Chameleopatrick
New Member
You can tie them in with fishing line or galvanized wire.
Reasons why real chams need real plants!
- Thread starter Chameleopatrick
- Start date
You can tie them in with fishing line or galvanized wire.
Chameleopatrick
New Member
Real Cham keepers use real plants.
natureboy86
New Member
bump. I'd also like to see a pic of a mesh enclosure using air plants.. I really want to get some.
natureboy86
New Member
hmm good idea
Chameleopatrick
New Member
20# is what I use. But galvanized wire lasts much longer since fishing line will deteriorate due to the UVB and make fishing line brittle in the long term.
Chameleopatrick
New Member
It's from the ficus family. Not sure of the specific name though. It's a beautiful miniature tree and really holds the water droplets for the chams to drink from.
Glad you like the habitats, the chams do too.
Chameleopatrick
New Member
The live plants look great and add multiple benefits to the habitat, But, without GREAT lighting the environment will slowly die. One cant thrive without the other.
Motherlode Chameleon
Chameleon Enthusiast
Neat thread. Live plants are #1!!!
MelissaB
Avid Member
I am so jealous of your habitats, Patrick. You must have a Harry Lauder Walking stick in your yard to get such awesome branches!
Eventually, I hope to get more varieties of plants in my guy's setup. The pothos works great, but I'd like some different textures and colors.
I did upgrade my lighting and I'm thrilled with the difference. I went with a quad T5 fixture, with three 65k bulbs and one 10.0 HO T5 Reptisun and I'm very happy. I have a several different tillandsia and cork plaques enroute. Looking forward to doing some redecorating.
You must have a Harry Lauder Walking stick in your yard to get such awesome branches! Eventually, I hope to get more varieties of plants in my guy's setup. The pothos works great, but I'd like some different textures and colors.
I did upgrade my lighting and I'm thrilled with the difference. I went with a quad T5 fixture, with three 65k bulbs and one 10.0 HO T5 Reptisun and I'm very happy. I have a several different tillandsia and cork plaques enroute. Looking forward to doing some redecorating.
MelissaB
Avid Member
I just stuck them in there, so they don't look as elegant as Patrick's, lol. I used virgin cork bark pieces, and plastic coated garden wire. I drilled holes in the cork to put the wire to hold the plant, and to hold the cork to the screen. On a few of them, they needed to points to attach securely to the screen. I haven't trimmed the extra wire yet, will do it today or tomorrow. I'm not sure if I'm leaving them where they're at. It's on the outside, where it can't come into contact with him.
The last (blurry) picture is him climbing on one of them. He climbed up there this morning to get some of the crickets, hanging out by the light.
That one I won't move, seeing as he approves of it's location. 
Chameleopatrick
New Member
I just stuck them in there, so they don't look as elegant as Patrick's, lol. I used virgin cork bark pieces, and plastic coated garden wire. I drilled holes in the cork to put the wire to hold the plant, and to hold the cork to the screen. On a few of them, they needed to points to attach securely to the screen. I haven't trimmed the extra wire yet, will do it today or tomorrow. I'm not sure if I'm leaving them where they're at. It's on the outside, where it can't come into contact with him.
The last (blurry) picture is him climbing on one of them. He climbed up there this morning to get some of the crickets, hanging out by the light.
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Looks great!
They need to be fertilized once every other week, and watered once daily. Don't water too much. They can rot if left with water between the spikes frequently. Mine just started blooming again with red purple and gold.
Chameleopatrick
New Member
That's true but the humidity has to be near 100% to be even remotely effective. And that can be very difficult to achieve in a screen enclosure with a basking bulb, so watering is usually required.
Chameleopatrick
New Member
LOVE LOVE LOVE this! Thanks so much for all of the info. I do not have any Chameleons yet, but hope to set something similar up sometime soon!
Glad you liked it. What plants are you getting?
Chameleopatrick
New Member
Photosynthesis can not take place without the proper lighting spectrum and volume of lumens, and that requirement varies from plant to plant.
A T8 UVB bulb by itself doesn't provide enough food for plant health sustainability. High quantities of lumens in the spectrum of 5000k- 6500K are required for most plants to thrive. Live plants just like live chameleons need the proper food to be healthy.
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