# Succulents in tarantula tanks?



## Chicken Farmer

I won't be doing this for a while as my T's are slings that will be here tomorrow or the next day!! anyway, my T's are the brachy species and a G. porteri so they like it dry.  i was wondering if hen and chicks would be okay? This is the species name i found Echeveria elegans. They don't need very much dirt or water. i drilled holes in some lava rock, stuck some dirt in and they have been growing for years. they don't need much light either. 

also would a peace lilly a.k.a Spathiphyllum work? i have a pot of them in my basement. the go yellow if they get to much light. it is perfect down there. they also like to go kind of dry before re-watering. 

what do you T experts think?


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## xhexdx

I see no problem with using E. elegans or any other Echeveria spp. in with them - just make sure you don't _over_water them.

I'm actually considering setting up a desert-style vivarium with succulents and a brachy.  I have a small male vagans I might use.

Hmm...

I don't know anything about the Spathiphyllum though - hopefully someone with experience can chime in here.

If/when you put it together, please post pictures.


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## Jaymz Bedell

Spathiphyllum would require quite a bit more water than a species of spider that prefers it pretty dry. liking to dry out slightly between waterings is not equal to tolerating arid conditions. hens and chicks might work, however, its been my experience that if they are happy and properly cared for they tend to spread rather quickly. they do also require watering, and might require more watering than the spider would like. there are ways around it for the hens and chicks, but i would avoid the spathi. just my 2 cents as a bit of a plant geek.


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## Chicken Farmer

well it will be quite a while till they are big enough to put in permanent enclosures. but when i do i will definitely get  pics.

i will try the hen and chicks, but wait on the peace lilly. i also have  another succulent. i don't know what kind it it. when it gets broke of there is milky stuff that comes out. i don't know about it. the milk could be bad if the crickets chew on it.


would sage brush be okay in the enclosures? i wouldn't do a live plant or anything, just clip some from a plant and glue it to something.


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## Shrike

Chicken Farmer said:


> i also have  another succulent. i don't know what kind it it. when it gets broke of there is milky stuff that comes out. i don't know about it. the milk could be bad if the crickets chew on it.


You could have a species of Euphorbia...not a good option for your vivarium.  Euphorbiaceae contain poisonous sap of varying degrees of toxicity.  You wouldn't want to risk exposing your tarantula to this.  Also, some species of Euphorbia have extremely sharp thorns.

Can you post a picture of the unidentified plant?

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Chicken Farmer

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=Euph...rt=65&ndsp=71&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:65&tx=49&ty=25

this is what they look like. the sap is toxic so no to them i guess.


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## Kaimetsu

I've also been looking for the perfect plant to put in with dessert tarantulas, specifically my G. rosea to jazz up his enclosure.  Succulents definitely sound like the ideal family of plant except most of them require alot of light.  As pothos is sort of the default easy plant that alot of people goto for tropical tarantulas I'm looking for a dry loving plant that might be just as tolerant of low light conditions.  I honestly don't know much about plants does E elegans really do ok in low light, as in like ambient room lighting?  If so it sounds great.

If i get one would it be ok to keep it in the pot and bury the pot in the substrate so i could water it without making the rest of the tank too damp.  I've read that fertilizers and things in the pot could be harmful to tarantulas so would i have to change the soil in the pot and if so what should i use?


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## Chicken Farmer

I think the E. elegans would do fine in ambient room light. i am not sure though.

i think that is a good idea to put it into a pot. they don't need to be fertilized, or at least mine don't  i have the E elegans growing in lava rock. i drilled some holed into it, and there was some natural holes that were big enough, stuffed some dirt in it, and stuck a plant or 2 in the hole. they have like a large main root, not a whole bunch of runners.

so a pot or lava rock works good.  i will try to get a pic of them on the rock and in these cement things i have them in.


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## NevularScorpion

I tried one with a mexican blood leg a while ago until it was too big to be in this enclosure so I transfered her . In my experience my tarantula was doing well regardless of the requirement of the plant. The plant were also thriving until they are too big for the container too so I have to place all of them in an individual pot. Here are some pic of my old set up


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## Chicken Farmer

nice setup! Did the T try to climb out?

could you tell us what you used and other details? what the green moss/ succulent called?


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## Chicken Farmer

aloso would sage brush clipping be okay to put in a T's enclosure glued onto a rock?


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## J Morningstar

@Nevular..yes, is your moss alive? I would think not in a dessert environment.

---------- Post added 02-04-2012 at 10:23 AM ----------

Kaimetsu, perhaps some small form of Mother in laws tongue a.k.a. as snake plant will do, almost no light requierments, no fertilizer needs and hard to kill, bury them in a little 2 inch pot wrapped in a cheese cloth or just wrap their roots with new potting soil and a paper towle wrapped in string and they will grow with weekly to monthly watering. And there are many to choose from. They are also tough and resistant to being eaten...at least somewhat. They have been in my centipede tank for almost a year with no issue and get only the most minimal water. And one small florecent candle light blub.


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## Stan Schultz

Chicken Farmer said:


> I won't be doing this for a while as my T's are slings that will be here tomorrow or the next day!! anyway, my T's are the brachy species and a G. porteri so they like it dry.  i was wondering if hen and chicks would be okay? This is the species name i found Echeveria elegans. They don't need very much dirt or water. i drilled holes in some lava rock, stuck some dirt in and they have been growing for years. they don't need much light either.
> 
> also would a peace lilly a.k.a Spathiphyllum work? i have a pot of them in my basement. the go yellow if they get to much light. it is perfect down there. they also like to go kind of dry before re-watering.
> 
> what do you T experts think?


I just checked. You're a newbie. Now, before you get your feathers all ruffled or your undies in a knot, let me say that there's nothing wrong with being a newbie. We were all newbies at one point in our career, and some of us (e.g., yours truly) have never outgrown that moniker.

*BUT*, there are a few rules that you need to follow as a newbie.

1> READ *STAN'S RANT*. It'll start you off on the right foot.

2> READ THE BOOKS! They're itemized in *Stan's Rant*. All the questions you could think to ask, plus a lot that would never in a lifetime ever occur to you will be answered in those books. And, keeping living plants with tarantulas is somewhere very near the top of the list of questions that have been answered!

3> Learn to use the *Search* function on these forums. I know it sounds like I'm trying to avoid answering your question, but I'm not.  It's just more efficient that way. If you do a simple search for my Arachnoboards tag, Pikaia, you'll see that I spend a lot of time answering questions on these forums, some questions being very good, others not-so-good, a few being downright ... Well, I won't finish that.

I want you to learn to do searches partly because I (for one) get tired of answering the same questions, stupid or otherwise, over, and over, and over again. And, while I am responding to your question (that could have been answered by reading a book or performing a simple search) I'm not responding to someone else who really needs the help.

Now I know that I've taken a very self-centered, egocentric point of view in this response, but if it works for me it is also working for a lot of others as well. Only, most of them are merely rolling their eyes and moving on to the next thread. I don't want to do that. I want to help. But, you're going to have to meet me half way. You need to do your homework first.

Sorry for the rant.

Now, in specific answer to your question: Live plants require a different set of conditions than tarantulas. For instance, plants need light to grow. Tarantulas don't appreciate bright lights either because they don't like the heat, or because they feel exposed and vulnerable in light. "If you can see me, you can eat me!"

Another example, plants always need some level of moisture, at least around their roots. One of the biggest threats to keeping tarantulas is the occurrence of other malicious creatures (e.g., mites, round worms) that also live in damp conditions. To avoid endangering our pets we usually keep their cages very dry and give them a water dish to drink from. It's a very simple situation: If you keep the cage damp for the plants, you're endangering the tarantula. If you keep the cage bone dry for the tarantula, you kill the plants. Trying to keep a cage damp enough and bright enough for some plants, but dry enough and dark enough for some tarantula requires walking a very thin, risky line. At this point in your tarantula keeping career, you'd just be stupid to try.

A few experienced enthusiasts who at least think they can recognize problems before they get out of hand, and who at least think they know how to solve those problems, attempt to keep live plants and tarantulas together. Sometimes they're successful, but often not. (The same can also be said about keeping tarantulas communally.) But the newbie (that would be you) hasn't anywhere near the experience or the resources to deal with mixing two, complex  disciplines (keeping plants *AND* keeping tarantulas) in the same environment. The cards are stacked against you, and you're setting yourself up for a loss of a lot of money, time, effort, and the emotional investment in your pet.

If you want to keep plants, do so out in the garden, in a *Wardian case*, or in flower pots on the window sill. If you want to keep tarantulas, do so on the other, dimly lit side of the room in cages set up specifically for their needs. After you've had plants and tarantulas for a year or more, *read the books*, thoroughly *searched* these forums, and think you can afford a failure, more power to you, give it a try.

Enjoy your little 8-legged jewel.


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## Chicken Farmer

thanks for the lecture. i wasn't planning on doing this for a couple to few years, till my T's are larger.  i was going to do more research just wanted to see what people said on here.

the hen and chick i have i was going to put it into a pot and bury it. before i try it with a T i am going to see how they do in the house with controlled amounts of light and water.


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## NevularScorpion

Chicken sorry for the late reply. like I said my t did well regardless of the live plants. I'm not really sure about the name of the plants or the moss. Since this was my first experiment regarding ts and plants. all I did is I went to home depot and bought the plant materials that would look good for display. Also, if you notice my T is really fat and the shape of the enclosure is curve at the top so therefore my t never tried to escape because it cannot escape even if it want to lol. that is part of my experiment and it work but don't try it with arboreal or skinny ts they might be able to escape, mine was too fat to climb glass in the first place. I sprayed my enclosure everyday or once every two days after about 3 months I have to remove the plants because they got bigger. I think stone plants might be a better option since they don't grow that big so fast. BTW this is not a permanent but only a temporary display cage that is good for a few months because its kinda high maintenance. Good luck on your project! post some pics when you have time


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## Chicken Farmer

interesting. thanks for the reply.


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