Brev Tank

[Cherron]

Alright, I got my brev tank all put together and I am going to post some pictures here so that if I need to make any changes, I can do so before my new chams get here on tuesday! I ordered 1.2 CH. I looked around for captive bred, but i couldn't find any until AFTER i ordered mine. Hopefully though, all will be well.

The white thermometer, humidity guage in the middle of the tank is not staying right there, I just had it there for a few days while testing temps and humidity. From what I can see, my humidity hovers around 68 - 72 % and after each of two mistings a day it jumps to almost 90%. This sounds high, though I believe that this is in the range I have read. The temperature stays around 76 - 77.. the highest I saw it in 3 days was 79 and the lowest was 72.

I have one fake plant in the back.. the rest (5) are real, and non toxic and were washed well and replanted in organic potting soil before putting in the enclosure. I used coconut fiber as the substrate. The bottom layer is gravel (no hydroton around here.. i live in Kentucky!), the next is activated charcoal, and then the coconut fiber. I also planted a few small spots of live green moss here and there. Is this a no no? I wasn't sure but I read that it was safe for reptile enclosures, but we all know that all things safe for reptiles hardly ever include chameleons. I also have a few stones and leaves to put in, but i haven't placed them in yet.

For lighting I got a Reptisun 5.0 compact bulb in a hood with a reflector. I didn't want to add much heat to the enclosure, but I have no experience with the compact type uvb lights, having only used the tube type with my true chams. It seems to light the tank evenly and brightly so hopefully it will work out.

Please feel free to post any feedback on things that I can improve on. Sorry to be so long winded, but I want to give as much info as possible so that my brevs will thrive and be comfy in their new home.

 

[roo_71]

I think it looks good. The moss will be fine and brevs can handle sustained temps around 80F, this was mentioned in a Reptilia article and there has been times where my temps were around that for a couple weeks. Try and get a solid 10 degree drop at night (or a bit lower) if the temps get that high though.

Be very careful with the coco fiber substrate. It very common for keepers new to pygmies to over water a tank and the coco fiber is hard to dry out once it’s really wet. It compresses an awful lot too – so on the occasion use a chop stick to stir up the substrate a bit so that it can breathe and dry out some.

What size tank is that BTW? Your average humidity sounds good as long as the tank gets times to dry out and if it’s jumping to 90 after a misting, then given time that tank may get too wet. I’d suggest having an oscillating fan in the room so the tank can get a subtle breeze … that tank look on the tall side and I find that the taller the tank the harder it is to dry out in between mistings.

-roo

 

[scooter4n]

When my tank gets to wet, and humidity stays little to high for some time, I use 80MM computer fan running slow at about 9-10 volts. Placing that fan on the top screen sucking air out that will fix your humidity problem in 30 min, then I turn fan around to blow in some fresh air, for another 10 min, and Im good.

 

[Cherron]

It is a pretty tall tank. 30" x 30". I have an oscillating fan and a ceiling fan and I went with the all screen top, so hopefully I will have enough air exchange to allow it to dry out when needed.

Thanks for the input guys. I am so excited about them getting here!