Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm not keeping dart frogs(not yet at least I plan on having some when I get a bigger apartment)
right now I am planning a Corn snake tank
but I need a little help with the vivarium(I figured since your all keeping darts you probley know a couple of things about plants vivariums)
since corn snakes are from southern US I am going to get tropical plants and I was wondering do you guys know any good tropical(florida area) plants that are easy to keep?and are not hard to find(since its winter and very snow here in the boston area-i'll probley end up getting plants from a combination of grocery stores home depots and maybe even-if I HAVE to...the god forsaken Wal-mart--and yes I know that alot of them have fertilzer on/in them that can be harmful to the snake...I am going to wash them out replant them and there gonna be set up for a month or to before going in the tank)
and thrive in 75-80 degres with moderate humididty?
I am doing a 30 gallon long so I need quite a few plants
-also what is a good(easiley available) plant fertilizer thats non toxic to animals?(I know they sell some in specialty stores or online like on Blackjungle.com but I was looking for somthing easier to find/obtain)
also what are good bulbs to but my 30 gallon floresnt light fixture? should I get reptisun UV bulbs or plant gro bulbs? whats the best option for the plants?(since the corn snake has no special requirements)
thank you
-Matt

I have no idea on what to tell you to use since I do not have any snakes, but it would depend on what type of plants you go with as to what lighting you would need. For most plants a single reptiglow bulb will do. I'm not sure what type of heat the snake needs, but you may need a light for heat also.

You should really ask in the snake forum as i'm sure someone keeps a planted vivarium for a snake.
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Kyle
www.kylesphotos.com
Dart Links - still a work in progress
1.2.0 D. leucomelas
1.1.0 D. azureus
1.0.1 D. imitators

belive it or not there is no one on there that is keeping a planted corn snake tank-in fact I have not met anyone who is keeping a planted snake tank
they always do paper towel bottom tanks or "shoebox" style tanks-etc
I dont know why its ugly to look at and and I am sure the snake is much happier in a more naturual invirernment
btw the snake doesnt need a heat lamp just heat pads
so my main consern with lights it the plants

I'm trying to imagine what I'd plant for a corn snake. I have kept some garter snakes in the past, but never really studied what each kind of snake requires. The garters did fine and then we released them after a couple of years. I had a planted terrarium for the garters-- A mix of sand and leaf mold over a drainage area with some common sturdy house plants such as pothos, sanseveria, smooth branches, a shelter and water bowl, and a few succulents like crassulas, sedum, etc. If you have a sand/soil mixture in the beginning, I wouldn't worry about fertilizing the plants with anything. There are probably none of us that ever adds any kind of fertilizer to our tropical dart frog vivariums, even though some of us grow orchids and other exotics in there that are supposed to be heavy feeders. The frog poop and other organisms usually do the trick. How damp can you keep the substrate for a corn snake? Maybe the snake people use the artifical environments because others don't work as well-- may get too humid or too damp for them? They also tend to change the substrate constantly to keep things sanitary and clean, which is easier to do without plants in the way. In a dart frog tank, we don't clean it out in the same way. It more or less recycles or excess drainage is siphoned off from the bottom. We create mimi-rainforests, a much different concept than keeping snakes. The basic hygiene isn't quite the same as keeping reptiles.

Darts are also very small and don't disturb the plants at all. Larger frogs and reptiles may tend to burrow and trample the plants by their sheer bulk. We tend to keep each 1-1/2 inch average dart frog in an environment that allows for 5 gallons per frog. That's a lot of space if you were to do the same thing per inch of snake.

The reptile people may not seem as inventive about natural environments as we are, but there is probably a good reason for it. They know what works for them in a practical sense.

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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
3 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
4 D. leukomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus pending

Even a baby corn with destroy a planted tank. As was talked about earlier, their poop is large and will not break down easy like a frogs, they love to dig and hide, and they need heat, which most plants are not fans of. The heat will dry the tank out quickly, which will stress the plants if not kill them. I have tried this probably 15 times before, never lasting more than 3 months before a complete dismantle was in order. There are a few herps you can do this with, crested geckos, uro's, chameleons, day geckos, and some small arboreal snakes like smooth green snakes and the small viper species.

I am not saying don't try, just keep in mind those of us who keep snakes in boxes and with simple cage furnishings do it because it is easy. A planted tank is very hard with anything larger than a dartfrog.
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1.1.3 D. azureus
0.0.8 P. bicolor
0.0.7 D. auratus (polka-dot)
0.0.3 D. auratus (blue)
0.0.3 D. auratus (kahlua and cream)

Shannon

I have corn snakes and wouldn't really recommend plants in a corn tank. I tried it and the corns squashed them. The plants died because there was no time for them to recover in between squashings. If you want a planted corn snake tank I would recommend buying some nice looking silk plants from a craft store and putting them in the tank. One brand I would recommend is called BeautySilk, they look very real plus are washable so you can clean snake poop off them and keep them looking nice. JoAnne Fabrics carries that brand, and Michaels might too. Those are the only craft stores in my area so I don't know any others that would carry them but I'm sure there are stores that do.

Heather
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Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first and the lesson after.

Hs Kritter Kove

Thanks guys
I'm gonna try to do a planted tank and see what happens(I used to have a planted White's tree frog tank and the crushed the plants all the time-until I found ones that where sturdy)

what is this sand/leaf mold substrate????
how do I make it? is it harmful if ingested?
I was going to use Bed-A-beast but I would rather use something
where I don't need to fertilize
thanks
-Matt

I know what your talking about. I have a milksnake and I was tired of his boring enclosure. So after getting ideas from guys and girls on this forum I started putting plants and moss in there. It's been a couple weeks and the plants and snake are doing fine.

Russ