Putting a live potted plant in the viv with my Corn

I've got a couple of small bromeliads in pots that have been sitting outside...if I decide to put on in the cage with my Corn is there anything I should do first? I mean, should I "quarantine" it inside for a few days to make sure there's no bugs etc in it? I won't be putting soil in the viv, just setting the pot there and maybe putting some stuff around it to hide the pot and make it look somewhat natural.
Nick

I have already talked about potted plants today lol! Yes you should bring it inside for a few days as otherwise there will probably be a few little flies (even though you can't see them now) After that, just put it in where you want it and all should be fine! I use one of those little bases to set pots on, then set the pot on it and bury the base bit in aspen so you can't see it. Its important to have something like this to catch the water if you are using a wooden vivarium, otherwise it could leak out the bottom of the pot and rot the wood.

Don't set the plants too close to the aritificial light if you have one, as they won't like this! Water them regularily too (every couple days I have to water my plants) and try to make sure they are secure as snakes seem to be on a mission to burrow in/climb up/knock over/generally destroy potted plants!!

thats a cool idea!

hmmm....sounds like a neat idea! I'm going to assume that not using any pesticides and other chemicals on the plants would be a good thing. Don't want any sick snakeys!

Some bromeliads have very sharp edges and points ... I wouldn't use them if yours fit that description.

Good point (heh) I'll double check before I put anything in there with Mouser

wax32 said:

Some bromeliads have very sharp edges and points ... I wouldn't use them if yours fit that description.

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I've used them with blue poison arrow frogs for years and never had any problems from sharp edges. I'd be far more concerned with an amphibian in there rather than a tough skinned reptile.

Actually I am of the other mind set... I have them in with my PDF's too. BUT, a snake is heavy and drags its body across things... frogs hop and are lighter. Dunno, just my thought process!

makes sense...I'm still not sure I'd worry about it too much though with a snake because scales are meant to provide body protection. Who knows, I'm sure somebody out there has done it before and that's really the only way to know for sure I guess.

The other thing I might think about before adding tropical plants to a corn setup is the amount of watering I'd need to do. Obviously tropical bromeliads are used to higher humidity and will need more watering than most plants native to a wild corn's habitat. I guess it depended on the rest of the setup, but that might raise the humidity (and keep the humidity) at very high levels.

I tried and failed at keeping live plants in my snake's viv, I've never been good with plants and this wasn't an exception. I would pay attention to the type of soil you use in the pot, my snake loved to dig as deeply as he could and push out all the dirt so I would not use anything with Miracle Grow etc. Good luck I hope you have better luck than I did.

---Kenny

I'm on a road trip now but when I return I plan on moving one of my small bromeliads into the house for a week or so, then placing it inside the viv to see how it works out. I may need to mist it but I don't expect it to be very high maintenence. If it becomes a pain I can always remove it. There's a thousand things that may go wrong but I'll play it by ear. This seems easier than trying to install and maintain a viv with live plants...I'm all about the path of least resistance lol.
Nick