fake plants

[playa0069u]

any issues with fake plants I should know about? I'm so tired of buying new plants every few months and having the plants in the cage look like crap all the time. I blame the thick mesh and inexpensive CF bulbs I use but honestly I'm over it. Im not spending 80 dollars on light bulbs to compensate for the thick mesh. This is the cage I have and I am going to make do with it for the time being. I live in florida so its already pretty humid. all my sheflerras have like five leaves on the top they look like palm trees lol.

 

[Chamlo]

Never had a problem with them. I can't sustain live plants so I use them. They just have to be secure and you may want to provide a food bowl for greens so your cham doesn't try to eat the fake leaves. It works for my cham

 

[Chamlo]

Also make sure clean them when clean the cage. They might get dirty. I just spray with a solution of white vinegar to kill bacteria and also wipe off fecal matter.

 

[carol5208]

Without grow lights the Sheffelera's don't do well, atleast not for me either. They do great outdoors of course. I am not sure where you are looking for lights, but you can get a 6500K grow light at home depot for under $10 if I recall. I use fake plants in my indoor cages and I have never had any issues.

 

[KatiLemons]

Maybe try switching to an umbrella plant. They are around 10 bucks are home depot and do really well without the 6500k light but they do REALLY well with it. They are sold really tall too so once cleaned and repotted you can through them right in the cage and you don't have to wait for them to get to the top.

 

[playa0069u]

lights

If i remember correctly I got 6500k bulbs but they are really low lumens. They are "energy saver bulbs" and they do not work as well. Maybe without the thick mesh they would work. I would like to keep a few live plants, will try an umbrella plant, or maybe rotate sheflerras, but for the time being I work 45 hours a week, and am a full time student. I do not want my chams quality of life to suffer because I am too busy to switch out his plants a re arrange his cage every week. Glad to hear that you guys have no issues with fake plants thank you

 

[playa0069u]

Maybe try switching to an umbrella plant. They are around 10 bucks are home depot and do really well without the 6500k light but they do REALLY well with it. They are sold really tall too so once cleaned and repotted you can through them right in the cage and you don't have to wait for them to get to the top.

Umbrella plant IS a dwarf sheflerra (arbicola) lol am I wrong?