# Rabbits Foot Fern/Kangaroo Paw fern



## RyanD (Jul 18, 2006)

Does anyone have pictures of either of these ferns in their tanks?

I am pretty sure I want to put the rabbits foot in my 29 gallon. I also have the Kangaroo Paw, but its pretty big. How big do either of these get?

I did a search for the rabbits foot, but didn't find much info. Let me know how fast it grows, likes alot of light... etc. 

Thanks!


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## DartMan (Nov 29, 2005)

Ryan,

Well, I can't speak yet, but I just planted a piece last night in a new 10 gallon horizontal viv. I'll be sure to post back how it works out.


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## Guest (Jul 27, 2006)

*rabbit'sfoot*

I have millions of these..been growing them for a while and I have several starts in my vivarium..they grow slow, medium lighting, can take almost any range of temperature (I grow the parent plants outside and the temp ranges from 20 to 120 f her in Fresno.) They like it moist but not swampy..misting works great for them. i don't have a clue as to wether frogs will harm the plants but I don't see it happening


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## DartMan (Nov 29, 2005)

Bridget,

Thanks for the Info. on the Rabbits Foot!!

Also, welcome aboard the Dendroboard! I stopped by your website, it is very nice. Your prices on your teils are great, nice aviary, too.


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## Grassypeak (Jun 14, 2005)

Ryan,

Rabbit’s Foot is great. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it put out fronds more than 8” long. The one problem with this plant is that it is a scale insect magnet. Scales are very damaging to this plant. If you use it make sure to thoroughly inspect all plants that will share the viv with it. I bleach just about everything that goes into my viv including plants. I’ve used 10% bleach for 10 minutes on Rabbit’s Foot without problems. The leaves may die but that is not a problem. 

The Kangaroo’s Paw is a different story. This plant is a monster! It grows quickly, even in shade. I’ve seen it growing in direct sun as well. It was definitely trying to lake over the pathway that it was growing next to. It will quickly grow to fill just about any enclosure that you would put darts in. If you like the over grown look go for it, but otherwise you may want to avoid it. If you like pruning, you could just cut the leaves off and let the photosynthetic rhizome crawl around the tank, but if you stop pruning it will not be long before it starts producing foot long leaves on 15” stems!


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## DartMan (Nov 29, 2005)

Thanks Chris for the info!! It's great having you "Bio" guys around. :lol:

Interesting thing about your bleach technique. I never gave that that much thought. I usually just rinse under tap water a few seconds and proceed on to planting it. Hmmmmmmmm???


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## Grassypeak (Jun 14, 2005)

Thanks for the complement Lon.

The way I see it, every living thing is, in fact, a system of living organisms. These associated organisms can be beneficial, parasitic, or simply taking up space. I like to minimize the nasties with bleach and antihelmetics. The down side to this is that I also minimize the beneficial symbionts. 

In short I hate scales :x !


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## Guest (Jul 27, 2006)

I've not seen scale on any of my rabbit's foots (had 3 years horticulture and yeah I know the signs) It sure won't hurt to bleach them at the ratio you gave, i'd rinse them well afterwards with clear water though. You can soak them in the bleach solution for around 10 minutes and rinse in clear water. the rysomes (white fluffy above ground roots) will hide tiny mites and scale so you would have to look closely. You can also use a chlorhexidrine solution (Nolvasans 2% ) safer for the plants and any animals. I use this around my birds, turtles and bearded dragons with no problems.


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