Anyone have live plants in their tank?

[Guest]

Hi! im getting my new tegu on tuesday, I ordered her from Bobby so Im really excited. She'll be my first tegu, and I already have her cage set up. Is it worth it having real plants in there? I have a 55 gallon tank at the moment and I wanted to try and make it look nice and natural, and plus I know plants help with humidity. Will my tegu just destroy them right away? I have a list of non-toxic plants, but I was just wondering if it was even worth it putting the plants in there. At least when shes young. Thanks!

 

[Guest]

Well, most people's experience is that the tegus will just dig up and destroy anything you plant in there, but I'm of the mind that as long as the plant is safe for your animal, then go with it and play with the idea.

 

[Blue Crab of PAIN!!!]

I put a live plant in with my tegu... and I regret it.
I bought a pitcher plant (Nepenthes ampullaria) to share a terrarium (since they both require somewhat similar humidity and temps). My tegu decided to rip off the best looking pitcher; either out of horseplay or to see if it was edible. The plant itself remained intact but it has no mature pitchers and more than once I've found the pot completely tipped over.

 

[brutus13]

Yeah tegus are curious and distructive creatures. I had my humidity gages in the cage and I guess they were not to found of them nneedless to say I don't have them anymore.

 

[isdrake]

I have several plants in the enclosure with good result but our tegu is only 75cm / 2.5 feet so that might change in the future.

I put the plants in big sturdy pots. They don't tip over even if she climbs the trees.

You can see the plants and the pots in this video: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbn_JjFk5b0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbn_JjFk5b0</a><!-- m -->