Month: September 2018

manticorareptiles:

So along with Crested Geckos I also keep several other species of reptile. This is the bioactive enclosure for my male Leopard Gecko, Aurelio. 

The enclosure is a 40 breeder that originally belonged to my female Leopard Gecko, Bonita. But after she passed I revamped it and gave it to Aurelio. The tank took a lot of work to set up and is the result of years of experimenting with bioactive with Leopard Geckos. 

The substrate is a mixture of Excavator clay, Quikrete All Purpose Sand, and a generic organic potting mix from my local hardware store. I do 50% soil, 30% sand, and 20% clay. After they were all thoroughly mixed I sieved the substrate to remove large pieces of stone and wood. When setting up the enclosure I took all the sieved wood and stone and used it to line the very bottom of the enclosure. I then added a ton of temperate springtails and some baker’s yeast to encourage mold growth. That mold becomes a good food source for springtails and bacteria that will help to keep the tank clean. 

The next few steps are hard to explain in depth without pics, so I’ll keep things short and simple. Basically I added my substrate mix next, I added a black plastic hide on the right, and a half log hide on the left. Both are buried under substrate and stones so they’re basically invisible. I furnished the enclosure with stones taken from a local state park, that were then sanitized, and a couple types of plants. The plants I chose were 

Euphorbia tirucalli and Sedum reflexum “yellow bouquet”. The plants are doing well and have been growing nicely. 

For a cleanup crew I have temperate springtails, tropical springtails, Armadillidium vulgare isopods, dwarf white isopods, terrestrial nematodes, fungus gnats (for some people these are a pest but as maggots they can be a great cleanup crew in the soil), dubia roaches, buffalo worms/beetles, mealworms/beetles, and lots of various bacteria and fungi that are naturally present in the soil. The enclosure is only a month or so old but already my Leopard Gecko’s waste is getting broken down after only a day or so. Which is a GREAT sign!

The tank is lit with 3 grow bulbs, as well as a 24″ T5HO 10.0 UVB bulb. I strongly believe ALL reptiles should have access to UVB so despite some articles out there, I chose to give my Leopard Gecko UVB. For heating I use a 150w CHE on a thermostat. The CHE is in a wide-domed lamp allowing for max heat distribution. This gives my gecko the opportunity to thermo-regulate as he has access to basking areas ranging from 78*F up to 94*F. The ambient temp in the cage is 74*F during the day with a 2*F-4*F drop at night. As said before, Aurelio only has two hides. One cool, and one warm hide. However, due to the fact that the cage is bioactive and is misted weekly the hides are BOTH humid hides with humidity ranging from 60%-90%, something VERY important for a Leopard Gecko’s health as despite common knowledge, Leopard Gecko’s naturally seek out more humid areas and burrows in the wild. Exposing them to consistently dry conditions in captivity can be very detrimental for their health.

I’ve seen Leopard Geckos in some seriously inadequate enclosures so when I redid this tank to give it to Aurelio, I chose to give him the very best life I can. And since upgrading him, I’ve noticed him basking more in the UVB, he eats better, his color is better, and he’s noticeably more active. Keeping your animals in tubs or bare bottoms tanks is NOT natural and here at Manticora Reptiles I chose to give my animals the very best life I can in a bioactive setup.

krabbydon:

elizabethsandifer:

unnounblr:

athelind:

Something that’s been in my head for a while now:

People assume that AI is inherently an outgrowth of computer technology, but the whole point of the “programmable general purpose Von Neumann machine” is that its principles are technology-independent.

We have had AI for a at least a century.

Modern corporations are paperclip-maximizing AIs running in human wetware on an operating system of contracts, regulations, and other social constructs, and capable of self-programming by modifying that underlying operating system. They have partially migrated to a digital platform, which has allowed an increase in the speed with which they can assimilate environmental feedback and manipulate their surroundings (vis. high-speed trading).

Late-Stage Capitalism is the Bad Singularity.

@philsandifer @shabogangraffiti

Back in early grad school, I strongly suspected there was a good paper to write about corporate personhood and the Turing Test, but was dissuaded by my teachers. Silly academia.

Discussed in more detail in this article

theraphos:

thegoodfoothousehold:

the-militant-catholic:

hidrihime:

liache:

ok kids repeat after me

vinegar and bleach makes chlorine gas, which is highly toxic

ammonia and bleach makes chloramine, which is highly toxic

rubbing alcohol and bleach makes chloroform, which is highly toxic

hydrogen peroxide and vinegar makes peracetic/peroxyacetic acid, which can be highly corrosive

be careful about your cleaning products and dont get yourself injured or potentially killed ok

why it so dangerous to be clean

As someone who’s job is to handle chemicals like this, I need to state that this information is IMPORTANT. Plenty of people have accidentally injured or killed themselves at home because they didn’t know what kind of reaction certain substances have with one another. Play it safe and don’t mix chemicals.

Also don’t use bleach to clean up urine it’ll create chloramine bc of the ammonia in it and you can give yourself chemical pnemonia that way

Every time I see “helpful” posts telling people to mix these things while cleaning I cringe with my entire body.