has anyone used Nature Zone vines?

[lele]

climbing/water vines

looking for easy grip for Cyrus but wondering if the moss on them will just come off, I know they are hollow and can be used as drip vines but don;t need them for that.

thanks,
lele

 

[Marc10edora]

I never used that vine before. But, it does look like it would be hard to clean if poop gets on it.

 

[Heika]

I have been making fake vines out of nylon rope and this plastic dip stuff used for coating tool handles. You can buy it at Home Depot in the paint section. I take the coated rope and roll it in sand after it has had about 10 minutes to set up. Seems to work pretty well, but have only been using it for a couple weeks now.

 

[lele]

I never used that vine before. But, it does look like it would be hard to clean if poop gets on it.

good point!

I have been making fake vines out of nylon rope and this plastic dip stuff used for coating tool handles. You can buy it at Home Depot in the paint section. I take the coated rope and roll it in sand after it has had about 10 minutes to set up. Seems to work pretty well, but have only been using it for a couple weeks now.

hmmmm, interesting....I suppose my first question would be toxicity of the stuff. Can you bend it or does it crack? I like the idea since he needs smaller diameter and definitely something that is not smooth. I find the ExoTerra Jungle vine to be the best but trying to find the best deal since I want about 20' of it. Have a photo?

 

[Marc10edora]

I've been trying to figure out how to make fake vines for a while. Your method sounds good. Instead of using nylon rope, I might try armature wire. That way I can bend it into shapes and it will be sturdy. Thanks for the tip.

 

[lele]

...I might try armature wire. That way I can bend it into shapes and it will be sturdy. Thanks for the tip.

what's armature wire? I wonder if the coating stuff would stick to metal?

 

[Heika]

Not sure what armature wire is, either, but the stuff does stick to metal. I will post photos in the next couple days. I am assuming non-toxic after it dries.. it can be used for a lot of different things, and probably wouldn't be very marketable if it rubbed toxic stuff on a person's hands everytime they touched it. The coating is kinda rubberized, and flexible. It takes a lot for it to crack. I will get pics, etc. together. On a couple of the later ones, I have used wire in the rope so that I can position it, but if this armature wire stuff would work better...

Heika

 

[Marc10edora]

Armature wire is what I use for sculpting in clay. It is just like galvanized steel wire that you find at floral shops. But the difference is that it is really soft and easy to bend. That way it is easy to work with compared to steel or copper wire. You can buy it in different thickness's at craft stores or online sculpting stores. I get mine from Micheals arts and Crafts. Probably to make the plastic dip stuff stick better, you might want to take a thick peice of armature wire and wrap a smaller thickness one around it in coils. That's how I get my clay to get a better grip on it. Here is an example of the wire: http://www.dickblick.com/categories/wiresculpture/
You might want to shop around because it can get expensive.

 

[Marc10edora]

Heika,
How messy does that stuff get? Do you have to hang the rope on something and let it drip on the ground? Or do you just lay it on a table once it is dipped?

 

[Heika]

Heika,
How messy does that stuff get? Do you have to hang the rope on something and let it drip on the ground? Or do you just lay it on a table once it is dipped?

It is messy. You have to let it hang to dry, but it doesn't really drip. If you lay it on a table when it is wet, it will stick to the table.

 

[rcagosto]

I was actually lookin to buying this on reptilesupply.com, but not for climbing but for using it with a dripper. I wouldn't use the for climbing seems a little thing to me, I would go with either Hieka's idea or maybe Marc10edora's idea or maybe mix it and see what you come up with.
Roberto

 

[lele]

Armature wire is what I use for sculpting in clay.

what sort of sculpting do you do? Do you have a website with pics? Always fun to see what our "cyber" friends do when not in cyber space

Probably to make the plastic dip stuff stick better, you might want to take a thick peice of armature wire and wrap a smaller thickness one around it in coils.

that's a good idea, may help with general grip of "branch" too.

 

[Marc10edora]

I usually sculpt in clay for smaller figures and I also use foam for large scale projects. Right now I go to art school in San Francisco and do stage design on the side. I also work with 3d art programs so I can sculpt in the computer. For the two sculpts, I used armeture wire as their skeletons so it can give the clay strength and support towards the weight. It really helps supporting weight and is easy to bend. But don't bend it too many times or else it will get weaker.

Here is an example of me sculpting foam. I'm also currently sculpting a stone wall for my chams enclosure.

Here's a link of some of the other stuff I do, in case anyone is intrested.
http://s53.photobucket.com/albums/g65/Marc10edora/

 

[Heika]

Very, very cool stuff, Marc. I really love that bee, it is unique and interesting.. and.. well, I just like it.

I hope you post pics of your stone wall when you are finished with it. Amazing stuff, you are very talented!

 

[Heika]

I forgot about this thread, but got a reminder via PM. Sorry it has taken me so long to respond.

First, let me say that I have only been using these self-made vines for a short time, and I have no clue how they will hold up. They seem to be doing fine so far. I have used sand and peat moss to coat the dipped rope, and I think I like the peat moss more. The sand works pretty well too, though. I didn't take pictures of the sand ones because they are in with an incredibly grouchy gravid panther. I will try to take some over the next few days.

I used nylon rope because I figured it wouldn't soak up water like cotton rope would. I don't know if water can even seep into the rope because of the coating, but I figured it might be able to eventually. The peat moss seems to be working out alright, but forget cleaning it beyond a rinse with water. It dries back out pretty quick and doesn't rot, and it looks pretty good in the cages, or at least I think so. No worse than the store bought ones anyhow.

Here is Adonis looking pissy on one of them:

Here is one in a laying can, a little wet from being misted:

And here is the one from Adonis's cage.. figured since he was being a snot already, it wouldn't make much difference if I pulled one out for pictures This one is wet, too.

Here is the rope that I have been using:

Here is the dip.. word of caution about this stuff. Use in a well ventilated area and let the new vines air out for a couple days before putting them in a cage. It stinks. Also, when you open a can of the plastic dip, use it all up. It doesn't store well. I tried putting tin foil under the plastic snap on lid, but it doesn't help much. This can is pretty much useless now because the dip is too thick.

And, a picture of peat moss, although I am sure everyone could figure that out.

Anyhow, I dumped the container of plastidip into an empty plastic bowl, and then coiled the rope into the coating. Oh, wear plastic gloves. Messy job. After it was completely covered, I hung the rope to dry for a few minutes. While it was drying, I poured peat moss on the work bench. Then, I took the rope and coiled it into the peat moss and dumped more peat moss on top of it. I patted the peat moss down into the coating, and then left it there to dry. I removed it the next day and hung it to dry. Walahh! It ends up being sort of stiff and curls because of the coiling. It is easy to wind it around inside the cage, and works pretty well. I used wire in the center of the rope on some of them, and those turned out pretty good too.

One container of plastidip is $6.00, and will coat about 20-25 feet of the size of rope that I have been using. I keep meaning to check and see if they sell it in larger containers and haven't.

That's it!

Heika

 

[Marc10edora]

Wow, the vines look great. Thanks for the tips and pics. I'm gonna try this out after I finish my cage. You also made a good point about the rope soaking up the water. I think I'll try this with some kind of wire (most likely armeture wire or something cheap and workable). In order to get the dip to stick to the wire, I'll combine it with drip soaker hose that you can find at garden sections. I'll slip the wire into the hose then follow your process for making the vines. Yours' looks great and I can't wait to try it for myself. Here's a link to some of the soaker hose I'll was talking about.
http://www.shoppingwarehouse.net/pr...urce=Froogle&utm_medium=Product+Search+Engine

I buy it at Walmart for about $5. It also comes in different sizes. The texture should stick to the drip really good. It might even soak it up in order to make it stronger.

 

[Dave Weldon]

...the soaker hose...

Howdy,

I too, have used soaker hose in a few of my enclosures. I've used both the large, garden hose diameter, and the smaller dripper hose diameter. It's pretty stiff so it holds a sweeping spiral through a tall enclosure. It's cheap. If you pull it out, you can soak it in a bucket of soapy bleach-water to sanatize it when necessary. The light surface roughness gives enough grasp without hurting feet. I should look for one more diameter in-between the two sizes I have so far. Bought mine at Home Depot.

Heika, That vine of yours looks really nice. Sounds like a business opportunity .

 

[Brad Ramsey]

Heika,

Once again you've given us a fantastic idea.


-Brad

 

[lele]

time to bump THIS up!

While waiting for replies to my bio-vine inquiry I remembered that someone had done some "rope coating" (sort of thought it was you, Heika ) so I did a search and finally found it. I also realized I had never gone back to look at Marc's sculpture and glad they were in the same thread! Very cool stuff!

I think I fell off the planet for a while back in April and never saw Heika's project photos - these turned out great! Now that several months have gone by, can you give us an update on how they held up? I may scrap the bio-vine all together. Did you ever try it with different size (diameter) ropes?

thanks!
lele