The 11 Best Plants For A Bearded Dragon Habitat

Instruction Manual

Choosing appropriate plants to put in your bearded dragon’s cage might be challenging if you don’t know much about either plants or bearded dragons.

There’s more to it than meets the eye, and messing up might be disastrous for your dragon. It is our hope that our buyer’s guide will assist you in narrowing down your options for plants if you are still undecided.

Include Live Plants in Your Dragon’s Habitat

There are a number of things to think about before putting live plants in your dragon’s enclosure, such as the plant’s specific care needs and your dragon’s health.

Let’s talk about the key factors you should evaluate so you can prioritize your requirements and make an informed choice.

Opportunity Costs

There’s no denying the benefits to keeping living plants in your dragon’s habitat. In addition to being aesthetically pleasing, they will also increase your dragon’s happiness and provide a nutritious meal for your lizard.

Many plants, however, are harmful to dragons, and even if you select safe plants, they may be polluted and introduce something harmful to your dragon. Be aware that there is always a degree of risk when introducing live plants to your dragon’s tank.

Efforts Expanding

Taking care of actual plants is a lot of extra labor. Of course, there are plants that require far less attention, and these are the ones we suggest.

You’ll still need to give some thought to providing adequate lighting, watering, and pruning the plant to keep it at a manageable size within the confines of the container.

Don’t add real plants to your dragon’s cage unless you’re prepared for the extra maintenance they’ll require.

Natural or Fake Plants?

Do not forget that non-living options exist in addition to real plants. Despite their resemblance to genuine plants, artificial ones don’t require any of the care that real plants do.

Fake plants have several advantages over real ones, including the fact that they never wilt, never require trimming, and never hurt your dragon. Consider employing artificial plants as a stopgap measure before going to the trouble of bringing in genuine ones.

Is There Any Chance Your Dragon Won’t Devour It?

One problem with real plants is that herbivorous dragons will eat just about anything. This is OK so long as the plants selected are safe for dragon consumption.

Even though the fruits of many plants are perfectly OK for a bearded dragon to consume, the plants themselves are often poisonous. If you want to add a plant to your dragon’s tank, you need make sure it won’t hurt your pet first.

The Bad Herbs for Your Dragon

There are many of plants that dragons may safely eat, however the ones below are beyond limits. These plants are toxic to dragons and should never be kept in an enclosure with one.

• Amaryllis
• Azalea
• Vivacious Melon
• Boxwood
• Buttercup
• Daffodil
• Elderberry
• Hyacinth
• Hydrangea
• Larkspur
• Milkweed
• Early-Day Triumph
• Periwinkle
• Primrose
• Rhubarb
• Sage
• Rotten Cabbage
• Tulips

Conclusion

When decorating your dragon tank with real plants, always prioritize safety. All of the best plants for a bearded dragon habitat discussed here are safe for dragons by BestForPets (bestforpets.org), but three in particular stand out as very good choices.

You should choose Haworthia because it’s low maintenance, won’t hurt your dragon, and is still compact. Our second recommendation is oregano, which can be eaten by dragons without fear of disease, is low-maintenance and compact when grown indoors.

Our final suggestion is lavender, which is harmless to dragons and only grows a few inches per year but adds some blue or purple hues.

Reviews

Haworthia

• Constantly sluggish growth
• The tallest possible is between three and five inches.
• Difficulty: Easy

It makes logical to employ plants in a bearded dragon’s surroundings that imitate the deserts of Australia, where the dragons are native.

Because they are native to equally dry and arid regions of South Africa, Haworthia plants are very comparable to the flora you’d find in a dragon’s eponymous habitat.

Plants of this size are perfect for a modest habitat, and their succulent nature means they need little in the way of care or water. These plants actually only need to be watered once every 10 days.

Since Haworthias won’t overrun the tank, they won’t require frequent trimming. On the other hand, this means that the effect of adding even one will be rather little.

Haworthia are tough plants that bearded dragons won’t hurt. But because dragons don’t consume plants, the ones in the enclosure should survive. Specimens of some kinds have brightly colored tips that look great in a fish aquarium.

Pros

• The bearded dragons are safe from harm.
• Simple to maintain
• Only need watering once per 10 days.
• The tips of several Haworthia species are a vibrant hue.

Cons

• They’re little in stature.

Oregano

• Moderate rates of expansion
• Allowed maximum height is above 24 inches.
• Difficulty: Easy

If you’re looking for something to decorate your dragon’s cage with, oregano is a great option. More than simply a splash of color, this plant will enhance the atmosphere.

Fresh oregano aroma is also brought along, which may assist maintain odor-free environment in your dragon’s cage. Also, oregano is safe for dragon consumption, so your dragon may occasionally have a tasty oregano snack.

Dragons may eat your oregano, but it’s not their favorite green, so don’t worry about it getting eaten to death. Because of its high calcium content, oregano shouldn’t be fed to dragons on a regular basis; this is excellent news.

Oregano, like other plants we’ll suggest for your dragon’s surroundings, is easy to cultivate. It requires little maintenance and grows best in sunny, warm areas.

To add to that, this plant has specific drainage needs that will be met by the substrate in your dragon. In a controlled indoor environment, oregano stays relatively short, so it won’t overtake your dragon’s territory, but in the wild, it can grow to be two feet tall or more. If you’re lucky, your dragon will assist keep it pruned by nibbling a few leaves here and there.

Pros

• Food that dragons may safely eat
• Refreshes the air within the cage.
• Simple to maintain
• Indoor cultivation typically results in a dwarf plant.

Cons

• Excellent calcium content

Lavender

• Constantly sluggish growth
• Height restriction: no more than 24 inches
• Difficulty: Easy

Dragons’ plant-based diets extend much beyond the typical fare of fruits and vegetables. Lavender and other flowers are on the list, so you can safely add them to your dragon’s tank.

Lavender is safe for your dragon to consume and may be used to reduce the odor in your dragon’s enclosure to a minimum thanks to its pleasant natural scent.

If you want to add some color to your dragon’s tank, lavender is a good option because it comes in a variety of shades of blue and purple in addition to green.

Lavender plants, which thrive in such conditions, only expand by a few inches per year, so your dragon can probably take care of all the necessary pruning by munching on the fresh growth.

However, lavender is notoriously difficult to cultivate indoors, so you’ll need to experiment to see how well it does under your dragon’s lighting system.

Pros

• Can add a splash of color
• Yearly growth rate is negligible
• Suitable for consumption by bears
• A natural lavender scent is provided.

Cons

• Tough to cultivate in the absence of natural sunlight

Fruitless (or Prickly) Pear Cactus

• Constantly sluggish growth
• Height limit: 15 feet.
• Difficulty: Easy

Dragons love prickly pear cactus because it is a healthy and delicious food option.
to them, or for them.

The only drawback is that it’s a prickly cactus.
potentially cause you trouble, and it becomes really big, too.

That
explained that there are spineless alternatives to choose from, making sure your dragon stays safe.

The cactus’s size, of course, may be controlled by frequent pruning. In addition, your dragon will aid you in controlling its growth by eating it.

Although most prickly pears are green, there is a purple variation available. Your dragon will like the dry, hot weather that these cacti can tolerate.

In general, they are a good addition to any dragon habitat, however you should be careful to select a spineless species or remove the spines yourself to prevent injury to your dragon.

Pros

• Innocuous to dragons
• Dragons enjoy a nice meal of prickly pear.
• needs hardly little maintenance
• For a dash of color, pick the purple variety.

Cons

• Needs to be pruned so it doesn’t overrun its containment.
• Spines may be dangerous for your dragon.

Basil

• Accelerating rapidly
• Elevation Cap: 4-7 Inches
• Difficulty: Moderate

Basil, like oregano, is another herb dragons may safely eat. When you place basil in your dragon’s cage, you run the risk of your dragon devouring it.

This means your bearded dragon is likely to devour the basil before it has a chance to mature, thereby killing the plant.

Warm climates are ideal for basil’s growth, however moist soil is detrimental to the plant. Basil thrives in the fast-draining substrates that are standard in bearded dragon enclosures.

Also, like to other herbs, basil has a nice aroma that will prevent your beardie’s cage from smelling musty.

Pros

• Dragons can eat it.
• Performs best in warm climates.
• Makes a nice aroma for your dragon’s cage.

Cons

• Your dragon may devour it before it has a chance to mature.

Echeveria

• Constantly sluggish growth
• The utmost allowable height is 12 inches.
• Difficulty: Easy

Echeveria are low-water-demand succulent plants. They thrive in terrariums and would be an excellent addition to a dragon’s home.

A dragon would be perfectly safe eating any of these plants. They don’t have any harmful spikes or thorns, but they’re not exactly nutritious, so you might not want to feed them to your dragon.

Echeveria is a genus of plants that has several colorful varieties for those who want more than just a standard green plant.

Thanks to their sluggish rate of development, you may go a long period between trims.

These succulents are more expensive than most of the other plants we’ve recommended on this list, but they also tend to be more vivid, colorful, and energetic.

Pros

• This is perfectly safe for a bearded dragon.
• Easy to cultivate in terrariums
• Alternating color schemes

Cons

• Spendy for a single plant.

Little Aloe Vera Plant

• Constantly sluggish growth
• The utmost allowable height is 12 inches.
• Difficulty: Easy

The aloe plant family has more than 500 different species, some of which may grow to be as tall as trees.

That’s not the type of aloe you want to put in your dragon’s cage. Instead, you should search for a dwarf aloe species that stays quite tiny.

Although aloe plants feature sharp thorns, these do not appear to be a concern for dragons. Since dragons don’t consume aloe, this shouldn’t be a problem.

Growing an aloe plant couldn’t be easier. They’re little maintenance, and if you choose a dwarf species, they’ll stay the ideal size for a dragon cage.

Although most are green, a few have striking mottled patterns. In comparison to other plants you may put in your dragon’s cage, aloe plants are more expensive.

However, they are still a fantastic alternative due to their low maintenance requirements.

Pros

• The ideal proportions for a dragon’s home.
• Minimal maintenance needed
• The mottled patterns on certain types are completely distinct.

Cons

• Shockingly high for a single plant
• Large individuals of some species are common.