Live plants?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 5:20 am

Anyone else have live plants in their crabitat? I've got oat grass growing in one corner of mine, with a grow light in that corner. My crabs seem to like crawling on and among it, but I haven't seen any signs of anyone eating any of it. I'd have thought they would. Also, since they do seem to enjoy having live plants in their environment, anyone got any ideas about something I can replace the oat grass with, since it doesn't really live very long? I'm very hesitant to use any sort of houseplant, since some of them can be poisonous, but what about maybe some pothos ivy? I know my cats have chewed on the leaves of that stuff with no ill effects (I was horrified when I found the chewed plant, moved it out of reach and watched them close, but no one got sick so I let them have occasional access to it, since I couldn't grow them any grass at the time. Nobody ever got sick from it, and the pothos grew fast enough to recover from the maulings.).I use eco earth as my substrate, my crabs seem to prefer digging in that over sand. I'm building a second story that will have dry play sand tho, and I'll move their food dishes to that when it's ready. My oat grass is planted directly into the eco earth, and that's sort of what I'd like to do with whatever other sort of plant goes in there.

Jedediah · Post by **Jedediah** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 8:16 am

Bromeliads and Spider Plant can be used. Bromeliads are sturdy enough to last a quite long time, Spider Plat is fragile but if you keep the main plant outside the tank and use the scions, that won't be a problem. Basil is a nice snack, as well as grass grown from birds seeds or the grains in hamster/mice/gerbil food.I did some research on the plants mentioned here a while ago:http://www.blackjungle.com/Merchant2/me ... y_Code=P1- bromeliads are okay- aroids almost always contain oxalic acid that prevent or at least interferes with the absorption of calcium, so I wouldn't use them- fernes are just too numerous to say anything about them in general. They are beautiful for rainforest terrariums, but I think the crabs would destroy them very quickly.- Selaginella is okay, but fragile - maybe it could be planted higher up, where the crabs don't walk over it so often- begonies have oxalic acid, too- orchids aren't poisonous, but fragile. I have some in my poison arrow frog terrarium and they are just beautiful. - calatheas are okay and since they have tough leaves, should be okay for the crabs to climb- gesneriads seem to be mostly harmless, but I'd check the exact species before buying it - there might be a harmful species after all- ant plants: I couldn't find anything on them- peperomias are mildly toxic because they contain alcaloids. Rodents will die if they ingest a huge amount, so I guess I wouldn't risk it.- carnivorous plants are beautiful, but far to fragile for a crabitat- I'm not sure about the cacti and the aquatic plants, but I'd say the cacti are too fragile and for the aquatic plants it would be better to do research on the exact species.About the oxalic acids: many plants contain them (for example parsley and carrots) and it's okay to feed those plants as part of a varied diet. But I wouldn't put a plant containing huge amounts of oxalic acids in the crabitat for the crabs to eat all the time.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 1:38 pm

I used to have bamboo in my tank. It was in a seperate container that I filled with fresh water. The one I had had the bamboo shoots forming a triangle ladder type thing. Even though I never saw it myself when it was removed (space issues) I could see they had nibbled on it. The bamboo is also sturdy enough to climb. I don't think bamboo is toxic, my hermies didn't have any ill effects from it. you could probably form a structure, or buy a pre-made one and bury it in the eco earth instead of the pebbles and water that it comes in. (I like bamboo )

Jedediah · Post by **Jedediah** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 8:26 pm

Bamboo and Lucky Bamboo are good plants. Lucky Bamboo is not bamboo at all but a species of Dracaena, like these:http://www.heimwerker.de/service/garten ... enbaum.jpg

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 4:17 pm

What about "Air Plants"? I found these at Shell Horizons: http://www.shellhorizons.com/products.asp?category=19 I have seen these many places; at our local Wal-Mart etc. I even found some on eBay. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 900&rd=112 Baby Florida Air Plants

Jedediah · Post by **Jedediah** » Wed Mar 09, 2005 5:41 pm

Try the air plants. I have no luck with them, but I know many people have them in their crabitat. There are air plants that have a sort of white fur, those are desert plants.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 1:35 am

I think I'm going to pass on the air plants, they don't do well for me either, and I've tried with several species of Tillandsia and even when I keep them under ideal conditions they die in like 2-3 weeks. Plus, they would need to be mounted to something, and I don't have any wood in my tank, it molds too quickly. Even cork develops mold in my tank, and I keep it clean. So no wood in the tank, the hidey log and climbing tree are both cast resin and the crabs don't mind.And, to add to your library, if you don't already know this Jedediah, there are really *two* reasons to mount air plants to wood. One is, of course, aesthetic. It's pretty. The other is purely practical. In the wild. air plants take root in nooks and crannies in trees that trap rain runoff and debris. It's how they get their nourishment. Some species are also parasites on the tree they inhabit (spanish moss is an example) breaking down and absorbing nutrients directly from the tree they're rooted on. So air plants mounted in shell or other non-wood bases must be fertilized, preferably with a liquid fertilizer. Regular potted plant types I can fertilize with an organic solid fertilizer (what part of that the crabs don't do for me, that is) that will be safe in the crabitat.