Plants in the tegu enclosure

[cornking4]

I want to add a semi-large plant to the back left corner of my tegu's enclosure (it's the only part of the cage that's not occupied by a water pool, hide, or basking area) but I'm not quite sure what. At first I was thinking a cactus (I want it to follow the tan/dark brown/grassland color scheme I have going) but then I remembered that the high humidity would be too much for it. Any ideas on a nontoxic grass, bush, or anything like that that would be suitable? I'll attach a pot to the bottom of the enclosure and add about 6" of substrate around it so I don't need to worry about him digging it up.

 

[TEGU_JAKE]

i want some plants in my cage as well im gonna do ferns and maybe pumpa grass

 

[cornking4]

That may work, but like I said I'm trying to avoid leafy greens because of the color contrast. Any other ideas?

 

[RamblinRose]

Would like to see the inside of your cage.

 

[cornking4]

:doh Sorry, I should have posted those earlier. Here it is:

I want to put it where the dish was (it's gone now; he eats of the enclosure) in the back left corner. The enclosure's 6'x3'x3' but I'm building a 6'x4' pen out the front.

 

[isdrake]

How about a small Yucca tree?

I would also recommend putting other stuff in and at least one more hide. It looks kind of empty.

 

[cornking4]

I know it looks kinda empty... like I said I'm working on a pen with a bigger water pool and another basking spot. A yucca may work; are they smaller than three feet though? An do you have any other ideas on things I could add?

 

[isdrake]

Yes you can get smaller than 3 feet.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://rubusarcticus.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/yuccapalm.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://rubusarcticus.files.wordpress.co ... capalm.jpg</a><!-- m -->

Pieces of large bark should make the enclosure more interesting both for the Tegu and for the eye. My tegu loves them. Works good as hides too.

 

[cornking4]

Hey thanks I like the look of that! I've been looking around online quite a bit and haven't found much... I'd love to plant the cage with things like that. They just have to be able to stand high temperatures and humidity haha.

 

[cornking4]

Hey, what about a color guard yucca filamentosa?

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.finegardening.com/plantguide/yucca-filamentosa-color-guard-adams-needle.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.finegardening.com/plantguide ... eedle.aspx</a><!-- m -->

 

[isdrake]

I think all Yuccas will be fine. I have done some research and found a few plants that I think will work. None of these are toxic. I will probably get a few of them for our new enclosure. Already got a few Yuccas and a Ardisia crenata.



Acacia
Albizia
Ardisia crenata
Asparagus falcatus
Bougainvillea spectabillis
Brachychiton rupestris
Chamaedorea elegans
Cissus
Citrus-arter
Corynocarpus laevigatus
Dizygotheca
Dracaena
Ficus
Monstera
Pachira macrocarpa
Philodendron
Polyscias
Schefflera arboricola
Stephanotis floribunda
Yucca
Zamia pumila

 

[rmzsuzuki89]

I think I may do a couple yuccas in my enclosure when I build it as well. Thanks for the idea.

 

[cornking4]

Thanks for the ideas, isdrake. I've got it narrowed down to a yucca filamentosa in the back corner of the cage along with a short, large area plant like living rock, ornamental grass in the back corner of the pen, and dwarf schefflera along the pen walls. I've almost got the walls erected so I'll post pics when I'm ready to put in the plants

 

[mis jaksin]

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.sniksnak.com/plants.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.sniksnak.com/plants.html</a><!-- m -->

 

[cornking4]

I've been reading around and I've found quite a few websites that say schefflera causes mouth and stomach irritation, while it's listed as benign on mis jaksin's list. Any ideas on this?

 

[latshki]

If you want that grassland look just throw in a bunch of wheat or barley seed, it is a thick blade and quite cheap, I did it with one of my tanks and it looked awesome, then it died because i never watered it but none the less it looked cool, even dead