Setting up bio active

[OrangeDragon]

I just put in a new background in my bearded dragons enclosure and I had to remove all of the substrate. I am getting ready to put the substrate back in and I wanted to make sure that it was fully bio active this time. There already is isopods in soil and I am going to look at plants, but what else do I need to make sure that it is completely bioctive? The substrate is a mix of top soil, play sand, peat moss, and excavator clay.

 

[KarrieRee]

I just put in a new background in my bearded dragons enclosure and I had to remove all of the substrate. I am getting ready to put the substrate back in and I wanted to make sure that it was fully bio active this time. There already is isopods in soil and I am going to look at plants, but what else do I need to make sure that it is completely bioctive? The substrate is a mix of top soil, play sand, peat moss, and excavator clay.

Referring to Cooper dragon
@CooperDragon

 

[CooperDragon]

That sounds about right to me if the isopods are established in the substrate. Some people add leaf litter on top, but that's probably not necessary. You might want to give the plants some time to establish if you're going to add them as well.

 

[OrangeDragon]

I might add leaf litter if I can find somewhere to get them. I’ve tried a succulent before but the roots never established, and I tried to have one grow in a separate pot with swapped out soil and that didn’t work either, but I might try some other plants.

 

[ChileanTaco]

@OrangeDragon
Which kind of succulent have you tried, e.g. if you know the scientific name, or maybe just a description on how it looks like, or a photo? This can help finding out why it didn't work.

I grew, and grow, a lot of succulents as a hobby (also on the balcony, as we have the right climate for that). From my experience with that, the roots often take a long time to grow, but the plant survives in the meanwhile and will get fuller and "crisper" once that's done.
Other succulent species just have small roots and that can look like there is something wrong but that's how they are.
Normally, what grows well in a dragon's enclosure are plants from desert climate zones. However, if you want to have a "nice" plant, you might have to water significantly more. They survive with little water, but can absorb a lot in a short time like they do in nature. However, with the amount they survive with also in nature, they don't look "as nice as from a garden center". To keep that look, you would have to water more.

 

[OrangeDragon]

I think it is called an echiveria, the purple one.

 

[ChileanTaco]

Thank you for the photo. It looks to me like you started propagating one from leaves/ cuttings?
Usually, this is not working well in very dry and hot conditions. Propagating from leaves or cuttings, anything that has no roots at all, I always do it outside of my dragon's enclosure, only when I can water a lot, and often just putting the leaves in a shallow dish with some water until roots form, and then plant into soil I constantly keep wet (like it would be a swamp plant). Only when the roots are rooted well into that, I start watering less until I keep them relatively dry.

What grows well in my dragon's enclosure are golliwog (callisia repens); he eats that.
Also aloe vera.

With "grow" I always mean: Not propagating it inside my dragon's tank, but an already well-established plant survives in there and gets larger unless my dragon eats it. My dragon eats golliwog.

 

[OrangeDragon]

No I actually bought it as a grown plant, repotting it in the soil didn’t work. The source might not of been good though because I think it was from Walmart.

 

[NickAVD]

My daughter, Alice, grows succulents and has been very successful at it, I will give her answer.
If you grow from a torn off petal, it needs to be healthy green and without darkening. I had about 6 petals and 4 of the healthiest ones sprouted. I did not sprinkle them with soil or put them in water - they just lay in different places. For the experiment, I placed them in slightly different places in terms of temperature, but they were always in the light. One was in a terrarium with a dragon (he made a hole in it, but did not eat it ...), a couple more on top, on the terrarium mesh and the rest by the window. There were sprouted petals in all places, so apparently they do not need too hot a temperature. I did not touch them until they put down roots about half an inch. Then I placed them in small containers with soil an inch deep and lightly sprinkled soil on the roots (do not bend the roots). I watered them rarely, but abundantly, and only when the leaf began to wrinkle. When the roots became twice as long and many new leaves appeared from the sprout, I transplanted them into a slightly deeper pot. They do not need a lot of soil depth - I noticed that the roots do not go deep. Plus, the soil in a deep pot will dry out for a long time and the roots can rot, they do not tolerate excess moisture very well. This is how my sprouts look now, the pots here are about 2-3 inches deep

 

[ChileanTaco]

@NickAVD
I agree very much, and my plants which I have propagated look like yours in the photo. (Btw.: Love to see that there are more people who enjoy growing succulents )

I watered them rarely, but abundantly, and only when the leaf began to wrinkle.

Exactly that's what I do once there are roots.
And I had also seen roots sprouting from fallen off leaves in my dragon's enclosure, despite I didn't do that intentionally.