Live plants for the enclosure?

[runnimunni]

Hi! I'm in the process of designing an enclosure for a blue tongue skink (Halmahera), which will be my first, and I've decided to go for what people seem to call "bioactive", or a vivarium. I feel like I'm endlessly doing research into this project, so I figured I should ask the experts for help with some stuff!

As much as possible, I want to recreate the natural environment for a Halmahera/Indonesian skink. Part of that includes planting a large variety of plants that are either "native" to the region, or would survive in the same tropical climate. At the same time, I obviously don't want to include any plants that could be potentially dangerous to the skink if ingested, since I've heard they treat plants pretty aggressively! If there are plants that would be perfectly healthy for a skink to eat as well (like carrots?), that would be amazing!

I've found a few resources with plants that are generally reptile-safe, but it's been hard for me to really narrow down which ones would do well in an Indonesian climate specifically, and they also don't seem to include moss - which I would absolutely love to try growing everywhere! I'm aware that it will almost definitely get torn up if I attempt something like a carpet moss where the skink will be walking and digging, but the enclosure I've built is 6x2x2 ft, so there is plenty of room where the skink won't reach! (it's taller than necessary, but rest assured that there will be no way for the skink to fall or injure themselves!) Apart from the moss and other normal plants, I'd also like a good variety of creeping/climbing plants on the walls!

Also! I'm wondering if any has experience preventing their skink from burrowing right through the roots of live plants. I've seen people just bury a potted plant into the substrate, which would be a good option - especially if it has some holes for roots to escape the pot - but would it be fine to use something like metal root guards/baskets? I'd like this solution because it would allow the roots of the plants to move really freely, but it has occurred to me that it could be potentially dangerous for the skink, especially if their claws get stuck in the metallic mesh.

Thank you so much!

[Fatal_S]

So back when I was trying bioactive I found blue tongue skinks to be very difficult to have with plants. That said, bioactive enclosures have come so far since then, so I'm sure there's plenty of ways to protect the plants better now. Hopefully someone who knows more than I do can chime in

[Nae]

One of the trickiest things I have found with keeping live plants with blueys, is their tendency to just barrel through things. They are heavy, chunky and do not care

Finding plants that will suit an Indonesian climate will be pretty easy - most tropical indoor plants available at your local garden store are actually far more suitable for a warm, moist environment than our homes.
Plants like spider plants are safe if ingested - but they are fragile and wouldn't handle a skink clambering through them. However, they would look amazing being higher up, and draping down into the enclosure.

Something a little tougher for the ground could be something like a Boston fern - have a few, and regularly rotate them outside the enclosure so they have some recovery time is what I used to do haha! Snake plants could also be a good option, but same thing rotate them around cause a clambering bluey could definitely snap the leaves if it decides straight through the plant is where it wants to go!

I've seen bromeliads used a lot in tropical vivariums also.

I'll keep thinking but pretty much all vine plants I can think of aren't safe if eaten. Although zebrinas can kinda vine if they decide to??

But yeah at the end of the day like I mentioned, pretty much any pet safe plant in the indoor tropics section of your local plant store will be suitable in an Indo enclosure - it's just yeah protecting them from being squished!!

As for protecting the roots - I haven't had to, but aquarium egg crate could be an option?? Either putting the plants into plastic pots, and cable tying a circle of it to the top of the pot as a "lid", or putting down a layer of soil - eggcrate - top substrate that way the plants can place their roots under the eggcrate and away from little digging feetsies.

Honestly often this sort of thing is very trial and error, as much as you want to nail it first go