Green tree python enclosure setup help!!

[Pythoninfinite]

Umbral - this photo is from a little while ago (before perches were added) - there has been a bit of tweaking since then The hessian at the back is to facilitate plant growth so that eventually it is completely grown over. The dendroboard forums have some great live tanks.

http://i.imgur.com/YTZgJVR.jpg

Pothos (Devil's Ivy) are great plants, and tough as nails... I wonder whether Ficus pumila might go OK too, it's very vigorous, sticks to anything (even corrugated iron) and looks good. I haven't tried it inside, but it's growing over a couple of our concrete water tanks here on the property, and needs controlling evey 6 months or so. I love GTPs in planted enclosures, but they can be a lot of work.

Jamie

 

[Umbral]

Umbral - this photo is from a little while ago (before perches were added) - there has been a bit of tweaking since then The hessian at the back is to facilitate plant growth so that eventually it is completely grown over. The dendroboard forums have some great live tanks.

http://i.imgur.com/YTZgJVR.jpg

Thanks for sharing Flavi, that looks great so far! Do you use UV lights for the plants? It's always good to see when people think outside the box.... And in this case put what they have seen outside the box into one.
The hessian at the back is a good idea too and I imagine it will help keep the humidity up.

 

[jennistephen]

Sorry we did forget to mention that the gtp we are getting is 15 months old we will put up pics to show use

 

[Pythoninfinite]

Sorry we did forget to mention that the gtp we are getting is 15 months old we will put up pics to show use

Ahhh... now that makes a bit of difference!

J

 

[Flaviruthless]

Umbral - the light that I have at the top is a 'normal' fluoro ($5.70 for two @ Bunnings) - I thought I'd buy it just to try it out and so far (it's been set up for almost 4 months now) none of the plants have died. I'm hoping to set the others up soon.

 

[Umbral]

Thanks for the info. Is there a thread on this type of enclosure? If not it may be worth starting one, it's certainly inspired me for my next build.

 

[Flaviruthless]

There are a couple of threads on here about making them. The most important things are getting the soil and drainage right. My soil is a mix of potting mix (30%), compost (40%), leaf litter (10%) and coir mulch (20%). I started by laying large flat rocks on the floor of the enclosure, then put two layers of hessian over them, followed by a layer of sphagnum moss then the soil mix. I also have earthworms and two species of isopods in there. As long as the soil is about 3 - 4 inches deep you should get pretty good plant growth. If you do build one like it make sure you put some pictures up!

 

[Pythoninfinite]

Remember that hessian doesn't have a long life in damp conditions - there are probably synthetic materials which will give a far longer service life.

Jamie