I am thinking of getting a satanic leaftail gecko. In order to make his home less stressful and easier to care for, i need live plants. he comes from norther madagascar, he doesnt need heat lamps, anything over 80 will kill him. He does need 80% humidity, spiking at 90% in order to thrive. The terarrium, is around the size of a 15gallon fish tank standing on its short side. Plants that are easy to keep small ( pruning or by very slow growth), but are easily aquired. Any suggestions would be helpful. thanks
here's a list that I found for terrariums, (you might want to check and see if any of them are poisonous though!) acorus, begonia rex (small-leaved var), calathea, cryptanthus, draceana sanderiana, ferns, ficus pumila, fittonia, ivy (small leaved)(**Be careful here, ivy is poison to cats and dogs but not sure if it is for geckos), maranta, neanthe bella, pellionia, peperomia, pilea, saxifraga sarmentosa, selaginella. Good luck
hmmmmm.... i was thinking mabey ficus benjimina ( because i can prune it), along iwht arrowhead vine, with a pathos. JI was thinking a palm but i would been one that doesnt get over a foot tall
Before you take off on this endeavor there are quite a few things you can do right and a bunch you can do wrong. Here is a link that will help you do only the right things. Light is going to be important to the health of the plants so read up on good lighting. In general, vivariums and terrariums do best if you make them larger than the 15 gallon size you mentioned. But do some reading first. There are quite a few pages of information on this website. http://www.blackjungle.com/ju01000.htm
What about trying some insect eating plants (they don't have to eat insects to live) like Venus fly trap, sundews etc. They always look good in terrariums and they don't grow too tall... Ed
Only problem with venus flytraps is that they need a winter dormancy. You can dig them up and wrap them in sphagnum moss and put them in a ziplock in your fridge though but it can be a hassel. There are some great sites out there on the web to give you more info if you're interested.
Sorry mate, I just assume everyone lives in sub tropical like me, I sometimes forget that there are mostly Northern Hemisphere posters...lol Rhynno, not into Venus fly traps, more so Nepenthes, personally... Ed
hmmmm. I was thinking of getting a dwarf palm, mabey from dypsis (because dypsis and the gecko come from madagascar). The lights arent a problem. I work in a pet store ( reptile/ fish ). exo-terra Bulbs are really good for uv lights, to simulate the suns natural glow. This gecko doesnt need a heat lamp, hes quite happy at room temp, but he needs around 80-90% humidity constantly.
But for the light, you also need to consider your plants. Since you work in a pet store, you should be familiar with "compact" lights. The bulbs are normally 65 watts so a strip with two bulbs will be adequate to keep many plants healthy if you use daylight bulbs. Palms are not going to survive under a dim light.
definelty, they put out the full colour spectrum, and uva and uvb. Tube floresent bulbs basicly. I have takin a look around and found lots of dypsis ( around a foot tall
