different thought for live plants in my enclosures

[Jetfire]

I did it. I got bored and redid my garg and crested cages; new bedding, rearranging, etc...when it occurred to me to try some kind of live plant to spice things up. I wanted something that was cheap (in case of accidental uprooting by nesting females who absolutely refuse to consider using nestboxes), nontoxic,hardy, and not garish.then it hit me..
I turned parts of my enclosures into essentially Chia pets. I just scattered seeds in patches, watered them down, and am now waiting somewhat patiently.they've started to sprout, but I'm gonna wait a couple days to take pics, let them grow a bit. I did the areas around my tarantulas water dishes, too, so now the crickets free roaming the tanks get something to snack on.

 

[Amanda1]

Good idea! I'm just getting into using live plants in terrarium since I've got my tree frogs. Moss always looks nice, and dandelions and pothos are easy to grow. I've got a bromeliad too, they look really neat. There are about 4 other kinds of plants in there I can't identify (I didn't plant it myself, just bought it). But I really love the natural look, and I'm sure it makes the frogs and geckos feel more at home too. Just remember you need to have some sort of drainage system so the plants aren't just sitting in water all the time. They die if you don't (speaking from experience).

 

[Jetfire]

The bedding is 6"deep, so drainage isn't a concern unless I drastically overmist my babies

 

[Amanda1]

Ah, good call. I tried to grow dandelions for my tortoise one and failed miserably. I was never very good with plants.

 

[Jetfire]

I'm not anticipating a long lifespan for these plants,I don't exactly have a green thumb myself.good thing Chia seeds are crazy cheap

 

[Eve Saint]

That is so funny. We had a big container of chia seeds here that would be added to various human food. So I decided to grow some in the tank last year. It looked Lovely!

 

[Eve Saint]

I also like them because they dont need soil to grow. I dont like soil because flies start growing out of it. Since soil is decomposed matter along with insect eggs. YECK!

 

[Jetfire]

I planted some Chia outside last year, just to see what the actual plant looks like.the things get about 4' tall, with funky little purple flowers

 

[Patrick1]

Thinking about going live in my gex homes. Not sure what to go with, and how to do it. I have my cages loaded from wall to wall with artificial plants (pictures on Uroplatus section), and not sure if I should take these out before I plant, or just plant under the fake stuff and wait for it to grow some and then take out the fake stuff. I have good lighting, so I think the light will penetrate to the bottom, even through the artificial plants. Any thoughts on what kind of plants to put in there, and how to do it? Some of you in here already know I keep Satanics and Spear Tails. Thanks...Patrick

 

[Amanda1]

There is actually a lot to think about besides plants if you want to get really elaborate with it (which isn't necessary, but I think it's fun). Good bacteria and bugs to digest the gecko waste into "fertilizer" will keep the plants healthy. This is the best site I have found about setting up a living terrarium:
http://www.geckosunlimited.com/community/naturalistic-vivarium/35946-step-step-naturalistic-viv-setup.html

 

[Jetfire]

I already keep a couple dubia roaches in the tank, they work great as custodians. Pothos work great for gecko cages, Patrick.cheap, hardy, and big leaves for geckos to hide in.my phantasticus loved them, stalking crickets from leaf to leaf

 

[Patrick1]

Of course...All I have to do is leave it up to my trusty friends Amanda and Jetfire to answer all of my questions! Thanks guys! I actually have a colony of Dubia...the geckos don't try to mess with the larger ones? I have some large adult males that I could spare.

 

[Jetfire]

My gargs occasionally eat a dubia, but not too terribly often.I put 6 in the last time, about 3 months ago, and there's still 4 or so left.the occasional babies don't last too terribly long, but the adults are ignored for the most part.

 

[Patrick1]

Ok. Well gargs are a bit larger than my phants and ebenaui, so they should be good then. I'll throw in some of my adult male Dubia. Thanks for the tip. Now I just need some live plants. This should be fun. Haha

 

[Josh2]

I fully support this idea! I'd like to see some photos of the final setups if any of you have converted to live plants yet!

 

[Amanda1]

Here's my frog terrarium with live plants. Like I said before, I didn't set it up myself, just bought it that way, but I really like it so I'm thinking of setting up my own. (I've seen fully set up ones for sale at reptile shows too but they're super expensive.) I threw a bunch of pill bugs and millipedes in as a clean up crew, and I've also put in a culture of springtails that seems to be doing really well; they eat mold and algae.

Another fun (slightly OT) thing about living terrariums is that I woke up one morning and there was a tiny little mushroom growing in there. It grew about 3 inches in the next day and then fell over and died. The springtails cleaned it all up so there wasn't any gooey mess or anything. It was pretty surprising/cool.

 

[Jetfire]

After a couple days growth...first the garg cage
Now one of the baby cresteds house

 

[Styx]

That is neat. Now I want to plant Chia seeds in my vivs.

 

[Jetfire]

Well, the experiment had mixed results.the gargs tank fared the worst.they trampled all over them (I was afraid of that, but kinda just crossed my fingers that they wouldn't), then the dubia ate them.
The baby cresteds, on the other hand, aren't big enough to bother the now almost 3"high seedlings.
So, personally,I wouldn't bother with Chia with anything bigger than hatchlings, or Styx's microgeckos.Pearson learned, and it didn't cost me anything but time.