Danny
I'm curious to see what type of replies you get to your question I've been experimenting with this for years,mostly to grow orchids and everything I've tried failed for various reasons. Living in S, Florida I have access to a lot of very exotic woods and they either rot quickly or are so dense that epiphytes can't root well to them. Rosewood Verawood and Teak are be far the longest lasting but they won't support epi's without addind a rooting material which of course rots away lol. The best rooters are Citrus,Bougainvillea.Cypress,Cocoloba and palms.even treated with acrylics they last no more than a couple of years.
As to the price ,even if they were reasonably priced by the time you pay shipping it's still unreasonable.lol.
I think the real answer to this problem is to hone your skills at making your own out of cyanoacrylics or fiberglass.Requires a lot of time and some artistic ability.
Not sure what type of woods you can find locally but it's probably your best choice for natural materials.
Hope you get some good replies to this question as it is a real Catch-22 situation.
Gary

I've been browsing my local pet stores and have seen some wood there that is usually used in aquariums. The local Havahart store also has sections of cork for $11/lb.

Penelope

Thanks for the advice Gary. Honestly I don't really care if woods like cypress only laast 4 or 5 years, because by then one will most likely want to start over with a fresh landscape to keep things interesting and all.

If anyone knows the names of any good wholesalers that'll probably be my best bet. Where do pet stores who sell wood (that's not from a brand like zoomed) get it from. There must be some type of wholsaler out there.

Many species of trees have bark that resists rot and is thick but light in weight. I look to local species. Look at large downed trees that have been on the ground for many years and see which kinds of bark don't decay. Then look for a fresher log. The suggestions of Citrus, Bougainvillea, and Cypress all sound good. I used some grape vine in my terrarium. It's very attractive and seems stable.

As for a tall terrarium with doors in front, that's an engineering challenge, but you can't walk in, can you? It's hard to get light down from a great hight. It gets all blocked by the higher plants anyway. You'll have a mushroom-arium at the bottom. Personally I shy away from wood in construction, except outside trim. See my post linked below.

Good luck. Be sure to send photos when done.

Here is a link that might be useful: ter construction

Thanks for your reply--yes it's turning out to be an engineering challenge but I beg to differ about your mushroom-arium theory. Check out the link below to pics of a 6-foot tall terrerium.

Here is a link that might be useful: INCREDIBLE TERRERIUM

Tropiflora is your best bet. the wood that lasts the longest and looks the best is cork. I have it in my terrarium, I have orchids on my patio mounted on it and it looks great and the price at tropiflora are very reasonable, they sell them by size and volume. You can specify to them the size you want and you'll get great pieces.
Here's a pic of one of my mounted orchids.
Ana :)

Here is a link that might be useful: mounted orchid

I was in a fish store the other day and they told me that Hagen will soon be selling very cheap mopani wood (the kind that is highly resistant to rotting). So you should look for that. Also, big box stores may sell wood cheaper. Places like Big Al's. Oh, and I'm in Canada, so this cheap mopani wood from Hagen may already be available in the states. BTW, grape wood is a very poor choice for terrariums. It is among the fastest-rotting of them all. I would go with gary's advice though, and make your own fake branches and stuff with PVC pipes that you melt and bend. They can be painted to look more natural, or just cover them with bits of bark and sphagnum moss if you're not artistic. In time they will be covered with living moss if you have good humidity, so no one will know if it's real or fake. It will also be much lighter that way. Oh yeah, and as for wholesalers, you may have one in your city, so check your yellow pages for fish stores.

In Australia we have paperbark, which never rots. I recall people complaining about Melaleuca quadrifida or similar (swamp paperbark) in florida. Perhaps you can find some of that? I have had a piece of Melaleuca linariifolia (snow in summer) aerial root sitting in a swamp outside for about 8 years and it's still there...

Snow in Summer is a perennial ground-cover up here, so don't confuse people with common names! =) Thank goodness for botanical names. . . (and yes, I know you also wrote it down, just hassling ya'). =)

Another thought about wood collecting. Stay away from things fresh or green. Something that's old is more stable, and if it's gotten a nice appearance over time, it's a good choice. Something with moss or lichen already on it is good. Collect from wet places, or at least where it's been wet part of the year.

David

Any other stores?

Petsm@rt has NOID driftwood in their reptile section - not cheap, but seems clean and decent quality. I found some nice faux wood pieces at walm@rt in the aquarium section (just had to pry out all sorts of fugly fluorescent plastic plants, sand off some fluorescent paint and then seal it). I've also seen some nice driftwood in silk flower arrangements sold in thrift stores ... also look for those 70's macrame owls (they are often clutching useable pieces of driftwood). I sterilize everything in the oven and seal anything that seems like it might rot easily.