House Plants And Tarantulas?

Ben Do

Arachnosquire
Joined
Jul 3, 2018
Messages
62
I keep all my animals in my bedroom and several months ago I tried keeping plants in my room for aesthetic and air purifying purposes but after a couple of weeks there were tiny bugs everywhere and they eventually got into the substrate of all my T's so I had to get rid of all the plants in my room and replace their bedding. It took weeks to finally get all bugs out of my room.

However I still really enjoy having plants in my room so are there any ways to manage pests? I didn't use any pest killers or chemicals in my room because of my T's safety and I couldn't find any that wouldn't affect them either. Does anyone know of any plants that can be kept in just water or better soil/bug-killing alternatives? I have a couple of pothos in jars of water in my room now because the soil is what introduced the bugs, but that's about it :(
 

Poonjab

Arachnoking
Active Member
Joined
Nov 4, 2019
Messages
2,752
What were the bugs though? Were they just springtails?
 

Polenth

Arachnobaron
Joined
Sep 29, 2018
Messages
459
Things like springtails and soil mites really aren't a worry. You can get non-toxic sticky traps to go in plant pots, which will keep down things like fungus gnats.

In other things you can do, you can buy plants bare-rooted and pot them when you get them. That'll reduce the chances of any hitchhikers. Spider plants are a good option if you want to grow things in water. You already have pothos, which does well however it's grown.

I keep all new plants out of my room for at least a few weeks. That way you'll know if there are issues and it gives time for pesticides to break down (I wash the leaves as well on arrival). This isn't just for the animals, as you don't want a virus wiping out your plants. I lost most of the plants I had a child due to that, so I'm a lot more careful with quarantines these days.
 
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