Post by Jonathan Mejia on Apr 17, 2015 8:45:27 GMT -5
Hey folks,
With the upcoming reptile expo this sunday, I was looking up information on crested gecko morphs to brush up on prices and to see if there was anything new. To my surprise, the genus on crested geckos has been changed from Rhacodactylus to Correlophus. I enjoyed saying Rhacodactylus
The crested geckos were thought to be extinct until they were found again in New Caledonia in 1994. Some cool morphs are now affordable, and I was thinking about getting a female to my current gecko Smores.
I recently gave Smores a bigger tank with some random terrarium plants in it, but I was hoping to get some carnivorous plants (and orchids) native to the part of the world in which he lives, New Caledona:
It basically lies East of the Northern part of Australia, and is a collection of islands.
I did a few searches and found that the following plants come from New Caledonia:
Drosera neocaledonica
Nepenthes vieillardii
Utricularia gibba
Utricularia uliginiosa
Utricularia novae-zelandiae
So I popped out my worn copy of the Savage Garden to see what informations I can find:
The two species I could find in D'Amato's magnum opus was Utricularia gibba, (and dichotoma - I will explain shortly) which was on my want list anyway. I was hoping to transform the 30 gallon tank into a pallidarium anyway, to help with humidity and such.
Upon more searching on google, I have seen Drosera neocaledonica, and it is very beautiful, and seems easy to grow. There is also a hybrid with D. aliciae that would make a good candidate.
I haven't found much information on Nepenthes vieillardii. A few blog posts here and there. Apparently it is difficult to acquire, and difficult to keep alive, let alone pitcher. The plants in nature tend to grow in this red dry soil, and so it shouldn't be grown like most nepenthes. Especially since it is so far from the rest of the range (New Caledonia is off the East coast of Australia, an is an archepelago of small islands). It is actually the most eastern growing Nepenthes species known.
Concerning this species here is a blog post:
carnivorousockhom.blogspot.com/2014/08/nepenthes-vieillardii-5-years-of.html
As for the utrics, Utricularia uliginosa is a terrestrial/subaquatic annual with little white/blue flowers. As an annual, I am not sure how well it will do in Smores tank.
Utricularia novae-zelandiae has been renamed dichotoma, however, dichotoma also grows in Australia, and is variable. There are forms from New Zealand, and from Australia and from New Caledonia. It would make an excellent addition to the tank though. Any of the forms would work well, so long as I keep it towards one side of the tank.
If anyone has more information about these plants including where I can acquire them, let me know.
My crested gecko Smores is big, and cannot be hurt by the plants (not even the nepenthes), and so I am excited to see what comes of this.
With the upcoming reptile expo this sunday, I was looking up information on crested gecko morphs to brush up on prices and to see if there was anything new. To my surprise, the genus on crested geckos has been changed from Rhacodactylus to Correlophus. I enjoyed saying Rhacodactylus
The crested geckos were thought to be extinct until they were found again in New Caledonia in 1994. Some cool morphs are now affordable, and I was thinking about getting a female to my current gecko Smores.
https://instagram.com/p/1Ej4EwBzf0
I recently gave Smores a bigger tank with some random terrarium plants in it, but I was hoping to get some carnivorous plants (and orchids) native to the part of the world in which he lives, New Caledona:
It basically lies East of the Northern part of Australia, and is a collection of islands.
I did a few searches and found that the following plants come from New Caledonia:
Drosera neocaledonica
Nepenthes vieillardii
Utricularia gibba
Utricularia uliginiosa
Utricularia novae-zelandiae
So I popped out my worn copy of the Savage Garden to see what informations I can find:
https://instagram.com/p/zQR5_0hzTD
The two species I could find in D'Amato's magnum opus was Utricularia gibba, (and dichotoma - I will explain shortly) which was on my want list anyway. I was hoping to transform the 30 gallon tank into a pallidarium anyway, to help with humidity and such.
Upon more searching on google, I have seen Drosera neocaledonica, and it is very beautiful, and seems easy to grow. There is also a hybrid with D. aliciae that would make a good candidate.
I haven't found much information on Nepenthes vieillardii. A few blog posts here and there. Apparently it is difficult to acquire, and difficult to keep alive, let alone pitcher. The plants in nature tend to grow in this red dry soil, and so it shouldn't be grown like most nepenthes. Especially since it is so far from the rest of the range (New Caledonia is off the East coast of Australia, an is an archepelago of small islands). It is actually the most eastern growing Nepenthes species known.
Concerning this species here is a blog post:
carnivorousockhom.blogspot.com/2014/08/nepenthes-vieillardii-5-years-of.html
As for the utrics, Utricularia uliginosa is a terrestrial/subaquatic annual with little white/blue flowers. As an annual, I am not sure how well it will do in Smores tank.
Utricularia novae-zelandiae has been renamed dichotoma, however, dichotoma also grows in Australia, and is variable. There are forms from New Zealand, and from Australia and from New Caledonia. It would make an excellent addition to the tank though. Any of the forms would work well, so long as I keep it towards one side of the tank.
If anyone has more information about these plants including where I can acquire them, let me know.
My crested gecko Smores is big, and cannot be hurt by the plants (not even the nepenthes), and so I am excited to see what comes of this.