Have you ever seen those movies where they show really, really ugly and frightening prisons? The prison cells are a nightmare.
Everything is dark, there is something that you could call a bed in the corner and the toilet is right next to it. Of course, as dirty as you would expect a prison toilet.
This is what I feel like when I see those poorly equipped beardie tanks on the internet. In my opinion this isn´t right.
Reptiles should not be kept as prisoners.
We should do our best to create a very natural habitat that bearded dragons enjoy. The fact that you are doing your research and stumbled upon this article shows that you most probably think the same way.
Great to have you here! In this article I show you some of the best bearded dragon plants you can get for your tank to create an awesome looking beardie cage.
Food Plants
Plants in a bearded dragon terrarium is something most people do not even think about. They think it is too hard to have a living plant inside a tank that is so warm and dry. Further most people are afraid that their beardie could be poisoned from those plants.
Don´t worry I only show you plants that are not dangerous for your bearded dragon. Here are a couple of plants your bearded dragon even is allowed to eat.
In general you can place every plant in your tank that your bearded dragon is allowed to eat. Some of them won´t last too long, others will do pretty well in your beardie habitat.
Bolivian Wandering Jew (Callisia Repens)
The first plant I want to name is bolivian wandering jew. This is my favorite plant of all plants you can put into your tank.
They do not only look good, your bearded dragon is going to love to climb on this plant. Further beardies like to eat callisia repens. It can help if you bearded dragon is suffering from diarrhea.
Just make sure that your bearded dragon doesn´t get a too watery stool. As I said, beardies like this plant and it can happen that your dragon eats too much of it and has a water intake that might be a little bit too high.
However most beardies don´t do this and you most probably don´t have to worry about it.
Bolivian wandering jew grows quickly and is pretty hardy. Not only bearded dragons like this plant. Even other pets like parakeets, hamsters, rats and turtles love to eat this plant. Of course without any health risks.
Get Bolivian Wandering Jew here!
Further Food Plants
If your bearded dragon does not eat too much greens you can place all kinds of herbs inside the tank. If your bearded dragon eats a lot of greens you can still put herbs in the tank but you should take them out from time to time.
For example you can use basil, catnip, cress and peppermint. However this is just a small part of a huge list. I created an article about stuff beardies are allowed to eat and you can find a lot more there. Click here for 88 things your beardie is allowed to eat.
The only problem is that most of those herbs won´t last long in a hot beardie tank. That´s why I have another category of beardie plants for you.
Decorative Bearded Dragon Plants
So you might want a plant that you just put into the tank and don´t have to worry about it. You look more for a beautiful plant that upgrades your natural beardie habitat.
Here are a couple of plants you can use for that. Of course these plants can also be eaten by your bearded dragon without any risk.
Blushing Bride (Tillandsia ionantha)
This plant is a classic. I think that almost everybody who has a desertish natural habitat had this plant at least once.
Blushing bride is perfect for a beardie cage. You can glue this plant on stones or even on your tank background if you do not want that your bearded dragon takes a bite from this plant. If you need a background have a look at this!
This plant doesn´t need any real watering, misting your tank is enough to keep this plant alive. It looks awesome and will last very long in your tank.
Aloe Vera
In my opinion aloe vera looks great in a beardie habitat. They are pretty similar to blushing bride when it comes to maintainance.
They do not need a lot of water and do well in a dry environment. However bearded dragons really like to eat this plant and if you have one of those little dragons who love to chew on plants, aloe vera will look ugly quickly.
Nevertheless, this is a nice and safe plant for your habitat!
Further Decorative Plants
Of course there are a lot of more plants for a bearded dragon tank, but decribing all of them here would make this article long as hell. That´s why I just give you the names of a couple of other plants you can unhesitatingly put in your tank.
- Beaucarnea recurvata
- Gasteria verrucosa
- Selignella lepidophylla (Click)
- Hoya australis
- Callistemon
- Cycas revoluta (Click)
- Cycadaceae
Plastic Plants
I am a fan of live plants. I think it is just more natural for the reptiles and they can lick dew drops from the plants or eat the plants whenever they feel like they need more water.
However, plastic plants can look good as well!
There are a couple of nice looking plastic plants that really upgrade your tank in terms of looks. Further they can be used as a hide by your beardie.
Plant Set SunGrow
Click For More Images!
ZooMed Naturalistic Bush Plant
Click For More Images!
ExoTerra Terrarium Plant
Click For More Images!
Fluker´s Repta Vine
Click For More Images!
ExoTerra Terrarium Plant Large
Click For More Images!
I hope that this article helps you to find the perfect bearded dragon plants for your beardie tank.
I am happy that you are like me and think that your beardie tank shouldn´t be an ugly prison cell for your reptile. Have fun shopping the plants! 🙂
Before you leave!
Since I receive many comments and emails from bearded dragon owners that tell me that their bearded dragon is refusing to eat greens, I decided to help with this issue.
What most bearded dragon owners do not know is that a bearded dragon that does not eat greens might be sick or is on the best way to getting sick.
Bearded dragons are omnivores, which means that they eat anything they can find in the wild. The problem that most bearded dragons are picky when it comes to food only arouses due to bad husbandry.
If your bearded dragon is refusing to eat greens, and maybe even only accepts mealworms as food, I highly recommend that you get my ebook: How To Make Your Bearded Dragon Eat Greens Within 7 Days!
After going through the steps outlined in the ebook I will personally check on you and your beardie via email and will support you if needed.
Keep your beardie healthy!
Hello, can you please tell me approx how long does brumation last? I adopted an adult beardie in March of last year, so this is our first cycle. I believe he started in Novemeber but I am getting nervous now that Feb is here
Hey Marty,
sounds pretty good! Bearded dragons can “sleep” for a couple of months, that´s absolutely normal.
If you want you can wake your beardie up by turning the lights on and having the usual day/night cycle.
However, if you are sure that your bearded dragon is healthy and hasn´t lost too much weight yet, you can let your beardie sleep a bit longer.
Best regards,
Pierre
I would like a huge, fun, live playground for my lizard. Live is the way I want to go but trying to figure out if my garden should be in small pieces throughout the cage or one giant one at the bottom. If she poes in the garden at the bottom will that naturally soak in and be ok or will it be a problem.
Hey Liz,
thank you for your comment.
Not really sure what you mean with “trying to figure out if my garden should be in small pieces throughout the cage or one giant one at the bottom”.
However, when it comes to poo in your garden, I would recommend to remove it even though it will decompose over time. This way you can prevent your bearded dragons from running through his own feces all the time.
Regards,
Pierre