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Senior Member
 
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I grow tropical fruit trees and I was wondering if I could put maybe an mango or papaya tree in my geckos cage?
Current Collection
1.0 Rhacodactylus Ciliatus (Atua)
R.I.P.
Rhacodactylus Ciliatus (Bottecelli)
Aphonopelma eutylenum(Grape)
"Live for the Crest"
-Crested Man
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Last Login: 11/12/2009 8:35:47 AM
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| Sure you could, if space isn't an issue. A fruit tree would get rather big, unless you know how to bonsai (I have no idea how to do that btw). So, if you have a big enough enclosure (room sized, or a cage at least 6' long, 4' deep, and 6' tall) you could achieve that. Live plants are great for maintaining humidity levels, ambience, and for the animal's psyche. I have live plants in all of my herps' enclosures. Not a fruit tree, mind you
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Junior Member
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I agree that live plants are great but theres no way you could put an entire TREE in your geckos cage unless it is an enormous outdoor cage in which case you'd probably never see the gecko again. I have toyed with the idea of growing some type of vine like grapes or strawberries in a gecko vivarium but thats still an immense amount of space that would make it very easy to loose the geckos.
side note: "bonsai" is not a method of keeping all trees small. It takes an extreme amount of effort and skill and works best with plants that already stay small then you simply shape them to look like trees. When applied to actual trees however, they are generally pretty large anyways and will not always work well.
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Senior Member
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I would take the tree out once it gets to big but I think I might go with a papaya. If you have never seen what a Papaya tree looks like you should they are cool trees.
Current Collection
1.0 Rhacodactylus Ciliatus (Atua)
R.I.P.
Rhacodactylus Ciliatus (Bottecelli)
Aphonopelma eutylenum(Grape)
"Live for the Crest"
-Crested Man
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New Member
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Last Login: 11/12/2009 8:35:47 AM
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"side note: "bonsai" is not a method of keeping all trees small. It takes an extreme amount of effort and skill and works best with plants that already stay small then you simply shape them to look like trees. When applied to actual trees however, they are generally pretty large anyways and will not always work well. " I've seen several species of japanese maple, quince, etc. done bonsai that fit in 6-8" pots. Perhaps you should research your subjects before you speak on them sir. Japanese maple trees get between 15-20 feet tall at their largest. Most stay between 10-12 ft. That's an average fruit tree size. Now, I'm not sure how large a mango or papaya tree gets, as it is a tropical species and typically, tropical plants can get quite large due to the long periods of warmth, sunlight, and precipitation. Skinkarate touched on an issue though about bonsai; one would have to know what they were doing and it is a complicated art. If you wanted to try a tree or tree like plant that gets smaller and could fit in a standard arboreal vivarium, go with a ficus (Ficus benjamin), dragon tree (dracanea sp. such as tri-color dragon tree), jade plant (crassula), and others depending on the environment. I know this pertains to snakes, but after much reading and practical application, The Art of Keeping Snakes is a great reference book that touches on live plants and bio-active substrate in vivariums. Check it out. They have it here on the sit for like 75,000 pts or so. Or, get it from the library.
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Last Login: 10/29/2009 9:50:37 AM
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I often put plants into enclosures and remove them when they get too big. A papaya tree sounds like an awesome addition to your enclosure.
www.lickyoureyeballs.com
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