Chameleon Cages?

[smilespop1207]

Hi everyone,
It's smilespop1207. I am brand new to the site and was just wondering what brand of screen enclosures you use for your chameleon(s). I am narrowed down to either choosing a Zilla's Fresh Air Screen Cage or a Zoo Med's Reptibreeze. I've done some research and couldn't find any differences(besides size of the cage) between the two. I mean, they are made of the same materials and serve the same purposes, so what's with the differences in price?

 

[nightanole]

LLL is having a cyber monday deal on their version of the reptibreeze. Not sure about your prices, but a 24x24x48 should be about $100 not on sale.

 

[dom1959]

i just put the 24x24x48 reptibreeze together, i have to say i like it more than i thought i would! i got a decent price at the phoenix reptile expo last week.

 

[danTHAman152000]

Zilla v Reptibreeze

I have both the Zilla (30x18x30) and also the Reptibreeze (16x16x20).

Originally I purchased the Zilla brand new, but I was worried my 2 month old veiled boy would not be able to hunt his prey. When he wouldn't eat from a cup, I decided to find other options to either section off his cage or purchase another. Luckily for me I found someone selling their small Reptibreeze on Craigslist. I picked it up for 20 bucks, and couldn't be happier after I put him in and saw him eat right away.

The cages are very similar. One difference is that the Reptibreeze has a swivel type door at the bottom of the cage, so it might be easier to clean.

The bottom of the Reptibreeze sort of just sits in place, so if you push up from underneath the empty Reptibreeze, the floor will pop up. This actually was helpful for me, because a plant will obviously weigh it down, and if you use some type of stand and tilt the cage, the water easily drains out from that corner. I ended up purchasing a plastic wired stand that the cage sat on, and I sat both into a long "under the bed" storage box and drilled a hole in one corner. Tilting allowed the water to drain right into the bucket on the floor. I'll post some pictures if you need more clarification.

In contrast, the Zilla has no swivel bottom door, and the PVC floor is screwed into the cage. I ended up drilling a hole in the front right corner of the cage about the width of a cheap "hair catching" drain I purchased from Home Depot for about a buck. the drain sits in the hole and keeps bugs out and allows water to drain; I of course tilted the cage slightly as well with a towel and it also drained nicely into the bucket.

The only issues I had was that both have these strange holes in the plastic corners of each screen side. I noticed my chameleon having problems catching crickets that were able to hide in these little nooks. I read others used some caulk to fill these areas, but I am not sure which would be safest to use. I would recommend filling those holes before assembling the cage.

My main complaint about the Zilla was that the door had a gap that was large enough for small crickets to crawl out.

In the end, I am glad that I found the deal on the cheap Reptibreeze on Craigslist. I kept my baby veiled boy in the small cage for about a month until I noticed his colors were flaring up quite a bit instead of his typical light green colors. After a month, he was able to eat medium sized crickets that were not able to hide in the holes or crawl out of the gap. So I put his original cage's furniture and plants back in and put him in. By the next day he was eating and showing nice light green colors.

I personally have never used the LLLReptile cages, but I do hear a lot of people discussing them on the forum. About 10 years ago I purchased my first chameleon, and at that time purchased the cage from cages.net. I was surprised to see they are still in business after so many years. I figured I would include them in this discussion as I had a pleasant experience purchasing two cages from them in the past. You can even choose the screen size and whether or not you want a screen or solid bottom. I was always an advocate for the screen bottom, but unless you have a convenient stand that allows water to be collected easily, I suggest the "drill hole and tilt" method with that hair drain. My last point is that it is possible that water can still drip out of a tilted Zilla that has not been drilled, but I still prefer the drain because I can easily remove the hair drain and wipe debris/poop through the hole, since I do not have that swivel bottom door.

Sorry for the long post but I figured it wouldn't hurt to explain my recent experiences with my cages! Let me know if you would like some pictures of my set ups. Also, there is a forum post showing everyones' setups that is probably 80 pages long. Check that out for more ideas!

Good luck!