Safe plants for a bio active enclosure

OrangeDragon

Member
Original Poster
Beardie name(s)
Rica
I was wondering what plants are safe to put in my enclosure. I have tried some succulents but I have had really bad luck with those and they always fall apart. I heard aloe Vera was bad for them too. I was thinking some grasses or spineless cactus maybe?
 

ChileanTaco

Gray-bearded Member
Beardie name(s)
Taco
I use mostly golliwog, that's an edible leafy succulent. It's scientific name is callisia repens, so if you look for that you for sure get the right one. It grows well. This plant is even a significant part of my dragon's diet. What's nice about it is IMHO that as a live plant, it's always fresh and will not wilt like some salad that I prepare in the morning but will wilt during the day. I have multiple of those plants to switch them out once my dragon has eaten a lot of the leaves as he eats them up faster than they can grow back.
I also feed my dragon with other life plants, but I just put them in from time to time as they don't survive or grow well in the hot, high-UV environment of the enclosure. I'm using the usual kitchen herbs, planted in pots, and I put them in for a few days and then take them out (to let them continue to grow outside of the enclosure, then put them back after some time). Basil, for example.

Aloe vera might be bad if eaten in large quantities, but my dragon is not eating it at all and it for sure isn't poisonous if he might take a bite. I have two of them in the enclosure, they are planted in front of the burrows/caves of my dragon who seems to like very much that these burrows/caves are somewhat concealed - I think it's like in nature, preferring something like that as the cave is more protected from predators.

Cacti: possible, and you could cut off the spikes, this won't harm the cactus at all. I'm not using them so far as I wanted something my dragon can eat, and something that's taller to go in front of the caves.

Grasses are also possible.
 

ChileanTaco

Gray-bearded Member
Beardie name(s)
Taco
Btw.: I love naturalistic/ bioactive habitat setups very much :) Would never do something other than that except when it's really required for an animal that based on their individual health situation can't live in such an environment. But otherwise, I see tons of benefits.

Don't know if my dragon got used to this until it became a habit, but he's eating live plants, or at least plants appearing to be live plants (I sometimes bundle leaves together into a bouquet and put the base of that into a narrow bowl with water to mimic a complete live plant, when I can't get the complete plant) much better than cut-up salads.
 

ChileanTaco

Gray-bearded Member
Beardie name(s)
Taco
@OrangeDragon

Looks fine :) I'm using excavator clay plus natural desert sand (as I'm living in a desert, and I know places where it is allowed to take sand, and where the sand is clean), plus around the plants some organic soil (which I cover with excavator clay and large stones so the plants aren't dug out).
 

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