Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was just wondering if it's safe to use mint or any other herbs in a planted terrarium. A few years ago I set up a planted vivarium for a crested gecko in my dad's business, and the tank is doing great. The gecko is thriving, as are the plants. There's pothos, philodendron, English ivy, and a croton in a mix of topsoil & peat sphagnum all over a couple players of screen on top of 2-4" of lava rocks. The lava rocks stay pretty full of water, and the soil stays fairly dry because of the drainage. It's time to prune back the plants & change out some of the soil, but it's got a funky smell to it. I don't want to tear apart the whole tank and start over. Just scoop out some soil, prune back from plants, and add some new driftwood. Last time I did this the funky smell returned in just a couple weeks. It's nothing bad, and you never notice it unless you're right over the tank, but lots of people put their noses right up to it looking for the gecko. A clump of peppermint would smell great in this tank. I have some hot & spicy oregano that would smell great, as well, but I'm not sure how well it would do in the moisture. Would either of these be good? We generally feed the gecko by throwing in crickets and letting them run around in there until they're all eaten, so the crickets would be eating these plants before the gecko eats them.

Thanks for the help!
Ronnie Nocera

More than likely you have some hefty organisms growing in your watery lava rocks, causing the smell. If you can run an aquarium hose down into it, try to siphon out some of the water. Lava rocks can be really good for some things, but because of their porous nature, they can also harbor bacteria pretty easily. I've usually used river rocks when making a drainage layer, since they do not have pores. A well-balanced vivarium will have an earthy smell to it, since some bacterial growth is necessary to process the wastes from the gecko, but if it's really funky, then something is wrong. Planting an herb to mask the odor isn't going to help the health of your tank. Besides the fact that some herbs, such as mint, could possibly harm the permeable skin of your gecko.

-----
Holly

1.0 Florida Kingsnake (Eddie Gein)
1.0 Bearded Dragon (Charley Manson)
1.0 Fire Skink (Peter Dinsdale)
1.0 Vietnamese Golden Gecko (George Chapman)
0.0.1 Blue Day Gecko (Joe Ball)
1.0 Orange Marmalade Cat (Oliver)
1.0 Black Cat (Shadowfax)
1.0 Tennessee Walking Horse (Durango)

2.0 Toddlers (Justice & Trevor)