My 6 year old crested gecko currently lives in an 18x18x24 sterile enclosure and I’m considering upgrading to an 18x18x36 bioactive enclosure.
What plants should I use? I’m not good at taking care of plants but I’m sure I could figure it out since I’ll have to pay attention to them for the sake of my lizard. Right now on my list I have pothos, philodendrons, and maybe some snake plants. I plan to use UVB lights and move the enclosure on a desk next to a window so they get some sun, would that and the morning/night mist be enough for the plants to survive?
(Also, when I build it, should I let the tank sit for a couple weeks before putting in the gecko to make sure everything is alright?)
They grow well in damp well draining soil with a bright LED light strip for about 6-8 hours a day, there is debate on whether UVB has any benefits but I’ll let others answer that since I personally only use LEDs for my plants and they do great with that. Pothos also cultivate from cuttings very well so you can honestly go wild and plant a whole bunch and get more plants from the cuttings themselves once they really kick off on the growth.
If you go bioactive I highly reccomend an automatic mister so you’ll never worry about missing a misting, it helps the plants and your Crestie! (I have mine set to mist for 10 seconds every 12 hours and that seems to suffice for the plants and humidity).
You can go with a large snake plant and a few variations of Pothos for a simplistic beginner friendly bioactive setup, Umbrella Trees are good too but they may not be able to hold up to an adult Crestie… I personally have them in an enclosure with Mourning Geckos since they seem to thrive well in that environment so I guess you can give it a try?
I’ve experimented with a few vining plants (Oak leaf Fig and Ficus pumila varigated bellus) but didn’t have great luck with them unfortunately, I think they need a much higher humidity and are better suited for bioactive setups for land dwelling Amphibians.
Do your research for good and safe tropical plants that tolerate room temp and a humid environment, here’s a list from a source I’ve relied on and trust very much so as well as sources where you can purchase Terrarium plants:
All of the plants here are safe for your Crestie or any other animal that won’t willingly eat any of the plants provided (Be mindful of any Monstera plants, if they are together with other plants the other plants will fail to thrive).
I like Hoyas, creeping bromeliads and sweet potatoes. They are all extremely robust, can take a lot of abuse, and are a nice break from the everyday sameness you often see. Wandering Jew and monarch ferns are other options, but they are a bit over vigorous and can get out of control if not kept in serious check
@t_h_wyman mentioned sweet potato, I second that for sure. Also, any of the melons work great too. Under artificial light they tend to grow smaller leaves and will run long vines that are easily trained. Plus, when they flower the lizard will use them for an extra snack. I personally like dwarf variants of water melon but any will do. Hand pollin
ating may be necessary if you want fruit. They will be small but sweet and juicy.
Any garden plant should be considered. Avoid heavily aromatic. Dill, mint.
Beans, pole, climb really well and are easily trained. They are fairly short lived and will need to be restarted every few months. Their debris is good bug food for the clean up crew.
Peas as well, though they don’t like really high temps. (not a concern in a crested viv). Also a pill bug favorite.
Sunflowers leave a nice woody stalk if cut to the height of the viv.
As for other vining types, hoya, cissus discolor, wandering jew all work great and have several cultivars for colour and leaf shape.
Christmas and easter cactus grow well in high humidity, low light. They are epiphytic, meaning they grow on tree bark or in leaf litter. I use suction cups to mount small pots in the upper corners.
Coleus also has a wide array of colors. They are brittle but tend to branch when broken.
Many species of tillandsia grow well in an enclosed space.
With good light and nutrients, many grasses will take a beating.
For small tree like plants, dwarf schefflera is a good type.
Spider plants. Diefenbachia. Pothos. Banana.
Avoid Monstera(split leaf). Toxic to almost everything, they release an alkaloid that retards or outright kills its neighbors. They are selfish and greedy. Hence "monster"a.
Mosses are also good. Just know that even minute traces of zinc will kill them.
On my way out herping for the day. Will post more when I get the chance.
I might want to try this in my Mourning Gecko enclosure… so how exactly does planting that work? I have sweet potatoes but they are absolutely massive and won’t fit in the planted area, can they be cut down and still grow?
I just took the starts that sprouted off a store bought sweet potato and rooted them and then planted them. As Gabonica noted, they will vine all over the place but they are fairly easy to trim back as needed (bonus being that you can use the trimmings to start new plants). And if they are really really happy you can get yourself a nice crop of tubers. Not a joke. I just pulled a few pounds out of one of my cages and I was not even intentionally trying to find all of the ones in there.
I never thought of planting vegetables/melons lol
