The reptiles and amphibians at Reptile Gardens are getting into the spirit of the holidays with the sixth annual Jingle in the Jungle.

The Sky Dome that houses a mix of creatures from snakes and lizards to turtles and crocodiles is decked out with festive lights, holiday music and flowering plants that have become synonymous with Christmas scenery. The animals don't seem to notice, but visitors surely do.

David Yahne, chief of horticulture at Reptile Gardens, said the staff thought it would be nice to bring all the color and flora seen in the summer months into the dead of winter.

"We wanted to have a place where there's warmth and color and is very pretty when we have this very cold South Dakota winter. We fill the dome with all different sorts of flowers and poinsettias for the holidays to provide something different," he said.

The sky dome stays heated during the winter, he said, and rarely drops below 50 degrees. "There is a very high amount of humidity in there, which is needed for the reptiles and amphibians as well as the plants," he said.

Yahne said he tries to make sure the holiday exhibit is different every year. This year's display is a combination of nearly 2,000 individually potted flowers that include orchids, amaryllises and the most classic of Christmas flowers - poinsettias.

Fortunately, you do not need to have your own private jungle to house these beautiful tropical holiday plants.

Chris Shreves, perennial department manager at Jolly Lane Greenhouse in Rapid City, said keeping seasonal types of flowers is easy.

"The biggest downfall for most of them is people care for them too much," Shreves said. "A little tough love goes a long ways."

He said orchids, amaryllises and poinsettias do not like to be over-watered. "Most people fuss over them too long and too much."

Yahne said orchids are very easy to keep. He has four or five of them at home. He said people need to make sure the plant receives adequate light and a good amount of water when it is in its bloom time.

"Otherwise they do really well in-house, and they can take a dry-out spell, as long as they do eventually get some water," he said.

Certain varieties are easier to take care of than others for beginners, according to Yahne, and blooms can last three to six months.

An amaryllis is easier still, Yahne said. "You buy the bulb, and it blooms. It's a really, really easy and carefree flower that is known as a holiday plant, too."

He said provided the right elements - adequate light and proper watering - an amaryllis can last nearly a month. If you start with an amaryllis ready-to-bloom bulb kit, you will see growth within a couple of days to a week. It all depends on the bulb. A healthy bulb can flower in less than two weeks, he said.

South Dakotans cannot treat an amaryllis as the perennial that it is because of the harsh winters, but it is a fun annual in the house.

"It has that huge gorgeous trumpet flower, and that's really all it is. It really has no foliage. They are prized for those gigantic flowers that come in so many different colors and so many hybridized varieties," Yahne said. Some even come in polka dots, he said.

Shreves agrees that this flower puts on a good show and can bloom more than once.

"When they're done blooming, they will lose their foliage, and the best thing to do is un-plant them," Shreves said. "Dig them up, store the bulb in a paper bag and pot them up next fall."

Shreves added that Christmas cacti also bloom very easily and can grow to become fairly large plants. He said they like a high, bright location, preferably in a southern window. They also need to dry out between waterings. "It's another tough love situation. Look at the beauty, but don't fuss over them."

He said orchids, amaryllis plants and Christmas cacti can be kept well past the holiday season, but both Yahne and Shreves agree that the poinsettia plant is too difficult to maintain year-round, and even the best attempts to keep them prove to be disappointing.

"They are actually really hard to get to bloom again unless you have greenhouse conditions," Shreves said. "We start planting those in July from cuttings. They take up an entire greenhouse at our Box Elder location."

Yahne said given the right conditions, poinsettias can last a month or longer. "They don't tolerate drying out at all and will drop their leaves. If they've dried out even one time, they are not going to look their best again."

The red leaves are called the flower bracts. The actual flower on the poinsettia is the little yellow tiny flowers at the very center of the red bracts. Yahne said he has known some people who have kept their one Christmas poinsettia all year long. The plant loses its red flower bracts, but it will stay alive. Once that happens, it is possible to get the red bracts back, but it's not easy.

"There's a period where the plants have to go through a certain amount of darkness and then light and then fertilizer. It's really more of a pain than anything. It's better to get new plants. The plant really is meant to be just a seasonal plant," he said.

While poinsettias are not poisonous, they do have a toxin in the milky sap that oozes when a leaf breaks. Yahne said that sap can cause an allergic reaction.

"If I get too much on my skin, I tend to break out with a small rash. It can affect anyone. Some people have a higher resistance to it," he said.

The plant has no effect on the little lizards, finches and doves that live in the Reptile Gardens sky dome and that can be seen darting in and out of the holiday display.

"We make sure we don't put anything in there that will eat any of the plants. Otherwise I would have that problem year-round," Yahne said.

If you have pets at home, Dr. Curtis Stonecipher, a veterinarian at Dakota Hills Veterinary Clinic in Rapid City, recommends keeping poinsettias in a safe location.

"Poinsettias are considered toxic to animals. Cats seem to like chewing on those at times, so it's something you need to keep in mind. Given how common poinsettias are this time of year, you need to really keep an eye on them," he said.

Yahne said that the last two weeks of the year that Reptile Gardens is open, the staff really tries to focus on the plants.

"We focus on our animals and our shows all year long. We want to give this time to the plants and have all the plant lovers in the community come out and enjoy them," he said.