What's the trick to hanging vines in screen enclosure?

[Pagan]

I am trying to keep my new screen enclosure from being destroyed by my lack of ingenuity!

From my new cham's basking light to the top of his ficus tree there is approx. 18" of space I want to fill with vines for basking. I've been trying to hang the vines with training wire, but noticed the aluminum screen warping too easily for my comfort. I really want to keep large holes in screen from developing in cage as my wife will freak out if crickets find way out (I'm not too jazzed about that thought either!).

I hung some vines around the aluminum cage structure at top, carefully feeding the training wire through the screen right at the beam. Is there anything else I can do? Are there any tricks and tips the forum can offer?

thanks!

 

[royden]

Nothing will keep the screen completely intact. Try fishing line. Specifically fishing line pulled throught the screen and tied around the top frame..so the support is the frame and not the screen itself.

No crickets will squeeze through small warps in your wires. The only holes I've ever needed to cut in 2 years were for misting nozzles.

 

[Champhibians]

I use zip ties

 

[Brad Ramsey]

This may be a bit more work than you are looking for, but ...
If you take the enclosure apart and install wires between the pieces then screw it back together (does that make sense?) you can use the wires to secure the vines without involving the screen at all.
If this explanation is not clear, I'll try to be more detailed.
Hard to describe without pictures and I don't have any.
I just push plastic coated wires through the screen.

-Brad

 

[Ryan Jarosek]

This may be a bit more work than you are looking for, but ...
If you take the enclosure apart and install wires between the pieces then screw it back together (does that make sense?) you can use the wires to secure the vines without involving the screen at all.
If this explanation is not clear, I'll try to be more detailed.
Hard to describe without pictures and I don't have any.
I just push plastic coated wires through the screen.

-Brad

That is a great idea!

 

[royden]

I used to hang a pothos at mid level in the cage using four fishing lines that went between the frame and tied to the screws on the outside. It worked great, and created a middle platform. It was hard as hell to clean or move the cage.

 

[Pagan]

Great, thanks for the tips!

 

[opihiman]

I got some 1/4 bamboo from the hardware store and lashed them in to a latice and hung my vines from that. It is a little more labor intensive but I thught it look pretty cool.


OPI

 

[gregdabender]

I used 1/2 dowel rods and screwed them into the cage. If you make the length a tad longer then the width of the cage and screw them in place....there is no gap or hole.