My new GOC

we moved from upstate NY to FL about 8 months ago. breeding F. pardalis was one of the main reasons for moving to this area although i have lived here before as well. initially my chams were kept on our lanai which gave them all of the humidity that they needed, but of course i needed to provide the lighting and water. and as the collection grew and grew, it was becoming overwhelming. nevermind when the babies start to arrive! so the plans to build the GOC moved into priority status, and 98% was finally completed a few days ago.

(sorry for the lowering of the photo resolutions, but i had to fit them within the constraints of the forum)

these shots show some of the chams in the lanai and how chaotic the lights/wiring/timers/waterers were getting:







i hired someone who has built enclosures before for some herpers that i know. we walked the property, discussed ideas, and came up with plans and sketches. he shopped for the materials and we decided on a modular structure that he could build at his house, and would be easy to repair and expand if necessary. that also included keeping most of the lumber at standard lengths so that they wouldn't have to be cut to size every time. i settled on 1/2" hardware cloth as opposed to 1/4", a decision which i was very glad for later on in the project......

these shots are fom his house as he began assembling the sections:









he then assembled the basic skeleton at his house to see how it was coming together which wound up being a good idea, b/c he discovered a major issue which had to be corrected:







the roof:



and everything after being painted:



to be continued-

then over to our house. we have an acre of land with a large yard. additionally there is a mother-in-law suite that was actually built as a hurricane shelter as well. right now it is coming in very handy for the insect room, a quiet laying area for females, and storage. that is the little house in most of the photos. we marked out the area to allow for excellent sun exposure and future expansion. everything then was laid out and put together:















the view of the GOC from our backyard:



and finally, the door and bottom skirt:











to be continued-

the cage, as it was left for me to finish:



the bolts holding the wood together, all stainless steel:



the hardware cloth was glued and stapled into place:





we had debated pouring cement, but these Speedposts are apparently exceedingly strong in the ground:





oh! how did this get in here? i guess i like green:



now, onto the watering system. i considered various options, and finally settled on standard irrigation devices which are easy to replace and find. this is the layout from start to finish:

the timer works on 2 batteries which last over a year. very convenient, particularly as i have no electrical outlets anywhere near the cage. i have it set 4x daily @ 3 minutes per watering:





the adapters below the timer are a backflush stopper, a reducer to 25psi water pressure, and the adapter to the 1/2" tubing:



i then buried the hose underground to the cage to keep it safe and out of the way:







to be continued-

That is sweet!! I have built my larger enclosures as separate panels then assemble on completion and it worked out great. Are you going to keep the cage as one giant enclosure or add compartments? It would be great to see your beast when it is done and planted. I still think we could use a DIY section on these forums especially for deals such as this.

Wow.

there are many corner adapters and T-adapters that are available, but i am of the opinion that the less breaks in the line, the less trouble i will have in the future. so whenever possible, i just kept a natural bend in the line. also note the cable clamps that were used for the hose:



and up to the top where it enters the cage and then tees off in two different directions:





one side branching off with the individual drip lines coming down, to be explained in detail:



i drilled through the beams to keep a clean, straight line for the hose:





curling around the backside to the end which is "overclamped":





sometimes feeders come in to sacrifice themselves for the greater good:



and then the individual drippers. what i did seems to give all the chams the best of all options, and gives me complete control over every single dripper and how much water is coming out:



every line is tapped into the 1/2" hose with an adjustable knob; zero to full water. the drip lines are 1/4":



i then decided to tee the lines to two different heads:



there were so many choices. 0.5/1/2/3/4/5 GPH dripper heads, adjustable dripper heads, foggers, fogger/misters, and more. after buying one of everything and trying them all, i decided on the final course. this line ends in a fogger/mister. the fogger head was so fine that any stiff wind would have just blown the vapor away. this one had a bit more "oomph":



this one ends in an adjustable dripper which can be set to full blast or hardly any drops at all. so between this control and the one up top, i can alter the pressure of every line in every cage:



the final result:



to be continued-

finally was the decision on how to hang the cages. the purpose of my GOC is not for free-roaming. it is actually protection against all of the raccoons, snakes, opossums, birds, cats, dogs, etc. that could harm the lizards. but now they can languish in the Florida weather for about 8-9 months of the year in safety. there were so many options once again; my final call was to drill a 7/32" hole into the cages which allowed me to screw in a 1/4" machined eyebolt with a lock washer. and then just use a good s-hook to let them hang. it was surprisingly difficult to get the s-hooks through the hardware cloth, and that is why i am VERY happy that i decided against the 1/4" screen. it would have been much more difficult to attach something that could also come down easily.





Bozo was watching everything with great interest. he's exceedingly mellow at 9 months of age:



i am most concerned about how Pixel will adapt, since all he's ever known was a custom built indoor cage in NY for most of his life. but so far, so good:



and finally, i thought of a great use for their bowls that i will occasionally use for certain feeders. i placed them upside-down on top in a corner of the cages, and i have already seen some of the chams happily use their little umbrellas:



to be continued-

Great job. They will really like it out there.

Wow awesome can me and my chams move down?

some (probably not) final thoughts---

i still need to place a filter system inline to dechlorinate the water. i did buy one, however they sold me the wrong adapters and i still need to attach it.

the first timer that i bought would have sprayed every 6 hours, but that included in the middle of the night. it rains enough here anyway, and i did not want them being disturbed every night. so i found another brand which gave me more flexibility.

i have Sunbrella-type cloth that we will be putting between cages so they all can't see each other, but right now everone has been extremely copacetic with the way that i grouped them.

the enclosure is 20'x10'x8'. however i didn't think that i could stack cages vertically as i wouldn't want run-off water from one cage to drip down into another, and chams really don't like another cham that is higher than they are. but Olimpia had an excellent suggestion for placing some plastic shelving underneath the top cages to divert the waste water and also block their views. so that may happen in the future.

i will be adding a work station or two to have somewhere to put things other than the ground.

i'll put a padlock on the door to keep out any nosy neighborhood kids or something, but obviously if someone wanted in, they would get in.

it's really sad and quiet in the lanai now........i can't wait until winter when they're back under their lights!

total cost of building hardware was approximately $1200. labor was about $850. my watering system, $70 with $40 of that just for the timer. but to save 9 months worth of electricity, expensive light bulbs, manual watering, and to also have and produce crazy healthy chameleons......PRICELESS!!!


dr. o—

awesome setup man!

You may want to put a shield over that water line where it comes out of the ground by the cage though. A weed eater will chew that hose up if your not careful when trimming around the cage. Been there and learned that the hard way!

wow that is quite impressive!!! It is too bad though that these chameleons can't be housed together so you could let them all loose in there. They would go crazy!! BTW maybe a dumb question but what does GOC stand for?!!!

Action Jackson said:

Great job. They will really like it out there.

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on the boat, you mean? ;-)

carol5208 said:

BTW maybe a dumb question but what does GOC stand for?!!!

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i've taken the acronym from this forum, and assumed it was "Giant Outdoor Cage", but i could be totally wrong!

Very nice. I may have missed this. What are the measurements? Florida + GOC = Chameleon heaven!

Dr O said:

i've taken the acronym from this forum, and assumed it was "Giant Outdoor Cage", but i could be totally wrong!

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You are probably right! I have a "BOC" then cause it is big, but not giant like yours!! lol

ataraxia said:

Very nice. I may have missed this. What are the measurements? Florida + GOC = Chameleon heaven!

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20'x10'x8', and uberexpandable.

Haha I was gessin GOC was garden of chameleons

neuce said:

Haha I was gessin GOC was garden of chameleons

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ha, i like that

Dr O said:

i've taken the acronym from this forum, and assumed it was "Giant Outdoor Cage", but i could be totally wrong!

Click to expand...

Action Jackson coined the term from me on another forums. GOC is a giant outdoor cage.