Questions regarding natural plants! ^.^

[Charmeleon818]

Ok so to raise humidity im switching from fake to real plants in Charmeleons enclosure! I decided to go with a ficus. I am curious tho! when cleaning the leaves of the newly bought plant, should i only use tap water and scrub the leaves? also. when watering the plant will i now have to worry about the dampness of the soil to prevent mites? does it matter if i mix both real and fake plants in the enclosure? I know i have a lot of lil questions. i just want to make sure my cham lives a very prosperous life!! ^.^ thank you guys so much for all helpful responses.

 

[jamjam]

a tiny amount of dish soap and water should be fine. i know dawn dish soap is safe for animals so thats what ive been using. a fair amount of ppl scrub each leaf and their underside. ive seen someone post saying they were told to fill a bucket/tub with water and soap invert the plant and dunk it in and swish it around and rinse. think either way works great id prob do it several times and rinse well.

having fake and real is no problem at all.

dont know if it works but did it anyways i have about an inch of sand to help with mites, and remember to cover all the soil with large rocks so your cham cant get to it.

 

[Charmeleon818]

Thanks jamjam ^.^

 

[sharp229]

Ficus is a good plant, but you will want a lot of light for it. Do you have 6500k fluorescent bulbs? If you want lower light plants schefflera and pothos are good. Pothos in particular is pretty bullet proof and seems to survive almost anything.

I just re-pot live plants and wash them down thoroughly outside with the hose. Small amounts of dish soap will also work since it is non-toxic. If you are using dead sticks and wood from outside, many people recommend baking them to kill anything that may be living in them.