Considering a Jackson's - New to chameleons

[Carlton]

I live in the Los Angeles area near the coast and weather stays pretty mild (mid-70's). We do not have an air conditioner though and I wonder if sometimes our apartment gets a little warm (80's) in the summer.
Lastly, a question on all this water that I'll be misting, and dripping into the cage. How do I collect it at the bottom? I hear about drainage systems but I'm not sure how they work. How does one set this up? Or does the water just evaporate throughout the day?

PS, I am only considering captive bred.

If your house temp goes over 80 occasionally and you get a cool down at night consistently you may be OK. If the house is going to reach over 82 day after day you may have to find a way to cool the cage down. Something temporary like a blue ice pack with a small fan moving air across them into the cage during the hot part of the day, turning off the basking bulb after a morning warm up, etc.

The drainage you set up depends so much on your particular cage design. There are lots of ideas...the simplest one depends on a rigid cage bottom. Tip the entire cage slightly so the water drains to one spot and mop it up. You can also melt a plastic cage bottom to form a low spot. Set something heavy in the center of the plastic bottom and heat the plastic enough to make it sag under the weight...creates a low point. Then drill a drain hole at the lowest point and put a bucket underneath. Or, attach a drain tube that runs to a bucket somewhere.

You can set your cage frame over or inside a plastic storage bin and let the water drip through. Raise the cage frame slightly on plastic jar lids or something similar. You will need something under your live plant pots too. The problem here is finding a pan large enough to accommodate the size of your cage. Some ideas include concrete mixing molds or trays, drip pans for appliances (washing machines, water heaters, refrigerators, etc) or my favorite....a hydroponics flood table. These are available in pretty large sizes and you can plumb them for drains. They are sturdy and will hold the weight of the plant pots well.

 

[werecat]

Great ideas Carlton. Thank you!

 

[Carlton]

Great ideas Carlton. Thank you!

Oh, and another tip....find out what the dimensions of your proposed drain pan are BEFORE ordering or building the cage! This may help you decide what sort of cage to use.

 

[little leaf]

Cool stand Little Leaf. Just wondering, what are the white sheets under the rack made of?

its a polly board- its like plastic cardboard - you just bend it into a V under the rack, lower one end so it runs down into a funnel - mine is piped to the outside, as I have drippers running 24/7 - I (personally ) like to offer the water all day & night, they dont drink at night, but it keeps the cage humidity up to leave it drip - but I did not want a lot of sitting water - you would be fine w/ a small bucket ( I used a 1 gal jug under my single cage w/ a drain tube thew the lid ) and all my cages have screen bottoms- your cage ( the screen ones ) come w/ a solid board, but if you look, it is ribbed for screen, you just have to get some screen and spline ( the little rubber stuff that holds the screen in ) I have a bacteria phobia - lol when it comes to the chams ~ I just dont trust standing water on those white boards, and I change my plants out about every 4 weeks, so they get a chance to dry up a bit - it is not quite as pretty as some out there- but its cheap,and does a good job - the other nice thing is you can keep your feeder bins under the cages

 

[little leaf]

No, jax don't really "drink" through their skin more easily than other cham species. When water drips on them their skin is still "hydrophobic": the water beads up and falls off. I think their sensitivity to humidity is more subtle and metabolic rather than physical.

thank you- lol I did not know how to word it - I am not sure why, but my female will sit all day under her dripper, my male, he will take the tube in his mouth, have his fill, and then have nothing to do w/ the water until he wants more- and the mister, he loves, but the female hates ? they drive me crazy !!