Simply amazing! I haven't been active on the forums for over 10 years but last night I was on the Saurian Enterprise website and noticed Patrick was selling springtails cultured on clay. Naturally that piqued my interest and when Patrick's description pointed me to Doug/Pumilio and the forum, I followed the breadcrumbs back to find this thread still getting action after a decade! Really 13 years if you count the ultimate clay thread that preceded, and well over 15 if you count the old Frognet convos before. LONG before "bio-active" was a term. For those who don't know me (and I doubt many of you do) I'm probably the "OG clay guy" referenced a few posts above. Hilarious. Hats off to Doug for leading the charge here and all of you for continuing to experiment, innovate, and improve. I'm for sure switching my springtails to clay!
Anyway, since this topic is still going, I hadn't thought much about clay substrate in recent years so figured I would post an update on one of the first clay-based vivaria that has now been running with this substrate for 15 years. A bit of background on the viv. I built it in 1999 to house a group of Nicaraguan blue jeans I received in January 2000. It initially had a kitty litter substrate and the usual natural wood furnishings. After swapping out the DIY rain system I built for a more standard misting setup and dialing it in, the frogs started producing offspring. Calcium deficiency was an issue that went away after adding UVB to the setup. By 2006, the organic structures had decomposed into an unaesthetic heap so a renovation was in order. That included adding a fake concrete buttress stump (there is an ancient thread on that somewhere) a PVC pipe supported horizontal branch, replacing the top with Solacryl to allow better ventilation of heat from the lights (they were bare bulb inside the viv before), and, of course, the Redart clay-based substrate. I believe that original recipe is in the ultimate clay thread.
Maintenance in the 15 years since has been minimal since the only things that can decompose in the viv are things I want to decompose. The viv itself hasn't changed much and many of the plants are the same ones planted in 1999. The viv has experience long periods of neglect where I did nothing but toss undusted cultures of ff into the viv and top off the misting reservoir - often after letting it go dry for way too long. The frogs just continued to chug along despite my poor husbandry and produce offspring. By fall of 2020, the 20+ year old frogs were dwindling in number and no longer reproducing so I obtain another group of more recent Nicuraguan imports from Bill at InSitu on incredibly generous terms. They arrived in Sept. 2020 and by Jan. 2021 the first new froglet in several years appeared.
Here's how it looks as of this morning. This is typical of how I like to maintain the leaf litter The base litter is sea grape leaves and I just toss in interesting leaves that drop or are clipped off my other plants.
And when I lifted the carpet to peak underneath, this was the first thing I found, a half pinky nailed-sized froglet. Too bad the camera focused on everything BUT the interesting part.
![Hand Plant Terrestrial plant Snake Twig]()
The second thing I noticed was the writhing movement of microfauna scurrying for cover. There are springtails (hard to see because they take on the color of the substrate rather than the usual white we see), some kind of tiny beetle, an unidentified mite, some kind of nematode (I think) that is about 1.5mm long, and some small skinny earthworms. I haven't seen any isopods. They were probably lost due to my neglecting to keep the leaf litter stocked. A few things to note in this next pic: 1) Surface roughness. there are lots of fissures and lumps from years of microfauna workings. It isn't quite the pseudosand structure I would like, but it drains well. If you poke a finger in it, it's like poking into pottery clay so no stable aggregates have formed, but it has created a nice structure over time. 2) Root network. Notice the roots grow "on", rather than "in" the soil. That's how it works in the tropics too. The action is in that boundary between decomposing detritus and the soil surface. 3) No humus. Over 15 years there has been at least a large lawn bag full of litter dumped on the surface and more likely closer to two bags worth. Yet, NO humus layer has developed. Again, like in much of the wet tropics. Litter decomposes so completely it doesn't leave behind any stable organic layer. The charcoal you see "escaped" from springtail cultures added recently before I realized there was a healthy population still going in the soil. I like the look and will probably add it to the next clay substrate viv I build.
![Brown Natural material Wood Terrestrial plant Twig]()
Not substrate related, but here area a couple shots of the fake buttress after 15 years. Looks better than the day it was installed.
And the PVC "branch." That Vriesia is over 20 years old.
And a better shot of that little froglet. I probably should pick out that perlite that escaped from a transplant, but that would require work.
Overall I'm thrilled with how this has performed and how it looks. Doug and the rest of you have improved on this early effort and I look forward reading in more detail what you've all come up with. I'm really intrigued by the idea of Plaster of Paris as an additive John J M mentioned. Can that be used to form stable pseudo sand aggregates? I think the perfect substrate would squeeze tight like clay when moist (not wet), but break apart more like loam when pinched. Has anyone achieve texture Nirvana yet?
Last thing. My original vivs I set up with kitty litter in 1996 are still going. I've moved the frogs out and will be tearing them down soon to make room for a mega-viv, but the substrate seems as good today as when it was new.
I hope somebody enjoys this blast from the past.
