Live plants for thicktails

[Hypo_04]

Hi all
Recently i have been pondering about live plants in lizards enclosures. I thought that lizards would obviously like live plants because of the coverage across the tank for some places just to get away from everything and it being natural for them. I am just interested to know other people's thoughts about live plants in enclosure and if it is safe for them because the plants may contain paracites and bugs, but then i guess reptiles do it well in the wild even with all of those nasties. I have an enclosure that i want redo and take everything out and have the fun of redesigning the tank. It houses a trio of thick tails and is 60x30x30 and wanting to put some live plants in it. So I am just after some recommendations of small desert plants that would be great for the thicktails that i can get from somewhere like Bunnings, and also would like to know if they are safe enough to have in there for then.
Thank you everyone and all information and discussion on this topic is greatly appreciated.

 

[Chris82]

I tried using an array of succulents in a similar sized enclosure without much success in the succulents survival. I must admit I didn't put all my efforts into the plants survival and preparation of soil though. I think what eventually killed them all off though was not enough natural sunlight! Just remember that your responsible for the geckos requirements first.

 

[Hypo_04]

I do have one of those Exo terra compact tops with uv light just because they do come out sometimes during te day, they do absorb some uv and allowing them to get more calcium from their diets. Hopefully by having some uv it will help fix the problem of the plants dieing. I am prepared to go through a bit of effort to put in some live plants in just because it is more natural for them and makes the enclosure look quiet nice. So succulents are the way i go.
Thanks chris for your quick response

 

[kitten_pheonix]

I suggest buying plants natural to there habitat not desert plants.

 

[mad_at_arms]

Hopefully by having some uv it will help fix the problem of the plants dieing. I am prepared to go through a bit of effort to put in some live plants in just because it is more natural for them and makes the enclosure look quiet nice.

UVB is of no benefit to plants and the geckos.
Thicktails are typically nocturnal and if they required exposure to UVB for purposes of synthesizing D3 they would have become extinct quite some time ago.
Plants require lighting within the spectrum of 400-450nm which can be obtained from a normal fluoro light.
The plants need to be hardy as the geckos will climb on them and have low watering requirements or else you will create problems with humidity.

 

[RedFox]

Desert plants don't generally grow well in terrariums. They require a high level of light, and really good drainage which is hard to achieve with a couple of layers of dirt. They tend to have longer roots than other plants. You could keep them potted and rotate them in and out of your viv, having 1/3 of the time in the viv and 2/3 recovering outside.

 

[Hypo_04]

Thanks everyone for the new information, so if i was to put live plants into the enclosure how would I do it and what type of plants would be the most suitable for the little guys and their enclosure? Thank you everyone again it is always great to learn new information and then be able to look after the well being of your reptiles exceptionally better.