# leopard gecko tank plants?



## Juicebox

hello

my friend ran out of space and gave me a 20 gal long aquarium with screen lid, a heat mat, a light fixture with a red bulb,a hide and a fake plant..

i cleaned it all out nice,scrubbed it down,put a play sand substrate in that i had bought for my fish tanks and i got a water dish for them..

i dont like the fake plant,id really love to make the tank look nice with a couple of real living plants in it, but ive no experience with plants, ive no idea if any are harmfull to the geckos or to the crickets the geckos eat...

ive no idea what ones wont outgrow the 20 gal long tank or what ones are easy to take care of,ive no idea if i keep them in a plant pot or take them out and plant in substrate. what do i feed the plants,how often will i feed and water? will the plants effect the humidity and make it too humid for the geckos....!!!!!

anyone have any suggestions please,i really hate the look of fake plants and want to make a nice realistic tank


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## BettaGIRL5

I had leopard geckos once, they were really awesome. Get some nice sand (fish tank sand works as well) and some succulents or cacti. That is what i did and they loved to climb on the plants and never got sick if they ate them. I just had them growing in the ground and they didnt outgrow the tank. I suggest some succulents such as
hens and chicks succulent(this grows fast but grows on the ground, like ivy, it also changes color) 
john creech(stays small, very cute)
E.T. Fingers(very cool looking)
Sedum Rubrotinctum Succulent(one of my favorites)
Echeveria Green Gem succulent(looks like a green flower)
and Kalanchoe daigremontiana(this procreates so fast, it is insane)
I had multiples of each in my tank and never had any problems. Leopard geckos also like to hide under rocks and in caves =)


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## Chevko

Thing to keep in mind with sand is impaction. Make sure you feed them with tongs or by hand!

Hens and chicks are an awesome plant to go with as it'll start having, well, chicks. Otherwise pups as I call them that one of my mammillaria produces often enough. I wouldn't give the plants any food except on rare occasion because typically it's fertilizer and I don't think that having the gecko breathing the same air is good (or I'm just being paranoid). If you do feed it fertilizer or something, I would go with a straw method - when you put it in the dirt, stick a straw in at teh same time so it can go directly to the roots and you don't leave water where the gecko could drink it.

If you were closer, I'd totally give you one of my mammilaria pups, lol. Soft spines and utterly forgiving when it comes to lack of water.


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## Juicebox

thanks for the replies guys..

how do i plant this hen and chick plant,when i buy it does it come in a little pot and i just put the pot in my tank and leave it alone? or do i take it out and plant it in some substrate? 

would i get the plants at walmart or target or some place like that?


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## BettaGIRL5

I always took it out of the pot and put it in the sand. Otherwise, if it gets too many roots, it can become rootbound in the pot


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## BettaGIRL5

Lowe's has a great selection of many small succulents


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## Chevko

Juicebox said:


> thanks for the replies guys..
> 
> how do i plant this hen and chick plant,when i buy it does it come in a little pot and i just put the pot in my tank and leave it alone? or do i take it out and plant it in some substrate?
> 
> would i get the plants at walmart or target or some place like that?





BettaGIRL5 said:


> Lowe's has a great selection of many small succulents


You can get them from WalMart, Lowe's or Home Depot depending on if they're in season. Summer time Home Depot has all sorts of cacti and succulents that you can pick up, so you might have to wait for that time to come around. It will come in a pot, potentially mangled and overgrown for that size, but you can definitely revive it by putting it in it's own little pot for a bit then putting it in the tank with your leo. You can do the quote/unquote "lazy" route which is just as fine by leaving it in the pot there in the tank which allows you more maintenance capabilities with it in case it's starting to look sick or otherwise withering badly. Plus it makes it easier to, if you so wish to, apply fertilizer to it without the leo drinking droplets.


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## eatmice2010

Many people suggested sand up here, but just watch out for you geckos in the sand, If they eat a lot of the sand it can cause them so get sand impacted witch can kill them. You wouldnt think of it but, Ive seen it happen a lot with my friends that don't listen when i warn them. If you pick desert like plant make sure they do not have spike (like cactus's with spikes) it runs the risk of them injuring them selves. When they shed they like to rub on rocks and ant thing they think will help, which ends up them rubbing on the cactus (if you get one) and they can stab them selves or even lose an eye, So i would just stick with soft succulents ( like lamb tail, alien fingers, zebra cactus, stapelia, gasteria, echeveria, graptopalum types, and huernia). Just get a small Terra-cotta pot, fill it with what ever substrate you use and then plant the in it, then bury it in the sand, I would cover the substrate with some of the tanks sand so he doesnt eat any of the substrate and it makes it match the tank.,


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## Chevko

Let's not forget that some cacti are succulents as well - I believe mine is a type of mammillaria sphacelata where the spines are soft and it is a succulent as well. It tends to grow only as big as it is given water, though it does need to be watered regularly once every couple weeks so that it doesn't shrink in size. I feel it would be a decent cactus to be in an enclosure with a leo because the spines, if and when they break off don't stick in my fingertips. The only thing to keep in mind is the root system - very shallow.

If you do want to do cacti in the habitat be sure to get as much info about it before it goes in - some are poisonous as well, though those are usually the spineless varieties that I've noticed (or their spines are very small and only in very specific locations such as astrophytum and euphorbia obesa). When it comes to live cacti and succulents in with pets, do the same as getting a brand new type of pet - research. *Nodnod*


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## Juicebox

went to walmart couldnt find any of the plants u guys listed,ill try home depot next time,no lowes near me.. ill also try a couple of florists..

are most succulents ok to use??

i think ill go the route of leaving the plant inside the pot when i get one and ill build up around the pot with sand and rocks so it hides most the pot..

should be pot have holes in the bottom for drainage or no?

also how often do i water the succulents and do i need to use a fertiliser?i think ill use water from my aquariums to water the plants


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## Chevko

I would assume most are just fine to use, just be careful of how big they are as the obvious point. Don't get something that'll take up a huge amount of space, though something leafy shouldn't hurt. Keep in mind that it's still winter/spring time so they might not have any at all, you might have to wait for summer to roll around before you'll find anything.

Depending on how often you're going to water the plant, definitely holes in the bottom. When it comes to watering them, it depends on how big they are, but I'm sure you'll be fine with a little bit of water every few weeks. I've got a Jade plant that I water only about that often, and my mammillaria even less and they're both succulent-type plants. Thing to keep in mind is that when you go to water them, their roots don't want to stay constantly wet, that can cause root rot and kill the plant pretty quickly. With the pot being planted, it can cause root rot to happen quicker. For fertilizer, you don't have to. You can use it sparingly to speed up growth, but it's not required. I've got a fern I give Miracle Gro to every now and again and it goes through mild growth spurts from time to time even a month after I last gave it that blue water.

When you get your plants let us know  I'd love to see what you're getting!


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## eatmice2010

Leopard geckos are not omnivores so they wont eat the plants, so you dont have to worry if there toxic or not really. Just like i said before just stay away from sharp prickly succulents. And for watering them, i usually berry a dish under the pot in the sand, so it catches the water. I usually water my succulent when the plants start to shrivel a little, soils dry, and if the plant looks thirsty


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## Chevko

*@eatmice2010*
There are some that might seep though. I think that _obesa_ has a poisonous sap. So if it gets cut or something and the leo is curious... I remember that there was some cactus at least looked like the _obesa_ I wanted that was listed as poisonous.


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## eatmice2010

I wouldnt use it, not because of its sap, because im careful when i handle succulents, I wouldnt use it because it produces babes from the top of the plant and when they brake off it runs the risk of the leo eating one.


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## Chevko

Obesa doesn't. My mammiliaria does but that's only with the right conditions. Obesa propagates via seed, not pups. Keep the flowers off and you're golden. Or let it flower and promptly snip them. Thing with all succulent-type cacti, they'll pup. Or at least a majority of them in my experience.


*@Juicebox*
Just remembered one that would probably do amazing that I didn't see mentioned prior: a Jade plant. Crassula ovata seems to be it's scientific name. They're super easy to grow, just make sure it's not starting to wither - if it is, it needs more water than it's currently given. Keep in mind they can be speedy growers.


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## eatmice2010

Oh sorry when i said babies i meant as in seed pods.


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