Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm asking for a friend about a certin type of plant to use in a vivarium. he wants to put in african violets in a dart frog viv, saying hes seen them for an anole viv and liekd them, but i know anoles need it a wee bit dryer then the DFs part of the time. i know that they cant stand having their leaves wet, in fact it makes them rot. he just cant see it, he keeps saying this guy he works with said they would be fine and thinks that he knows everything about plants. i do know plants in a viv dont always fare well as plants in a large green house. what do you all think?

thanx

ashley
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"I’m scared of those nasty big-eyed grey aliens, too. I think it’s that I don’t understand their motivations. I am confident of my ability to out-think, out-con, or if need be, tire-iron-upside-the-head demonic forces, ghosts and goblins, things that go bump in the night, etc. It’s the notion of something that doesn’t have any desire to talk to me except via anal probe that freaks me out"

Every african violet I've put in a dart terrarium without proper air exhange and extra high humidity (as darts like it) has without fail, died on me (some have lasted longer then others). That being said, ONE and only one in a 5 gallon terrarium has had one come back from the root ball after it has died but hasn't bloomed yet, it seems to have developed some resistance to the high humidity but the leaves stay a really light green and don't seem as densely "fuzzy". I'm going to try again with african violets in my show terrarium that's a 40 some odd gallon hex but only becuase it has a computer fan to create air exchange and therefore should keep the leaves drier. We'll see how long they last.

I continue to try because I love violets and I can keep them blooming outside the terrarium without fertilizer in a mix I created of 2 parts ground coconut bark, 2 parts peat moss, 1 part orchid mix (without fertlizer). I've started using that in all my new terrariums and the plants and mosses love it.
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Chantel a.k.a. sillygirl
"I came, I saw, I adopted"

1.3 green anoles (Stumpy (M)), and the rest remain nameless.
1.1 green tree frogs (Romeo & Juliet)
1.2 Firebelly toads
2.3.0 D. tinctorius (Surinam Cobalt)
0.0.8 D. azureus
0.0.1 Clown Tree Frog
0.1 Anerythristic 'B' (Charcoal)corn snake (Popcorn)
0.1 Snow Corn (KandyKorn)
0.2 Amel Corns (KornSilk & KornMuffin)
0.1 Normal Corn (PepperKorn)
1.0 Creamsicle Corn (Kream)
0.0.1 Giant African Millipede
1.0 Betta (Sushi, Charlie)
2.4 Domestic house cats (Bad Boy (m), Bart(m),Sasha(F),Little Bit(F),Spirit(F)
1.0 Rottweiler (Jake)
2.7 Rats (Mouse, Socks, Sugar, Squishy, Fox, Lucky,B**CH & Tinker)
1.3 Mice (My step-daughter seems to think they are pets)
2.0 Betta (Sushi, Blue)
1.0 Husband (David, who loves all my critters too)

Well it isn't a large issue, you don't have to worry firedragon, I'm sure whoever it is (ehem ehem) just wants to try his luck at it and see what can he do knowing the conditions are unlike a standard greenhouse, the humidity levels being higher in this particular viv, obviously it's not ideal, but some things need to be learned on one's own through trial and error.

whos firedragon? im thefiradragon (more potent then fire haha!)
but look at wht other viv keepers advice, theyve done it and it didnt work out, i'd say dont sacrafice a plant that has diferent requirements. one wouldnt do that to a PDF so why do it to a plant as well.

>>Well it isn't a large issue, you don't have to worry firedragon, I'm sure whoever it is (ehem ehem) just wants to try his luck at it and see what can he do knowing the conditions are unlike a standard greenhouse, the humidity levels being higher in this particular viv, obviously it's not ideal, but some things need to be learned on one's own through trial and error.
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"I’m scared of those nasty big-eyed grey aliens, too. I think it’s that I don’t understand their motivations. I am confident of my ability to out-think, out-con, or if need be, tire-iron-upside-the-head demonic forces, ghosts and goblins, things that go bump in the night, etc. It’s the notion of something that doesn’t have any desire to talk to me except via anal probe that freaks me out"

I've tried about the entire gesneriad family in my dart tanks. They last awhile, may bloom once, but it never works on a permanent basis. We need to keep too high humidity in our dart tanks and simply too much moisture and not enough light for African violets and their kin to prosper for any length of time. That's not to say they won't do all right for awhile, even bloom, but it's not their environment for best results. There are just better plants to grow for our frogs, which are the main purpose. The photo shows Kohleria Flirt, which is a gesneriad related to African violets. It bloomed happily in one of my tanks for about a year. Now, it has etiolated and succumbed to suboptimum light and the high humidity.

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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
5 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
4 P. terribilis (new froglets)

thanx all for your answers
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"I’m scared of those nasty big-eyed grey aliens, too. I think it’s that I don’t understand their motivations. I am confident of my ability to out-think, out-con, or if need be, tire-iron-upside-the-head demonic forces, ghosts and goblins, things that go bump in the night, etc. It’s the notion of something that doesn’t have any desire to talk to me except via anal probe that freaks me out"