What plants to avoid in a vivarium?

[Nafun]

I'm getting a garter this summer, I want to create a natural habitat for it out of an old 29 gallon tall aquarium I have.

I want to use native plants to populate the terrarium, but I was wondering if anyone knows of any plants that are a no-no? What plants have oils or chemicals that could harm the snake?

[ConcinusMan]

I have to tell you it would be a PITA to keep native plants alive AND keep garters happy in the same tank. There are some tropical house plants that are suitable however. I just prefer to use real-looking fake ferns and other fake plants. You can create a viv that looks very natural and real without actually having live plants but seriously, there are a few tropicals that will do OK under garter snake conditions but I don't know about native. Seems to me like it wouldn't work. My local dollar store has fake plants that look very real and nice and I don't have to worry about keeping plants happy and alive. I only have to consider the snakes comfort and combined with a nice log and some fir bark/coconut fiber substrate, it looks very natural. The snakes don't care if the plants are fake. They don't seem to know the difference.

[infernalis]

CM has a point, most of the native Ohio plants will grow so fast they will "choke" the viv in a hurry.

Because the seasons are so short, most plants in the northeast grow rapidly.