Live Plants

im gonna be adding some live plants very soon, and i just wanted some ideas of what everyone is using
i know the 2 most popular pothos and ficus
right now im using ficus clippings i stole from my grandmothers house

ive also been told about bromeliads and they look good to me, but theres just so many of them, anyone have a particular variation they find to be perfect in the terrarium? and also alot of them are HUGE

ive also read somewhere about philodendron, and i like the species with the split leaves...

anyone have any other ideas?
also people with live plants if u can please post some pics for ideas also

thanks
-Tony

 

yessum...i use live plants, there so much nicer looking, and they make them feel at home

this is the live plant...forget the name but its common in most stores that sell plants


the set


both live plants

 

oh...and do u have a UV light...there a necessity for live plants, windows just dont cut it...oh and that first plant, i recomend it, they LOVE it...always hiding and jumpn around in it

 

I too use live plants...crusty1...the plant you've got in pic one is called a pothos plant...their are usually 2 varieties of these...regular pothos and golden pothos...both are very prolific and awesome w/ cresties. It's perfect for juvies as they are small enough and light enough to hide under and chill ontop of the leaves. I've got planting soil, w/ some coconut fiber as well as some moss on the viv floor. Pretty awesome if yah ask me!

 

yeayea same here man

 

yea ive gotten something very similar to that crusty
those are the clippings im using right now, my grandmother is gonna start a small one for me so i have my own

also since mine is a juvie right now, im going to be planting the plants in pots, til he gets older. is there anything i need to know about the soil? can i use any potting soil?

 

I use silk plants but have read that you can also use "dracaenas, dwarf umbrella plants, spineless bromeliads such as some neoregelias, birdsnest ferns (asplenium), and hoyas......ficus and weeping figs can also be used........small leaves and thin steams or fiberous mosses should be avoided as they can be swallowed when the gecko is feeding" Thats from Rhacodactylus; a complete guide to their selection and care.
Use organic potting, or stuff with no fertilizers or pesticides, vermiculite or perlite - if ingested (and perlite will float to the top when watered) they can cause problem. Potting soil mixed with some orchid bark works as well. Or coco fiber (not sure how well plants will do in that).

 

yes...go into your walmart or canadian tire or home depot or whatever and they prolly have non fertalized potting soil (soil without those lil white beads)...thats what i used...field hockey gal pretty much layed it down, but...
the layering method that i used for mine was; 1-2" gravel at the bottom (nessesary for runn off), about 3 1/2" of non fertalized potting soil, and 1" of coconut fibers on the top to hold moisture, u can also use orchid bark as field hockey gal said, whatever floats your boat...definatly use the pothos, mine LOVE it (there hiding under leaves RIHGT now actually lol) i have also heard ficus are a favorite...u can get really technical in it and put an Orchid in it or smthign too...thats what ill be doing for my next tank...just makes it look that much nicer and realalistic...i love live plants and real bottoms...there so nice and u can really make them look amazing, its ur to your imagination...i wanna c pics asap when ur done lol good luck

 

wow, awesome info fieldhockeygal, thanks..i have that book on order (just waiting for it to come)
perlite is those little white balls i guess??? never knew what that was and now i do :lol:

-crusty-like i said, forr now, all plants will be potted. im going to wait til hes much older to do the whole natural floor, and at that time i will be planting directly into the substrate. hes only about 2-2.5 months old, and while hes getting much better at hunting crickets, hes still not great at it.

and anytime i do anything to the tank i take a pic, so no worries on that end, lol.....though it wont look as good as if i had the substrate down and the plants planting directly in it

 

haha well good luck with it all...ya there not the greatest cricket hunters, but they love it thats for sure lol...they always manage to get a piece of coconut fiber or so in there mouths, o well, no real harm by that, they spit most of it out anyways...cant wait to c some pics lol

 

update:

went to home depot today and bought a few plants
i bought a hoya, dracaena, and a small brom

but unfortunately they, or the other store i went to didnt have any organic potting soil or unfertilized potting soil this may turn out to be harder than finding the plants, lol

do i need to quarantine these plants? what should i be looking for? how long if i even have to?
they arent going in the terrarium yet, seeing how i cant repot them, without the right soil

cant wait til m crestie gets older, so i can plant them in the tank, and i found a really nice orchid i want to use in either this tank or another one down the line

also, my mom got this peace plant (?).....looks like it had a semi sturdy stem for climbing, anyone know? but that was for her house, not my terrarium

 

As far as I know you don't have to quarintine them. Just make sure the plants were not sprayed with pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers etc. etc. Make sure it has no bugs on it as well.

 

im gonna gie them a real good going over tomorow, when i repot them hopefully

unfortunately i wont know if they were sprayed with anything
should i just give them a real good washing in water or something?

 

nope...no quarenteen...what u should do to make sure there not carrying ticks is, take the plant out of the pot, bring it to the tub, and spray the soil off with water, so the roots are clean of anydirt, and bugs that could be in the dirt, also wash off the plants just incase they were sprayed, also this gets rid of the fertilizers...plant them, then givem a watering, not to much tho, orelse u could face a satuation problem, meaning ur plants will dorwn
good luck with it all

 

essentually u wanna shower the plants before putting them in their enclosure

 

some really good tips crusty, thanks
now i just have to find the soil, lol

 

lol ya...thats weird...it wasnt hard for me to find non fertile soil at all...canadian tire, literaly 2 seconds from my house has it...i get alll my plants there to

 

damn, no candian tire here in New York, lol
but i was able to find some at a smaller local garden shop
i asked for unfertilized soil, and found a lot of choices, lol

also picked up a small golden pothos for a few $

 

also didnt realize how big my dracanea was til i put it next to the terrarium, oooopsie
its about 4 inches to big
hopefully i can fix that when i repot it

 

haha nicenice
ya u can fix it...but if it is that big i dunno,...u could trim it, but it will grow, and grow fast...try and pick up a smaller one