The Dragon Strand chameleon caging company was created to solve specific problems in the caging available to chameleon keepers. Before I started this company, the cages commercially available to us were from three companies that were competing to bring the lowest price cage to market. There is definitely a need for a low price cage as that is a good gateway into the hobby. But you get lower prices by cutting corners and I decided I was going to offer a product based on the quality and useful features I wanted in the cages for my chameleons. Thus Dragon Strand was born. Here is a list of the specific problems I wanted to solve and the eventual solutions:
1 – A cage set-up that would make raising baby chameleons up separately easy. The nursery cage system was actually the first official Dragon Strand product!
2 –A rack compatible system to allow breeders to have an organized and clean looking set up. This cage system needed to have both visual isolation and keep mist inside the cage. This ended up being the Breeder series.
3 – A system for building a landscape along the walls and firmly anchoring horizontal branches. The Dragon Ledges, which are finishing the patent process, solved this.
4 – A rust proof cage. While the cages at the time advertised certain aspects of their cage being rust proof, there was always another component that wasn’t. Literally, all cages had a rusting piece! I had zinc plated hinges when I started Dragon Strand and finally was able to switch over at the beginning of 2015 to the industries first commercially available rust proof cage. Since then my cages have been able to be used for outdoor and greenhouse use.
5 – A display worthy cage which kept mist inside. The white PVC was functional, but wasn’t the best for display. The Clearside line gave us the ability to keep mist in without obstructing the view.
As each aspect of the cage was designed for a purpose and has been tested in actual use, I made the offer to ask me any questions you had. So here is an open forum to ask any questions you have about Dragon Strand cages or the caging industry in general. We can kick it off with some questions by Cyberlocc.
Question 1:
“I have asked you a few questions before, I don’t much need to ask you though. As like you said your cages are tried and true, I can see the tons and tons of breeders and keepers endorsing your cages. Plus I listen to your podcast and see you around the community.
Since you said ask though I will. 1 thing really got my attention with his cages, the 22 inch depth. So I get the space constraints ect, but is the 17 inch depth of the large breeder not a little small for a panther? Why not a 22x22x45 or even 22x20x45? I know you have the extra large breeder but that wont fit a rack, a deeper large would fit a 24 deep rack."
When designing the Breeder series I wanted to design for a commonly available rack system. The 18” rack system is much more common than the 24” rack system. It is easier to find and has much better pricing. The 18” deep baker’s rack was the natural choice to wrap a caging series around. There was the added component of the additional cost for materials to add six inches to the depth of each cage which would make it more difficult to be marketable.
Panther males are able to be housed in a 17” deep cage. Although we humans see an enclosed box remember that from a chameleon’s view of the world a good day is when they can eat and not be eaten. The cage is a trap if they feel exposed and is home if they feel secure. The solid sides provide three directions that they do not have to worry about. If they have plants or other cover to protect them from the front they can feel secure. We can do this in 17”. The chameleon body language says it all. If they are unhappy they will be crawling the sides, top, and front. If they are content they will hang out on their branch. That said, there are always individuals that do not calm down. Even 22” or 24” would not be enough for them. I can say that 17” has been used successfully in the majority of cases both in my testing and in other breeding set-ups, but I cannot guarantee that every chameleon will settle down. In those cases, though, it may not be the depth that is the problem. A chameleon’s sense of security is a complicated thing like it is with any animal.
As you noted, I do offer the Breeder series in a 23.75” x 23” footprint which gives 6” of extra space if that is desirable. But this is for people who want to go wild with their plantscape design! I can make any of these cages for the 24” racks if that is desired, but I wouldn’t want to stock a whole different set of those cages because the demand is low. I work to carry inventory of my entire line. But I offer so many products that when I get a little behind it is a lot of overtime work to catch up! Although, the X-Large Breeder does fine on a 18" or 24" deep rack with some overhang. I have a couple of them on a 18" deep rack and it isn't a functional problem if I can get over a little tweak on my OCD.
Question 2.
"Also, another one. So for the nursery cages, why the 15.75, do you notice that the babys actually use all that space? I have seen a few people that breed panthers in the Exoterra small 8x8x12s or even the 8x8x8s. So why not go with a 12 high so you can fit 32 per rack?"
For the nursery cages the trick was to design a cage size that would fit eight across a standard baker’s rack and still give enough interior space to provide some gradients. Each cage is pretty small so it would be easy to over heat or over UVB the inside. The larger I made it the easier it would be for the breeder to create choices for their little baby. So I made it as tall as I could and still get three rows per rack. 12” high starts making it difficult to have a good UVB gradient without adding another layer of screen or raising the UVB light higher above the cage which then uses up vertical space anyways. Yes, it could have been accomplished, but the trickier the product is to use the less elegant the solution!
Question 3.
"Again on the Nurserys, do you use mesh that wont let FFs out? Ever though of plexi on the front doors and the bottom door with a fine mesh to keep FFs in and give ventilation while keeping high humidity for babies?"
There are two main ways to keep fruit flies in these cages. I either design a cage that keeps them in or else I find a way to keep them from wanting to get out. Since adding a small bottle cap with a piece of fruit in the cage will remove the desire for the fruit flies to escape I decided it best to offer that as a behavior based solution. If I was going to advertise this as a fruit fly keeping solution the top would have to be fine mesh as well and then my UVB transmission would get cut way down. The design would now be much more complicated, expensive and becomes overkill for the reason of keeping fruitflies in. The cap of fruit is so much more simple and it gives the flies nutrition and, if placed in the branches, keeps the fruit flies from walking across the poop on the bottom of the cage. So, this is one of those decisions that every designer has to make. I do not know whether I am correct in this or not, but I suspect that a fine mesh screen cage that can contain D. melanogaster would be priced out of the market.
And so, here is the open forum. If anyone has questions about cage design go ahead and ask. I will offer insight into why things are as they are!
1 – A cage set-up that would make raising baby chameleons up separately easy. The nursery cage system was actually the first official Dragon Strand product!
2 –A rack compatible system to allow breeders to have an organized and clean looking set up. This cage system needed to have both visual isolation and keep mist inside the cage. This ended up being the Breeder series.
3 – A system for building a landscape along the walls and firmly anchoring horizontal branches. The Dragon Ledges, which are finishing the patent process, solved this.
4 – A rust proof cage. While the cages at the time advertised certain aspects of their cage being rust proof, there was always another component that wasn’t. Literally, all cages had a rusting piece! I had zinc plated hinges when I started Dragon Strand and finally was able to switch over at the beginning of 2015 to the industries first commercially available rust proof cage. Since then my cages have been able to be used for outdoor and greenhouse use.
5 – A display worthy cage which kept mist inside. The white PVC was functional, but wasn’t the best for display. The Clearside line gave us the ability to keep mist in without obstructing the view.
As each aspect of the cage was designed for a purpose and has been tested in actual use, I made the offer to ask me any questions you had. So here is an open forum to ask any questions you have about Dragon Strand cages or the caging industry in general. We can kick it off with some questions by Cyberlocc.
Question 1:
“I have asked you a few questions before, I don’t much need to ask you though. As like you said your cages are tried and true, I can see the tons and tons of breeders and keepers endorsing your cages. Plus I listen to your podcast and see you around the community.
Since you said ask though I will. 1 thing really got my attention with his cages, the 22 inch depth. So I get the space constraints ect, but is the 17 inch depth of the large breeder not a little small for a panther? Why not a 22x22x45 or even 22x20x45? I know you have the extra large breeder but that wont fit a rack, a deeper large would fit a 24 deep rack."
When designing the Breeder series I wanted to design for a commonly available rack system. The 18” rack system is much more common than the 24” rack system. It is easier to find and has much better pricing. The 18” deep baker’s rack was the natural choice to wrap a caging series around. There was the added component of the additional cost for materials to add six inches to the depth of each cage which would make it more difficult to be marketable.
Panther males are able to be housed in a 17” deep cage. Although we humans see an enclosed box remember that from a chameleon’s view of the world a good day is when they can eat and not be eaten. The cage is a trap if they feel exposed and is home if they feel secure. The solid sides provide three directions that they do not have to worry about. If they have plants or other cover to protect them from the front they can feel secure. We can do this in 17”. The chameleon body language says it all. If they are unhappy they will be crawling the sides, top, and front. If they are content they will hang out on their branch. That said, there are always individuals that do not calm down. Even 22” or 24” would not be enough for them. I can say that 17” has been used successfully in the majority of cases both in my testing and in other breeding set-ups, but I cannot guarantee that every chameleon will settle down. In those cases, though, it may not be the depth that is the problem. A chameleon’s sense of security is a complicated thing like it is with any animal.
As you noted, I do offer the Breeder series in a 23.75” x 23” footprint which gives 6” of extra space if that is desirable. But this is for people who want to go wild with their plantscape design! I can make any of these cages for the 24” racks if that is desired, but I wouldn’t want to stock a whole different set of those cages because the demand is low. I work to carry inventory of my entire line. But I offer so many products that when I get a little behind it is a lot of overtime work to catch up! Although, the X-Large Breeder does fine on a 18" or 24" deep rack with some overhang. I have a couple of them on a 18" deep rack and it isn't a functional problem if I can get over a little tweak on my OCD.
Question 2.
"Also, another one. So for the nursery cages, why the 15.75, do you notice that the babys actually use all that space? I have seen a few people that breed panthers in the Exoterra small 8x8x12s or even the 8x8x8s. So why not go with a 12 high so you can fit 32 per rack?"
For the nursery cages the trick was to design a cage size that would fit eight across a standard baker’s rack and still give enough interior space to provide some gradients. Each cage is pretty small so it would be easy to over heat or over UVB the inside. The larger I made it the easier it would be for the breeder to create choices for their little baby. So I made it as tall as I could and still get three rows per rack. 12” high starts making it difficult to have a good UVB gradient without adding another layer of screen or raising the UVB light higher above the cage which then uses up vertical space anyways. Yes, it could have been accomplished, but the trickier the product is to use the less elegant the solution!
Question 3.
"Again on the Nurserys, do you use mesh that wont let FFs out? Ever though of plexi on the front doors and the bottom door with a fine mesh to keep FFs in and give ventilation while keeping high humidity for babies?"
There are two main ways to keep fruit flies in these cages. I either design a cage that keeps them in or else I find a way to keep them from wanting to get out. Since adding a small bottle cap with a piece of fruit in the cage will remove the desire for the fruit flies to escape I decided it best to offer that as a behavior based solution. If I was going to advertise this as a fruit fly keeping solution the top would have to be fine mesh as well and then my UVB transmission would get cut way down. The design would now be much more complicated, expensive and becomes overkill for the reason of keeping fruitflies in. The cap of fruit is so much more simple and it gives the flies nutrition and, if placed in the branches, keeps the fruit flies from walking across the poop on the bottom of the cage. So, this is one of those decisions that every designer has to make. I do not know whether I am correct in this or not, but I suspect that a fine mesh screen cage that can contain D. melanogaster would be priced out of the market.
And so, here is the open forum. If anyone has questions about cage design go ahead and ask. I will offer insight into why things are as they are!
. This is why you are IMO and always will be the best cage company, both here and on FBook you have always quickly and detailed answered any question I have had 
