It sounds as if you need to ask these questions on a reptile forum - do a google search and I am sure you will find one.

I know how to do everything regarding the enclosure, what I need to know are what types of vines can do what I need (both thick and solid, and what is the likelihood of having a living tree growing horizontally in an enclosure. Any other information would be fantastic though.

This is a garden site and this forum is a vine forum.

As kayjones stated above, the info you are looking for will be found on a a reptile forum not on a garden forum.

we grow our plants, flowers, trees vines etc for their beauty, not to be eaten by some kind of reptile or any other type of critter with 4 legs.

I'm sure there are some reptile forums on the web that can provide you with the info you are seeking.

Just do a google search and you should be able to find them and get your answers.

Fran

It isn't to be eaten, these are carnivores. I want to make a display piece to be admired, not simply a cage.

That's an interesting question - I would probably learn more about the lizards natural habitat and what plants flourish in it. It may be such that indoor/ tropical plants would not be possible with the animals' light requirements. You would probably have to go with normal outdoor plants & lighting appropriate to them.

I think your issue, being in Canada, will be a matter of the lizards will not be able to stay in the enclosure for a very long period of time. You mention that the lizards are crocodile monitors. They come from a very humid country with a nearly constant temp of 80F (27C). I would be concerned about maintaining healthy conditions for them. Having lived in Michigan for 7 years, I know that summer temps there were very inconsistent and I had to keep my temperate-climate box turtles indoors and away from windows for the most part. So it strikes me as off that you would want to build a very large and expensive enclosure (you do realize your dimensions are almost as big as a double-wide trailer?) that would rarely get used. I'm not trying to dissuade you from your project, I just hope you have given very careful thought to what it is you're attempting. It would be a shame to lose 3 young monitors that cost $1k+ each to pneumonia because it got too cold during the night.

After taking health conditions into account, I would say your next goal would be finding a vine that will survive your winters. For the short amount of time the monitors will be in the enclosure, it won't matter how sturdy the vine is. Regardless of how the enclosure is built, once the winter winds start blowing, there WILL be drafts and cold spots that your babies will not enjoy one bit.

I'm confused. By "indoor" do you mean you will use something like chicken wire to create an enclosure outside in your yard? And you want some strong vines to grow on a tree within this enclosure? I'm lost why you would need to add 6 feet of dirt, and what you meant about lighting, but that confusion is probably a by-product of the general confusion of whether this will be outside or if you mean to enclose it like a room and control the conditions inside. If so, how would a tree or vine live without sunshine?

This couldn't be less helpful, but if others have the same confusion, it's impossible to answer your vine question. Maybe it's just me...?

What he's talking about is something like a steel building built around a downed tree. He's thinking that florescent, heat and UVA/UVB lamps needed for good reptile development will somehow keep the tree alive. I did know someone who had a smaller steel building built for their reptile collection in Michigan, but there was a marked difference in what they did. The building housed many smaller enclosures that were easier to manage the climates in. On the scale that Stephen is talking about, I don't think it's possible to provide a healthy environment for the reptiles. It will get too cold and they will end up sick and probably dying. Either that or he's going to have to put in his own electric plant in his backyard to power all those heat lamps night and day to keep the temps up, not to mention the irrigation system needed to keep the humidity up. Plus he'll have to build another building around this one to keep drafts out. He would have to be quite wealthy to pull off what he's wanting (not even zoos have tropical reptile exhibits this big). But if he was that wealthy, he wouldn't be asking for assistance on these forums.