Live Plants in a Dragon Setup?

[TheRamiRocketMan]

I'm almost through completing my scratch-built wooden tank for my adult bearded dragon. I'm trying lots of new things with this setup and I'm wondering about adding live-edible plants. I originally held her in sand substrate but I moved to paper towel after it got a bit dusty inside. The paper towel looks terrible though and my dragon isn't able to dig which she used to do every night.

So...I'm thinking about a soil substrate, one which she can dig in freely, and I think it would be nice to add some plants that will improve the appearance of the tank and give her something to do if she's hungry or bored. Has anyone else done this? What plants would be good to add that grow well in terrariums and are safe for beardies to eat? Are there humidity concerns?

I consider the risk of impaction low as I kept my dragon on playsand for years with no trouble, and now she eats all her live food outside her terrarium so it's just plants which she can pick from freely.

 

[VenusAndSaturn]

Theres quite a lot of risks with particle substrates other than impaction, there's fungal infections, eye infections, prolapses, joint issues, and a few others. It's just not entirely good for them to be on particle substrates. After all most beardies, especially in the US have terrible genetics and aren't as strong as ones in their home land.

If you go for a particle substrate or bioactive, which would be beneficial to the plants at least I recommend no smaller than a 6x2x2 enclosure. This way you can have your appealing side of dirt and plants, and offer a dig area if your beardie wants it, but you can also offer a more natural area of a clay and rock mixture with little to no dirt on it.
You cant use a 4x2x2 enclosure or less for this as it would not give your beardie enough space to move away from the damp bacteria filled substrate.
In the wild they have plenty of options, however in captivity on particle substrates they have very small options to get away from this stuff so it's your job to keep them healthy and happy.

I'm not entirely sure what plants you could put in there, but the biodude has a variety of succulents, one being prickly pear which they can eat. I'm sure you could also add some collard greens, turnip greens, etc, etc in there as well but it may increase the humidity way too much.

I personally like his terra sahara substrate for my leopard gecko, it seems to have a bit of sand in it which helps to hold burrows quite well. Delilah (my leopard gecko) Isn't much of a digger but I can see this working for arid desert burrowing species.

 

[kingofnobbys]

I wouldn't , the dragon will likely dig the plants up rather than nibbling on the leaves/flowers and as already pointed : there will be serious impaction risks and it will be impossible to keep the viv clean and to control germs.

 

[CooperDragon]

Yeah to do that properly you need a fair bit of vertical space so you can create proper drainage layers for a good bioactive substrate. It's a good option but takes quite a bit of research and effort to get it working properly. Even once that's set up, live plants are likely to get trampled and ripped up pretty quickly. If you do go with live plants, I'd stick with things like hardy tall grasses and similar things. The first step is to get a proper bioactive setup running though.

 

[TheRamiRocketMan]

Ok, so I’m hearing plants are generally not a good idea as they could harbour bacteria and will probably just get trampled anyway. Would fake plants be an option? I’m just worried my dragon might try to eat them.

I live in Australia so my beardie’s genetics are probably stronger but I hear your point. Could I go with a sand/soil substrate to satisfy my beardie’s digging needs? I built a sandbox aswell (1ft x 2ft) that can go in the enclosure.

 

[CooperDragon]

Sometimes fake plants work but they may try to eat them as you mentioned. I'd treat that on a case by case basis and try to get ones that are as sturdy as possible.

For digging you could build a separate dig box out of play sand and topsoil. I'd keep this separate from your main tank though unless you go with a bioactive setup which will self clean to an extent. I think these are a good option but as I said they take space and a little more effort. I have a solid tile substrate (easy to clean/sanitize) and use small fleece blankets (and sometimes a pile of fleece scraps) which works well as relief from the hard surface and allows digging/burrowing without risk of nails getting caught up. Easy to clean as well. You can just toss the fleece in the washer when it gets dirty.

 

[TheRamiRocketMan]

I'd keep this separate from your main tank though unless you go with a bioactive setup which will self clean to an extent.

Why might I want to keep a soil/sand box separate from my tank? Its just that my girl likes to dig herself a sleeping spot before going to sleep. Could I use soil/sand as my whole tank substrate without going for a bio-active setup?

 

[CooperDragon]

You could try it but I think you'd wind up with a messy tank and risk bacteria buildup which could cause it to smell bad and possibly become harmful. My guy likes to dig and burrow to sleep too and loves his fleece blankets.