trickedoutbiker
Avid Member
I'ma bout to order my new cage as from Dragon Strand. I was thinking about the Large Clear Side Enclosure (the cage, not Artrium)
http://dragonstrand.com/product/large-clear-side-enclosure/
but I am also very interested in this one, the X-Large Breeder cage - http://dragonstrand.com/product/extra-large-breeder-cage/
I thought I had my mind made up, but I've been doing some heavy thinking on it and I just can't make up my mind on it. I'm torn between the two. I can't decide. There are pros and cons to each.
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The pros to the Clear Side are that it looks aesthetically nice and clean. It has solid sides to keep in overspray from misting machines. The top and left side are screen which allow for airflow, and with the left side being screen, "If you desire to release feeders in your cage to stimulate a hunting behavior it is a simple thing to crack the door open just enough to allow your hand or feeder cup in to place the feeder on the screen to let them run up." Now the X-Large Breeder cage has the same 3 solid sides. It also looks nice, but not AS nice, because it has 3 white walls instead of the clear walls that the Clear Enclosure has. But, the advantage that the WHITE walls of the Breeder Cage have over the clear walls of the Clear Enclosure, is that you can put two cages with chameleons side-by-side and they won't be able to look at one another through the white PVC walls of the cage. If you were to have a Clear Side Enclosure, the chameleons could still look at each other through the walls. Both cages come with Dragon Ledges which are great. Both are quality cages.
Now lets talk cons.
When I (and lots of people) perform a deep clean, I take my cage and hose it down or put it in the shower and give it a good scrub. With the Clear Side Enclosure, they recommend cleaning it with distilled or RO water to prevent white dust getting on everything. So with a Clear Side enclosure, putting it in the shower to give it all a good deep clean might fog up the sides of the cages with white powder because it would be using shower water, which is not distilled or purified, and taking it outside with a hose instead is also not using distilled or purified water so that could fog up the sides of the cage as well. That'd be bad, because you would have to make sure you scrub it extra good to make sure there will be no leftover white-ness from your water after you are done with the cleaning. This won't be an issue in the X-Large Breeder series cage, because, since the walls are already white, if there happened to be a very slight buildup on them after a deep-clean and you missed a small spot, you wouldn't see the white-ness from the water because it would fade out and blend in with the already-white walls of the cage itself. You also might see water-spots if the cage isn't dried fast enough or well enough, a problem you would not have with the Breeder Cage. ---------- With the Clear Side Enclosure having clear sides, they will also be prone to show scratches more if those tend to happen. And I'm sure that with all the tongue-flickin and insect eating that will occur in the next few years, a few scratches are bound to happen. Those will show up more on a Clear Side enclosure than they will in the X-Large Breeder Cage because scratches will show through a clear wall a lot faster and easier than they will show through a white PVC wall. ---------- The clear sided walls of the Clear Side Enclosure are nice, really really nice looking. BUT..... If one was to ever get two chameleons and want to place them side-by-side, it would not be good with these cages because they could see each other through the wall. With the X-Large Breeder cage, the walls are solid white PVC and therefore you cannot see through them. So, one could place many cages side-by-side without a problem. The solid walls would also shield your chameleon from seeing too much outside his cage and possibly stressing him. On the flip side, I really like how you can look through ANY side of the cage to see your chameleon with the Clear Side Enclosure and your can't do that with the X-Large Breeder cage because the walls are solid white, so you could only look through the front to see what your little one is up to....
So there you have it. Pros and cons of each. I REALLY REALLY REALLY like the nice clean look of the Clear Side Enclosure but I just had some type of feeling deep down in me that is worried about the sides of the cages getting all fogged up or getting all scratched up because of how I deep-clean my cages. Putting it in a shower or under a hose is soooooo much faster and easier than wiping off everything little by little and wasting more distilled water in the process (because they recommend using it to not tarnish the clearness). And the shower with unfiltered water might be the death of the nice looking walls. I cant get over how NICE that Clear Side Enclosure looks though. I mean it looks so neat, and once all filled it, would look great on my stand and all. A very nice enclosure. I also don't know how a chameleon would feel with all white walls from Breeder seriues.... I mean with the clear sides, he could look out at stuff and possibly get stressed from anything he sees, which couldn't be much - maybe a person walking by a couch here and there, or a very small dog wandering around the house (his stand is in the far, least traveled corner of my living room). But with the white walls.... would he get tired of staring at white? I mean, the cage will be heavily planted to provide lots of coverage, hiding a lot of the white and filling the cage in real good.... So with that said, he probably couldn't look out the sides of the CLEAR enclosure that much either because it will be heavily planted. But with that one, like said before, I'm just worried about how well the clear sides would still look a few years down the road. With the clear-side, ALSO like how the left side of the enclosure is made of screen to allow you to easily slip some feeders through the front and onto the left side to go up and down the cage. On the X-Large Breeder cages, the top and FRONT are screen instead of the top and LEFT. Which means that slipping your hand in the front, you can't place them on a screen to run up unless your hand can perform some kind of double-jointed turn around.. So you'd have to place them on the floor or sprinkle em onto various branches with the Breeder Cage.
Uggh... like I said, torn between the two. Badly.
I need suggestions, input, advice, .... What would ya'll do if you was me? Which one would you get if you had to pick between the two, and give your reasons why please.
http://dragonstrand.com/product/large-clear-side-enclosure/
but I am also very interested in this one, the X-Large Breeder cage - http://dragonstrand.com/product/extra-large-breeder-cage/
I thought I had my mind made up, but I've been doing some heavy thinking on it and I just can't make up my mind on it. I'm torn between the two. I can't decide. There are pros and cons to each.
------
The pros to the Clear Side are that it looks aesthetically nice and clean. It has solid sides to keep in overspray from misting machines. The top and left side are screen which allow for airflow, and with the left side being screen, "If you desire to release feeders in your cage to stimulate a hunting behavior it is a simple thing to crack the door open just enough to allow your hand or feeder cup in to place the feeder on the screen to let them run up." Now the X-Large Breeder cage has the same 3 solid sides. It also looks nice, but not AS nice, because it has 3 white walls instead of the clear walls that the Clear Enclosure has. But, the advantage that the WHITE walls of the Breeder Cage have over the clear walls of the Clear Enclosure, is that you can put two cages with chameleons side-by-side and they won't be able to look at one another through the white PVC walls of the cage. If you were to have a Clear Side Enclosure, the chameleons could still look at each other through the walls. Both cages come with Dragon Ledges which are great. Both are quality cages.
Now lets talk cons.
When I (and lots of people) perform a deep clean, I take my cage and hose it down or put it in the shower and give it a good scrub. With the Clear Side Enclosure, they recommend cleaning it with distilled or RO water to prevent white dust getting on everything. So with a Clear Side enclosure, putting it in the shower to give it all a good deep clean might fog up the sides of the cages with white powder because it would be using shower water, which is not distilled or purified, and taking it outside with a hose instead is also not using distilled or purified water so that could fog up the sides of the cage as well. That'd be bad, because you would have to make sure you scrub it extra good to make sure there will be no leftover white-ness from your water after you are done with the cleaning. This won't be an issue in the X-Large Breeder series cage, because, since the walls are already white, if there happened to be a very slight buildup on them after a deep-clean and you missed a small spot, you wouldn't see the white-ness from the water because it would fade out and blend in with the already-white walls of the cage itself. You also might see water-spots if the cage isn't dried fast enough or well enough, a problem you would not have with the Breeder Cage. ---------- With the Clear Side Enclosure having clear sides, they will also be prone to show scratches more if those tend to happen. And I'm sure that with all the tongue-flickin and insect eating that will occur in the next few years, a few scratches are bound to happen. Those will show up more on a Clear Side enclosure than they will in the X-Large Breeder Cage because scratches will show through a clear wall a lot faster and easier than they will show through a white PVC wall. ---------- The clear sided walls of the Clear Side Enclosure are nice, really really nice looking. BUT..... If one was to ever get two chameleons and want to place them side-by-side, it would not be good with these cages because they could see each other through the wall. With the X-Large Breeder cage, the walls are solid white PVC and therefore you cannot see through them. So, one could place many cages side-by-side without a problem. The solid walls would also shield your chameleon from seeing too much outside his cage and possibly stressing him. On the flip side, I really like how you can look through ANY side of the cage to see your chameleon with the Clear Side Enclosure and your can't do that with the X-Large Breeder cage because the walls are solid white, so you could only look through the front to see what your little one is up to....
So there you have it. Pros and cons of each. I REALLY REALLY REALLY like the nice clean look of the Clear Side Enclosure but I just had some type of feeling deep down in me that is worried about the sides of the cages getting all fogged up or getting all scratched up because of how I deep-clean my cages. Putting it in a shower or under a hose is soooooo much faster and easier than wiping off everything little by little and wasting more distilled water in the process (because they recommend using it to not tarnish the clearness). And the shower with unfiltered water might be the death of the nice looking walls. I cant get over how NICE that Clear Side Enclosure looks though. I mean it looks so neat, and once all filled it, would look great on my stand and all. A very nice enclosure. I also don't know how a chameleon would feel with all white walls from Breeder seriues.... I mean with the clear sides, he could look out at stuff and possibly get stressed from anything he sees, which couldn't be much - maybe a person walking by a couch here and there, or a very small dog wandering around the house (his stand is in the far, least traveled corner of my living room). But with the white walls.... would he get tired of staring at white? I mean, the cage will be heavily planted to provide lots of coverage, hiding a lot of the white and filling the cage in real good.... So with that said, he probably couldn't look out the sides of the CLEAR enclosure that much either because it will be heavily planted. But with that one, like said before, I'm just worried about how well the clear sides would still look a few years down the road. With the clear-side, ALSO like how the left side of the enclosure is made of screen to allow you to easily slip some feeders through the front and onto the left side to go up and down the cage. On the X-Large Breeder cages, the top and FRONT are screen instead of the top and LEFT. Which means that slipping your hand in the front, you can't place them on a screen to run up unless your hand can perform some kind of double-jointed turn around.. So you'd have to place them on the floor or sprinkle em onto various branches with the Breeder Cage.
Uggh... like I said, torn between the two. Badly.
I need suggestions, input, advice, .... What would ya'll do if you was me? Which one would you get if you had to pick between the two, and give your reasons why please.
