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Keeping plants alive in a crestie viv

612 views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  SilverSteno 
#1 ·
I have a naturalistic setup in an ExoTerra 45x45x60cm with plants planted directly into the substrate (EcoEarth) - my problem is keeping the plants alive!

I have gone through the list of safe plants and tried Ficus (died very quickly), Kalenkoe (died pretty quickly) Impatiens (died very quickly), Bromeliad (lasted reasonably), bamboo (lasted reasonably) and a plant I know as Mother-in-Laws-tongue (lasted reasonably) but none of them have flourished.

I have about 2 inches of gavel in the base for drainage then 4-5 inches of Eco-Earth, the viv gets sprayed daily but I don't directly water the plants very often except for putting water into the Bromeliad for the Cresties to drink, they have a 2.0 UVB compact on during the day.

I am trying to give the cresties cover to hide in and also things that they can climb, so reasonable sturdy - I've got one plastic plant covering one side of the viv and a couple of branches for climbing. I can get more plastic plants and some jungle vines to twist around if necessary but I'd like to keep it natural if I can. I don't mind replacing the plants occasionally but am I doing something drastically wrong? I am intending to seperate my 2 cresties soon so I will have one setup that I can start from scratch at least.

Oh - and I have woodlice in there to help with the viv cleaning but the plants were dying prior to that so I don't think I can entirely blame them!
 
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#3 ·
I water mine regularly too and have the same plants I put in nearly a year ago bar the ficus.
 
#4 ·
It is really hard to say what killed them - it could be something to do with lighting, substrate, temperature, too much/too little water, too much/little nutrients, lack of humidity, poor airflow... If you are looking for more plants though try asking Justairplants, she has provided me with excellent advice so far on getting plants for my geckos (which I haven't got round to even ordering yet) but she may be able suggest what types of bromeliads are best for your set-up and I know some people on here have ordered plants from her which are thriving.
 
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