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Live Plants ok for use?

R

rollincoal420

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Can someone help shed some light on which plants are toxic towards snakes for use in a habitate and wich are safe? I am looking at possible putting a bonsai or other small plant in each of my Jungles tanks, and something in with my large Ball for him to get to the second level of his home. I want live dont really care for the fake plants
 
Are those safe or toxic? I'm more concerned with my baby Jungles than my Ball mainly due to his size but if I can find one that will hold him, all the better
 
The sap (white milky stuff when you break off a leaf or branch) from ficus trees is an irritant for mammals. I don't know about herps though.

What about a totem pothos ?
 
Ficus sap can be an irritant if it gets in the eyes, but chameleons are routinely kept on it--their eyes are very delicate. Few problems arise, and the omnivorous species eat the leaves without ill effect.
Snakes, having eyes covered by a clear scale, won't have any trouble with it at all. Sanseveria and pothos are nontoxic. Ficus can be pruned and trained to stay smaller.

A bonsai is simply any tree that has been specially tended and pruned to dwarf it. Bonsai trees are naturally fairly expensive, because of this. Most bonsai trees are too small to provide much of a perch for any but a tiny snake. Larger ones that have heavy branches are usually older, and you can't afford an old one (trust me, lol). The suitability would depend on the species of tree.

There's a reason most people use solid driftwood and branches for perches. Snakes are heavy animals for their size. You can train the pothos to grow along the wood branches, though.
 
right now the bonsai's would be for baby jungle carpets. My dad is big into bonsai's which is what gave me the idea. I know they are expensive but rumor has it there is some cheap ones at a flea market around here. If I can get to Florida, I know my dad will have one of a decent size when and if the time comes for a larger one. I have some drift wood right now in there tanks but I would like to go with a more natural look which is y I posted this thread.

What are some species of plants that are typically used for bonsai or just in general that I should be sure to stay away from?
 
I think the general rule that if it has a milky sap (when you break a twig or leaf off) it is probably an irritant is a good starting place for plants to avoid, but that does not mean all plants without milky sap are OK.

They aren't so good for large snakes as the branches are a bit thin, but Hibiscus plants seem to be OK for most reptiles.
 
Donna understood my thought fragment, lol.

I mentioned the totem pothos because you can use driftwood and branches to make a tree and the vine will be it's leaves. It's good because breaking it just makes it grow denser instead of killing it & the broken bits can be started into new plants themselves. They're much more abuse tolerant than a real tree is. I plan to use them for my Candoias as soon as they finish quarantine.
 
Well thats very interesting! I didnt know they wr vines. They still need to be planted in soil right? They dont root into the drift wood.


Is Bamboo another say plant?
 
They can be rooted permanently in water as well. They can't be rooted to the drift wood though they might throw some roots in the cracks for anchoring. The totem ones are a much thicker variety then the ones you see in the hanging pots.

I imagine bamboo would be fine, though it will get pretty tore up. It couldn't even handle the tokays I had.
 
Are the main vines of the totem's somewhat thick? Like if they hang down or bridge a gap, would they support a small snake as they use it to climb down or up or across a gap?
 
Lol, no they're not that strong, unless it's a neo carpet. You could get some of the exoterra cham vines, use those to bridge the gap and wrap the pothos around those.

The biggest problem with setting up a live viv is that the plants get wrecked so fast. In the wild a snake crawls over the same plant how often? In a cage they're crawling over the same plant day in & out. Plus in the wild plants get a lot bigger and sturdier than most of us can reasonably keep in our homes.

Also don't forget you're going to have to completely change the soil in any plant you buy because of all the chemical fertilizers and pesticides used.
 
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