Considering a medium Dragon Strand ClearSide Enclosure

pmdaggett79

pmdaggett79

Member
im seriously considering buying one of these enclosures but I have some questions. Anyone with knowledge or experience? Help would be appreciated.

Purchasing- Nothing on the website shows how many builds are in their stock. Does this mean they sell that many that fast? I just want to make sure that when I buy it I don’t have to wait 4-5 months to receive it.

Mounting- I have a mistking ultimate system. I haven’t read anything that states whether or not top mounting is sufficient for the corner wedges that I currently have installed.

Clear PVC- nothing is scratch proof. Is this more resistant to scratches than acrylic? What’s a good cleaning method?

Enclosure stands- does anyone have a link to their purchased stands or pics of what they’ve got currently?

Any replies to this post would be greatly appreciated!
 
I have 3 Large Clearside Atriums and love them (well, TBH one is still in the box as we re-organize my chameleon room). You can subscribe to the newsletter which will indicate when your product is slated to be shipped. You will see the order numbers which are going to ship out - I ordered mine in October and got it in December, and Bill is very good about communicating along the way.

I have a mistking as well and what we did was to run the hoses and nozzles up the side of the tank and mount them in the front of the tank, above the doors in 3 places which gives very good coverage of the cage.

The clearside material is more like very thick plastic sheeting. You can just wipe it clean and it doesn't scratch because the chameleon can't get a grip on it to climb up those sides. The top and right side are screened.

Two of my cages are on desk stands that I bought from World Market, but I think they are discontinued. For my third one (the one not set up), I bought a desk on Amazon which is flat with shelves under it to hold supplies. It too is in the box in the garage until we can get to setting it up. I bought the drip tray for each cage, and every week or so I just go in with towels or papertowels and sop up the excess water on the ground and squeeze it into the plants that might not get a full amount of spray.

I'd strongly advise to get the Large Clearside if you have the means. I have 2 veileds, and they and my panther who passed use/d all of the space available to them - they really like the horizontal areas. I'm going to include a pic of the large clearside (when I was first getting it set up so there aren't any plants, though you can see the pots that I use to slide pots of plants into, sitting next to a standard 2x2x4' screen cage to get an idea of the actual dimensions. Good luck! IMG_0959.JPG
 
@pmdaggett79 you can email Bill and he will advice you on build schedule and so on for the ones you like. Also if you click the cart feature it will open to the current builds that are open and what month they are going to be built in. He is awesome by the way. I bought this cabinet from Target. I love it. It is not quite as deep as I would like but I just pulled it farther out from the wall. I like that the front doors are slated so it provides airflow. https://www.target.com/p/shuttered-door-tv-stand-white---threshold--153-/-/A-15294243
 
Beman said:
@pmdaggett79 you can email Bill and he will advice you on build schedule and so on for the ones you like. Also if you click the cart feature it will open to the current builds that are open and what month they are going to be built in. He is awesome by the way. I bought this cabinet from Target. I love it. It is not quite as deep as I would like but I just pulled it farther out from the wall. I like that the front doors are slated so it provides airflow. https://www.target.com/p/shuttered-door-tv-stand-white---threshold--153-/-/A-15294243
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info. I did email Bill and signed up for their news letter. It looks like April is going to be the next build schedule for the mediums. I’m waiting to hear back from him. I’ve read nothing but great things about him. It seems as if he is so passionate about what he does that he’s willing to go the extra mile. I think it’s worth the wait. I’ll look into the link you provided for the stand. Thanks!
 
absolutbill said:
I have 3 Large Clearside Atriums and love them (well, TBH one is still in the box as we re-organize my chameleon room). You can subscribe to the newsletter which will indicate when your product is slated to be shipped. You will see the order numbers which are going to ship out - I ordered mine in October and got it in December, and Bill is very good about communicating along the way.

I have a mistking as well and what we did was to run the hoses and nozzles up the side of the tank and mount them in the front of the tank, above the doors in 3 places which gives very good coverage of the cage.

The clearside material is more like very thick plastic sheeting. You can just wipe it clean and it doesn't scratch because the chameleon can't get a grip on it to climb up those sides. The top and right side are screened.

Two of my cages are on desk stands that I bought from World Market, but I think they are discontinued. For my third one (the one not set up), I bought a desk on Amazon which is flat with shelves under it to hold supplies. It too is in the box in the garage until we can get to setting it up. I bought the drip tray for each cage, and every week or so I just go in with towels or papertowels and sop up the excess water on the ground and squeeze it into the plants that might not get a full amount of spray.

I'd strongly advise to get the Large Clearside if you have the means. I have 2 veileds, and they and my panther who passed use/d all of the space available to them - they really like the horizontal areas. I'm going to include a pic of the large clearside (when I was first getting it set up so there aren't any plants, though you can see the pots that I use to slide pots of plants into, sitting next to a standard 2x2x4' screen cage to get an idea of the actual dimensions. Good luck!View attachment 221126
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info. I agree 100% that the large ClearSide is the way to go. However it seems that the medium is best for my room size requirements and it’s got the bottom tray included. That is unless your willing to sell me your large lol. I like most people have a huge ADD problem when it comes to purchases. I like to have my product the day it’s bought. I’m sure it’s worth the wait and every penny so I’ll just have to suck it up
 
pmdaggett79 said:
Thanks for the info. I did email Bill and signed up for their news letter. It looks like April is going to be the next build schedule for the mediums. I’m waiting to hear back from him. I’ve read nothing but great things about him. It seems as if he is so passionate about what he does that he’s willing to go the extra mile. I think it’s worth the wait. I’ll look into the link you provided for the stand. Thanks!
Click to expand...
I would let Bill know what type of Cham you are buying for as well. Let him know of your room size requirements also. He will assist in the right size for your long term enclosure. I understand your eagerness for immediate purchase and receipt of product. I am the same way but in looking for what was the best and delivered all aspects of what I wanted his products by far lead everything else I found. I think it is well worth the wait if you want the perfect enclosure and don't want to sink more money into it later. :)
 
Beman said:
I would let Bill know what type of Cham you are buying for as well. Let him know of your room size requirements also. He will assist in the right size for your long term enclosure. I understand your eagerness for immediate purchase and receipt of product. I am the same way but in looking for what was the best and delivered all aspects of what I wanted his products by far lead everything else I found. I think it is well worth the wait if you want the perfect enclosure and don't want to sink more money into it later. :)
Click to expand...
Are you suggesting that he may make a custom sized enclosure?
 
Beman said:
No, just that he will be able to better access what your needs are knowing more. He is really fantastic and worked with me when I was bouncing between enclosure sizes. Very patient and really just wanted to make sure that my Chameleon had exactly what he needed.
Click to expand...
Very good. He sounds like a cut above the rest!
 
Beman said:
@absolutbill not to get off topic but I absolutely love what you did to your large clearside! Do you have a thread on how you did this?
Click to expand...

Thank you very much! No, I don't have a thread, but I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. We have our 2nd atrium that we are going to re-do, and then move one of our veileds into that. Then we will set up the third and I'm sure I'll find an inhabitant for that one as well - I have a friend on here who contacts me when someone down here in FL has to re-home a cham. I have every intention of making a blog post showing the step by step directions, but I work in a seasonal job, and we're in high season now 'til May.
 
absolutbill said:
Thank you very much! No, I don't have a thread, but I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. We have our 2nd atrium that we are going to re-do, and then move one of our veileds into that. Then we will set up the third and I'm sure I'll find an inhabitant for that one as well - I have a friend on here who contacts me when someone down here in FL has to re-home a cham. I have every intention of making a blog post showing the step by step directions, but I work in a seasonal job, and we're in high season now 'til May.
Click to expand...
Just curious to know what you do. I used to work a seasonal job and our schedule was similar
 
absolutbill said:
Thank you very much! No, I don't have a thread, but I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. We have our 2nd atrium that we are going to re-do, and then move one of our veileds into that. Then we will set up the third and I'm sure I'll find an inhabitant for that one as well - I have a friend on here who contacts me when someone down here in FL has to re-home a cham. I have every intention of making a blog post showing the step by step directions, but I work in a seasonal job, and we're in high season now 'til May.
Click to expand...
I would love to use the pond foam the way you did! Unfortunatly in my upstairs apartment there is no area where I can do it outside. I read that you should do it in a well ventilated area and not in your house. But I will favorite you and if I ever get to a point where I can use it I will pick your brain for details :p
 
Leiv said:
I use the Dragon Strand breeder series and love them, all of Bill's cages are really nice and will last for a lifetime . Just call bill and he will tell you when the next build is and when to expect the cage.
Click to expand...
 
pmdaggett79 said:
Just curious to know what you do. I used to work a seasonal job and our schedule was similar
Click to expand...

I work at the front desk at the Ritz-Carlton here in Naples, FL. As you can imagine, the winter is our high season - when it's cold, snowy and nasty up north our beaches and 70 degree weather are mighty appealing! :p
 
Beman said:
I would love to use the pond foam the way you did! Unfortunatly in my upstairs apartment there is no area where I can do it outside. I read that you should do it in a well ventilated area and not in your house. But I will favorite you and if I ever get to a point where I can use it I will pick your brain for details :p
Click to expand...

No problem. We have our own house, so this was all done in the garage with the door open, so there wasn't a problem with ventilation, nor with having enough space.
 
So I finalized my purchase! Getting a large ClearSide and it should be here mid February. I will be posting pics of the progress as soon as I can.
 
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