Live Plants ?

[FJM]

Hi,

Just wondering if anyone has tried live (edible) plants in their setups? I'm renovating mine this weekend and was thinking of putting in a small planter with nasturtiums. Not so much for decoration, i do expect that she'll eat at it. Is this a useless idea? Do they tend to tear live plants apart like snails in an aquarium?

Thanks!

 

[LJean]

I've thought about doing that, but plants require water. It could make the humidity too high in the enclosure. High humidity can lead to respiratory problems.

 

[Tigg]

Yeah I wanted to do the same thing... Thought a Hibiscus would look great inside plus be edible, but the increased humidity scared me. There is ways of waters your plants inside the viv without raising the humidity levels but I didn't think they were worth it. I just grow the Hibuscus plant on it's own now, and pluck the off of it as a treat for my BD

 

[FJM]

Oh yeah, i wasn't thinking about the watering/humidity part :roll:

thanks for your responses!

 

[fresnowitte]

Not only is the humidity a problem, but you will find a lot of the time that these live plants will have mites.

 

[LJean]

Reason #2 then not to have live plants. I dont want to deal with mites.
A shame that all the fun stuff to make the viv more natural looking isn't always what is best.

 

[Tigg]

What about bromelaids? I have heard of lots of people making these work in the cool end, and they survive on very very little water, this would be the solution to the humidity with a very nice plant (although not native to arid areas) but I don't know if they carry mites as well, or is this just all live plants in general?