Enclosure Design

[mreinsteiner]

My Girlfriend and I just got a Veiled Chameleon! We named him Zygodactlous (the scientific word for his neat feet) we call him Dax for short. Neither of us have any experiance with Chameleons. Right now we have him in a 10 Gallon Aquarium, he seems happy with it for now. I have a 40 Gallon Aquarium that I can move him to when he gets to big for the 10 Gallon.

Although I have these aquariums, I want to build my own enclosure for Dax. I spent a bit of time researching enclosures, and designing my own. Any feedback would be much appreciated.

Also sence I'm a newb to Chameleons any tips, on setup would be appreciated as well.

 

[Olimpia]

I think the idea looks good. If you live up north in an area that gets cold and dry in winter then this will be perfect to keep the humidity up but also provide airflow. And the dimensions are good. Usually 4x2x2 is the recommended size for an adult but I like the 4x3x2 better, since it gives them more horizontal space. And in any case, the bigger the better in this case.

Make sure you water seal the wood like no one's business and figure out what to do with any water you need drained from the mistings.

 

[mreinsteiner]

Thanks a lot. I live in Montana, so the winters get really chilly. I based the dimentions on an end table that I'm not using. I figure it's not going to be much harder to build it a little bigger than recomended.

What would you use to water seal the wood, and what would you suggest for draining?

 

[Olimpia]

Yea, so the more solid sides are going to be great for keeping humidity and temps up. A lot easier for everyone. No, and your guy will appreciate the extra space too

I don't remember what brand I used, unfortunately, but I think that if you do a search on here for sealant you should get all the recommended chameleon safe products. But I always gave mine 2-3 coats and let it dry for a couple weeks to make sure the smell was gone. And for draining I drilled holes in the center of my cages and let it fall into a bucket underneath. This might take a little ingenuity on your part (like driling through the end table and putting a catch container under it somehow) which I think is the toughest part of housing these guys, taking care of all the water.

Alternatively, you can mist more often but in shorter burts so you don't get so much water collecting at the bottom. But I've always been a bigger fan of longer 10-20 minute mistings to simulate a small rainstorm, instead of quick 30 secont-1 minute ones.

 

[carol5208]

aquariums are not proper housing for chameleons! How old is your chameleon?

 

[mreinsteiner]

Yea, so the more solid sides are going to be great for keeping humidity and temps up. A lot easier for everyone. No, and your guy will appreciate the extra space too

I don't remember what brand I used, unfortunately, but I think that if you do a search on here for sealant you should get all the recommended chameleon safe products. But I always gave mine 2-3 coats and let it dry for a couple weeks to make sure the smell was gone. And for draining I drilled holes in the center of my cages and let it fall into a bucket underneath. This might take a little ingenuity on your part (like driling through the end table and putting a catch container under it somehow) which I think is the toughest part of housing these guys, taking care of all the water.

Alternatively, you can mist more often but in shorter burts so you don't get so much water collecting at the bottom. But I've always been a bigger fan of longer 10-20 minute mistings to simulate a small rainstorm, instead of quick 30 secont-1 minute ones.

Drilling a hole seems like the simplest way to deal with extra water from misting. I think I'm going to slightly slope the floor so water tends to drain down. I'll add a screen over the hole in the bottom. I was already planning on putting a small layer of rocks under the substrait, to help with drainage.

Oh, and Carol, I know an Aquarium is not an Ideal housing for a cham. It's working great at keeping the Montana winter away from my really little Cham, and keeping the heat and humidity in. That's why I'm building the new enclosure, but until I finish building it, I only have a 10 Gallon and a 40 Gallon Aquarium, both with screen lids, both with pleanty of lights (both heat and UVB). I'm not sure how old he is exactally, I regretably didn't ask. I can tell you his body is the length of my pointer finger

 

[Hoj]

your design looks good here is the how to thread i just did on my setup. it shows the products i used both the stain and verathayne are water based and have virtually no scent, just be sure to use outdoor sealer/verathayne as the uvb will will cause regular products to yellow in color.

hoj

https://www.chameleonforums.com/enclosure-how-pics-pt1-55241/

 

[mreinsteiner]

your design looks good here is the how to thread i just did on my setup. it shows the products i used both the stain and verathayne are water based and have virtually no scent, just be sure to use outdoor sealer/verathayne as the uvb will will cause regular products to yellow in color.

hoj

https://www.chameleonforums.com/enclosure-how-pics-pt1-55241/

Thanks!!! That helped a ton. I've been slightly altering my plans as I do more research, like i'm going to slightly angle my floor, I was planning on painting it, now i'm going with the dark stain and verathayne, that looked great.

My girlfriend sugested that i build a copartment above the cage to hide the lights, power cords, timers, exe. Has anyone done this? How well does it work? Pics?

 

[Hoj]

Thanks!!! That helped a ton. I've been slightly altering my plans as I do more research, like i'm going to slightly angle my floor, I was planning on painting it, now i'm going with the dark stain and verathayne, that looked great.

My girlfriend sugested that i build a copartment above the cage to hide the lights, power cords, timers, exe. Has anyone done this? How well does it work? Pics?

i was going to do this too, i am thinking of using a tall crown molding and just faming in the top on a outward angle, just on three sides so it still goes flush against the wall and can still have ventallation from the top if that makes any sence.

 

[mreinsteiner]

i was going to do this too, i am thinking of using a tall crown molding and just faming in the top on a outward angle, just on three sides so it still goes flush against the wall and can still have ventallation from the top if that makes any sence.

That makes perfect sense, I think the crown molding will look nice. I'm going to do four walls and no roof (for ventallation), and mount a power bar to one of the walls. Then set my lights and misting system up on timers so I can leave for a day or so and not worry about it.

 

[Hoj]

That makes perfect sense, I think the crown molding will look nice. I'm going to do four walls and no roof (for ventallation), and mount a power bar to one of the walls. Then set my lights and misting system up on timers so I can leave for a day or so and not worry about it.

no roof is cool but do you cup feed cause the crickets will find their way up and out if not, u could use a frame piece of plexi or similarly smooth plastic so they cannot get to the opening tho.