Wood & Vines... Fake or Real???

Hey Guys

I am setting up a new habitat and I have never been satisfied with the climbing vines and wood I have tried before. I want your opinion as to what you prefer to use.
My issue is the wood vines/branches I have purchased from Black Jungle tend to end up molding or rotting in a few spots. The Jungle Vine shedding kinda concerns me. Hmmm... what are you using and why.

Thanks
Ross

I use vines of all sizes that I find out in the woods. I pull any loose pieces of them, soak in a clorox solution and then bake in the oven for thirty minutes at 250 degrees. They look much more natural, I can get them in varying diameters and have never had a problem with them

I have a scheflera and a ficus in the cage. But I also have branches wired to the sides and top. Also, I have found that the little wooden ladders found in the bird section of the pet stores are well loved by my veiled. I am currently building a smaller but longer one for my smaller chameleons. Are you getting pothos plants for your guy?
Natural is good but even I have a wired on fake silk plant for upper cage coverage for my guy's hiding comfort.

FaunaBgirl said:

I have a scheflera and a ficus in the cage. But I also have branches wired to the sides and top. Also, I have found that the little wooden ladders found in the bird section of the pet stores are well loved by my veiled. I am currently building a smaller but longer one for my smaller chameleons. Are you getting pothos plants for your guy?
Natural is good but even I have a wired on fake silk plant for upper cage coverage for my guy's hiding comfort.

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I have a very hearty scheflera ( 42" tall and about 22" wide and full) and I have a pothos on a post right now but that is only because I am having a hell of a time hunting down a Ficus this time of year. Cripes are they out of season???

Anyhoo thanks to all for jumping in this all helps

I use the exo terra vines.. are those the jungle vines?

arosstyler said:

I have a very hearty scheflera ( 42" tall and about 22" wide and full) and I have a pothos on a post right now but that is only because I am having a hell of a time hunting down a Ficus this time of year. Cripes are they out of season???

Anyhoo thanks to all for jumping in this all helps

Click to expand...

they don't carry them during winter, i heard

I guess you've already tried at home depot and Lowes? They have a good stock of them in our area. Louisiana. Good luck. david

I have fruit trees in my garden, and grapes. I have dried branches each year for various things, and have a good supply of them. Because I am basically an organic gardener (use soap sprays when needed, but no chemical killers) I know what is on my branches. I dry branches in the sun, and then store in plastic bags in the garage. Butter has a schliffera, a ficus and a small pathos right now, with grapevine, a flukers twisty vine, and several fruit tree branches (apple and cherry I think). When I get tired of the arraingement, or one looks moldy or something, I just replace it with something else.

Wood and Vines.....

I use sandblasted Manzanita branches (purchased from LLL Reptile) for my adult cages. Manzanita wood is naturally "branchy" and it comes in various sizes suitable for any cage size. I like it for the adult chams because it is very sturdy and a full size male Panther can sit very comfortably on them. For hatchlings I use some sort of bendable, forked, plastic branch "thingies" I bought at Petco. It washes off easy and does not flake off like the biovines do.

Look what I found! These guys sell actually treated vines from the jungle some are way too big in diameter for chames but some are perfect. I just ordered a bunch and they shipped 2 days after the order was placed. Price is great for the length too. Compared to Bio-Vines or Jungle vines you are not really paying that much more. Now they are wood and not flexible but a saw and zip ties and you are in buisness. The extra small surreal should be perfect for an adult cham!

I am going to do a water/bleach soak on these just to ensure all bacteria is dead but these should be perfect. I will soot out pics when they come in and when the cage has them in it.

EcoVines

later

I guess I could not really pic one for the poll. I use both. I like the store bought kinds. I liked the fluker vines the least. It seemed after several disassemblies that they just ripped up on me but on the other hand they still do look very cool. I like offering big branches for my male veiled because of his size. It would cost a small fortune to make 1-2" branches throughout the cage with the store bought ones. He seems not to travel them to much throughout the day but he always sleeps on one at night.

Not sure...

I find my older male veiled (I think he is about 6 months) likes to sleep in different spots in his cage but always ends up on a small diameter exo terra vine. My other male (younger by about 1-1.5 months) always sleeps in the same place EVERY night and it is a small exo terra vine as well. Not sure why these guys pick the smaller vines, they have both small and medium to choose from.

I have a 3ft fictus, some jungle vine, some artificial hanging plants and bolted to the side of the viv some java branch's the type used in large bird enclosures

plants in and around cage

I often buy a grapevine wreath at Wal-Mart or Michael's craft store. They have various sized ones and each individual wreath has various sizes of vines. I soak then in very hot water over night and the next day they are very pliable and easy to work with. Then I put them in my cage, secure them with cable ties and after they dry they hold the shape that you put them in. They are very sturdy and hold a full grown chameleon very well.

Like this one

i use 2 bio vines in my small enclosure and broke off a couple of branches from a bare tree outside, baked em at 350 degrees for half an hour and wala, im good to go. the vines are used for him to bask in and have the ability to get around in the open part of the cage and the branches are 2 to 1. for every 2 on the open i keep one on the closed. have no idea why i did it to start with but for some reason he loves to sleep on the closed side branch. i alternate 2 ficus and 1 umbrella plant and will always find him on the same branch sleepin

i use honeysuckel vines i find lots of intresting shapes curled,twisted an entwined around each outher.

I went into the woods behind my house and found a goldmine of vines. I was thinking of buying some synthetic stuff but these look much better and when they get too nasty I can just get rid of them and get some more.

I just pull vines out of trees - you get 30 to 50 feet at a time. Just don't get the ones that are all hairy... you dont' want to go near them... hehe.

Don't pull any with leaves in groups of 3 either. lol