DIY Vines?

[Weather Man]

Hey everyone I am very new to the forum but I am an Experienced Herp Handler. I have had everything from snakes and tarantulas to dart frogs and chameleons and was an employee of a reptile shop through out high school.

I was wondering why I dont see any posts or hear about anyone making their own vines using synthetic materials like we do in the dart frog community. I know a Chameleon spends more time on vines basking and traveling. But do you think It would be enough to irritate their feet?

Has anyone tried making vines for their Chams?

Thanks in advance.

 

[K9Luvn]

Hi and welcome to the Forums
I remember someone else showed how the did make DIY vines. Do you have some and some instructions you can share with us too?

 

[Whatcamo]

You can get that green hobby wire from craft stores and essentially do the same thing with silicone and coconut fiber and just keep layering it up till you get it as thick as you want

 

[SonTigerPantherCham]

You can also use drip line
its bendable, sturdy, easy to use and cheap

 

[icemom]

What about tree branches that you can cut off outside? Just pick the right size and clip it off, then arrange in the enclosure?

 

[Olimpia]

What about tree branches that you can cut off outside? Just pick the right size and clip it off, then arrange in the enclosure?

This is what I do, I cut safe, non-native-tree branches from a field in the area (everyone wins!), trim them to size, and place them in the cage. I prefer live branches, they hold up better to heavy misting and such over dead branches that have lost their bark, but some types of wood work as dead branches. It may take a bit of experimenting though.

 

[Weather Man]

I use natural cut branches off of my fruit trees in my yard as well and use home made vines with food grade silicone. I was just curious as what others thought of them or made them? Just curious be cause I have been dooing some "lurking" hahahahah around the sight to see if others have made them with no search results.

I use a piece of wire with a thicker gauge of solid copper (not stranded wire) scrap from home depot or lowes. I use a plastic dip used to coat tool handles to seal the cut ends. And then proceed to coat it with silicone and coco fiber. for thicker sections I coat partial wire with spray foam to desired thickness and coat that with silicone coco fiber mix. I will try and get some pictures posted of a completed Vine and possibly post a diy tutorial.

 

[Hoj]

I am iterested in tis topic and would love to see more ideas and a tutorial would be awsome!!!

Oh and WELCOME!!! to the forum

 

[Weather Man]

It might take me a while to get around to a tutorial so if this is allowed on the forum Ill post a link to a dart frog forum where someone has already done the leg work. This is the basic concept done with rope. I've used rope, wire, rope with wire, plastic hose used for refrigerator water lines. you name it I've tried it. Wire inside rope works the best but tends to be quite large in diameter, depending on the rope. Anything with a good base or basic shape as a vine works good. Possibilities are endless.

http://dartden.com/enclosures-setup-and-construction-f23/viv-building-raf-t5084.html?hilit=vines

 

[Weather Man]

Oh and thank you for the Warm welcomes. Glad to be here.

 

[TOMMYBOY72]

Vines

I live in FL and I have cut vines that are hanging from the trees They look like oaks. I try to cut the dried out ones, and that are still very sturdy. I wash them and attach(Wrap Around) plastic leaves from the pet shop with tie wraps. So far they are hardy he does not eat them and they do not get moldy.

 

[Benton1576]

This is a fantastic thread! I dont know why nobody has posted something like this before, myself included. I also make my own vines using the rope and wire method. I learnt by accident though as I bought some from a show/expo that looked homemade and looked into how to do it. Please post a tutorial, Im sure many people would be interested to see how its done step by step.

 

[Mikey1two]

It might take me a while to get around to a tutorial so if this is allowed on the forum Ill post a link to a dart frog forum where someone has already done the leg work. This is the basic concept done with rope. I've used rope, wire, rope with wire, plastic hose used for refrigerator water lines. you name it I've tried it. Wire inside rope works the best but tends to be quite large in diameter, depending on the rope. Anything with a good base or basic shape as a vine works good. Possibilities are endless.

http://dartden.com/enclosures-setup-and-construction-f23/viv-building-raf-t5084.html?hilit=vines

Now I think that is a little more than this guy is asking for. That is some good looking work......maybe one day.

I use the soaker hose. The small porous black one. I then get some green wire ( one that will fit in my soaker hose) this gives me the ability to form it. Next I put clear silicone on the hose. Basically spreading it all over the hose and then tacking it with my fingers to get good coverage. Then I roll it in some Eco earth.
Let it dry.

I've seen things on this forum.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/homemade-vine-73259/

I think soaker hose is easier and the tacking of the silicone helps it hold more Eco earth.

-mikey

 

[chameleonkev]

Go cheap, bamboo sticks work well

 

[Mikey1two]

Go cheap, bamboo sticks work well

Yeah, but bamboo sticks aren't vines. It's pretty simple and it's basically the same as what you'd buy in the store if you were to buy vines, except for he fact that $25 will give you 50 feet of vine instead of just 2 feet.

Mikey