Silk plants safe?

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Synapze

Synapze

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I'm thinking about adding some silk plants to my enclosures. Presently, I use plastic aquarium plants and climbing sticks. Since I'll be cleaning my enclosures next week, I thought it would be a great time to make changes. I know silk plants plants contain dyes and who knows what else, but I was curious if a good rinse would make them safe for mantids. So... my questions are:

1. Are they safe if rinsed well?

2. Do they harbor bacteria?

3. Any other things I should know before purchasing them?

 
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Rick said:
Yes. Why wouldn't they be?
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My concerns are the dyes, chemicals or adhesives used during manufacturing. I'm also concerned about surface tension of water droplets pulling those chemicals out of the fabric. 

While shopping at multiple stores yesterday, I noticed that the silk plants available all had a strong synthetic odor. Some of the articles I've read indicate that craft store silk plants are not recommended for herps and to use only plants specifically labeled for vivarium use, so I thought it was a legitimate question since I don't know if the same applies to mantids or if there were any particular brands I should stick with.

I searched the past forum posts for an answer, before starting a new topic hoping for advice from more experienced before I make a decision.

------------

 Update: Something I've learned from researching this topic.

1) Silk flowers are generally safe unless they were treated with pesticides during storage/transport/store shelf/or residual chemicals from the manufacturing process. They are not recommended for herp use, but most people are using them with no apparent  issues.

2) Since the late 70's the majority of silk plants are actually made of polyester, which is produced using over 1000 different chemicals. Polyester has been called one of the worst fabrics to wear for skin health. 

The thesis I refer to the most can be found at: 

http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:850089/FULLTEXT02.pdf

In a nutshell... silk is considered generally safe, but polyester should be avoided if possible. There are probably some brands of silk plants that are safer than others. Just reading the list of chemicals was enough to convince me to look for quality silk options. I think I'll skip those $1.99 bundles of craft store plants. ?

 
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I have never had an issue with them. If concerned, rinse them well or wash first and rinse. They should not bleed color, if they do, 

continue rinsing until they dont bleed, or throw out and get different ones.

 
Someone suggested I should purchase from Exo Terra since they were produced specifically for pets. Since I'm ordering one of their Nano enclosures anyway, I'll just order the plants at the same time. They have a pretty good selection.

@hibiscusmile I'll still going to rinse the heck out of them. Thanks! ?

 
I use silk plants too. I never had problems with it. But use platisc plants too you can buy at pet stores (easier to clean when they get dirty)

 
Little Mantis said:
I use silk plants too. I never had problems with it. But use platisc plants too you can buy at pet stores (easier to clean when they get dirty)
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I ordered a big lot of assorted silk plants today. I tend to keep my enclosures very basic, (plant/branch/substrate), so I'm kind of excited to be giving everyone a much needed upgrade. ?

 
Hey Synapze.  Good question.

I've used a variety of the plastic plants in my mantis enclosures.  They are DEFINITELY more hardy and probably easy to use and clean for sure.  One thing to consider though. Some of the fabric/silk variety plants seem to provide a slightly better shedding surface.  It's cool to watch mantises in the minutes before they molt.  They do everything they can to lock or bury the hooks (unguis) on the end of their tarsa into whatever surface they're gripping. Sticks, leaves, wood, fabric/screen/mesh, whatever.  You can see them pulling and flexing and testing the grip with their non-raptorial legs just before they start, because once that process takes off...they quickly lose the ability to adjust their foothold.  Why does that matter?  Because I've seen fewer mantises fall down and have a mismolt event on silk plants than on smooth surface plastic ones.  Maybe silk plant edges have more texture, or they're frayed enough so that the leg hooks can sort of snag the material?  I don't know.  I do know that when I have sub-adults getting ready to go into the last and most important molt of their lives, I always make sure I have a lot of textured surfaces and silk plants for them to choose from.  Probably over-thinking it, but that's what I would do.  ?

 
@bugboymark That's good to know, thanks! I'll be careful when planning placement for the subs and save the creativity for the adults.  ?

bugboymark said:
I always make sure I have a lot of textured surfaces and silk plants for them to choose from.  Probably over-thinking it, but that's what I would do.  ?
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I bought a variety for each enclosure to give them a couple of options texture-wise. 

Over thinking it? Nope. ?

 
Synapze said:
Question: "Honey, would you rather have cheese puffs or pretzels?"

Response: "What kind of containers do they come in?" ?

Cheapest hobby I've ever had. 
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Lol ;)  I used to keep my mantids in containers like that, now I just keep them in leftover containers found at the dollar store (they have all sizes) and modified with some toole and hot glue to make a mantis habitat. Pretty easy!

- MantisGirl13

 

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