this comment, I didn't understand how they were getting lighting and heating. I don't think his racks have lighting or heating at least from what I have seen in newer and older videos also the tubs in general are just to small.
Exactly. Racks do not have to be dungeons.
I have one baby boa that prefers a tub - he is much less defensive and his willingness to feed went from 0 to 100 just a few days after being moved to a tub. I can keep the humidity in there perfect with Babi-Chip substrate, and I can keep the temps nice and stable in the back. It would be silly to deny that snake the enclosure that he does best in just because it is a rack.
I have a sub-adult - same thing. Loves the tub. And I have another that does great in a big Vision cage. No reason to force one method on all.
Hey I’m a 13 year old kid with a large animal and reptile collection I love the fact that u keep your reptiles the way WE should not the way a Breeder does and u keep it as
Practically and ethically as possible thank you so much it’s super helpful and inspiring one day I hope to be like u just wt some mammals 2 I already have a lot of experience and I have a full barn I watch all the reptile and animal videos and I think urs is the most ethical tysm have a great day!
I watched a video recently where a reptile keeper showed off his favorite ball python, professed how much he loved her. She was in his collection for 25 yrs. Every single one of those years was lived in a bin, no light, no enrichment except when she was fed. Yes she had food, water and was kept clean...her basic physical needs were met but I think there has to be more, she deserved better.
Don’t snakes like ball pythons prefer dark enclosed spaces in the first place? Most of the time if you give the snake a hide they’ll spend most of their time in it.
@@mannyms6678 yes, but they should also be given the opportunity to bask, climb explore and get enrichment.
@@laurensvdd1666 agreed
The animal can be taken out and allowed to explore outside the tub, weather permitting, etc. In fact, choice-based handling outside the cage does wonders. In that case, a rack can be just fine. In fact, it probably mimics wild activity time lengths where active time is roughly 10% and hide time is 90%. But yes, just stuck in the tub 100%, well, clearly limits the snake's usage of its brain. I think racks + handling can be the best setup for some species. Lets face it, a ball python in a 3ft or 4ft cage is still far from the choices it will have to make in the wild. Still super limited. Should still be handled.
Respectfully, I don’t think I can justify racks being ok solely based on the fact that it makes thing like producing and buying animals cheaper for the hobby. It’s hard for me to look at big production area like Bryan b and say “I think this is fine because they have food and water even though they are in a borderline Tupperware container with some paper towels. I’m a firm believe that if people can’t afford to house and care and enrich their animals, the shouldn’t have the animals. I think as people we look at puppy mills with disgust (as we should) but seems to do the same things with reptiles and say it’s totally fine because they aren’t pets, we are just forcing them to have babies to sell for money. All in all this is just my personal opinion though.
Yes Selah, raspek yuh so right o
Right on, brother! This is the best point I have heard to determining tank size. I am all for appropriately sized enclosures but it all has to be balanced. Just to emphasize what you said - if every ball python breeder had each snake in say a 125 gallon (really would be ideal!) the price of balls would be astronomical. Few people could afford them. The hobby would die. We would all have to start a new hobby - maybe stamp collecting or ant farming (illegal now anyway), comic book collecting - you get the idea. People quit shaming people when you aren't looking at the whole picture! I know this is off topic a titch, but you started it. And thanks for saying it.
I agree with everything you said. No single set up will fit every animal or every need, and you did a great job explaining the variances.
bingo!
Hey Adam, just wanted to tell you that I got a baby hognose snake this week and he's a precious baby. Your content has made me realize how many incredible species there are, and Caspian (my hodnose) is so wonderful. Thank you so much for what you do.
Hey Adam! Glad you loved the hot sauce my bro! I'm cooking up some more in the Mad Lab for you in the new year 🤣😜☺️
Thanks for the shout out, and thanks for addressing this important topic!
Love your videos as always!
Sincerely
Adrian - @ReptilesofLustria
Can't wait! for real, amazing stuff bro!
Respectfully, the number of animals produced already far exceeds the demand for them. Thats why even "cool" morphs end up as feeders all the time, why wholesalers are able to buy at rock bottom prices, and worse, why animals of some morphs get culled, to keep supply low and thus prices high. I understand streamlining a business and cutting costs on products, but reptiles arent a product, theyre living beings and it is the responsibility of the keeper, breeder of hobbyist, to keep the animals in the best most complete condition possible. A snake can survive without UV? Who cares, provide it anyways on the chance it would help them. A snake can survive its whole life eating only mice? Who cares, feed them a varied diet on the chance it would help them. Would keeping animals in this way end up driving costs up? Sure, but if you cant afford the upfront price you cant afford the animal. I am a big believer in enjoying things, even if they might be beyond your means, if you can save and indulge once in a while then go for it. I dont believe this when it comes to living creatures however. If you cant afford to give an animal the best possible life, then dont get the animal. Now watch as soon as demand dies how many of these breeders who do it for the "love" of the animals melt away. You end up with groups of people who are actually passionate about the animals they keep, and invested in keeping them the best way possible.
THISSSSS EXACTLY!!!! these animals were literally domesticated to entertain us the least we can do is actuslly tske care of them
The amount produced vs demand depends on species. If you mean Ball pythons, yes, those are way over produced.
@@darcieclements4880 cornsnakes, retics, burms, leopard geckos, bearded dragons, pretty much everything common is victim to the same mass breeder mentality. And even obscure stuff is affected, for example indigos are terribly inbred. Finally? No matter the species, the common way of keeping stuff today is unfortunately “minimalism” no enrichment, usually a tiny enclosure
UV has actually been proven to be harmful to certain nocturnal species. It can cause burns, skin lesions, and cancers. Just be careful with your UV output
Well said Carlos.
I feel like minimalism is better (generally speaking) for breeders/quarantine as long as the requirements for the animal's health and safety are met. Of course there's a bunch of factors that need to be considered.
Naturally the choice should be made after plenty of research has been done.
well said
It’s not healthy to deny an animal space to exhibit their normal behavior
@@juliac3933 that can be done with minimalistic enclosures though.
Studies have been proven that animals don't do well in breeder minimalistic setups. They're alive and thats it, quite the depressing life if you ask me.
@@nobody1575 “studies have been proven”? Can you cite these studies?
Completely agree there is a time and place for both bioactive and sterile environments. My water dragon Hunter is in a full bioactive setup and benefits greatly from it, while my corn snake is in a sterile environment because I don't feel she would gain anything more from bioactive than what I've accomplished with the sterile. It's each to their own though and always good to discuss
Bingo
Correction on your bioactive statement that could actually cause damage/issues.
Bioactive needs to have living plants. Your cuc (clean up crew) will help mitigate the waste from the animals but then they in turn produce waste as well.
The plants are required to absorb the cuc waste as nutrients otherwise you will have an incomplete cycle and your enclosure will still be full of animal waste.
This is why people who just throw in isopods and call it a day without live plants, will still wind up with foul or musty smelling enclosures as the cuc waste builds up with nowhere to go.
So much this! People don't understand nutrient cycles and don't realise without plants you're just having a waste build up and the substrate eventually becomes toxic due to ammonia and nitrate+nitrite build up. I thought basic biology classes covered this but it seems not.
Tubs can be abuse though.
Not in generell. It doesn't really matter if you use a tub or a tank or if you want to make it bioactive or sterile. Everything can be approipriate. It's how you do it.
But if I see people keeping a huge snake in a small tub where the snake fills up half the tub and will never be able to move their full body with only a water bowl in the tub, that's abuse in my mind.
It's a difference if you do that or if you have at least two hides in the tub and room to let the snake stretch out.
That part around 13:40 , you did a really good job and getting your point across while intentionally not stepping on anybody else's toes about how they do it. Good job dude! Great Vid as always.
Man you're the KING of B-roll :-) I sooooo need to start doing more of that...awesome vids Wick.
This is a really good video, touched up on a good comparison between these two terrarium types. For certain species, such as dart frogs, I'd say a bioactive is a must for them since they need the high humidity and lots of places to hide to remain bold. I couldn't bring myself to keeping a dart frog in a minimalistic enclosure. The closest I would stray from a planted fully bioactive viv would be an enclosure that is still densely packed with fake plants (or low-light live such as Pothos), moss and springtails.
I tend to stick to a middle ground. My enclosures are what I would consider to be "naturalistic" but not bioactive. I suck at keeping plants alive and I like to make sure EVERYTHING is clean aha
well said!
Agree on all points. My Fl King has been in a bioactive for nearly a year now and I've been battling fruit flies since October (uhg, the pumpkin on the doorstep brought them in) and I've been day dreaming on tearing it down. But seeing him climb, dig, explore, and use the plants to ambush the tweezers has been one of the most rewarding experiences. He's all snake and I would hate to take that away from him just because I'm annoyed because of the flies (and the smell of soaking mosquito bits)
Great video and good points. Hope you will start making your own bioactive build videos soon.
That's the plan!
The blue frog at the start looked so cool!
I love em!
More bio active build videos or finished product? Love seeing these, getting a bunch done now! Get a lotta inspiration from Troy and Mike!
Coming soon!
Thank you so much for touching on this man, twice already I've almost quit the reptile community and almost rehomed my first only snake of 6 years due to some people calling me an animal abuser all cause I have my sub adult bp in a 40 gallon, but is soon being moved into a 65 gallon tree bin to help with humidity, she may be in in for a long long time, but I do hope to save enough for a PVC in the near future, I'm glad you touched on that we keep animals all sorts of ways but there is indeed a right and wrong way to do either way... I was actually scared at first to join your discord cause I was scared you'd be mad at me for currently having my sub adult bp in a 40 gallon 😅😅😅😅
40gal breeder tanks is commonly recommended for adults from what I remember idk why people would complain now. They’re very cryptic and prefer snug than open spaces. You’d have to modify the top mesh with some foil/plastic etc for the humidity issue, but the bin is superior agree for this issue. just not for viewing wise tho.
My bearded dragon usually poops in the same spot. I use elevation around the enclosure and down in the center where he feeds he will usually just poop there and I go in with a small vacuum and wipe
very cool!
Awesome video. 100% agree on everything.
Right now I have all my snakes in a rack system because it's more efficient when you have 10 snakes in a 1 bedroom apartment.
But as soon as I get my own place and can dedicate a whole room to my reptiles, at least half of my snakes are going into display enclosures, similar to your ball python and boa enclosures, or like the enclosure Diamond has. Probably won't go full bioactive. But they'll have deeper substrate for burrowing. More height for climbing. And just over-all more space.
Thank you for explaining this difference between minimalistic vs. bioactive terrarium setup.
you got it!
My animal husbandry hill to die on is "cats belong indoors, period, and letting them out off leash is irresponsible" but ...
I also hope every person who's ever proudly showed off their (usually rack-kept) collection featuring masses of disgusting slimy water dishes steps on a Lego every day for the rest of their life. (This is the one place where I think Dāv Kaufman stumbles--way too many people whose collections he's featured have opened drawer after drawer with disgusting, slimy water bowls. And that makes me question their husbandry and animals' overall welfare)
I have my rosy boa in a naturalistic setup because there just isn't a lot of information about arid bioactive setups out there. I'd love to see you take on an arid build sometime--maybe for a leopard gecko?
The bio dude did a leopard gecko bio active build that was so cool!!
just got the discord notif, so excited!
Legend!
I understand why breeders use rack systems, but racks can be enriching, look at snake discovery as great examples. However some breeders keep their animals in a tray with just a water bowl, to me this is where they are putting money first and not the welfare of the animal. The worst example I saw was when Dave Kaufman went to buy a new snake from Freedom Breeders, it made my children cry at the fact these large animals were being kept in a tiny draw and being advertised as a good way to keep your animals.
I also get upset when people start saying they’ve run out of room so what’s the best rack to buy so I can keep more animals. Should the welfare of the animal come first and not how many can I keep?
This is what the animal activists will use to shut the hobby down. It’s already happening, a recent study was commissioned by activists to look at how corn snakes behave in a rub vs vivarium. No surprise what the study found.
So racks can work but we need to ensure the welfare of the animal comes first including things like uvb.
But a bad bioactive can be just as bad as minimalistic set up. Plants are hugely important to draw the bad stuff out the soil, you can’t just chuck in some isopods and springtails and go hey I’m bioactive.
I’ve actually just stripped out my hognose enclosure and put him back on lignocel as I couldn’t get the bioactive set up going. Still lots going on but not as pretty.
Which is better? The one that allows you to put the welfare of the animal first and allows you as the keep to enjoy owning them.
I saw SD's racks in person and they are so well done
@@WickensWickedReptiles would love to visit one day, just a few 000 miles in the way!
I think if more people took their way of doing things the rack debate would extinguish itself.
THANK YOU for the activist point!!! I don't see a lot of people talk about it, but in this current era of rampant anti-exotics laws it's so important! We cannot simultaneously try to endear reptiles to the public whilst touting "professionals" who keep their reptiles with next to nothing in tubs. These are the people who come up when people go to youtube and type 'ball python', after all.
@@Creekpaw Absolutely agree. I normally do not watch BB for example but found myself watching one on Saturday and his son was trying to remove a retic from an enclosure and behaving like a fool. He was flooding the animals enclosure, clearly causing it stress and rather than leave them alone continued for entertainment purposes. I switched off. This is the sort of thing as you say that comes up when people google 'ball python' which is not the best representation!
I didn't think how much my ball python would like being up high as a snake that loves caves but I notice around nighttime he retreats to his cool hide while during the day to his hot hide
They will absolutely utilize and benefit from climbing enrichment, they’re semi-arboreal and have been observed climbing in the wild. They definitely don’t hide in caves all the time.
Wickens and Serpa designs best reptile channels on UA-cam
you're awesome!
@@WickensWickedReptiles no u😉
Hey I’m about to get a Male western hognose and was thinking could you do an update care guide?
sure thing!
@@WickensWickedReptiles thank you :)
Giving the best life, that's why I will always watch and like your videos
thank you!
I keep my ball python on paper towels in a 40gal enclosure with some foliage, a hide on each side, and a good size water dish. He gets plenty of enrichment with supervised outside time in the summer and supervised floor time indoors when it gets cold out.
You make some good points! I also feel like there's a situation that's appropriate for either. I once bought like $40 worth of very sturdy looking plants for a young monitor that I was going to make look SO COOL, and.... he dug up and shredded all of them, despite being 1/4th of their size in most cases. Cried in my soul a little bit. There's a lot of fake plants in there now.... lmao
Love the video mate always in a good mood when watching you 🙂☺️
Glad to hear it, thanks for watching!
Question for you, do you have any house snakes? I know you talked about them a while back. Great video!
I don't but they are awesome!
I’m on the same boat man. There’s some situations where bioactive enclosures are the way to go and I’ve heard some animals do best in those set ups. But also there are animals that really need a less complicated system because of the already difficult requirements they have like space they need and a variety of surface like solid ground, water, climbs, etc.
this is a difficult thing to explain sometimes because it is easy to get stuck on one side or the other and it gets a bit too polarized. I feel the same about racks as well. There are some situations that they can be beneficial though I personally don’t have any desire to have them. I also don’t have a lot of animals so its not an issue lol
I agree with every point I have racks but most of my pets are in enclosure I did my first bioactive for my dragon snake I had for 6 months I can’t really do that with monitors because they run over everything & love the channel by the way
well said !!!
Great video on an over discussed but somehow under-explained topic. Also, I'm loving the newer content. I still enjoy a good top 5 but this and the Costa Rica video (so good dude. So damn good) are heading in a really dope direction.
thank you so much!
Great video with Interesting points from both sides of the spectrum, I don't use bioactive setups myself (yet) but I try to do my best with enrichment, space and quality of life for my Reptiles.
I can fully understand breeders using rack and tub systems though, it would be insane to have full sized vivariums for the hundreds to thousands of animals they keep.
I'd like a system of that if an animal has had a few years of breeding, afterwards it can retire to a luxury life in a nice big explorable enclosure full of enrichment.
I know this sometimes happens for reptiles who become too old to breed but I wonder if it would be kinder to offer them this a little earlier in life so they can enjoy it at their best?
These are my thoughts for the few of you lovely people who possibly fancy reading them 🙂
well said
This rings so true. I put some live plants in my BPs enclosure... she's like "I see your 'enrichment' and I raise you two dead pothos!"
I've had like zero understanding for racks earlier, but I recently watched Snake Discovery's video about their rodent breeding setup, and now this and it is eye-opening, that keeping a rack or other minimalistic setup doesn't mean the bare minimum, you just need to think outside the box a bit.
I nowadays think that big breeders can actually keep their animals in better condition in more simple setups, because it saves so much time. Of c a bad "breeder" is a bad breeder No matter what the setup, so as you always say, do your research🤣
I have a bearded dragon and I was going to get fake plants and get some new substrate I had to get rid of the substrait that was in his enclosure because it was getting dirty so my bearded dragon didn't get sick because cleaning it was hard I have paper towels for now but once I get new substrate I am going to get fake plants... I just have to wait until after winter so I can get fake plant ... The substrate that I use is a mix of coconut fiber and sand I do have to Change the sand tho because it clumps up
I recommend switching to a soil/playsand/clay mix, it’s the most natural option and holds their burrows well.
@@nightinggale6470 okay thank you
I have a bioactive set up for finches. I never find waste. It is so beautiful to watch.
I do it for reptiles too of course.
I know this may be a small thing but, even if your (incredible) costa rica visit video wasn't as successful as you would have hoped, I really feel like the b-roll clips from the trip add a lot of quality to your other videos as well!
thank you!
I think that people need to ask the question: do you want to try to get reasonably close to ideal or just good enough?
The pet trade has to do, "good enough."
A keeper should shoot for as close to ideal as possible, noting that ideal isn't the same for all species.
very well said!~
Thanks for all of the information!
Very helpful in deciding how to make an environment for many different reptiles.
Love Diamond! He's a great sidekick!
I currently have a bioactive Dubai roach tank but currently I feel it would be better if it would be minimal like how I used to do it, as their colony grows it's harder to age and dot them (non-toxic safe paint. Think of queen bee dotting.) For me especially when I'm grabbing random babies to sell as feeders at expos
My garter snakes will hide under shredded news paper the same as leaf do they know the difference between paper and leaf? They don't seem to care .
Love this video. I'm 100% a bioactive fan but every animal I have can thrive in them. I understand that some can't. I also do them just as much (if not more) for me than for them. I love just sitting and looking at my bios. Great video.
nice!
great video, you always weigh up both sides of an argument very well
thanks for watching!
seeing you in bmth shorts makes so much sense actually lol
Throw your Diamonds in the sky *bearded dragon goes flying *
I got in an argument with a person on you tube over this, he breeds leopard gecko's I don't really like tub systems in my but I understand why. With that being said this person had his animals in hardware cabinet probably 4 inch by 12 inch drawers that's what makes me mad when an animal can't even turn around. Sometimes abuse when ignorant people are keeping in "tubs"
gross
@@WickensWickedReptiles I'll paraphrase but he basically said f you and he doesn't care I'm sure it's still up in UA-cam on his channel
Over here in Sweden the reptile hobby is quite alive and pretty thriving even growing. There is also government regulations playing along with rules on how animals are being kept. One of these are size of enclosure. Basically the law is that the size of the reptile dictate the size of the enclosure. And most of these sizes are larger than the sizes that are 'recommended' for the species by north american youtubers. So no, I dont think there is a place for minimalistic tub enclosures even for a breeder no matter how much it simplifies things for the breeder.
What size would you reccomend since you disagree with most NA youtubers and that is all I see
@@supertacticaldroid1751 I dont technically disagree. Im just following the laws and regulations in place in Sweden and stating that if it works here, why wouldn't it work else where?
@@Arazand oh i misunderstood sorry
@@supertacticaldroid1751 thats ok. I wasnt exactly being clear on that point. :)
Maybe you don't have the money starting out. I'm planning to get a new ball python and I will keep him in a tub for the first 1-1.5 years of his/her life because I unfortunately do not have the budget at this point for 120x60x60 enclosure.
I will definitely find the biggest tub I can for the animal and try to make it as hospitable as possible.
There's a place for minimalistic enclosures, but you need to do it right and should be temporarily imo, people keep their reptiles in stupid small enclosures, which is unethical.
Wow the production of your videos is like documentary level. Great job Adam👍.
Great video you are my favourite reptile channel
You're the best!
Thank you for showing a balanced answer .
I try
Ideally I lean towards bioactive enclosures. That said when there are a ton of enclosures, it's kind of hard to keep up on all of them. So if you've got a ton of animals I kind of lean towards minimalist. I also think minimalist husbandry is best for animals who suffer from severe MBD & other health issues. End of the day I think it depends on making sure you don't spread yourself too thin that you can't take care of all your animals. There are pros and cons for both, and frankly so long as the animal is getting the vitamins they need as well as the lighting that is necessary, and at least some form of enrichment whether that be inside or outside, that's all that matters.
I'd say if your husbandry becomes overwhelming to the point that there's some accidental neglect then it's time to stop collecting or maybe time to rehome one very demanding animal. I wouldn't impose minimalism just so I can keep collecting, I'd give that out to breeders but not hobbyist keepers with no plans on producing clutches. That's just me, though.
I'm so excited for the room tour and the Costa Rica part 2
it should be good!
that's also like i personally don't like live feeding but if that's the only way you can get your animal to eat well then that's what ya gotta do.
I'd love to see you make a video to walk newbies through setting up a BioActive enclosure, especially for those of us (like myself) who absolutely suck ass at keeping plants alive because they never seem to get enough water, or they get too much water, not enough sunlight etc, I'd love BioActive, they look beautiful, seems like the animals would love them and yeah, it would be great to have that time saver as well 😆
I have a juvenile Beardie in a 75 gallon which is minimalistic and semi-realistic. I have some fake plants and some real ones. I currently have a aloe and a succulent. I also got a three foot long branch for him out from the wild, I left it alone for months till I gave it to him so there's no bugs or parasites. He loves his tank. I personally can't do a bioactive enclosure because I'm a minor and I don't have a job.
awesome!
@@WickensWickedReptiles i wasn't actually expecting you to respond! But thank you!
Hello great video information Adam
thank you!
Me personally, i don't like the rack system. I wouldn't start ranting at those that do, bc if done correctly its fine.
agreed
I have a fish tank it's been setup for 2 years and no water changes. I have so many plants that the water stays crystal clear my shrimp have been breeding the whole time and the fish are very healthy
Whenever someone mentions minimalistic enclosures I feel Clint staring, with that piercing gaze. "You too can be kept in a small box for long periods of time with little to no stimuli."
Here is my issue that I never see anyone really addressing. Let's exclude breeders, which is everyone's go to in this kind of videos. I am not talking breeders, I am talking hobbyists, collectors, the like. Can anyone give me a single reason that benefits the animal, aside from quarantine for new/ill animals, that you should use a rack system? Typically, when I meet NON-BREEDER hobbyists, the ONLY excuse they have is "they prefer tight/dark spaces", which we all know can be provided adequately in naturalistic setups with the proper amount of hides and clutter. THAT is my issue. I see no ethical reason to go minimalistic over naturalistic, the only benefits are to the owner. If you can't afford to give your pets the better lifestyle, maybe you shouldn't have 60 ball pythons just for the sake of living out your Pokemon fantasy of catching them all. Again, I know I'm going to get torn to shreds regardless, but I am talking about people who are NOT breeding.
I agree. The only point I have is that it's up to the animals what they prefer. I've seen blood pythons get very defensive and go off feed in open enclosures and when put in a rack style cage calm down and be normal and resume eating. I think one has to be open to their animals reactions and needs
Hey bud great video! I honestly believe that bio active set ups are best for tropical animals, just because of the humidity and moisture they need, they are also amazing for tropical scorpions which I’ll be eventually trying it out for my adult male Emperor scorpion 😃 not that they necessarily need to be a tropical species to be kept bio active but it suites them the best, makes it a lot easier to make things real and natural :)
Serpa design is the goat when it comes to enclosures
I agree with alot of what he said! I've found it a bit harder to keep desert or just very hot and dry species in bioactive enclosures, than species with a more high humidity species
Bro I wanted ur opion on this for a bit now awsome u made the video 😊😊😊😊😊😊
Thank you so much 😀
Do you keep Diamond in a bioactive? Moving my beardie out of their quarantine soon and we haven't decided about bioactive yet. Going for naturalistic at least
I also want to know!
Once again where did you get your Schneider skink from? Or can I buy yours?
can you buy an animal I tout as one of my favorites? no, but you could likely find your own on morph market, craigslist or Kijiji like I did
@@WickensWickedReptilessorry if I came off rude. I've been looking for many years at this point. Haven't found anyone in USA who will ship to BC, most don't even respond. The 2 posible leads I've found in Canada only had sickly deformed wildcaught individuals and also wouldn't ship to BC. My current one I've had for over 8 years is my favorite reptile I've owned and unfortunately he's started showing signs of ageing(he's atleast 14yrs old) and I can't think of being without one or a few of this species. I know info for captive breeding them is greatly lacking, but I want to try breeding them if I can get a pair. If you can give me any spesific info of which people bring them into Canada or sell them it would be greatly appreciated. Thankyou.
I've talked to atleast 30 reptile petstores in BC asking if it is posible for them to get any in and all tell me no. I've asked 3 company's that specialize in importing reptiles from other countries and they all say they don't have a source and haven't seen any in a while. Price isent an issue, avalibility is a huge downside to this species and a disturbing lack of captive breeding o4 knowlege on it