The Best Substrate

[GarterGuy]

Have any of you ever used the BSS (Bioactive Substrat System)?

I think it was developed by Philippe de Vosjoli.

I read about it in the book "The Art of Keeping Snakes- from the experts at advanced vivarium systems".

It sounded like a really interesting theory of creating a population of nonharmful microorgsnisms that would outcompete any harmful organism colonies, before they "settle".

I have used this before, and it does really nice, but with something as large as a garter (I know garters aren't really considered large, but when you're talking about naturalistic vivaria they can be kind of "big") you need a fairly large enclosure to ensure that the soil doesn't get "spoiled" too quickly. I've personally used it for anoles, toads and tree frogs with good success and I imagine for smaller types of garters it might work.

[GGarter]

(I know garters aren't really considered large, but when you're talking about naturalistic vivaria they can be kind of "big") you need a fairly large enclosure to ensure that the soil doesn't get "spoiled" too quickly.

How big a vivarium would you expect was needed to make the BSS work with garters?

I'm planning on acquiring a 4X2X2 foot setup for two or three garters