They are glass pebbles.

I bought it from a garden center looking like that..it's what all of the ones I've seen look like. I have it in a poor soil and stone mix.

Here's mine. I've tried to grow them several times in the past but to no avail. This time, I potted three together in a large round clay pot, sharing with one other plant, covered them with soil, topped them with sea glass and hardly have touched them again. They are in full sun for several hours. I've finally learned, my succulents do much better when I ignore them! Lol

Thanks for the advice, I repotted them and put them lower in the soil. I also made the mix mostly perelite....it sounds strange but the one Hawthoria I have that is mostly Perelite does stupid well. I'll post some pictures later and share progress.

Here is my repot

Welcome newcomer! I am also a nut about desert plants, probably because I live in Southern California. Anyway, I have always found the watering schedules for mesembs to be quite confusing. This post helped me out a lot http://cactiguide.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10071. I was in fact doing some things incorrectly, and was able to correct my mistakes in time to save the plant. I hope this helps. Keep in mind that he grows his plants outside in Southern California, so there may need to be some adjustment to suite your plants needs in your area. I suggest simply talking on forums with people growing mesembs in a roughly similar climate as your own, e.g. rainfall schedule, etc. Good luck!

KC....this is a post from over two years ago! I bet the plant in question died shortly afterwards??

Gill