Is it ok to put real leaves in viv?

[Eggplant]

Yesterday I put in a lot of green plastic leafy stuff and Brent (my hognose) seemed to like it a lot. She poked her head out of the hide she was in and looked around for several minutes before coming out and slithering all over the new plastic plants.

I think it'd be great to have some real leaves (nothing actually growing) in there. What type of leaves are ok and how thoroughly should I clean them before putting them in?

[Tsubaki]

Picking clean leaves and drying them yourself would be the cleanest way to go, nice big leaves.. But you'd have to accept that the snake might crumble them :)

[Bandit]

Yeah I usually look for leaves that are intact and don't have anything noticeable on them. I put them in a bag and throw them in the freezer for a couple of days and then put them in.

[SSSSnakes]

Leaves, branches and rocks are all fine to put in the enclosure. There is no reason to try and clean them. If there are any bugs on them, they will not hurt the snake.

[Eggplant]

Thanks for the info everyone! I saw that cedar, pine and redwood shavings are toxic(?) to reptiles; are there other plants I should watch out for?

[Kuamata]

Here's a complete list for you. I often refer to lists for my exotics, as there are far too many dangerous species of plants for me to remember. I learned oak's tannin is dangerous, since oak is abundant here, however, when inquiring on my avian forum, members said that if you let it weather for a while outside(detached from the tree, ofcourse), the tannin will seep to the surface and can be washed away either by yourself or by rainfall at that point. Others argued about it, so, take that advise with a grain of salt.

Zutrition Reptiles and Harmful Plants (http://www.zutrition.com/reptiles-and-harmful-plants/)

[Obsidian_Dragon]

I've tossed maple leaves in both my enclosures. Sometimes the crinkle of leaves is the only sign I get that my garter was out, and fled at my arrival. Haha.

[Eggplant]

Okay thanks everyone!

[jjhill001]

I think that tannin from oak tree probably comes aquarium people. Tannins can only come out of wood if they are soaking wet. Even then you'd only see it if it was in actual water. If you are that worried about it you can just soak the piece of wood in water and change the water out a few times and then just let it dry. It's been a while since I even considered doing a fish tank (decided against it) so I may be mistaken, but all wood has tannin in it, and I wouldn't see why oak trees (humans and other animals can eat acorns) herps, birds and bugs live in them, would be more worrisome than other woods. In fact if I remember correctly the tannins weren't even dangerous to the fish especially for tropical acidic water fish. It just makes the water brown.

[Kuamata]

I think it's more of a toxic if ingested kind of thing. I'm not a fish person, so I dunno how they work. :/