The latest trend (though its as old as they come) is with the fascination of live planted and Bio-active enclosures....though it isn't necessary to have both to achieve one or the other, the main question i'll always see getting asked is whether or not the plant is safe/toxic and not how to look after the plants themselves....*face palm*.
Unfortunately, along with this way of keeping comes many problems for the keeper and its purely because fundamentals to make it work are being missed or not even thought about....here lays a route for heartache, empty wallets and devilish frustration. Though knowing whether a plant is safe or not is important, it should be noted that many toxic lists are based on mammals....not reptiles, and many from ingestion...a crestie is very unlikely to go munching on your plants. There are many good crestie safe lists about, find the plants you want, research any known toxic/irritant/problems and then ask in a crestie or bio group whether you can use it if you are in any doubt...you'll no doubt see a lot of conflict in answers with some species, then it becomes a judgement call. Now thats been dealt with..... First things first! Its not the plants fault if it fails to thrive or dies, its not even the equipment's fault that can only provide the function for what it is described for..........its the keepers. Ok, ok.....thats a harsh statement and will be hard for many a person to swallow but there it is! However, i won't lose sleep over such a statement since i myself am the grim reaper of many plant species that left me wondering if greenfingers ever existed and not some daft myth made up to increase viewer numbers for gardeners world. There is but one saving grace to avoid becoming a skint (yet crafty!), reaper like moi!
Come on, probably the key to anything in life, is this one! You do it for your animals since you're here reading this....plants are NO DIFFERENT! Plants were not all created equally, therefore chucking your swag of house plants all in is simply not going to cut it....that is the first step to earning your scythe! Also....get used to using the LATIN name....plant species can have many common names, by researching and buying under the latin name you'll avoid alot of confusion in both plants and care.
Soooooooooo basics have been covered! if you've researched all that in the plants you are hoping to use then you should of also come across how/when to prune, taking cuttings/ removing pups (for cultivating new plants from the original), whether the plant can stress (sensitive) easily from being moved etc and..... How big does it grow! Not all plants will stay in a setup as it grows, even with pruning and splitting, some plants simply will get too big! if these is the case (some palm species for example) they keeping in pots may be better than planting directly...just for ease of removing. Ok........now you're probably re thinking going live aren't you? I've made it seem too complicated and lot of hard work.... Stop right there....learning another language is complicated....re doing an overgrown garden is hard work...simply treating the plants in your setup the same way you have by learning crested gecko care is easy and not something new...its just happens to not be a reptile :) You don't need many plant species, in fact you could stick to one if you wanted or combine live and fake to ensure you crestie has all the coverage s/he needs (remember kids, the crestie comes first!)...there is nothing that says that going live means turning it into the chelsea show. So don't give up, simply use google, read a few plant care guides, compare notes in a bio or plant group and go from there....once you researched it, set it up and tried it, it'll become second nature to look after it just like your crestie, the tricky bit is only in the preparing and setting up :) If you are unlucky like me then you may even have to go through a few plant species/attempts to get it right, and/or make changes to factor in plant husbandry mistakes....trial and error, but seeing a finished and successful live setup is rewarding in its own rights, it may just take some of you longer to get there than others. And there we have it......My rant/educational/jumble of a blog! If it still doesn't work out for you, then i'm the one dressed in black at morrisons with a trolley full of peace lilies...
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