My Cage Is a Mess

[astroprojector]

My cage is the mess. It was not like that before. I had a very beautiful ficus about 2 month ago. Unfortunately ficus's don't like a lot of water. During the hot months I was misting the cage 2 min 8 times a day. Log story short I need to replace the plant. I was looking for Schefflera but for some reason any stores or nurseries I went, here in So. Cal., do not have a large one. The all have dwarf kind. The cage size I have is 18x18x36 and my cham is about 5" to 6" not including the tail.

There is a saying, "Imitation Is The Best Form Of Flattery". I was wondering if you can post pictures of your setups and the names of the plants you are using, so I can get my cage in order by applying your examples.

Thanks

 

[carol5208]

If you go into "Forums" this is a thread for Enclosures and you can search the differnt threads. You will be able to finds lots of pics of set ups so people don't have to repost.

 

[andy27012]

I picked up a pothos from lowes hardware and it is doing EXTREMELY well, my Chams LOVE it because it is so dense, it just took me a little bit to find one that was grown around a post since it is a vine.

 

[robertfranco1986]

I live in so.cal also and I can usually find umbrella plants at lowe's or home depot for around 12.00$

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

Pothos look nice and are fairly indestructible! The scheffelera don't like a lot of water either...trust me.

 

[Mr Wilson]

I was just at Stop and Shop the other day (a grocery store here in NJ) and they had MASSIVE pothos plants! I don't know what they have in cali, but check out your grocery store for some plants. I know some people hang their pothos from the top of their enclosures. They take a bamboo or wooden dowel of some sort, place it on top of the cage and tie some sort of fishing wire on either side. Then the wire/line goes through the top of the enclosure and ties to the plant. I assume the strings hanging down keep the dowel in place, but I don't know how the deal with the actual string itself, I'd be afraid my cham would try to climb on it, slide down, and get cut. Maybe fake vines or the pothos vines themselves can be trained up the line?

We get our schefflera at Lowes. If it's not tall enough yet, maybe just prop it up on a little stand or an upside down pot. It will grow with time and maybe a plant light. Check out the safe plants list here: https://www.chameleonforums.com/plants/ It may help you find something else you would like and also tells how difficult or easy it is to care for.

 

[Cainschams]

As was said. Scheffleras dont like a lot of water either. I had problems with root rot until I started repoting them in 3/4 sand to 1/4 top soil mix. It drains much better. Also a problem you may be having is providint the right light for the plants. I use a 6500K tube for my plants along with the basking and UVB lights. I was never able to keep plants for very long besides pothos until I started repotting in different soil and using those lights.

 

[Dave Weldon]

...I was looking for Schefflera but for some reason any stores or nurseries I went, here in So. Cal., do not have a large one. The all have dwarf kind...

Howdy,

I think you actually want the Dwarf Schefflera (Schefflera arboricola). That's what I've been buying all of these years . I even keep one of the plant tags next to my keyboard because I can never remember how to spell it .

 

[cantgetagoodsn]

I have two pothos outside his cage and a japanese aralia inside. the aralia is doing great and blooming new areas, just from misting, dont need to water it too much...