Ficus Tree Maintenance

BPal75

New Member
For those of you with ficus in your chams cage, how do you maintain them? I can't seem to keep them alive in the cage, they always start dropping leaves and getting white spots. I assume either too hot (getting burned from the heat lamp) and probably too much water (from the mistings, water drippers). When I take them out of the cage and just place them in the house by a window, they do great. I read that ficus likes to dry out between waterings and it's easy to over-water them, but how do you avoid that in a cage that is constantly getting water? Any suggestions would be helpful. I really wanted to use live plants in my cham cage but I can't seem to keep anything alive and growing, so right now the poor guy is only getting fake plants.
 
That's a bummer. I specifically bought a ficus benjamina because it was recommended on this site as a good plant for a cham's cage. In fact it is the first plant listed as a center piece plant on the list you linked to. Perhaps it should be removed from that PDF if it's not a great plant to use.
 
For those of you with ficus in your chams cage, how do you maintain them? I can't seem to keep them alive in the cage, they always start dropping leaves and getting white spots. I assume either too hot (getting burned from the heat lamp) and probably too much water (from the mistings, water drippers). When I take them out of the cage and just place them in the house by a window, they do great. I read that ficus likes to dry out between waterings and it's easy to over-water them, but how do you avoid that in a cage that is constantly getting water? Any suggestions would be helpful. I really wanted to use live plants in my cham cage but I can't seem to keep anything alive and growing, so right now the poor guy is only getting fake plants.
I have that same problem and I am going to try to put a grow light in there and maybe that will help. They do need live plants in there and I hope that a grow light will be beneficial, I would hate to lose my little ficus tree.
 
That's a bummer. I specifically bought a ficus benjamina because it was recommended on this site as a good plant for a cham's cage. In fact it is the first plant listed as a center piece plant on the list you linked to. Perhaps it should be removed from that PDF if it's not a great plant to use.
Um it is not that it isnt a good plant to use... Plants need light. There are some that do better in cages that do not have plant lights. There are some that tolerate wet conditions.. There are some that tolerate dryer conditions. Knowing the cage environment that your working with and what you need to provide for plants to thrive is important. It is a part of the total husbandry. If your just running your T5HO UVB fixture and the heat lamp then pothos are going to be one of the few plants that will deal with low light like that. Most keepers run plant lights. Not only does it brighten a cage up but it provides the lighting the plant needs to grow and thrive.
 
I LITTERALY just got this today and its too fuck1ng big for my new cage ?‍♂️?☠?‍♂️?☠?‍♂️?☠☠☠ but i can still use it for free range room, just need yo keep the light on it ?
 

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I have heard/read that weeping figs will drop all of their leaves when placed in a cham cage and regrow them once it has adjusted. I have yet to find one for sale near me, so I can’t test this theory. I do know that one of my hibiscus dropped what was left of it’s leaves (after being ravaged by Stella eating them) and is trying to grow new ones...if Stella will just stop eating them.
 
I have a small maybe 2ft tall ficus in Jango’s cage... it is doing great under SANSI grow lights. Maybe a grow light would be goo. I also have a 5ft tall ficus for free ranging
 
I read that ficus likes to dry out between waterings and it's easy to over-water them, but how do you avoid that in a cage that is constantly getting water? Any suggestions would be helpful.
Protect the soil with a shield to prevent misting water from over-watering, and water that plant only when needed. AFAIK, misting the leaves shouldn't be a problem.
 
Thank you all for the tips. Perhaps I will try a shield and/or add a grow light. As of now I was just using the UVB bulb and heat lamp, but my cham cage is near a window so does get some indirect sunlight as well, which I was hoping would help, but perhaps it's not enough.
 
There are alot of great plants & small trees that thrive in cham vivs under lights.....for some reason the population bashes them then just reverts to pothos and scheffellara......
 
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