$40 Free Range

NorCalAnthony

Avid Member
After seeing a few ideas on the forum I thought I would try a few of them out. What I came up with is a free range that anyone can make for less than $40... I picked up a few ceiling plant hanger hooks for $2/ea, some plastic chain for $0.76/foot, a couple of pothos plants for $7.50/ea, and I also found a six pack of six foot long bamboo pieces for only $1.50. Granted, to be a true free range you would also need lighting and watering/misting but this will work for someone looking to give their cham a spot to hang out and play for a little while, or give someone ideas to expand upon to make a true free range...

Here are the materials:



And here's how it turned out:





I also added a couple of mister lines by weaving some white 1/4" drip line through the plastic chains with some misting tips at the top and tied them in to an existing line fed by my Mistking so that I can eventually add some lighting and set it up to where my chams can spend more and more time on it...




And here's my most adventurous cham, Poseidon, checking it out for the first time:




It'll look a little better once the pothos has a chance to fill out a little bit so I can weave the vines around the bamboo a little more but I'm pretty happy with it so far... What do you guys think?
 
Cool setup!! I would put a couple bamboo shoots going perpendicular to some of the shoots you have , and when those plants grow its going to look awesome!! Nice job! Do you have anything under the setup to catch droppings?
 
Very nice looking! As soon as that vine grows out your going to have one cool free range:D
 
Thanks for the replies so far and all of the compliments :) I did come across one problem that will need to be addressed last night... The bamboo shoots are pretty smooth and one of them spun in the links while I was trying to put Poseidon back in his cage so I will have to find a way to keep that from happening. Nothing a couple small white zip ties won't fix though ;)

jknight - I still have 3, 72" long bamboo shoots left so I might still add some more perpendicular crossings like you suggested. I don't have anything set up yet to catch the droppings since my chams usually only get to play on it for an hour or two at a time and I haven't yet had to deal with that issue. Right now it's hanging over some plastic garage shelves that are made of plastic and really easy to wipe down but I may line the top shelf with paper towels to catch the droppings once they start spending more time on it.
 
Cool setup been wanting to do the same kinda deal but having trouble tracking down some bamboo in my area... I'm sure I just haven't looked in the right places but thought I would ask where u picked yours up.. Thanx in advance
 
Cool setup been wanting to do the same kinda deal but having trouble tracking down some bamboo in my area... I'm sure I just haven't looked in the right places but thought I would ask where u picked yours up.. Thanx in advance

I picked up mine from Home Depot. They had a bunch of different size (thickness) bamboo out in the gardening department by the trellises and plant hangers since people use them to help keep their plants growing straight. I bought a 6 pack of 72" long 1/2" thick bamboo shoots for only $1.49... I'm assuming other hardware or gardening stores/nurseries might carry them as well in a similar location. I also read on here somewhere that someone had found bamboo shoots really cheap at a 99 Cent Store.

Hope this helps. Good luck :)
 
I picked up mine from Home Depot. They had a bunch of different size (thickness) bamboo out in the gardening department by the trellises and plant hangers since people use them to help keep their plants growing straight. I bought a 6 pack of 72" long 1/2" thick bamboo shoots for only $1.49... I'm assuming other hardware or gardening stores/nurseries might carry them as well in a similar location. I also read on here somewhere that someone had found bamboo shoots really cheap at a 99 Cent Store.

Hope this helps. Good luck :)

Cool thanx i hadn't thought of Home Depot, will check that out...
 
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