Enclosure Progress and Questions

[UrbanChameleon]

Hey everyone! So I've been working on Bodhi's new cage. It's an LLL cage, sitting atop shelving that will allow drainage. I drilled small holes in the PVC floor, so hopefully it will all run smoothly. So far I have repotted my Umbrella Tree in organic soil and added rocks on top. I've been extremely frustrated trying to figure out how to place and secure the vines. I ended up using fishing line, and secured them to the frame as to put less pressure on the screen. The vines are kind of centered in the middle of the cage. I might be adding one more once I get a Ficus and Pothos replanted. So there will be more foliage on the bottom and top.

Now my concern is climbing space. I don't feel like I can afford to buy more expensive Exo Terra vines, and I don't think I can get them the way I want them. The only other option I can think of is wooden dowels. I've read that you can secure them with push pins. Bodhi is around 6 months. He is still pretty small but is growing fast. I'm not sure which size dowels I should get. My main concern is the dowels turning while he is on them. Would they have to be tightly secured? I'm thinking I could drill a small hole on each side and secure them with the fishing line. If the turning is not a problem, then I wouldn't care to use the push pins. He really needs some horizontal climbing space. I know a lot of you have done this, so I figured you could give me your two cents. Also, will I need to put anything on the dowels so they don't mold? They are really cheap, so obviously they can be replaced easily. Any advice on climbing space is welcome. The Umbrella tree takes up a good part of the space.And I'm hoping the Ficus will be tall. I see a lot of trimming in my future. I was planning on hanging the Pothos but that doesn't look like it's going to happen. So it will likely be resting on the floor. I'll probably be blowing the forum up this week. Right now I just want to get this climbing situation figured out. Thanks guys.

 

[UrbanChameleon]

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[Chamifornia]

Go get a few braches from outside that can work for the vertical climbing spots and use those exo vines for horizontal climbing. I just use twist ties to tie all of my branches. It may seem alot for the exo vines but they are worth it and you really don't need that many.

 

[brandon1]

I know you said that you don't think you can afford to buy any more Exo Terra Vines, but if you could you should order a piece of Large Sandblasted Grapewood from LLL(it's the 24-40" size if I'm not mistaken). I've got one in a 24" x 24" x 48" screen cage and the grapewood creates a whole level of horizontal climbing all on it's own. And I think you should leave the Exo Terra Vines the way they are, it looks sweet how you've set them up; however, I would swap the fishing line for twist ties and do the same for the Grapewood like chamifornia said. BTW I wouldn't worry too much about using the twist ties right through the screen and not attaching to the frame; I've had a piece of grapewood and vines like that in my screen cage with twist ties for around 6 months, and the screen looks fine.

 

[UrbanChameleon]

Thanks for the input guys. I actually own 6 of the Exo Terra vines. Two of which are the old version. They fall apart easily so I won't be using them. The large vines are $35 in my area. So I've spent upwards of $100 just on vines. But the main reason is that I've put about as many as I could in there. There isn't much space for the extra one I own.

The problem with twist ties is that they don't fit through the screen. I've been saving them for a long time all for this purpose. I tried the smallest ones I have, but they wouldn't go through. The fishing line seems to work alright. I tied them around quite a few times. I get paid in a week so I will be buying the grape wood from LLL. I've seen a few cages with them on here. They look amazing! I did buy some dowels. I'm getting ready to cut them to size. I figured I could try them out until the grape wood gets shipped. So if there is anyone out there who's used the dowels, I would still like to know if they turn with Chameleon on them.

I got my Ficus in today. It's fairly small at the moment so hopefully it will grow. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about the open space near the top. He might have to deal with it until the plants grow. He really does need more foliage but doesn't mind chilling out towards the middle in his Umbrella. He got to play in there for a couple of hours while I cleaned his cage.

***So if anyone can tell me about the dowels (even though they are temporary) it would be much appreciated. Also, I would gladly take suggestions for the top of his cage. Do you think it will be okay with just the vines up there for now? He has plenty of foliage, just not at the top. He does have plenty of climbing space up there so he can bask (thanks to the vines).

 

[brandon1]

Thanks for the input guys. I actually own 6 of the Exo Terra vines. Two of which are the old version. They fall apart easily so I won't be using them. The large vines are $35 in my area. So I've spent upwards of $100 just on vines. But the main reason is that I've put about as many as I could in there. There isn't much space for the extra one I own.

The problem with twist ties is that they don't fit through the screen. I've been saving them for a long time all for this purpose. I tried the smallest ones I have, but they wouldn't go through. The fishing line seems to work alright. I tied them around quite a few times. I get paid in a week so I will be buying the grape wood from LLL. I've seen a few cages with them on here. They look amazing! I did buy some dowels. I'm getting ready to cut them to size. I figured I could try them out until the grape wood gets shipped. So if there is anyone out there who's used the dowels, I would still like to know if they turn with Chameleon on them.

I got my Ficus in today. It's fairly small at the moment so hopefully it will grow. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about the open space near the top. He might have to deal with it until the plants grow. He really does need more foliage but doesn't mind chilling out towards the middle in his Umbrella. He got to play in there for a couple of hours while I cleaned his cage.

***So if anyone can tell me about the dowels (even though they are temporary) it would be much appreciated. Also, I would gladly take suggestions for the top of his cage. Do you think it will be okay with just the vines up there for now? He has plenty of foliage, just not at the top. He does have plenty of climbing space up there so he can bask (thanks to the vines).

If you put the dowels up there to add some horizontal highways for him he should be fine, or just making the vines a little more horizontal till the Grapewood comes. I made the mistake of buying a big pot of a bunch of small Umbrella Plants in hopes of them growing pretty tall before he got too big, but instead he is now really too big to climb on them, and I think it would take nearly forever for them to grow to the top of his cage. Going to get a 4' tall Umbrella Plant soon. But what I do have at the top is a piece of Grapewood and Exo Terra Vines and he seems to like them just fine, so I think he should be alright, but if you could find a way to have at least 1 plant up there I'm sure he would be happier (maybe leave one plant on the bottom and raise the other up on a platform, or keep both on the bottom and hang a Pothos from the top of the cage). BTW if you like using the fishing line and it works for you keep doing it, but just a tip on the twist ties: use the ones that come off of a loaf of bread; they go through the mesh much easier, but when I did use other twist ties I just stretched the hole a bit bigger on the cage for them to fit. Doesn't really hurt anything on the cage. Hope all this helps