Can't Find Tall Enough Plants

AZJ0SH

New Member
I am only finding 3' plants, I need about 4'. Can I just run some vines up to the basking area, or do they need foilage in the basking area? I might run a pothos from the top for some added coverage, but my umbrealla plant only goes up about 15" below the lights.
 
I run a vine up closer to the basking spot. Getting a plant up that high is difficult. They move up & down as needed.
 
I run a vine up closer to the basking spot. Getting a plant up that high is difficult. They move up & down as needed.

Good to know, there is only a few inches above the plant he needs to get to to be able to bask within 12" of the UVB so I think I might just do this, thank you.
 
Plant stands are great for this! They raise the plants and leave room on the bottom to clean things up!
 
Plant stands are great for this! They raise the plants and leave room on the bottom to clean things up!

I can't really explain without pictures, but I sunk my planter down into my enclosure, so it sits down underneatin in my storage for the most part only about 4" of the pot is in the actual enclosure, I figured this would give me more room but now I have too much! If I raise the planter, I lose my seal around the bottom.

I picked up a pothos from home depot about 10mins ago, I am trying to run the "vines" down and make it look more natural, and keep the basking spot within 12" of the UVB.
 
Can you hang a plant from the top of your cage? In one cage I have a ficus hanging from the top which seems to be my Cham's favorite plant he climbs all over it and the branches are sturdy enough. I just drilled two holes in the plant, put some twine through and hung it from the top. I planted it in a black plastic planter and with the other plants you can't see the planter so it doesn't affect how the enclosure looks. Ficus love light too so that's a plus..never had any problems with it getting too much light. Also for my other cage I bought a 4.5' schefflera at lowes for $11.00 a few weeks ago. I cut off the top of the tallest branch to make it about 3' 8" and it's doing great!
 
also..

Do you have any branches up by the basking spot? If so I don't think you need the plant to go all the way up under the basking spot. My Chams have some branches about 8-10 inches from the lights at the top of the cage, the plants start right about there. When mine bask they usually hang out on the branches at the very tops and then move lover or to the trees when they get warm or when drinking.
 
you can make a plant stand to your desired height fairly easy and cheap using 1/2' pvc.
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I took some pictures today I will try to get them up tomorrow to show what I am doing.

I decided to let my plant get some sun today, bad idea it started to wilt after 2 hours so I had to bring it inside. I went and bought very healthy hanging pothos, I replanted it and I am hanging it from the top of the cage, and securing it with a bracket to it doesn't come loose. This has added a lot of extra foilage at the top of the enclosure since my schleffera only goes up about halfway up my enclosure.
 
here's a pick of Stanley's schifilera up on a plant stand, the plant to the right has since been raised a bit also... as said, this makes it easy to clean the bottom of cage....
946903954_SEx4i-M.jpg
 
Replant in a bigger,taller pot and you can bring it up wherever you want.

Dang Chuck I never thought of that one lol!! I think of all other kinds of great ideas! I need to do this for the new big girl cage for my female Veiled !!
 
I might just cover the bottom hole I cut out to sink the pot down, this would add 8" of height to my plants.
 
I am covering up the hole I made for the plant to sink it down in, this gave me about 10=12" of height for the plaint, raising it exactly to where I need, and now when the plant gets taller I can just drop it down back into the hole I made and add 12" of height again.
 
Here's the plant and the 12" planter I bought when it's sunk down into the bottom of my enclosure. (sorry for poor quality camera phone picture in the dark)

The enclosure is a little over 6' tall in size, I converted a solid oak enteraianment center piece into it, I cut out sides and the top, I left the back because it's sits flush with the wall and I know most people just use a shower curtain in the back anyway.

I am rasing the pot up out of the hole, lining the bottom with plastic and creating a drainage system so the water can drain out to the bottom section where I have a bucket to collect the water.

I am hanging a pothos from the top left, the basking light is on the right side in the back. I have a bunch of flukers and other petstore vines I am using to create some walkways. I am testing out temps with two guages currently in my planned basking area.

I plan on having everything ready this weekend so I can place my order on Monday. .

byYBU.jpg
 
You might want to try a Dracaena in the spot with the hole and move your other plant up on a stand. Lowe in our area has some nice tall Dracaena's (those plants with the large "woody" stem and long bunches of leaves coming out of them. most of the ones they have right now are about 4ft.
 
I added the hanging pothos today, and now it has plenty of foliage around the cage. I might need to add a vine or two around to get some more leaves on the branches.

I am setting up all my vines today and finishing the drainage system. I am trying to get better pictures soon.

I used thick plastic on the bottom, so if my dripper slashes it won't be sitting on wood anymore.
 
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