Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am setting up a vivarium with the intent of eventually getting some D. leucomelas. I was wondering if anyone had tried keeping the dwarf impatians in a vivarium. They bloom even with low light and it seems like they would add some color to the vivarium, but I was wondering if there were negatives I haven't considered.

The thing that got me thinking about this was that I saw impatians along the paths in Monteverde when I was in Costa Rica. They seemed to do well and flower on the forest floor so thought they would also do well in a vivarium. I would appreciate any comments.

Dave

Impatiens is an annual, so won't last from year to year. While it does grow in shade, it requires stronger light than we usually provide in our vivariums, as well as open ventilation and sharp soil drainage. It may just straggle around and stop blooming in a vivarium, or rot off. Go ahead and try it, however. I've only grown it in a bedding plant/greenhouse situation. You can always just remove it if it doesn't work out.
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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
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus
2 D. azureus
4 P vittatus

np

Their leaves rot when they get wet.
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Josh Willard
www.joshsfrogs.com

The African violets, as well as some of the other gesneriads such a Sinningia, Kohleria, and Episcia all need pretty good drainage as well as strong light in order to bloom, and they may rot off if the leaves don't dry off between mistings. I have kept Sinningia, Kohleria, and Episcia in some of my vivariums in a well drained situation. While they have survived, except for the original blooming plants, they have not bloomed again under the light conditions I'm able to provide. I've never tried the African violets (Saintpaulia) in a vivarium, mostly because in my experience, they bloom well on the window sill and do best when they are "root-bound," which doesn't happen in a tank. African violets may actually work in your snake tank because you won't be keeping the humidity as high, but I can't vouch for their blooming.

Here's a photo of African violet relative, Kohleria "flirt" which bloomed for the first 6 months, but got shaded out and is now just barely straggling around.

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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
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus
2 D. azureus
4 P vittatus

you mentioned that it survived untill it got shaded out,now its just hanging on.in nature,the way the sun rises and sets,usually provides an angle of sun to almost everything,even if its for a short time.in these vivariums,the angle of light is always constant and if something grows and shades out something underneath,it will basically never get light.how do you combat this??my vivarium is not situated near a window so i cant rely on some natural sunlight.should i move it near a window??a second option i was thinking about is maybe light from the side.i have a tall standing lamp in the room with my vivarium that takes 5 light bulbs and each bulb is on a kinda bendable arm so i can position the light whereever i want it.i was wondering maybe if i put an incandesent grow bulb in at least one of those sockets and pointed it at my vivarium,if maybe it would benifit some of the lower plants on the ground.i didnt do it because i suspected that,since the light would have to be filtered through glass(the side of the tank)that it wouldnt benifit much if at all.then again,i think of greenhouses and how they rely on 100 percent of their light filtering through glass.im basing my concern on the fact that reptiles that rely on uv light,should always have it provided unfiltered and not through glass.now maybe they need a part of the light that plants just dont need.so,do you think maybe it may help doing what i mentioned?i realise that you guys usually dont need the extra light but im housing an arborial snake and my cage is rather tall compared to its length.ideas??

My plants got "shadded out" when more exuberant growth that I didn't want to remove overhung them. I don't have full lighting at all angles, just some full spectrum aquarium type lights near the glass tops, although one or two vivariums are in a room with skylights and big windows which does enhance the over-all lighting somewhat. What you propose should enhance the lighting a lot. What I do is not good enough in most instances even to keep the original bromeliad leaves as colorful as they were originally. In most instances, I just have an aquarium type set-up with fluorescent light hoods on top of the hinged glass, and in hot weather (fortunately rare here) even turn these off during the day to keep the temparatures within range for the frogs, as even fluorescents this close add heat. So hopefully, there will be more lighting experts here to help you.

With African violets and other gesneriads, one can induce blooming by extending the photo period, even up to a full 24 hours a day, but this goes against the requirement of dart frogs that need about a 12 on 12 off light period, so any plants that don't do well with what I can provide are sacrificed. If you keep the extra lights well away from the tank so they won't heat it up, you may get by with using them. Consult the lighting gurus.
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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
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus
2 D. azureus
4 P vittatus

I did some more research on impatians and they are actually perennials, but are treated as annuals in non-tropical areas. It looks like the main problem may be with rotting. The viviarium has a fan so that might help. Anyway, I am going to try it out and see what happens. Hopefully the two fluorescent lights on a 29 gallon aquarium will be enough to keep it blooming.

I have a varigated impatient in one of my dart frog tanks and it does pretty well (including the nice wet substrate). Growth is not straggly and I tend to have to keep pruning it before it gets to bloom but then again I am using PCs on the tank so that may also explain my success with them.

Ed

My experience with impatiens has been in a greenhouse situation where I grew them from seed for bedding plants. They pretty much grew like petunias (which are also actually perennials, but rarely grown as such,) so those I grew were tended to get too large for a vivarium. I suppose if this fellow used the dwarf form and PC's he might have some success with adding some colorful blooms, which I believe is what he's after.

It's nice to see you still around this forum, Ed.
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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
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus
2 D. azureus
4 P vittatus