Plant shopping frustration!

Kimmers

Member
Caveat: I looked through every single enclosures page and the safe plants list before I went shopping today for plants for a 16x16x30" screen cage. I hit all the box stores and every flower/greenhouse shop in my area. I found a few that are considered safe and that looked decent but they were either very small or very big plants. :mad: :(

I entertained the idea of rigging stands to raise small plants but in a 16x16" space that would be ridiculously crowded and I'd be worried about the little guy falling between the stands.

I found a ficus that could work but would basically look like a basketball on sticks and fill the entire width and leave only 6" of space bewteen the crown and the top of the cage. Not to mention they are notoriously finicky plants, (in my experience).

Then I thought to wedge a few 4x4" or 6x6" plants in the forks of tree branches but the weight of the pots would surely put too great a strain on the screen since the only way to attach branches is tacks in the ends.

My last idea was a spider plant. I found one with very long "legs" that I thought I could maybe raise above the plant and attach to branches and screen but I'm unsure if the strength of the runners would be strong enough for the weight of the cham.

And last. Between the UVB & basking light, and a dripper, is there even any room left for a plant gro light in top of a 16x16" cage? How do others do it? :confused: I really don't want to have fake plants (shudder) if I can help it.
 
Did you find any pothos? You can use some fishing line and have it hang from the frame (or set some wood or a dowel across the top and hang it from there.) then it will grow downwards and fill out the cage. Plus it keeps the bottom clear for easy cleaning. You probabky wont need any extra lights for it either if the room has some windows.
 
If you cannot find a reasonable size, go Bonsai and trim to fit. Basically you have to trim most of the plants in the enclosures on a regular basis anyway. Especially if they are fast growing like ficus or vines. It should not harm the ficus too much to trim him back to meet your needs. They also don't need too much potting depth as they are opportunity rooters. They might do on a rough surface even as long as there is enough water for them.

My enclosures are overgrown and I have to cut the plants once a month. My arboreal friends love it.
 
Have you tried Milagers over in Sturtevant? I bought my ficus from there last year and they had quiet a few smaller ones.
 
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