Plants for enclosure?

[Aloysius Taschse]

Hello everyone,

My sulcata Kiwi is getting a new enclosure soon and I have had no trouble with finding the right things to put in it... until the plants! As much as she probably could live without them, I really want it to look natural and just nice. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions. Because of the enclosure height, it needs to be under 16 inches, but younger versions are okay because I an just move them outside when they grow to big. Also, the substrate is around 4 inches thick and made of of orchid bark. One more thing: my tortoise is a sulcata, so the plants need to be humidity tolerant. I tried finding plant-in-enclosure threads, but even after looking at a very long list (http://www.africantortoise.com/edible_landscaping.htm) I still couldn't find anything that might work. I know there are some out there (I've seen one before) so I will keep up my search. All suggestions are welcome!

 

[Lyn W]

Hi,
Have a look at www.thetortoisetable.org.uk for ideas for safe plants.
Spider plants are popular and easy to grow, plus you get lots new plants from them as they grow.
If you use shop or garden centre bought plants then they will have had fertilisers and pesticides used on them. So wash the roots and repot in chemical free soil and allow them time to grow out any absorbed chemicals - at least a year I believe maybe longer. So if you can get 'safe' cuttings from family or friends then that would be quicker or grow from seeds.
When you put them in the enclosure leave them in the pot and bury that in the substrate, that way if they get nibbled or bulldozed they will be easy to remove and replace.

 

[Blackdog1714]

Pothos

 

[Aloysius Taschse]

Spider & Pothos were the ones I knew existed but didn't remember... ? Thank you for the suggestions and I will make sure they are tortoise safe.

 

[KarenSoCal]

Prayer plants, Boston fern, African violets, and any kind of bromeliad are also safe.