Reptile & Amphibian Forums

if i ever want to free-range feeders in my chams enclosure, im gonna have to do something about the wood chips my orchids live in. they are a perfect spot for insects to hide, which is obviously no good. would i see any adverse effects on my phalaenopsis and dendrobium if i re-potted them in soil?

If you repot them in soil, they will most likely die. The roots won't have any air circulation around them and will rot. The only type of orchid I know of that lives in soil is the jewel orchid (lucidia discolor). I have seen them at reptile shows at terrarium suppliers. They grow pretty fast and the leaves are a reddish purple with gold veins. They are very pretty.

pookie is correct, if they do not have good soil aeration they will literally "choke to death." Sphagnum moss is another possible media to use but some chams will eat this, too (Luna did!). I think Carlton mentioned in an earlier post to put screen over the top of the pots to keep crickets out, but lets in air and water. I used plastic canvas (the stuff used in crafts) and love it! it will not rust, has no sharp edges and is easily cut into any shape to fit pots. I then hold it in place with bent paper clips. it comes in lots of colors so you can color-coordinate (LOL!) and can buy it at any place that sells craft supplies. It costs about 25 cents per 12x12 sheet. Get the one with the largest opening (I think 7 mesh).

Here's a pic of how I have one of Luna's plant's set up with it. Also, here's a link with LOTS of orchid info

Growing Orchids

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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 house geckos - Gaia & Tia (both MIA
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta
1.0 African Clawed Frog (for summer)
0.5 Mad. Hissers (for summer - all girls, no little ones, whew!)

thanks for the info you two

the plastic canvas thing looks good for my phalaenopsis. the problem is i have a dendrobium jairak with lots of stalks, so theres no way i could form-fit any screen or anything over the top of it.

sigh

ill let you all know if i come up with something

you could probally just leave the wood chips and put a little potting soul over it so the bugs cant get down into it
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Matt G
2.3 jax chameleon
2.5leopard gex(2 tang) (9 eggs incubating)
1.2 fire belly toads
2.1 golden gex
1.0 bearded dragon

yeh im just worried that the crickets would still find the tiniest little openings to squeeze into. the amount of soil id probably have to use to keep them out, i imagine it would choke the plants' roots just the same.

Sphagnum moss works great as an orchid medium If I actually keep an orchid in a pot thats's what I use I works better than soil for the terrestrials such as ludisia discolor or phaias. You could also top of the orchids with the sphagnum moss as well. My favorite thing to do with orchids is to take them out of their medium,place them in a ball of sphagnum moss and tie them to tree limbs with old panty-hose eventually the roots will attach to the tree limb and you can remove the panty-hose and it looks really cool and is a great choice for cages that get regular misting such as chameleon cages. Those cheap Phaels and cattleyas that run $3 to $5 at wal-mart and home depot are great for this. You can even find vandas for$7-$10 at times and those really take well to this type of set up (pretty flowers too but those will take a few years)