Plants in my terrarium?

[OneEyedFox]

I'm using coconut fiber for bedding, and this last time I put a new brick in there, some plants sprouted up! I don't know what type of plants they are, but I don't think they would be harmful since they came from the bedding itself, and the coconut fiber is supposed to be used as safe bedding and all. They are just tiny sprouts right now, but they have been growing like crazy, all over the place. My mother thought it was very cool, and interesting, she told someone whom also had snakes, and they said that it was bad, could give her scale rot and such. I'm thinking about tossing out the batch of bedding, and putting a new one in, hopefully no seeds come up, but I also think it's very cool that there are plants growing, so I want to make sure that I really need to before I do that. Have any of you guys experienced anything like this? Any thoughts?

[distaff]

I would be concerned that a substrate damp enough to sprout and feed seedlings would be too damp for a healthy BP. That said, I don't own a BP, nor use coconut fiber alone, and I don't know what sprouted. My guess is, the seedlings won't last long, esp. if you aren't using supplemental light. The plants themselves are probably harmless.

An actual successful planted tank utilizes a gravel or plastic crate false bottom so excess water can collect at the bottom providing humidity and a moist area for plant roots while the top of the substrate itself stays dry.

The person your mother spoke to has a very valid concern.

[Coluber42]

The plants themselves aren't going to hurt your snake, but excessively damp substrate or humidity could. How deep is the substrate? Some plants are more tolerant than others with regard to widely varying moisture levels. If your substrate is deep enough that you could have a reasonably dry surface area and not excessive humidity, but still have enough moisture at the bottom, they could possibly survive awhile even without an actual drainage layer - and still assuming they get enough light.

But you'll probably have to water the substrate periodically; if they started growing in whatever moisture the coco fiber had out of the bag, that's going to be slowly drying up unless you're spraying, watering, etc. If you have a lot of ventilation - say, a screen top (and especially if you use lamps for heat), that could conceivably work out to a basically dry surface, humidity appropriate to your snake, and enough water at the bottom for the plants. But only if you have fairly deep substrate and you pour a fair amount of water into it on a regular basis.

So yeah, the plants themselves won't hurt your snake but they also probably won't survive long unless you make a certain amount of effort to keep them alive. I'm sort of curious what they are though, and how long they last. Would you post pics at some point, and fill us in on how they do?

[OneEyedFox]

I spoke to my sister, whose boyfriend keeps a lot of snakes about it and he said that wth how much the plants had grown, and how many had come up, it was likely that the humidity was too high, or the substrate was too wet for my BP, which would cause scale rot. Sure enough, when he looked at it, he said the CF was way too wet, so I put in a new batch of CF, and instead of spraying, I keep a damp towel over half of if the screen lid, and the heat lamp on the other half. Keeps the humidity at 55-60%, and the CF isn't too wet. I'm still curious as to what was growing though. I'm thinking about getting a bigger tank, and having a bioactive terrarium. I've heard it's good for keeping humidity, and snakes love it cause it provides coverage. Just need to get a bigger tank, the right setup, and some plants with thick, sturdy stalks, and broad leaves.

[distaff]

Just do the research, because establishing proper conditions for the snake is paramount. It is possible with BP's. Two keepers here have posted pics of their enclosures. SnakeJudy IIRC, is one, I can't remember the other member. The best vivs I see are made for gekos and dart frogs - much higher humidity (complete with foggers, but you can adapt the principles). This is still artificial, and merely for our aesthetic enjoyment; jungles are not termite mounds.

You still need to clean! I never bothered with spring tails, and pill bugs for the snakes. I did use my own garden compost as well as an Atlanta Botanical type mix from New England Herpetoculture. Personally, I think one might do best experimenting with successful plant only terrariums before subjecting a snake to their first efforts. You absolutely need a false bottom to collect the extra moisture. There is young man on YouTube "Sherpa" - something-or-other who keeps numerous terrariums and vivs, and has good how to videos on how to do this. Also, look at the Art of Keeping Snakes, by de Vosjoli.

Proper husbandry for the snake comes first.

[OneEyedFox]

Proper husbandry for the snake comes first.

I absolutely agree. Doing my best to make sure her needs come before the aesthetic ones of a teenager lol. If I do ever decide to have live plants in her tank, I will definitely be doing a lot of research first.