Reptile & Amphibian Forums

What can you put on the walls of an enclosure?...I see some of you guys have what looks like that green outdoor carpet type stuff or is it that reptile carpet they sell? Can/will a monitor climb on that stuff or is it for decoration only?...and what about stuck claws and what not?
I am building a new enclosure and dont want to screw it up . Thanks, Chris

There are many different materials that you can use to cover walls to facilitate more usable space. It's good to see that you have realized the valuable real estate that the walls offer. I would stay away from the green cage carpet stuff, as I don't think that material has anything good to offer. While some of us use cork bark and cork tiles to cover the walls, some cheaper alternatives are burlap or shade cloth. Both of these can hold up to a good deal of abuse, are cheap, and easily replaceable if it does become damaged. There are many ways of going about this, I would just stay away from the green cage carpeting, that is my suggestion to you.

Cheers, have a great day,

Bob
treemonitors.com

Thanks, The cork tiles seem like a good solution, but are they the regular ones you can get at a home center?...or can I use bulletin board type material? can they just be stapled in ?...I cant see glueing them because of fumes and getting them off later. And would they get "funny" absorbing all that humidity?
Sorry about all the questions but I dont want to do this over and over

Hey there,

There are several different cork tiles that you could use. While I have not experimented with them before, I would think that the standard bulletin board type cork tiles would work, although I have been using a different, recycled cork tile product, which is sometimes used as sound insulation and interior decorating.. It has more of a rough grain, with more nooks and crannies for the claws to grip on to, as well as it looking a bit less unnatural when compared to the bulletin board cork. I like how it works, the tiles are relatively inexpensive when bought in bulk, and hold up pretty well to constant abuse.

I was just turned on to an ebay ad that may still be up and running, in which a bunch of cork tiles- with actual cork bark texture..

As for adhering it to the enclosure walls, there are several different ways you can go about that. Since my enclosure walls are made of tileboard, I am able to simply screw the tiles into place. This allows me to remove them if and when they need to be replaced. I have also used silicone to attach the tiles to enclosure walls. Although permanent, as you would not be able to remove the tiles without snapping them, there really isn't any risk of harmful fumes if you just wait a day, and if you use a pure 100%/aquarium silicone.

I have found that these cork tiles do not encourage bacterial/fungal growth. I suppose if you let fecal matter accumulate on them, you might run into a problem, the same way you would with any other type of substrate, etc..

I have been very pleased with the result, and I am sure my animals appreciate the extra room to move around. By making the walls climbable, I have increased the total amount of surface area six fold.

YOu can probably find the tiles I was talking about on ebay by typing in "cork tiles" in the search box at the top.

Best of luck to you, your animals will be very appreciative...

Cheers,

Bob