Naturalistic looking plant pots?

jamest0o0

Chameleon Enthusiast
So i'm working on making my enclosure as natural looking as possible. I have the dragon strand with the ledges, which is very nice. I'm trying to figure out a way to make my plant pots all have a natural look to them. Wondering if anyone knows a store online or local that would sell maybe pots that look like bark, rock, or something similar. My plan right now is to just cover them all in great stuff foam and then stick eco earth all over them. Not sure how it'll work out yet though. Seeing if there were any better ideas out there.

This inspired me:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/reasons-why-real-chams-need-real-plants.115143/

Also anyone have experience with those airplants? they look awesome in that set up.
 
You could try covering the pots with cork bark sleeves. The foam and eco earth works nicely, too. If you go that route don't forget to wear gloves. That stuff is super sticky and won't wash off.
 
Oh i like the idea of cork bark. I wonder if there is a way to dig out a piece and put soil/plants in them? Do you think they would rot from all of the moisture in a cham cage? I just googled and found some really cool cork bark planters, but having trouble finding a selection of them to buy in the U.S. but i'm going to keep looking. If anyone else has any input please share! Looking forward to finishing this all up and posting a pic on here!
 
I don't think they'd rot, I've never had any problems with cork in other high humidity cages. The hardest part would be finding cork rounds big enough for your pots.
 
Sorry to piggy-back your post, just had a quick question about organic soil.. Has anyone had a faint rotten egg / sulfur smell come from their plants before? I have a bed of play sand, the rest organic soil and river rocks on top. I've been having a faint smell whenever I water the plants and water runs thru to the drain. I clean my enclosure once a week, and am pretty thurough about it.
 
Could be fungus or a soil rot. Some of the plant roots could be rotting if they are too saturated or the soil is losing its aeration over time. Also, there could be some sulfur in your water that is building up in the soil too.
 
Yeah, they're pretty expensive and hard to find. Been looking all day.
Check Black Jungle Terrarium supply. They tend to have larger cork curls, though yes, they are expensive. You wouldn't need whole curls, but could use pieces and match up the edges by trimming them.

I have some larger curls that I don't use anymore. Where are you? Maybe I could send them to you? I'll be moving in the next few months and would probably give them away anyway. PM me if interested.
 
That'd be great going to PM you and check that site. I'm also looking for a large piece that's about 30" long. I am going to see if i can manage to make a cork bark "tree" in the center of my cage and attach airplants all over.
 
Could be fungus or a soil rot. Some of the plant roots could be rotting if they are too saturated or the soil is losing its aeration over time. Also, there could be some sulfur in your water that is building up in the soil too.
Doubt it's the water because I use Distilled or Reverse Osmosis water only. I'll have to check the roots, I may have packed the soil too tight, and like you said, they may be rotting.:(
 
I've hot glued twigs to the outside of pots for centerpieces. You have to be careful to remove all of the little glue treads before using around chameleons.
 
That'd be great going to PM you and check that site. I'm also looking for a large piece that's about 30" long. I am going to see if i can manage to make a cork bark "tree" in the center of my cage and attach airplants all over.
I know I don't have one that large, but I do have shorter pieces that you could piece together and some of the curls are pretty large in diameter. Anyway, send me a PM and we can discuss what to send. The pieces have been used at one time or another in my other terrariums, but everything has been washed with hot water/bleach solution before being stored. All you might want to do is give them another rinse before using them.
 
Is bleach safe to use for cleaning? I've heard back and forth that it is and isn't. I planned to just bake any wood i put in my cage. Any issue there?
 
Many keepers have used water/bleach solutions for many years. As long as you use proper dilution rates and rinse until you don't smell the bleach you should be OK. If you really don't want to send bleach down the drain for environmental reasons you could use a veterinary disinfectant like Nolvasan instead. Very hot water kills and lot, as does thorough drying.
 
Hey random question, anyone here know how to dry out eco earth? I was thinking of baking or microwaving it, but afraid of starting a fire. I left it out for a day with a fan over it in my garage and it did basically nothing lol.
 
Hey random question, anyone here know how to dry out eco earth? I was thinking of baking or microwaving it, but afraid of starting a fire. I left it out for a day with a fan over it in my garage and it did basically nothing lol.

You could put it under some ceramic heat emitters or some regular heat bulbs and dry it out using the forced heat from the bulbs....

Just don't get it too close to the Eco Earth and cook it enough to set it ablaze. (y)
 
Well it's almost dried out now after 3 days with a fan on it laying in my garage. One thing i didn't think about is there tends to be a lot of bugs in my garage and i had a little mold in the far corner that i sprayed down awhile back. The eco earth is laying on a tarp on the ground with a fan over it drying, i was wondering if the bugs and possibly any remaining mold could cause a problem for this? I was thinking of baking it, but now that it is dry, it might catch fire? I didn't see any bugs in it and no signs of mold on it either. Maybe i'm just paranoid, i dont want to infest my cage with anything. I live in PA so we have a pretty limited list of dangerous critters, but pests can be everywhere obviously.

Also do you guys bake/microwave your potting soils before planting? Or does organic soil come sterilized?

My mind is racing over possible problems atm lol, murphys law always gets me
 
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