Vivarium plants please help!

[Lake]

Can someone tell me of a kind of plant that is safe for my beardie that can survive in the needed humidity levels? I want my enclosure to look nice with some scrubby desert looking plants in it that are non toxic. Thanks!

 

[MyBilbo]

Hey, here is a pic of my set up, and before anyone kicks off about my choice of substrate (calci-sand), remember it is my choice

Bilbos Viv


Arcadia 12% tube
Arcadia controller
Habisat thermosat
Exo terra CHE bracket
Exo terra Ceramic Heater
x2 komodo digital thermometers, one at cool end / one at basking spot (hidden)
x2 timers

I also have but very rarely use a night light, I use it mainly for late night early morning viewings and check ups rather than turning on the main room or blinding the poor guy with my torch (used to check temps if I wake up in the night).

Im using fake plants picked up from my local pet chain, everything else I buy is from a family run animal supplier dealing with all animals, from frogs to horses and when I got the set up I also got some silk vines, I soon took these out as there where a pain in the a**, but using a bit of sticky stuff, scalpel and imagine I have used the leaves to disguise the cool end thermometer and probe to make it look like a spruce braking through the rocks, only thing missing in here is a background for back and right side, I did have a climbing wall on the other side too but, I could not secure it like I did the other and so I removed it. The hide is a new addition from the 25-12, was a present from my in laws, I like it, although it does produce a lot of shade from the tube light so not all good, ill be setting a new tub to the roof of the tank to make sure there is full coverage of UVB

As for live plants, im no expert to be honest but, any live plant from the same origin as a beardie is surly not going to raise the humidity that much? cacti and such like done need watering to much so I cant see it being a problem? I think the key is not to over water, and at Viv temps it wont take long for water to evaporate and along as your Viv is well ventilated I cant see it being a problem, as for what plants id check out to see what actually grows in Australia and is native to the country

Sorry for the essay

 

[Lake]

THANK YOU! This helped me so much!

 

[Taterbug]

Try looking at the http://m.thetortoisetable.org.uk/m/plants_19.asp
It's a pretty good database that will give you an idea of edibility. I imagine the export laws make it difficult to find native Australian plants to use. Hens and chickens, many sedums and other succulents are arid plants. Not all are edible but a surprising number are, they should do well in the environment. I've gotten hawartha to grow well in my snake enclosure, I'll be getting some for the dragon when I see it again.

Bilbo, shade isnt a bad thing if you have got a good UV it's absolutely needed. If you want to up the uvb look into the T5 lighting. It is much stronger and has more reach so you can safely provide higher UV levels and offer shade too. I quite like your setup, though I'm curious with all the rest you've provided why you chose calci-sand?

 

[MyBilbo]

so if I was to add another tube this wouldn't be a problem? I will be looking in to getting a larger tank in 6-8 months time around 5.5ft x 2ft x 2ft at the moment he is in a 4ft x 1.5 x 1.5

Yeah about the substrate choice, they where going to sell me wood chip!! so I decided to go with the calic sand, I have heard this and that I would say I have read enough to know the dangers, BUT me being me decided to have a little experiment with this brand of calci sand, that I have been told is highly recommended, as it dissolves, yeah don't they all say that, but this one does actually dissolve in a period or no less than 10 mins the gains are half the size!

This is based on a few gains in a tiny amount of coke, I was looking to find out the exact pH levels of the bearded dragon digestive system so I can obtain proper results, hell if it dissolves in coke they sure gunna dissolve in a stomach. The texture of this substrate is bitty, not like fine sand and does not clump as much as sand does.

 

[AHBD]

As far as live plants, I've found that beardies, especially once they are larger, enjoy tromping, thrashing and digging them up and tossing them around with great pleasure. Fake plants are O.K., but some beardies will eat them. There several posts just on this forum about that, so just be aware that can happen.

 

[Taterbug]

so if I was to add another tube this wouldn't be a problem? I will be looking in to getting a larger tank in 6-8 months time around 5.5ft x 2ft x 2ft at the moment he is in a 4ft x 1.5 x 1.5

I am assuming you have the T8 12% bulb. If you already have a T5 you should be OK. These bulbs are bright enough that a lamp 1/2 to 1/3 the cage can give wild levels of UVI (3-4x that of T8 bulbs), and even then shade on the warm side is good to offer.
What I did was use out the T8 UVB that I had, then upgraded to the T5 UVB and just had a 'daylight' bulb in the old fixture. It bumped up the light levels and didn't waste the fixture.

Reptile gastric acid is around pH 1-3. I can't say from personal experience the cali-sand is bad - there are just more things I don't know about it (long term effects, self-supplementing, etc) and I don't trust the companies selling it that makes me uncomfortable.

 

[MyBilbo]

I can't say from personal experience the cali-sand is bad - there are just more things I don't know about it (long term effects, self-supplementing, etc) and I don't trust the companies selling it that makes me uncomfortable.

This is something that is in my mind, what happens when it does dissolve? what man made substances are in it to make the colours? The end result of my experiment was that the grain is about 1/5 the size, very small and it does not stick or clump at all afterwards. I hope it pays off in the end, I will be looking to change the flooring at some point maybe when I get the new tank so thank he has 1/3 calci sand 2/3 rock but not in sections I might get some small slabs and dot then about, along with the back ground and other bits I got in mind should look pretty mint! im excited about doing it, but im waiting for him to grow a bit more yet.

Cheers for the info on the bulbs to, I was scratching my head a bit about length of tube for a 5.5 viv but if you say the T5 1/3 or 1/2 is ample that is great news, never seen 5ft tube so good job

what would you thing to having 2 tubes one T8 for morning and dusk and a T5 for mid-day? ideally I would like to some how create sunrise and sunset rather than BAM lights on is this possible?

 

[Taterbug]

Not sure about yours but some are straight up calcium carbonate, it dissolves as it reacts with the acid. The dies, yeah I don't know but some brands stain really bad.

Arcadia makes great bulbs and also some nice fixtures (I'm jealous). There are fancy controllers you can buy to do climate control, even dawn/dusk simulation.

Sorry Lake, we got a little off topic. Let us know how it goes with the live plants

 

[MyBilbo]

indeed apologise

that's just what I want a controller than simulates dusk/dawn I found a habisat controller but it does not bring the lights on and off gradually, I did read some where about a controller than turns lights on and off over one hour period so to give a sun rise sun set feel but there was no more information about brand or where I can find this magically piece of equipment.

Also after some careful consideration and looking around the web finding other opinions and information about Australian terrain I am deffo going to get some slabs so Bilbo will have a mix of solid and loose substrate like he would have in the wild, this will also decrease the chance of him eating it when eating his crickets, pretty excited about it actually, I really want the best for him and money is not an issue when it comes to him, I expect he will have one of the best private set ups in my local area when im done maybe even the county lol

 

[AcceptableGeek]

Bilbo. You could try putting the uv and basking lights on diff timers. Have basking come on first, then maybe an hour later have uv on. At night basking will go off first then uv an hour later. That might work. That way it's not all lights on then all lights off

 

[MyBilbo]

That wouldn't work for me as I have a ceramic heater, I'm going to up grade my tube to a stronger one as im currently using a Arcadia T8, its not very bright, so I purpose to have that one come on, then later on have the new T5 come on so this would probably work for me. Check out my new Viv arrangement in the other thread, let me know what you guys think?