live plants in enclosures

driver

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Jun 22, 2007
Messages
299
whats ok as far as planting live plants in an enclosure? I knw it's not necessary, but i'd like to do up a couple nice display tanks. are most orchids, ferns, and other small vivarium type plants (any of the same plants you'd use in a frog tank) all pretty much ok?
 

ronald might

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 6, 2007
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51
i have live plants in my terrium! and personally.. use artifical..

it really depends on how your T reacts to its humidity..im no pro with Ts and i was enough to put live pants for a B.smithi which hates the wet..heres a link to my enclosure..ive got some good replies about live plants.. i cant advise much cause im new..
http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=99049

honestly..live plants are really a waste of time..maintanence is so much more.. watering, trimming, picking up dead leaves (attracts mold with high humidity).. many recommand me to use artifical
 
B

babylon5girl

Guest
live plants

I only put live plants in with my aboreal T's, since they are the only ones who seem to like it.
 

driver

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Jun 22, 2007
Messages
299
i was at walmart today and they've got a whack of misc tropicals for $1.89 in 4" pots, so if the t decides he wants to destroy them, no big deal.
 

Mike H.

Arachnoprince
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Jan 25, 2004
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1,984
I use philodendron's in some of my tanks, they are very hardy and grow in all types of conditions, they don't require a lot of water or humidity, leave the plant in the pot and bury the pot in the substrate....

Regards, Mike
 

JMoran1097

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
Joined
May 14, 2007
Messages
924
whats ok as far as planting live plants in an enclosure? I knw it's not necessary, but i'd like to do up a couple nice display tanks. are most orchids, ferns, and other small vivarium type plants (any of the same plants you'd use in a frog tank) all pretty much ok?
they sell a bunch of mosses that are terrarium safe. i know there are more, but mosses would be the only live plants i would use in my terrariums and even then, they are a hassle to maintain. stick to fake plants. less authentic, but the T probably won't care. it's purely for decoration.
 

gagamboy

Arachnosquire
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Jun 28, 2006
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i maintain i nice carpet of moss in my H. spinifers's tank... does that count??
 
B

babylon5girl

Guest
Ive heard that grass is good in the bottom, I dont use it but my friend loves to use it
 

Stan Schultz

Arachnoprince
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Jul 16, 2004
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1,677
whats ok as far as planting live plants in an enclosure? I knw it's not necessary, but i'd like to do up a couple nice display tanks. are most orchids, ferns, and other small vivarium type plants (any of the same plants you'd use in a frog tank) all pretty much ok?
Live plants have been used in tarantula cages, often without problems. But when you do have problems with them they're usually HUGE problems and you wish to heck you'd never heard of live plants!

Here are my complaints:

1. Live plants usually mean thick substrate. Thick substrate usually means a burrowing tarantula. A burrowing tarantula usually means a pet hole but no visible tarantula. Well, at least you can admire your plants, but wasn't the original goal to admire the tarantula?

2. Live plants usually means damp substrate. Damp substrate usually means mite infestations, fungus gardens and all manner of other weird and wonderful interlopers. Are you more interested in maintaining your own, private jungle complete with predators and prey (including your tarantula) or merely keeping a pet tarantula?

3. Foliage in a tarantula's cage usually means supplying a place for crickets to hide from the tarantula, and deep, moist soil supplies a place for said crickets to breed with reckless abandon. Are you prepared for an inundation of micro-size crickets? (Your tarantula won't be happy either. The pinhead crickets will be too small for it to eat and will swarm all over it like fleas!)

Maybe you really need to examine your intentions here. Are you more interested in keeping a tarantula or keeping live plants? This is important because, generally, you keep tarantulas one way and live plants another. Orchids are kept differently than geraniums are kept differently than ferns are kept differently than cacti. And they're all kept differently than just about any tarantula. Mixing the wrong plants, or the wrong plants and tarantulas, inevitably means something's gotta die.

Having said all that, I once saw a clever arrangement where an enthusiast had used silicone aquarium sealer to install a waterproof, glass divider, top to bottom and side to side, across a particularly large aquarium. He then set up the back portion as a terrarium for plants and the front portion as a cage for the tarantula. A little clever landscaping reduced the appearance of the divider. Because it was a water tight partition he could keep the soil damp for the plants in the rear section without endangering the tarantula in the front section, and the tarantula's food crickets couldn't get lost in the foliage or lay eggs in the damp soil.

Lastly, because the divider went all the way to the top and he had fashioned a very stiff, secure cage cover, the tarantula couldn't push its way over or around the divider to get back into the plants or burrow in the soil.

In theory, this sounds like a great idea, but I've never tried it and therefore can't recommend it. Why don't you try it (taking lots of photos), write up your assessment of the results and submit it to the American Tarantula Society's Forum Magazine for publication? Then I can reference it in the 3rd edition of the GUIDE! (A little self serving, self interest here. Sorry! :) )
 
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