Could use some centerpiece tree/plant ideas

[Jpeff]

I think any cham is a chance with it interacting with people. I got lucky with 3 which don't mind people and one that does like anything to do with hands. My kids hand feed 3 with no problem. Other one will eat out of hand once bug gone head butts you and hisses. It's a tie with my yg parson and my veiled who more friendly. My parson is all about food if no food thinks she going outside. If I put hand in cage parson and veiled will just walk right on it with no sign of stress. She will even eat out of hand while holding her. But she a fatty for 11 months old 296 grams

 

[suprdude]

The good news is that almost any plant will do well in a vivarium

 

[Sonny13]

I have a really nice woody schefflera arboricola several years old, but like snitz says, they always seem to get massacred by pests indoors. Every winter it comes in and nearly dies, only to rise back up like Lazarus when I put it back outside for summer. Anytime I have had them in cages, even with excellent led plant bulbs, pests would wreck them.

This could be geographical, because I have 3 Schefllera's and non of has had pests so far and they're pretty sturdy and low maintenance. However, mine never go outside.

 

[jamest0o0]

I think any cham is a chance with it interacting with people. I got lucky with 3 which don't mind people and one that does like anything to do with hands. My kids hand feed 3 with no problem. Other one will eat out of hand once bug gone head butts you and hisses. It's a tie with my yg parson and my veiled who more friendly. My parson is all about food if no food thinks she going outside. If I put hand in cage parson and veiled will just walk right on it with no sign of stress. She will even eat out of hand while holding her. But she a fatty for 11 months old 296 grams

Hmmm idk, I think there are definitely species that you have an almost 0% chance of them willingly coming up to you or being okay with handling. Male parsons for some reason don’t seem that personable(that’s cool your female is!). My boy didn’t mind me being around, but was picky about feeding with others around and he didn’t walk up on your hand. My other friends with them had the same experience. I’m sure there’s exceptions, but not like with panthers where most are chill. Even veileds have a decent chance of being more open when compared to some of the Montanes.

The good news is that almost any plant will do well in a vivarium

I don’t think so

This could be geographical, because I have 3 Schefllera's and non of has had pests so far and they're pretty sturdy and low maintenance. However, mine never go outside.

Are you trying to say the US is filled with pests?!?!?! JK, lol you might be right, everyone here seems to struggle with schefflera no matter what we do. Most of mine will *survive*, but get beat up so badly until they go outside.

 

[Sonny13]

Are you trying to say the US is filled with pests?!?!

Depends on what you define as ‘pests’…..if it’s gun loaded, wild firing citizens?! Then yes, we don’t got them and the US filled with them.

 

[Beman]

With some suggestions from @snitz427 I’m working on branching out my one smaller ficus alii. And by smaller I mean only 4 feet tall with wood branches lol. I just worry the branches may be just a bit too high on this one to fit nicely in a reptibreeze, but maybe I can plant it a little lower

Is it 4 foot with the pot or without? You could always do a deep basin for the cage to sit on and plant down into that... Then have 4 foot of screen on top. You know what I mean? I see it in my head but I do not know if I am making any sense. lol

 

[jamest0o0]

Depends on what you define as ‘pests’…..if it’s gun loaded, wild firing citizens?! Then yes, we don’t got them and the US filled with them.

Hahaha, that’s part of the magic over here.

On a side note, I’ve always wondered how Europeans see us over here. My wife is Croatian and her cousin that visited found it pretty wild that everyone here has guns.

 

[jamest0o0]

Is it 4 foot with the pot or without? You could always do a deep basin for the cage to sit on and plant down into that... Then have 4 foot of screen on top. You know what I mean? I see it in my head but I do not know if I am making any sense. lol

Yup I know what you mean! The tree itself is 4 feet, but I still think your idea may be what I do to add some space. My only thing to overcome with that would be maybe doing a clear part of the substrate bin so the ground is visible. I like looking at the leaf litter and some of the ground cover plants/whatever other things I add. My old enclosure had a big hollowed out log at the bottom and you’d see all kinds of critters on it and the creeping fig and moss would grow across it.

 

[Beman]

Yup I know what you mean! The tree itself is 4 feet, but I still think your idea may be what I do to add some space. My only thing to overcome with that would be maybe doing a clear part of the substrate bin so the ground is visible. I like looking at the leaf litter and some of the ground cover plants/whatever other things I add. My old enclosure had a big hollowed out log at the bottom and you’d see all kinds of critters on it and the creeping fig and moss would grow across it.

How hard would it be to make the bin entirely out of a thick clear acrylic? Then you could view the entire thing... Maybe even have the top 6 inches of the bin be clear of dirt so that would give you an extra 6 inches of height for the plant...

 

[jamest0o0]

How hard would it be to make the bin entirely out of a thick clear acrylic? Then you could view the entire thing... Maybe even have the top 6 inches of the bin be clear of dirt so that would give you an extra 6 inches of height for the plant...

We think alike! Would be kind of cool to see the layers of substrate too eh? I thought maybe doing a wood bin(this will all be attached to my stand too) with the front cut out and replaced with acrylic. I was thinking of making my own fish tank anyway .

I have a bunch of crazy plans for this set up as it’ll probably be my only critters until we move to a larger house or get an addition(which will be a while)… so I want to really make it a long term hobby that I can let my perfectionism run wild with lol.

 

[Beman]

We think alike! Would be kind of cool to see the layers of substrate too eh? I thought maybe doing a wood bin(this will all be attached to my stand too) with the front cut out and replaced with acrylic. I was thinking of making my own fish tank anyway .

I have a bunch of crazy plans for this set up as it’ll probably be my only critters until we move to a larger house or get an addition(which will be a while)… so I want to really make it a long term hobby that I can let my perfectionism run wild with lol.

Ohhhhh heck yeah... I can totally visualize this... So cut out a window on the front sitting above the clay ball layer? So you can completely seal the lower few inches and up all the wood sides with something like flex seal. Then lay in a thick acrylic sheet. I don't know how you would attach it though so that it would not leak... hmmm

 

[jamest0o0]

Ohhhhh heck yeah... I can totally visualize this... So cut out a window on the front sitting above the clay ball layer? So you can completely seal the lower few inches and up all the wood sides with something like flex seal. Then lay in a thick acrylic sheet. I don't know how you would attach it though so that it would not leak... hmmm

Yup! I wasn’t sure if I should show the drainage layer or hide it? I also thought maybe I could put a wood panel in front of it that would be easily removable.

I was thinking pond liner to hold the substrate within the wood box and then silicone it around the acrylic panel, which would also be siliconed in place(like a fish tank would be).

 

[Sonny13]

Hahaha, that’s part of the magic over here.

On a side note, I’ve always wondered how Europeans see us over here. My wife is Croatian and her cousin that visited found it pretty wild that everyone here has guns.

Now you know
3/4 of the news from the States we get over here, are about massive shooting incidents or the weapon industry lobby. But, still we got the same issues here and we can´t buy guns legally, but those shootings are all drug / criminal related.

 

[Beman]

Yup! I wasn’t sure if I should show the drainage layer or hide it? I also thought maybe I could put a wood panel in front of it that would be easily removable.

I was thinking pond liner to hold the substrate within the wood box and then silicone it around the acrylic panel, which would also be siliconed in place(like a fish tank would be).

Yeah I am only good when it comes to hooking things together with screws and zipties lol. So I won't be much help.

 

[jamest0o0]

Now you know
3/4 of the news from the States we get over here, are about massive shooting incidents or the weapon industry lobby. But, still we got the same issues here and we can´t buy guns legally, but those shootings are all drug / criminal related.

lol our news is mostly shootings or political one way or another. We just have so much craziness here. Hard to even know where to begin with it all heh. I still love it though

Yeah I am only good when it comes to hooking things together with screws and zipties lol. So I won't be much help.

Lol that’s pretty much me too… I’m going to have to do some good planning.

 

[Beman]

lol our news is mostly shootings or political one way or another. We just have so much craziness here. Hard to even know where to begin with it all heh. I still love it though




Lol that’s pretty much me too… I’m going to have to do some good planning.

Well tag me when you finish it... I wanna see lol

 

[Lindasjackson]

Are you talking about building like a box that your cage will sit on?

 

[Sonny13]

Are you talking about building like a box that your cage will sit on?

If a remember it correctly, he already had such type of indoor enclosure. Have seen picture of it, 4ft wide Dragon Strand enclosure on a wooden planter. It was beautiful. Didn’t you @jamest0o0 ?! Or is my mind playing tricks on me

 

[Hawaiian Rose]

Just finished building my XL reptibreeze, going to start work on building the substrate tray+stand soon. The idea is to make this enclosure a work of art. I’ll be replacing some of the screen with plexiglass along with a bunch of other things.

So something I’m considering ATM is what tree to use as the main perch because that will decide how deep my substrate tray needs to be. I’m going to try and do this without needing any actual branches going across to give a more natural look, which means I’ll need something with a lot of sturdy branches. Almost like a larger bonsai type that would fit nicely in an XL reptibreeze.

I was thinking of a ficus alii, but the ones I have are too large to fit in an enclosure. It would probably take a long time to find one or grow one out with sufficient branches. Would love to hear any thoughts from some plant nerds. Maybe even a shrub of some sort that could manage to survive inside??? I’ll be using jungle dawn spots(which I have) or if necessary, I’d buy an even better light. Luckily, the room is also pretty well lit with multiple windows. My tropical plant collection does fairly well over the winter in there without any supplemental light.

I saw this before and I clipped a 2 ft. Ficus (I have so many, sorry can't be more specific) branch, put rooting powder on it and am waiting for roots. If it works, maybe you can get the perfect height centerpiece. I'll lyk if/when I get roots. Good luck.

 

[jamest0o0]

If a remember it correctly, he already had such type of indoor enclosure. Have seen picture of it, 4ft wide Dragon Strand enclosure on a wooden planter. It was beautiful. Didn’t you @jamest0o0 ?! Or is my mind playing tricks on me

Thanks sonny, yes I did and I miss it so much. My plan is to make this an upgraded(but slightly smaller) version of my old parsons enclosure. I had so much fun working on this . The next will be even better!