New friend

[Eileen]

Wow so update on that, quicker than I thought! I just looked and the shooting gallery is completely empty. She had 6 crickets in there. As I'm looking, I notice I can't find her and after a minute I see her slinking down the schefflera trunk towards a single escaped cricket and I watched her snipe him up. Unless the other 5 are hiding really well, I think she got them all lol.

Random question, I know we typically stay away from substrate and things at the bottom due to impact risk of sticks and the like if consumed by chams. The cricket she just ate was in the soil of the schefflera and I think she got a decent bit of dirt in her mouthful. Any thoughts on that? I imagine this happens frequently in the wild but just wondering!

Here she is pondering the taste of the dirt she just ate

I like your piece of driftwood. It's similar to the one I have! What kind of a plants is that at the bottom?.. is that the one she ate the cricket from? I'm looking at it close and I don't see any vermiculite or chunks of bark or anything, so I think she'll be ok, but once again I am brand new here as well, so if that's wrong someone please speak up! I have some flat river stones in all my bigger pots even though I did change out the dirt so there's nothing in there she could get in trouble with.. but the smaller pots just have dirt. I know what you mean about the plants growing in. I can't wait for all mine to do that too! Do you have a grow light?
I just moved Jade into her new home yesterday. She's so little in her huge home.

 

[cornelius.rex]

I like your piece of driftwood. It's similar to the one I have! What kind of a plants is that at the bottom?.. is that the one she ate the cricket from? I'm looking at it close and I don't see any vermiculite or chunks of bark or anything, so I think she'll be ok, but once again I am brand new here as well, so if that's wrong someone please speak up! I have some flat river stones in all my bigger pots even though I did change out the dirt so there's nothing in there she could get in trouble with.. but the smaller pots just have dirt. I know what you mean about the plants growing in. I can't wait for all mine to do that too! Do you have a grow light?
I just moved Jade into her new home yesterday. She's so little in her huge home.

I really like the driftwood too actually, had to give her a way up and down! It is a schefflera alpina (mountain/hearty version of schefflera arbicola/umbrella tree plant). I'm not convinced on it and may end up replacing it for her, but she does seem to like it lol. It is the one she ate the cricket from, no pebbles or anything just potting soil. I like the idea of putting the river stones that's a great idea I will have to steal no growlight... yet.. another good idea haha.

I love your enclosure! Big fan of the natural branches

 

[cornelius.rex]

Just keep an eye on her with eating the soil. She should be ok. Maybe cover the soil with 2in size river rocks if she continues. What a darling, she looks to love her new home.

Thank you!! The river rocks is a great idea

 

[Eileen]

I really like the driftwood too actually, had to give her a way up and down! It is a schefflera alpina (mountain/hearty version of schefflera arbicola/umbrella tree plant). I'm not convinced on it and may end up replacing it for her, but she does seem to like it lol. It is the one she ate the cricket from, no pebbles or anything just potting soil. I like the idea of putting the river stones that's a great idea I will have to steal no growlight... yet.. another good idea haha.

I love your enclosure! Big fan of the natural branches

I worked on those branches for 2 weeks. And I only learned about the grow light here a couple weeks ago. If you type just about anything into the search button here, you can read all kinds of conversations and learn stuff!
I am not familiar with that kind of schefflera.. I thought it looked like it had bigger leaves. It's really pretty.. I'd keep it! Just keep adding more stuff as you get it. You have the list of plants we can use?
Cornelea is such a pretty girl. Have you tried letting her eat a worm out of your hand yet? It is wonderful!!

 

[Gloriawood]

I just wanna throw an idea out for you guys. I can’t grow plants no matter how hard I try. So to supplement that and his eating them, I took all my old plastic ones and attached to the outside to give him more coverage. This might be a good option for you while you wait for things to grow and fill in

 

[Eileen]

I just wanna throw an idea out for you guys. I can’t grow plants no matter how hard I try. So to supplement that and his eating them, I took all my old plastic ones and attached to the outside to give him more coverage. This might be a good option for you while you wait for things to grow and fill in

Hey now I might do something like this down around the nesting bin... for her privacy. That looks nice. I would never be able to put that all around the whole enclosure though, or even at the top, because my husband loves to look in there and watch her from his lazyboy chair all day long. Its so much fun trying to find where she decides to perch. But that's a really good idea for a use of those fake plants.

 

[MzLaurie]

Wow so update on that, quicker than I thought! I just looked and the shooting gallery is completely empty. She had 6 crickets in there. As I'm looking, I notice I can't find her and after a minute I see her slinking down the schefflera trunk towards a single escaped cricket and I watched her snipe him up. Unless the other 5 are hiding really well, I think she got them all lol.

Random question, I know we typically stay away from substrate and things at the bottom due to impact risk of sticks and the like if consumed by chams. The cricket she just ate was in the soil of the schefflera and I think she got a decent bit of dirt in her mouthful. Any thoughts on that? I imagine this happens frequently in the wild but just wondering!

Here she is pondering the taste of the dirt she just ate

Dirt is ok as long as it’s just dirt. This is why I always sift the top two to three inches of soil on each plant. It allows straight dirt as top soil with no wood chips, stones, perlite, etc. I have been in the habit of replacing top soil in all my plants every spring so this was an easy step to add for the cage plants. A regular colander works good. Also if you add fertilizer to your plants, bury it under a few inches of soil for the plants in the cage then water as usual. The cage looks great! Good job.