Succulents problem

[bario1]

I was given these two succulents by a friend a couple of weeks ago. They were healthy looking, green, perfectly symmetrical, with the tips of the leaves all pointing upwards.
As you can see, the leaves are all bending down now and they don’t look happy.
I’ve got no idea how to look after them, how much light and water they need etc.
Any houseplant gurus out there?

[greenishfing]

They like plenty light. My sister grows lots of them and says she gives hers a soaking once a week or so and then let's them dry out. They hate to sit in water.

[Martin H]

Yes, they look like they are sulking from being watered too often. Put them on a sunny windowsill and leave them to dry out for a week or two.

[bario1]

Yes, they look like they are sulking from being watered too often. Put them on a sunny windowsill and leave them to dry out for a week or two.

Oops, I just have them a thorough soaking... they seemed dry to me.

[toomanytommytoes]

What kind of potting mix are they in? Succulents love a gritty, free draining soil, but most are sold in a very peaty mix which holds too much moisture and is hard to re-wet once dried out.

My cacti and succulents are all in a 50/50 mixture of cat litter and top soil, plus a touch of woody compost and coir. The cat litter is a type of molar clay which Tesco used to sell under their own brand until it was discontinued last year. Bonsai enthusiasts like to use it, too. Instead of cat litter you could use perlite or grit. I used to use pea gravel but it made the larger pots a bit too heavy.

[bario1]

I don’t know what potting mix they’re in, but they looked very healthy when they were given to me, so perfect in fact that they didn’t look real. Now they look real.

[DannyK]

They look like Echeveria agavoides. Nice plants but not my ideal choice as seem to be very sensitive to overwatering. Had a big one, now it small!
Watch out for lower leaves going mushy.
Knock them out of pot and check potting mix. As ttt says lot sold in crap mix. Lot of people treat plants as disposables but succulents (this includes cacti!) can live for decades. I use JI plus at least 25% grit or perlite. Some books give different mixes for different plants, this is 99% humbug! Epiphytes need lot less grit but I can still kill them by overwatering.
Try gasteria. They're bombproof and tolerate poor light.

[burnie]

Change in temperature/humidity can also make a plant sulk like that, might just need to be left to acclimatise a bit.