Donahue's Jungle.

Solid Snake

Avid Member
Well I have changed the FR up a lot. Its been moved more into the corner of the room. Two more tree-sized "branches" have been added. As well as a pothos and palm. Stella has stolen his hibiscus, she said, "He didnt use it much anyhow."

I removed the "Zip-Drip" from my MK, it works, but there is less line running around without it. (if I owned the house Id run it through the ceiling/walls;))

It doesnt "drip" much though without it.

More pothos will be added to the top area, as I dont feel like waiting for that one to grow out. Its the only one lowes had ;/ so I will have to look around.

I finally found a nice ficus, but someone had claimed it already:mad:

The room is now totally devoted to chameleons, and I plan on adding more and more plants (and a few more cages;):cool:)

This is how it looks as of now:
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Donahue seems to enjoy it.
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Wow! Donahue is one spoiled boy!He hit the captive life jackpot. If he wanders off from there it will only be to look for a girl:D
 
That looks Awesome! I love all the vines :)
Thanks, Donahue likes them too.
Wow! Donahue is one spoiled boy!He hit the captive life jackpot. If he wanders off from there it will only be to look for a girl:D
Lol, well, I believe I will be adding his female to the FR soonish;) So(if they get along) he shouldnt ever have to leave it!:rolleyes:

Nice cant wait to get my free range done

Thanks, I cant wait to get mine done either:p
 
You have a wonderful free range set up, you will see more of Donahue's colors this way. He looks like a very happy guy. How are you going to empty the water bin under the plants? I use a rack that goes to the floor so my drip bucket slides out. I use 5 gal buckets cause I am a wimp and like handles to empty them with.
 
Really good looking range there, Donahue is a very lucky fella to have such a jungle, even if he will have to share it soon :D
Cham cages and free ranges are never finished, hey?
 
Where did you get the branches and the other pathways (the chams roads)??

i would like to start building my FR, but dont know where to start... any tips??
what can you tell me about lighting, could i use the same light i use for my cham in his cage or does it has to be a stronger one?? where i live we have nice weather so i dont think a lot of heat would be needed..
 
You have a wonderful free range set up, you will see more of Donahue's colors this way. He looks like a very happy guy. How are you going to empty the water bin under the plants? I use a rack that goes to the floor so my drip bucket slides out. I use 5 gal buckets cause I am a wimp and like handles to empty them with.
Thanks Laurie! The plants just move right off of the bin, and then its pretty much ready to dump. Its only a slight pain in the.. but Im planning on building a planter box with wheels to take its place.;)
Wow, looks sweet! I bet he loves it, you've given him so much space to roam.
That was the idea!:p
Really good looking range there, Donahue is a very lucky fella to have such a jungle, even if he will have to share it soon :D
Cham cages and free ranges are never finished, hey?
Thanks man! No I suppose not:rolleyes: I really like working on them though, so its ok;)

That is a sweet set up, when I make my free range I'm copying hahaha
Thanks! I "copied" from sdheli420's free range. At least, it inspired mine.;)
Awesome FR dude! You should get him a little sign that says "welcome to the jungle" :cool: I bet he is lovin it!
LOL! I am actually making a sign for the door that says: Caution: Beware of Wild Panther. (or somthing like that) :p
Where did you get the branches and the other pathways (the chams roads)??

i would like to start building my FR, but dont know where to start... any tips??
what can you tell me about lighting, could i use the same light i use for my cham in his cage or does it has to be a stronger one?? where i live we have nice weather so i dont think a lot of heat would be needed..

Everything but the live plants I grabbed from my backyard and the surrounding woods. There are vines all over the place here, they were introduced in the 1930's to help with how loose the soil is. They are considered a nuisance now, and pull down trees like hedra helix (english ivy) does. So you can just walk outside here, and there are whole trees covered in vines already "picked" for you.:p I just grab one I like(I found a bunch of cherry blossom trees that had fell down, the wood is black and silver, so it looks cool, its also fairly flexible, so it wont break when being climbed, Donahue seems to like it best:)) then I take off all the fragile bits and clean it up, and pop it in. There is only one small bracket holding them all up, everything is basically tangled and wedged together. It makes it easy to put up and tear down.
Donahue gets lots of sunlight from his window and outdoor cage, but on colder days(like today) he will use his regular lights. I just use a 75w reg bulb for basking, and I have a 5.0 reptisun in his fixture along with a 6500K light(not sure how much of its reaching the plants:rolleyes:). I just took his cage lighting and mounted it to the ceiling ;/
Seems to work fine though.;)
If you have nice weather I would try to put it near/in front of an east facing window, that way the chameleon can bask in the window in the morning.
Water can be an issue. My mistking sprays onto the foliage, which in turn falls straight down into the bin. This works, you just have line it all up.;) My MK runs for 2.5-10 min at a time, and there is no water on the carpet.
It can be a bit more challenging creating an actual temperature gradient in a whole room on colder days, but most of the time I find the larger space easier to control. (I havnt experienced the summer here yet though).
If you have any specific questions feel free to PM me.
 
Due to some further questions, and a few peoples request, I have attempted to make a video that is somewhat explanatory of how this is all put together, in the hopes that it will be helpful, and answer said questions.

If the whole thing isnt boring most of it is, I have attempted to address this issue by adding some random (from back in the day) techno, I hope it helps.
;/
I was working with one hand, so bear with me on the haynessness:eek:
If there are any questions just ask.

 
thats very impressive wish i had the space to do that here. and i still gotta figure out something i can do like that but out side but i can quite figure out if i should build a cage or was pondering an idea with some kind of military drop netting or something, so i could pull a rope and it would retract the screen somehow
 
its_alive2.jpg

Its ALIVE!!!

Ok, I guess the thread isnt thaaat old :p



thats very impressive wish i had the space to do that here. and i still gotta figure out something i can do like that but out side but i can quite figure out if i should build a cage or was pondering an idea with some kind of military drop netting or something, so i could pull a rope and it would retract the screen somehow

I would recommend looking at Seeco's:https://www.chameleonforums.com/my-methods-part-3-outdoor-caging-72563/

His inspired me to do: https://www.chameleonforums.com/experimental-enlcosures-pt-1-a-81894/

Which I felt would work better for me, as they give room for larger chameleons, are planted straight in the ground, and keep feeders in. Super cheap too.
So far these have worked out quite well.
On the rare occasion it gets really hot, I drape a shade cloth over half the enclosure.
I think military style netting would be good to provide some shade as well.
As long as its not too beat up.


Look for part 2, hopefully later today. ;)
(if I get finished before its too dark to take pics, in which case, look for it tomorrow)


exceptional job. Love how much space he has as well as how much natural light he can receive

Thanks. It was a neat setup! It worked out great, and gave some real sun on warm enough days during the winter. All of that has been torn down now. Im not sure if Ill do the same this winter, or cage him. My chameleons have been outside for about a month now, and will stay there until it gets too hot/cold.

You can see their original setup here: https://www.chameleonforums.com/video-my-chameleons-74741/
 
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