cage setup to prevent climbing on screen?

[tbone412]

Is there any way to set up my cage to prevent my cham from climbing on the screen? I haven't been able to think of anything to stop this and at first I didn't care but he tends to climb right up to his basking light where it is definitely too hot to be safe. I'm switching to a lower wattage bulb until I figure something out.

 

[absolutbill]

Young chams are notorious for cage climbing. There are a couple of things you can do - first, raise the basking light so that it doesn't sit directly on top of the cage. Next, you can go to Home Depot and get landscaping fencing - it's plastic mesh, about 1" squares, and you can attach that to the sides of the cage to give your cham something to climb on other than the mesh of the cage which can be bad for their nails. Good luck!

 

[pssh]

In addition to the above suggestions, it might also help to put lots and lots of branches/vines/perches all over the place. Sometimes chameleons will stop screen climbing if they get more climbing area. It may or may not work for a young chameleon though.

 

[tbone412]

Thank you both for the suggestions. I am hoping that as he gets bigger he will stop climbing on the cage. It is funny you mention adding more vines and sticks because I had decided to do that about 10 minutes ago. I also just got several new plants to put up. Mostly spanish moss and air plants so hopefully that will help.