We have always been amazed when we see an enclosure set up naturalistically with thriving plant life. There is a magic in getting lost in the details of one of these environments. It is even more powerful when the chameleon is the last thing you notice because it had so well hidden itself in plain sight (as chameleons are able to do). These systems are often set-up by advanced keepers and are a source of pride.
The good news is that this is changing and more and more keepers are enjoying setting up naturalistic systems. The enclosures, equipment, and instruction are now easily found and, perhaps most importantly, we have arrived at the community growth stage where it is time for the general community to embrace naturalistic design.
Each reptile community goes through a certain progression. We start trying to keep the reptiles alive long term. Once the community can achieve that success the advanced keepers have moved on to breeding. Once the community can reliably breed the reptile we start the business arm where people breed as a side job or even main job. We in the chameleon community have successfully gone through all those stages. We are able to routinely keep chameleons long term and to their old age. Now it is time for us to enter into the stage of enrichment. This is where we make naturalistic enclosures and create environments that our chameleons can thrive in physically, mentally, and emotionally.
This doesn’t mean every beginner has to start with a bio-active cage. There are skills that are necessary to build and maintain these systems. In fact, I would say it is best to start very simple. Keep live plants alive and then work your way up. But there is value in keeping your eye on what you could do down the road.
I have watched the chameleon community grow over these years and have been an active participant in that growth. I have worked in content creation for education and also worked with creating enclosures that helped us move forward.
Custom Reptile Habitats Entry
This year I was given the opportunity to work with Paul Barclay of Custom Reptile Habitats to develop a Chameleon Academy branded line of enclosures for his Maximum Reptile series that focused on serving arboreal reptiles. His manufacturing methods allowed me to design specifically for building enclosures which facilitated bioactive environments. I was able to incorporate features such as extra light bars placed to get light to the forest floor, a special forest floor viewing window, and deep substrates. Another aspect I enjoyed was the ability to have a stand/cabinet and cubbies-type shelves as options so that these enclosures would look like furniture in your home.
I have been having the time of my life building out these environments and have been creating the largest dairy cow isopods I have ever seen. . I have watched my female chameleon go to the floor of her enclosure and search for egg laying spots. I have seen plants take over the walls. I have seen the enclosure grow in beautiful ways!
I have also had to adjust parameters to avoid crashes.
And sometimes you get the crash.
Is that a failure? Of course not. Chameleon herpetoculture is certainly about keeping our chameleons for long and healthy lives. But it is also about personal growth. The beautiful part of a bioactive enclosure is that you are able to observe all these aspects and tweak your environment to better serve the life in your enclosure. Every plant that dies or has pests or grows wildly out of control is a learning moment for how nature works. Every time the substrate gets saturated with water, has a fungus outbreak, or the isopods die out you learn how to keep the earth healthy. Yes, we enjoy having these slices of nature in our homes, but we are learning a deeper knowledge of how to keep these slices of nature healthy.
This is part of our chameleon community growth. I have spoken with leaders in other reptile communities and one thing that has stood out to me is how each community develops a deep tribal knowledge of certain parameters. We in the chameleon community have an above average understanding of things like UVB and supplementation. We are pioneers in arboreal hydration. When you live in these discussions day in and day out you can easily forget that they are quite advanced and breaking new ground. One aspect that we in the chameleon community are just starting to develop that tribal knowledge on is bioactive and dealing with soil. And, for good reason, for decades our focus has been in the trees! It is only by coming to the point where we are now that it is time to add soil to our experience. Other communities have been working with bioactive longer than we have. That is okay. We now have a reason. Our sense of environment has expanded to now it is time to add that to our experience. We can learn from them and will put a chameleon spin to it.
The benefits of moving our community towards creating beautiful naturalistic designs and maintaining bioactive environments is more than having a peaceful slice of nature in our homes. Though that, in itself, is enough for me! But going through this personal growth keeps us actively engaged in our chameleon keeping passion. We chameleon keepers do not get bored and I am entering into the tenth season of the Chameleon Academy outreach because we keep learning and pushing to understand more about chameleons. We are using this as a conduit to learn more about chameleons, nature, the world, and our place in it.
Part of our place in this world is to be an example of our community to people outside our community. Chameleons are fascinating creatures and effective ambassadors to share the wonder of far off lands to kids and adults who have never seen such things. It is sad to see chameleons confined in a sparse cage. It is inspiring to see a chameleon amongst beautiful plants in a dynamic environment.We represent reptiles to a society that has traditionally viewed reptiles with fear. How we present ourselves and our husbandry to visitors to our home and on social media affects how reptiles and reptile keepers are viewed by the general populace.
So, what can you do?
When you are starting out, concentrate on learning basic chameleon husbandry. I encourage filling your cage with live plants. Live plants are a challenge for some people, but that is a worthwhile challenge to take on. Your chameleon’s environment should be very good for the most common houseplants. Once you have basic chameleon husbandry down you can start looking ahead and adding other elements. The path you take will be up to what you enjoy.
But know that there are a whole lot of exciting things ahead for you for you to choose from!
I have the privilege to be able see my design ideas become reality and I am having a wonderful time working with and learning from creating bioactive environments. And I absolutely love dairy cow isopods! If you would like to explore the bioactive level of herpetoculture with em then I invite you to check out the high end Chameleon Academy Arboreal enclosures. These were designed by me specifically so we can explore this next level of chameleon herpetoculture. And sales of these enclosures goes to help support this Chameleon Academy outreach. Click to image to check them out!
The good news is that this is changing and more and more keepers are enjoying setting up naturalistic systems. The enclosures, equipment, and instruction are now easily found and, perhaps most importantly, we have arrived at the community growth stage where it is time for the general community to embrace naturalistic design.
Each reptile community goes through a certain progression. We start trying to keep the reptiles alive long term. Once the community can achieve that success the advanced keepers have moved on to breeding. Once the community can reliably breed the reptile we start the business arm where people breed as a side job or even main job. We in the chameleon community have successfully gone through all those stages. We are able to routinely keep chameleons long term and to their old age. Now it is time for us to enter into the stage of enrichment. This is where we make naturalistic enclosures and create environments that our chameleons can thrive in physically, mentally, and emotionally.
This doesn’t mean every beginner has to start with a bio-active cage. There are skills that are necessary to build and maintain these systems. In fact, I would say it is best to start very simple. Keep live plants alive and then work your way up. But there is value in keeping your eye on what you could do down the road.
I have watched the chameleon community grow over these years and have been an active participant in that growth. I have worked in content creation for education and also worked with creating enclosures that helped us move forward.
Custom Reptile Habitats Entry
This year I was given the opportunity to work with Paul Barclay of Custom Reptile Habitats to develop a Chameleon Academy branded line of enclosures for his Maximum Reptile series that focused on serving arboreal reptiles. His manufacturing methods allowed me to design specifically for building enclosures which facilitated bioactive environments. I was able to incorporate features such as extra light bars placed to get light to the forest floor, a special forest floor viewing window, and deep substrates. Another aspect I enjoyed was the ability to have a stand/cabinet and cubbies-type shelves as options so that these enclosures would look like furniture in your home.
I have been having the time of my life building out these environments and have been creating the largest dairy cow isopods I have ever seen. . I have watched my female chameleon go to the floor of her enclosure and search for egg laying spots. I have seen plants take over the walls. I have seen the enclosure grow in beautiful ways!
I have also had to adjust parameters to avoid crashes.
And sometimes you get the crash.
Is that a failure? Of course not. Chameleon herpetoculture is certainly about keeping our chameleons for long and healthy lives. But it is also about personal growth. The beautiful part of a bioactive enclosure is that you are able to observe all these aspects and tweak your environment to better serve the life in your enclosure. Every plant that dies or has pests or grows wildly out of control is a learning moment for how nature works. Every time the substrate gets saturated with water, has a fungus outbreak, or the isopods die out you learn how to keep the earth healthy. Yes, we enjoy having these slices of nature in our homes, but we are learning a deeper knowledge of how to keep these slices of nature healthy.
This is part of our chameleon community growth. I have spoken with leaders in other reptile communities and one thing that has stood out to me is how each community develops a deep tribal knowledge of certain parameters. We in the chameleon community have an above average understanding of things like UVB and supplementation. We are pioneers in arboreal hydration. When you live in these discussions day in and day out you can easily forget that they are quite advanced and breaking new ground. One aspect that we in the chameleon community are just starting to develop that tribal knowledge on is bioactive and dealing with soil. And, for good reason, for decades our focus has been in the trees! It is only by coming to the point where we are now that it is time to add soil to our experience. Other communities have been working with bioactive longer than we have. That is okay. We now have a reason. Our sense of environment has expanded to now it is time to add that to our experience. We can learn from them and will put a chameleon spin to it.
The benefits of moving our community towards creating beautiful naturalistic designs and maintaining bioactive environments is more than having a peaceful slice of nature in our homes. Though that, in itself, is enough for me! But going through this personal growth keeps us actively engaged in our chameleon keeping passion. We chameleon keepers do not get bored and I am entering into the tenth season of the Chameleon Academy outreach because we keep learning and pushing to understand more about chameleons. We are using this as a conduit to learn more about chameleons, nature, the world, and our place in it.
Part of our place in this world is to be an example of our community to people outside our community. Chameleons are fascinating creatures and effective ambassadors to share the wonder of far off lands to kids and adults who have never seen such things. It is sad to see chameleons confined in a sparse cage. It is inspiring to see a chameleon amongst beautiful plants in a dynamic environment.We represent reptiles to a society that has traditionally viewed reptiles with fear. How we present ourselves and our husbandry to visitors to our home and on social media affects how reptiles and reptile keepers are viewed by the general populace.
So, what can you do?
When you are starting out, concentrate on learning basic chameleon husbandry. I encourage filling your cage with live plants. Live plants are a challenge for some people, but that is a worthwhile challenge to take on. Your chameleon’s environment should be very good for the most common houseplants. Once you have basic chameleon husbandry down you can start looking ahead and adding other elements. The path you take will be up to what you enjoy.
But know that there are a whole lot of exciting things ahead for you for you to choose from!
I have the privilege to be able see my design ideas become reality and I am having a wonderful time working with and learning from creating bioactive environments. And I absolutely love dairy cow isopods! If you would like to explore the bioactive level of herpetoculture with em then I invite you to check out the high end Chameleon Academy Arboreal enclosures. These were designed by me specifically so we can explore this next level of chameleon herpetoculture. And sales of these enclosures goes to help support this Chameleon Academy outreach. Click to image to check them out!
