Live plants setup

[Sabayon]

Hello all,

So I've been out of the hobby for a while (I used to own a female veiled) and I have been itching to get back into it ever since. Now that I'm in a nice stable position where I can once again own one of these guys, I'm going to start putting together an enclosure for my lil buddy.

One thing that I am having trouble figuring out is what I will do once my set up is completed. I've done quite a bit of reading here (at least it feels like it) and I have the following mindset:

No fake plants
safe varieties of plants: ficus, hibiscus, umbrella, pothos (all of these plants look awesome imo)
LOTS of plants and cover
LOTS of places to climb and bask/cool off
Cover plant soil w/ rocks
Theres more, but I think this stuff directly applies to my questions.

My first question is, if I avoid cup feeding (i've read that it is not a good way to feed because it prevents your cham from getting exercise), how is my cham going to find his food?! I've seen some of your set ups (which look gorgeous btw) and ... yeah there are a lot of plants. I'm just a little nervous about this, so looking for some opinions.

Second, has anyone ever had trouble with the actual plants themselves? I know absolutely nothing about plants ... but I remember a few times when I lived at home we owned a few that attracted flies and some nasty stuff. Is this fairly easy to avoid? One might say "dur your cham eats flies, dont worry about it", however I would kind of like to monitor exactly what my cham is eating ...

I'm also not full sure how I will set mine up exactly. I am keeping in mind all the important stuff such as not resting the light directly onto the mesh itself, taking temp readings in the basking area as well as lower area of the tank, humidity levels, drainage, etc. I'm sure it'll all come to me when I get down to setting it up, but I would really like it if some of you could 'show off' your set ups with me? Or perhaps redirect me to a thread where people doing this? I'm sorry I was not able to find such a thread in the search option.

I plan to start out with Screameleons as they seem to provide a good package, with the starter enclosure (and supplies) and 30 day health guarantee plus a small discount on the Panther. Are they a trusted breeder? As of right now I feel like they are. I remember seeing them at least 5 years ago and they're still goin strong. Any input on this would be greatly appreciated. (I know the enclosure they provide is just a starter one, and I plan on picking up/building an appropriate size enclosure when the time comes).

I have a million more questions but I'll try to hold off until later ... lol. Thanks

 

[Hoj]

hello and welocme to the forum you have come to the right pace
i do not cup feed and my chams seem to find their food just fine, usually the crickets eventaully come out and head for the top where they are picked off.

as for plant issues my biggest one is keeping them alive LoL, if you stick with the safe plants you should be ok.

here are a few pics i found. the cup you see is for worms and often i dump the crickets into it and they slowly escape. unless he is really hungry then hes right on them

hope that helps a bit

 

[Sabayon]

That's a pretty nice set up you've got there!

You make a good point ... I suppose they are bound to come out some time. I suppose I'm iffy about it because *I* wouldnt be able to find the crickets, therefore it would be difficult to judge how much he is eating. Maybe I'm just being paranoid ha

Thanks for taking the time to post those pics

 

[Solid Snake]

Hey Sabayon,
Glad to hear you are back on board

I have found that my crickets also come up towards the basking light eventually, if they are not hunted down.

I mostly hand feed, but let a few go in the cage for them to hunt.

I will share my last cage build for my jackson:
(they are in reverse order)
http://s618.photobucket.com/albums/tt263/davidfishman/Cage%20Build/

You can also take a look at some of my vids, this link will take you to a "cage tour" of how it was set up before those pics:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz0nnvaNmkk

There are vids with her cage and my free-range as well.

I only have experience with jacksons when it comes to caging, so Im not sure how helpful any of this would be to you.
Hopefully it will be though.

I have always had a few "nats", but nothing extreme or bothersome, and they mostly stay IN the cage.

Sounds like you are on the right track over-all though
Good luck!

 

[Sabayon]

Lol, I'm diggin the dramatic music.

Thanks for the awesome photos, I'm getting a lot of ideas. I'll be posting pics of mine once I get it going