Plants to use with tarantulas

[Royal_T's]

I use Sansevieria trifasciata aka mother in law's tongue or snakes tongue plant... they are small plants and require very little light to grow. They offer great hides for the tarantulas. I have a few that are approximately 8 inches tall. My adult a. avic loves hers. Pothos vines are great to use as well.

 

[curiousme]

Bromeliads are awesome for something like a dart frog tank, but definitely wouldn't work in a T tank. They require high amounts of lights to grow well, and I'm sure we all know how uncomfortable that would make our tarantulas. Unfortunately, very few plants can handle the low light levels of a tarantula tank, which is why pothos are so popular. I've also found that aluminum pilea (Pilea cadierei) will grow very well under low light conditions, but I have not tried it in any tarantula tanks.

This is an incorrect statement. We have a bromeliad in our A. metallica tank with compact flourescents on it and it does just fine. ***edited to add*** i missed your clarification post, but you are right that it is possible.

As long as the T has somewhere to be in the shade and/ or a place to hide, it is fine. All of our adult tanks are planted/ naturalistic enclosures and that means they all have lights on them for the plants.


i will also say that putting an enclosure in a window where it gets direct sunlight is a very bad idea. This can create a greenhouse effect and actually cook your T if the sun causes the air inside the enclosure to heat up too much.



To the OP: We use flourescent lights for our plants. Using incandescent can warp plexi/ plastic, create hot spots, crack glass and heat the enclosure too much. We are also fish people, so we have light hoods from old tanks that we use as fixtures. You can also buy adjustable clip lamps from Walmart that work as well.

Since the title of the thread is 'plants to use with tarantulas' i directed you to the answer for that.

 

[JimM]

Avics in particular do well in bromeliads.
In fact, if your room is of appropriate temp and humidity, you can keep them out in the open in bromeliads. It's been done.

 

[ArachnoYak]

Avics in particular do well in bromeliads.
In fact, if your room is of appropriate temp and humidity, you can keep them out in the open in bromeliads. It's been done.

Next time I have batch of avic slings I'll try that. Sounds like fun.

 

[Dyn]

" To the OP: We use flourescent lights for our plants. Using incandescent can warp plexi/ plastic, create hot spots, crack glass and heat the enclosure too much. We are also fish people, so we have light hoods from old tanks that we use as fixtures. You can also buy adjustable clip lamps from Walmart that work as well.

Since the title of the thread is 'plants to use with tarantulas' i directed you to the answer for that. "


Just regular shop florescent lights or are there some special ones for plants like there are for reptiles and such?


Yea I've read some of the plant threads but they never really talk about total care for them and I was mainly wondering about lights.

 

[Danny]

If an enclosure is getting a good amount of sunlight it can overheat to dangerous levels. It's always a good idea to keep enclosed containers for any animal away from the sun.

just to clarify. due to the lcation of the window, it gets 0 hours of sunlight a day. it just gets a full day of filtered natural light.

 

[codykrr]

there are literally hundreds of awsome plants that can grow in almost no light. bromilaids work well but as mentioned need a little more lite than others and generally do better for humid loving species.

my suggestions would depens on species being kept.

ferns, mosses, pothos, bromilaids, ivy's, some trees like ficus, and fig. orchids(though they are harder to grow) many types of "air plant"

like i said, it depends on species.

for avics, i like bromilaids and pothos, for pokies only pothos. desert species i use diffrent species of thornless cacti. for big terrestrials who moves alot of dirt i like moss with some ferns. (they seem to anchor better)

just go to blackjungle.com they have all of what you need. even lighting. but if you do decide to use lights make sure you use a timer. this way your T has a nightime period as well s your plants. plants will grow long and string given to much light. as well as stress your T out more. i like 12 hours on, 12 hours off myself. as for fertilizing use a good dart frog ferilizer. as these are usually non toxic. because frogs can absorb moisture through there skin it has to be safe for them. so its safe to say its ok for your T. just make sure and read up on it first. and good luck

 

[Jackuul]

Would a spineless cactus work in an arid tank?

 

[Exo]

Would a spineless cactus work in an arid tank?

Yeah, but many cacti have high light requirements.

 

[JDeRosa]

Do plants ever invite fruit flies or pests?

 

[codykrr]

sometimes watering them with tap water will creat a white chalky layer of calcium around them. but i have never had any pests. unless your talking moss. which can be loaded down with springtails.

 

[Jackuul]

Fungus gants. I loathe them.