Awesome substitute for expensive drift wood

[BedroomEyzOfBlu]

This past weekend we had the opportunity to drive out to Hamilton, Ontario to do a trade with Marc C from NYR.

During this trip, we had an opportunity to visit the pet store below where Marc is located and found this awesome substitute for that very expensive drift wood we need for our lizard enclosures. At the back of the store, they had these thick pieces of what looked like curly driftwood stading and when I asked the owner what it was and what it cost, I promptly purchased 6 feet of it.

The substitute amazingly enough was "grape vines"!!! This stuff is as hard as wood (we know this cause it took a skill saw to buzz through it lol) and has some very awesome aspects to it as far as shape and design. I still can't believe it's grape vine. It was only $2.00 per foot! Was a very awesome deal. :clap:

Soooooo if you know any pet stores that carry this, or some Italians in ur neighbourhood lol, I can positively recommend this as an excellent substitute for your lizards (Bearded dragons, Anoles, Geckos, etc., to use as climing structures/perches in ur enclosures. All of mine love it!

Rosana
BedroomEyzOfBlu

 

[cricket54]

Thats neat Rosanna. Is it real grapevine then or made of artifical materials? We have loads of grapevines around here. You also have to be carefull if you pick up any vines in the wild that its not a poison ivy vine. That could be a nasty mistake. I've gotten a poison ivy rash in the winter time sled riding through bushes in the woods. Would grapevines from the woods where you know they aren't sprayed by stuff, be safe to clean and maybe bake to be used in reptile and arachnid tanks?

Sharon

 

[IguanaMama]

Yes, I use grapevine all the time and I love it, except where I shop, IT'S NOT CHEAP!

 

[BedroomEyzOfBlu]

Hey Cricket, yes they are real grapevines, but have to be a few yrs old from the diameter of them. The vine part itself was at least an inch and a half thick! and the wider parts where vines had joined were between 2 and 5 inches thick.

These vines were completely dried out and almost looked and felt like they had been petrified lol. We got lucky where we found them - the price was awesome at 2.00 per foot - and from a pet store if you can believ it lol.

I would have to say if u know that they have no pesticides on them at all and you wash them thoroughly followed by a good baking (be careful not to set ur house on fire lol) that they should be fine in any enclosure. But that's just my thoughts.

Rosana

 

[alucard1965]

I use the same thing when I had trouble finding corkbark around here but they shure have alot of grape vine and it looks good.

 

[BedroomEyzOfBlu]

I totally agree alucard, the way the vines look in the tank is soooo close to cork bark but has a nice twist (literally lol). Add in some artificial folliage and voila! A beautiful enclosure made very inexpensively. (I buy all my artificial greens from Dollarama - truely the best Dollar store ever) My beardie loves it and so does my anole. I have yet to get to the gecko's tank and we'll prob put some in with our arboreal T's when we get the time. I have plans on picking up more the next time I get to Hamilton.

Rosana

 

[Thoth]

The only problem is grape vines aren't resistant to mold and moisture like cork. They work great in my desert enclosures.

Cricket54, they'd only take 2 or so years to get to a decent thickness (about 3/4 inch diameter) in NJ's climate. Unfortunately my dad trims back the grapevines in my parents yard every year so the vines never get a chance to get thick. Anyway if is looks like a hairy rope its poison ivy. Grape vines have the forked tendrils every few feet along the vine. and the leaves don't grow in groups of three.

I'm with IguanaMama, maybe in Canada they are cheaper but unfortunately everywhere I've see in the US they're just as expensive.

 

[atavuss]

I live in the Central Valley of California where wine grapes are everywhere! I have several 4'+ pieces of sand blasted grape wood that I use in enclosures. another cool wood to use is Cholla cactus. pet stores want around 10.00 a foot for it but one trip down southern California (I bought them at the cement dinosuars place near Palm Springs) I got 3 to 5' chunks for 10.00.

 

[BedroomEyzOfBlu]

I'm not sure if I would have any probs with mold an moisture with these vines - they've had to be dried out for a couple of yrs they are so petrified lol. The vine itself (with visual check after cutting through it) almost seem to be more like solid wood. But I did consider the possibility of this prob and what I did to help ensure fewer probs was strip the vines of all loose "bark" (for lack of better wording) so that the vine was basically clear to the solid part. The pieces I have anyways look like driftwood and are solid. Like I said in my earlier post - it took a skillsaw to buzz through the vines but these are 1.50" thick in the vine area and between 2 and 4" thick in the cross joints. I'll take some pics and post them here to give everyone a better idea of what mine looks like. Prob won't be till later on this afternoon.

Rosana

 

[BedroomEyzOfBlu]

Ok all - here are the pics of the before and after grape vines as promised.

Before:

Here is the vine cut with the skill saw:

Here are the pieces, with all loose bark/vines removed in my Bearded Dragon enclosure (excuse the poopy - Beardie has no shame lol - typical male! j/k) and below that is the piece in my Brown Anole's tank:

I hope this gives you all a better idea of the grape vine use.

Rosana

 

[Conan]

Is your beardy missing an arm?

 

[BedroomEyzOfBlu]

Yes, unfortunately when we bought him - The breeder the pet store got them from had been all the babies communally with his siblings and we were told that at some point - the bigger sibling(s) removed his entire right arm and his right foot - he may be imperfect on the grand scheme - but he is soooooo awesome we love him to bits! His missing limbs/appendages don't seem to hinder his running/climbing abilities at all.

Rosana

 

[jwmeeker]

sealing grape vine

An excellent way to seal those vines is to use a water based epoxy or urethane. This keeps them resistant to the mold and moisture that Thoth was talking about. Minwax would be the cheapest and works just fine, but if you have a lot to seal and it's a high moisture environment you can go with something like Envira-Poxy. It's expensive, but you wouldn't have to recoat every few years.

 

[Ewok]

Haha when i saw that picture of the bearded dragon, I was in tarantula thinking mode and thought hmm the next time it molts that leg will grow back haha.

 

[Leiurus87]

Haha when i saw that picture of the bearded dragon, I was in tarantula thinking mode and thought hmm the next time it molts that leg will grow back haha.

We could only wish vertebrates had that skill

 

[BedroomEyzOfBlu]

Yes I wish they were like gecko's with the ability to regrow limbs/tails. He seems to have adapted very well and only get's stuck on rare occassion.

Rosana

 

[Melmoth]

These vines look great in desert set ups but are exorbitantly expensive in the UK.