Indoor enclosure and live plants

KSeaman

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Joined
Jul 9, 2018
Messages
39
Location (City and/or State)
Washington
Does anyone have any experience with an indoor set up with live plants and a "grow" light? I will be moving my Russians indoors soon and THEY ARE NO GOING TO LIKE IT. They have spent all summer outdoors agian with several varieties of greens and flowers. Usually when I move them indoors I put in some potted plants but the plants always just end up dying. This year I thought I might try actually planting them in the enclosure and adding a plant grow light.

Who out there has tried this? Does it work and do you have any suggestion regarding which lights to use?

I forgot to ask, is it safe to assume the grow lights will not harm the tortoises?

Thanks in advance.,
 

Mrs.Jennifer

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Jul 22, 2020
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673
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Norwich CT
I, too, have a Russian who is 14 years old. I pot plants in clay pots and "plant" them in his indoor abode by burying the pots in the substrate. I have several pots of plants so I can rotate them if they get chewed down or if they look like they could use a little TLC out of the table for a few weeks. It has worked quite well and there's no need for a plant light, just the appropriate amount of sun exposure like a houseplant.
 

nicoleann2214

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Mar 11, 2020
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917
Location (City and/or State)
NY
Does anyone have any experience with an indoor set up with live plants and a "grow" light? I will be moving my Russians indoors soon and THEY ARE NO GOING TO LIKE IT. They have spent all summer outdoors agian with several varieties of greens and flowers. Usually when I move them indoors I put in some potted plants but the plants always just end up dying. This year I thought I might try actually planting them in the enclosure and adding a plant grow light.

Who out there has tried this? Does it work and do you have any suggestion regarding which lights to use?

I forgot to ask, is it safe to assume the grow lights will not harm the tortoises?

Thanks in advance.,
Mine do well with no grow light I stick them near the UV light and they do great.
 

Agathaade

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May 25, 2020
Messages
123
Location (City and/or State)
Los Angeles
I have a grow light in mine. LED, with a white output, not pink or yellow. From phillips I believe. It has definitely boosted my plants, they were not doing great before I put it in.

I keep my plants in tall thin pots. The soil I used has perlite in it, so I bury them all the way down into the substrate, and they stick out tall enough for my tortoise not to have access to the soil. I just let the leaves trail down for her to hide and explore.
I have 2 pothos and a spider plant.
 

ZEROPILOT

REDFOOT WRANGLER
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Pathos and spider plants seem to grow with very poor lighting.
On the other hand, I had Home Depot $30 LED plant lights grow SHEFLERA plants in my Chameleons cages.
The issue might not come down to lighting. For me, it's always been trampling that kills them
 

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enchilada

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May 3, 2014
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Location (City and/or State)
Newport Beach CA
Does anyone have any experience with an indoor set up with live plants and a "grow" light? I will be moving my Russians indoors soon and THEY ARE NO GOING TO LIKE IT. They have spent all summer outdoors agian with several varieties of greens and flowers. Usually when I move them indoors I put in some potted plants but the plants always just end up dying. This year I thought I might try actually planting them in the enclosure and adding a plant grow light.

Who out there has tried this? Does it work and do you have any suggestion regarding which lights to use?

I forgot to ask, is it safe to assume the grow lights will not harm the tortoises?

Thanks in advance.,
Ain’t gonna hurt the tortoise unless you use industrial grade marijuana grow lights . It will grill the tortoise.


I use aquarium plant lights , plenty of colors to choose .

for plants , I think air plants are the safest because they can’t reach it . anything else , tortoise will trample it to death .
04F47B20-17C7-417F-8CA4-B6E322CEC47E.jpeg
 

jeff kushner

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Jul 24, 2020
Messages
2,688
Location (City and/or State)
North of Annapolis
FWIW:

This may be well known here but new to me;

I have a 9w LED bulb on one end of Matilda's clear acrylic home and a Zoolight 10 at the other....she has grass and plants....they all point their leaves to the LED

jeff
 

jensem17

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Joined
Sep 14, 2020
Messages
33
Location (City and/or State)
Ontario, Canada
I curently have a number of safe plants in my torts enclosure. They're doing just fine with the UV strip. Only advise I have is to make sure the ones near the basking bulb can take the heat.

Standard Amazon or big box store grow lights should be just fine. Even under the counter strip led lighting will work for indoor growing. 3000K/4000K is a good spot to aim. There's much debate in the plant community about whether grow lights are actually superior to standard lighting.

Unless you're investing some serious $$$ on grow lights and growing some edible weeds for yourself in their enclosure the lights shouldn't bother them.
 
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