There are no pests in a bioactive enclosure. The micro organisms added are beneficial for the system to work. So, no, you cannot have a bioactive enclosure without "pests". A royal python (let's use its proper name, not the Americanised name) is a heavy bodied snake that will crush most plants.
So honestly? I do not believe that a truly bioactive set up is achievable for a royal, or any other heavy bodied snake.
There is no real benefit to doing it other than to look nice to you. Bioactive is all well and good for things such as dart frogs, small arboreal tropical geckos etc, but not for heavy boids.

 

A royal python (let's use its proper name, not the Americanised name)

python Sphera

it is not !!!!

 

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I disagree for it being a fad, far from it... I have seen genuine behavioural changes in my animals since moving them from a heavy planted plastic plant enclosure to bioactive. My mangrove snakes are far more confident snakes and they started to eat. Only thing that changed was adding a bunch of live plants.

It's a personal choice, it's not a neccessity - I personally would move all my animals over to a bioactive enclosures and if you want to spend the time and money setting one up, do it. It looks nicer than a dog bowl, a few plastic plants, aubiose, a few sticks and an upsidedown ice cream tub... and all the other crap you get from reptile shops.

No bad experences with bioactive, they are expensive, heavy and need to be maintained.

Royal Pythons are heavy body snakes and are likely to squash all your plants. Or if you do it for a boa, it knows exactly what it is doing in destroying an enclosure! My boa doesn't have a bioactive enclosure, however I have noticed since removing the plants and keeping him on a mixture of coir, moss, coconut husk and the arcadia earth mix his enclosure is far less dusty and less smelly than it ever was on anything else. It also maintains humidity at a nice level.

They're not pests but mostly use loads of springtails, various types of woodlice and worms is a nice basic CUC.

 

I think the main reason some snakes seem to do better in a bioactive is because of things like uvb, higher humidity, more cover, etc, which certainly aren't unique to a bioactive setup but a lot of people overlook in a normal vivarium before moving their snake to bioactive. I don't think there's any point in it, it'll require more maintenace and probably get destroyed quickly. You can build a good looking vivarium that meets all of a royal's needs without all those extra steps.

 

I’m also curious about this, With Blood pythons… How do CUC do with urine and ammonia? I’ve heard of people not having to clean out their tank for years, That would be a dream!!
Again this is for the chunky bloods, Not Royals
Any thoughts??