Ferry - Rhacodactylus Chahoua (Chewie)

[dakski]

I had to install some Exoterra (waterproof) Mossy Vines in Ferry's enclosure tonight (more on that in a moment), and he ate last night, and was rather social, so I decided we would do a little bonding tonight as well.

After his light went off, I kept one light in the room on, a small lamp, but kept the main light off, and the bright lamp off, and I took him out. He was a little active, but I put him right into his holding container anyway to install the vines.

Once installed, I took him out, and again he was active for a minute, climbing up my arm, and looked like he wanted to jump, etc. I did what I do with Ezzy in that instance; I block and distract. I got him to walk from hand to hand for a minute and sat down in my office chair (his tank is in my home office - he's my office buddy). He got comfortable and literally sat in the position in the pictures below, for 15 minutes. He let me rub his back, adjust my hands, touch his tail, whatever. He was comfy and he seems to realize, I am not going to hurt him. I think he's also beginning to realize I feed him. Finally, after 15 minutes, I started to get tired, and I put him back in his newly designed digs (see below).

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I have 2 hollow logs and 2 flat pieces of bark for Ferry. I plan to rotate one of each (have two pieces in at a time - one log and one bark piece) weekly, which will give me a week to brush and F10 the other pieces, rinse them with water, and let them dry. We do the same thing with Ezzy. She has multiple/redundant pieces as well. It also allows me to slightly change the decor of the tank and keep in interesting.

To add a little height, and because Chewie's like wrapping around smaller branches and vines, and using their prehensile tail, etc. I bought these Exoterra Mossy Vines and Jungle Vines (similar but slightly different texture and color). They are waterproof and can be cleaned the same way as the bark (I got multiples of these as well). They are flexible, but also pretty stiff. The tank he is in, a 16X16X20" PM Herp Tank without a screen top (better to keep the humidity in) has small vent slits in the back, and on the sides.

I put a zip tie on each side to run the vine through and add support and then used the real bark and log and also looped the vine over itself as well. This adds height and different size and texture for him to climb. He's only about 60G and although it might flex a little, should support him fine. If not, I also bought the large versions in case (this is the small). However, I've heard that he should prefer this size. I'll advise.

Links:

http://pmherps.com/cagenew.html

http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products/jungle_vines.php

http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products/moss_vine.php

Okay, looking at the pictures, I realize I can double over and twist the vines to give more integrity. I may do that and advise.

In the meantime, here's a picture of what the tank looks like now. Can you find Ferry? If so, how quickly did you find him?

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