Keeping a hibiscus

[TheGuyInTheChair]

I started out with a fake plant in Turks enclosure, but upgraded to a live hibiscus.
The hibiscus did great for about 2 weeks, it was growing new leaves and all the flowers were budding.
But then one day just started going downhill and wilted in only like 4 days. So I have since switched back to the fake one.
My wife thinks it may be due to over watering because of misting multiple times a day.
I would like to get a new hibiscus because it worked great while I had one and Turk seemed to love it.

Has anyone else had problems keeping a hibiscus alive indoors?
If it's due to over watering than it obviously can't be helped, and I won't get another, but i was wondering if anyone had tips on dealing with this.

Also, does anyone know any good places to get fake trees? I would like a separate tree for out of the cage time.

 

[Syreptyon]

It's not the water that's the problem, it's the light. Hibiscus are extremely difficult to keep indoors because they require a TON of sun light. Flowers take up a ton of energy from plants, so they are very high maintenance indoors. You'll probably need multiple plant lights on top of your cage if you want to have a chance to keep it alive. Even then, they will die without natural sunlight. Some people who keep hibiscus in their cham cages actually have more than one that they rotate one inside/one outside and then switch the two periodically. Overall, I would recommend choosing a different plant if I were you lol. Hibiscus look beautiful, but are just so finicky

 

[jamest0o0]

Lighting... they need very bright light which 99% of enclosures can't provide. I had a jungledawn megaspott which is an expensive and powerful bulb and i still had one attacked by aphids. After that I gave up on them as an indoor plant(unless you have a sunroom with a lot of windows and light coming in)

 

[JacksJill]

Hibiscus are tough but not impossible to keep. The misting does take a toll on them so you will need to repot it and use at least an inch of gravel at the bottom for better drainage. They don't like having wet feet.
The other problem is light. You will need good plant lighting for them and if that isn't enough you can rotate 2-3 plants in and out of the cage so they get some good sun from a south facing window when they are rotated out.

 

[TheGuyInTheChair]

It's not the water that's the problem, it's the light. Hibiscus are extremely difficult to keep indoors because they require a TON of sun light. Flowers take up a ton of energy from plants, so they are very high maintenance indoors. You'll probably need multiple plant lights on top of your cage if you want to have a chance to keep it alive. Even then, they will die without natural sunlight. Some people who keep hibiscus in their cham cages actually have more than one that they rotate one inside/one outside and then switch the two periodically. Overall, I would recommend choosing a different plant if I were you lol. Hibiscus look beautiful, but are just so finicky

Thank you for the advice. any suggestions for similar plants that may work better?

 

[alan marz]

No sure how I got lucky but I have a Hibiscus which has been doing pretty good. I don't keep It in his cage but I put it in front so he can free range on it.
The watering is probably one problem --I think I heard that you a suppose to let the soil dry out between watering. I do not use any special lighting but move it to window
and outside when weather gets good. Even had It flower in the house in winter. It is about 3 feet tall and had it a little over a year, will see what happens.
Good luck.

 

[alan marz]

I have a ficus in the cage ==been doing great for a couple of years. Not sure what kind it is but the lady said it is the one that dose not lose
it's leaves. Wish I knew the name of it.

 

[jamest0o0]

@alan marz not luck. It's because like you said, you move it outside and have it near a sunny window

 

[Syreptyon]

Thank you for the advice. any suggestions for similar plants that may work better?

Schefflera arboricola, pothos, ficus benjamina, ficus allii to name a few.

 

[jamest0o0]

Ficus alii is an amazing one if you can find it. I ordered one from my nursery. I think they are all around one of, or the best plant for chameleons. Very sturdy, hold onto leaves, provide shade

 

[Syreptyon]

Yeah I have both an alii and a benjamina in my panther's enclosure, and I like the alii way more. Benjaminas seem to love nothing more than dropping their leaves at the slightest change of environment (they're called weeping figs for a reason). The alii is gigantic and has tons of long branches he uses to move around. Plus, the long leaves form these sorts of almost troughs for water, which work really great for drinking

 

[jamest0o0]

Yup exactly, it still bothers me that I let two 5 foot alii trees die last year in the cold... they are expensive!

 

[Chamman43]

I started out with a fake plant in Turks enclosure, but upgraded to a live hibiscus.
The hibiscus did great for about 2 weeks, it was growing new leaves and all the flowers were budding.
But then one day just started going downhill and wilted in only like 4 days. So I have since switched back to the fake one.
My wife thinks it may be due to over watering because of misting multiple times a day.
I would like to get a new hibiscus because it worked great while I had one and Turk seemed to love it.

Has anyone else had problems keeping a hibiscus alive indoors?
If it's due to over watering than it obviously can't be helped, and I won't get another, but i was wondering if anyone had tips on dealing with this.

Also, does anyone know any good places to get fake trees? I would like a separate tree for out of the cage time.

Hibiscus plants need minimum 6 hours sunlight there more for your outside enclsure