# Nepenthes ampullaria



## gotham229 (Dec 30, 2006)

Does anyone know if these can be planted in a vivarium? If so how? Thank you for the help.


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## carbonetc (Oct 13, 2008)

I don't know that I'd recommend any nepenthes in a frog tank, nor in a small vivarium (ampullaria does more scrambling than vining, but it still gets huge), but you'd want to plant it somewhere where the nutrient load in the soil will stay very low and where the soil will never dry out. So you'd want to put it in a planter or a basket of some kind so you can keep its roots separate. Long fiber sphagnum is a great medium, and you could use that by itself but it's helpful to add a little orchid bark and a little peat moss. And water it with distilled or RO water rather than from the tap.


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## Swords (Mar 4, 2009)

Actually I am going to be building a vivarium wall unit containing four large vivariums for Nepenthes and orchids as soon as I get my room refloored, painted and tiled in Feb/March. Each tank will be naturally planted and completely automated for rain lights, humidity, temps, etc. Two will be for Highland plants (cool growers) and two for lowland plants. I will have an N. ampullaria "harlequin" in one of the lowland chambers.

Though I will _probably_ not have any frogs I will be housing my Anole in one of the lowland tanks. If you are just getting setup use shredded cypress mulch and ground up Long Fiber Sphagnum Moss ("orchid moss" at Lowes) to make a very fast draining water retaining, air infused soil. avoid using peat for Nepenthes at all. The more you treat them like orchids the happier they'll be.

Ampullaria is a cool plant with a neat growth pattern. If you allow the main vine to grow and before long the ground will start to fill with tiny plants with large pitchers, it eventually looks like the ground is carpeted with pitchers. As long as the main vine is not cut the carpet will continue to spread. If you cut the main vine off at the base one of the smaller plants will start to grow and the carpet will stop spreading for a while.


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## Deli (Jun 24, 2008)

hehe... I first read _ampullacea _, not ampullaria. xD

I *was* going to say ampullacea does great in vivs, I've got one thriving on a slab of cork bark in my vert. But its a brom, not a pitcher plant/


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## HunterB (Apr 28, 2009)

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/plants/17044-carnivorous-plants-dendrobates-vivarium-guide.html


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## rattler_mt (Apr 15, 2005)

neat to see the guide i wrote up 3 years ago still gets referenced to.......main thing with amps is they are only happy vining once they get mature.....you get the nice carpet of pitchers on the ground aswell but as soon as you cut the vine another starts growing and the mature leaves that go with this vine can be pretty large for a viv plant......that said its one of the few neps that should tolerate a fairly soggy soil ok as it grows in swamp forests....


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## carbonetc (Oct 13, 2008)

I've been shopping around for nepenthes species that I've never tried growing before and N. campanulata actually sounds like it would make a very good viv plant, to my surprise. I didn't really think anything would fit the bill. I guess it's worth a shot, if you can find it.


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## HunterB (Apr 28, 2009)

rattler_mt said:


> neat to see the guide i wrote up 3 years ago still gets referenced to.......main thing with amps is they are only happy vining once they get mature.....you get the nice carpet of pitchers on the ground aswell but as soon as you cut the vine another starts growing and the mature leaves that go with this vine can be pretty large for a viv plant......that said its one of the few neps that should tolerate a fairly soggy soil ok as it grows in swamp forests....


if you look at any of my posts in any thread on carnivorous plants in the tank i always post that thread - its filed under my Dendroboard References file


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