I use fake ones and just clean them periodically, they are kindof woven into the side of the cage and my sugars will run though them now and then. Some times I'll throw a few toy rings on the leaves here and there, so they can hunt them down and run around the cage with them. I don't know what kind of plants, if live, would be toxic to them or not, or if they would hold up to little suggie claws all over them.