Plastic vs real plants

Well I don't have a chameleon yet but remember the importance of life plants from my previous chameleon. I have both actually, 3 umbrella trees, 2 ficus, croton, and a lithosphere. Then I bought some fake vines for the dollar general. 7ft of vine (each) for $1.35 each, can't beat that!

As for actually fake trees, I've been looking for a nice 5ft on Craigslist for cheap.
 
I always prefer live plants. They hold humidity better, the water doesn't evaporate as quickly from the leaves, no sharp plastic edges, no danger if the chameleon decides to eat a leaf (fabric/plastic isn't digestible), etc.

Pothos (devil's ivy), for example, is a great vine that lives through everything. They are very difficult to kill, so they're great for people who may not have green thumbs. My favorite thing to do with them is suspend them from the top of the cage and let the vines grow downwards around branches and vines. It gives you top cover but as it grows quickly it soon fills in the rest of the cage.
 
Live plants help humidity.
Fake plants are a great top cover.

I always prefer live plants. They hold humidity better, the water doesn't evaporate as quickly from the leaves, no sharp plastic edges, no danger if the chameleon decides to eat a leaf (fabric/plastic isn't digestible), etc.

Pothos (devil's ivy), for example, is a great vine that lives through everything. They are very difficult to kill, so they're great for people who may not have green thumbs. My favorite thing to do with them is suspend them from the top of the cage and let the vines grow downwards around branches and vines. It gives you top cover but as it grows quickly it soon fills in the rest of the cage.

Are pothos cheaper at walmart or home depot? what do i need to buy , so i can hang them?>
 
Think HD might be cheaper. My husband spend $9 on a big pothos there. Then I went out and bought a hanging pot from Walmart. I've never used screen cages like the reptibreeze, I make my own. So I'm not sure how to hang in one of those reptibreeze cages
 
I cant agree with peolpe using only plastic foliage.

A little is fine, but the majority/all of the foliage should be live.

Are pothos cheaper at walmart or home depot? what do i need to buy , so i can hang them?>

You can go get some "cup hooks" like the little hooks that screw in to the wall that are used to hang cups and things.

You take those, and screw them into the cage frame.

You can then hang plants directly from them, or string some cord (like 550 cord) to create a harness like structure to hang them from.

There are other ways, but thats the easiest and best all around in my opinion.

Its easy to keep hidden, and you can get the cord in a color that blends in well with the rest of the cage foliage.

You can get everything you need at either store usually.

Pothos tend to be a bit cheaper at walmart, but sometimes HD or lowes have special deals that will make theirs cheaper.

You can often find better quality plants, and in a wider variety of sizes at HD or lowes also.
 
Are pothos cheaper at walmart or home depot? what do i need to buy , so i can hang them?>

It might depend, sometimes each has a sale. But they're usually no more than $10 for a nice, big one. The cheapest source is usually a small, independent plant nursery - they usually have huge ones for almost half that price.

Here's how you do it:
You only need something long and hard (I use a length of wood, like a dowel, but you could use a length of metal too, etc.), long enough to rest on both sides of the cage frame, and heavy-weight fishing line. I use 50lb fishing line. So then you just secure it to 2-3 points around the pot, thread it through the screen, and secure it to the dowel. And that's it, you don't ruin your screen and it holds quite a bit of weight!

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A long time ago I noticed my chameleons were noticeably less stressed when provided with all live plants compared to artificial ones. Also, they are a good indicator of the quality of your husbandry. You'll notice a correlation in how well your plants do to how healthy your chameleons are. When you get to the point where your plants are outgrowing your cages, you know you are doing something right.

Good luck.
 
wait wait, where can i buy large plastic plants from? I will be getting a live one also..just wanted to hook up this enclosure and make it nice lol
 
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