Few questions

Little_eazum

Little_eazum

Member
i got my chameleon a day ago due to a friend being in a difficult position. He bought Ghost a few weeks ago and had to give him a better home for personal reason. He's been in a glass tank and I've been doing research but was curious about what is one of the better terrariums? I need something that can hold heat in pretty well due to the fact I life in the basement and it tends to be colder in my room. He has a repti fogger going to maintain humidity, meal worms in a bowl hanging in the cage (to prevent drowning the worms), I throw 2 crickets in twice a day, as of right now fake plants sprawling from one side to the other, and coconut fiber substrate to hold in humidity. I Know I have a few things wrong with his housing but plan to change it all within a week. Second of all while doing research I found a website that seems to have some good info but not sure how credible it is; http://www.petsuppliesplus.com/content.jsp?pageName=veiled_chameleons Any Suggestions and opinions are more than welcomed, I will appreciate any info that will help him stay around.
 
It depending on what type of the cham is the Ghost(is he a veiled for sure),temperature in ur basement n how willing are u to make this happen for ur new friend
 
He is definitely a veiled cham my room is a between 65-68 summer time due to AC and winter is 70-72 with heater running. I am beyond willing, this is my first reptile that isn't use to dry warm weather.
 
So the location of this veiled cham will be in ur room with all seasons temperature not below 65F the lowest due to ur ac which I will suggest keeping distance away with the temperature fluctuation,perfectly in the opposite side of the ac location corner far away from the window.
This will make it even easier to build ur ideal recommend screen cage with the simple heat lamp(install by the regular house light bulb wattage to determine the desire temperature) on top of the screen cage provide n maintaining the proper temperature decided by the age of ur veiled cham "Ghost" review with the info in that link I send you on the previous thread#2.
Also get rid of the mealworm in bowl and coconut fiber substrate due to the health hazards by reviewing the same link that I send u,and let me know how's this work for u.
 
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I went through multiple pages of the link you sent and everything on it is very doable, the AC is central area and the room has no window so he is already in the furthest corner from the vent. I do have a uvb bulb rated at a 5.0 so I can use major of the items he came with, with the exception of the coconut fiber
 
I dont think you need a glass cage with those temps maybe for humidity though.

As far as building a nice cage, easy and you could build it better.

If you want glass, for the humidity (temps are fine as they are) Do this.

Build a frame from 1x2s or 1x1s. Make the frame 24x24x48, you copuld go bigger or a tad smaller, try to keep the height 45+ and the sides 20+ if possible, bigger is better. Use acrylic sheet (preferably not clear, if you want clear on 1 side to be able to see try to make the back and other side not clear, or at least the back). For the bottom do the same thing, (again not clear).

A little trick I thought of, post my cage build I will share. Put the bottom, under the frame wood on the bottom, that way the wood becomes a lip. then put some legs under that. You can then put a drain/or a pan to catch water under the bottom to drain water in.

Then use either miniwax polycrylic or Marine epoxy over all the wood. If you go the miniwax, do like 5-6 coats. That is the cheaper way, however it will need to be redone later (in like a year or 2) so keep that in mind. If you go with the 2 part marine resin, it will pretty much never need to be redone (maybe redo after like 10 years).

Caulk all the sides and corners ect, if you go polycrylic I would do this after everything. If you go resin I would do 1 coat resin then silicone then 2 more coats resin.

Us aluminium screen on the top and on the door for adequate ventilation. I would use the black coated stuff, you can use fiberglass but crickets can eat through it.

For the floor, I would use very thick plexi, maybe 1/2inch at least 1/4, the sides can be thin, 1/16 or 1/8.

Its fairly easy just build a box.
 
Okay and here is idea 2, this is a great idea if you only want 1 Chameleon :)

Get a TV hucth. Make sure the depth is at least like 17+ inches, and the width like 30+. Try to aim for the large top hucth area to be 45+ or you may need to drop the floor there. (I will give you some tips if it isn't and you cant).

Seal the wood inside with marine grade epoxy (I wouldnt! use miniwax for this, if it lets any water in, the whole foundation could crumble) Seal all the corners with silicone, (Also I forgot in the last use GE door and windows 1, (no mold inhibitor, 100% silicon). 3 more coats of Epoxy.

Now for the floor you have a few choices, largely depending on the shelf height. If you have 45in plus and want to go the easy way, use pond liner and make a slight steep to the center, you could do this with drywall mud or something (If you go that route, do that before resin and resin the mud in). then put a screened drain in the center. covewr the bottom and a small lip of the sides with pond liner, under the drain.

Option 2, if you dont have 45, but 38ish to 45. Then I would cut holes for permanent pots (dont use the cheap pots that came with cage, buy some nice ones large enough for the plant for always). Recess those pots into the cage, so cut a hole where they will be held up by the lip. Epoxy the inside and build or find a pan that covers the inside cupboards area. Drill small holes in the plants lip so excess water can funnel into the pot, then through the pot into the tub below.

With the plants like this it will give the appearance of a taller enclosure to the cham, as they dont usually go that low down anyway.

Benefit here is A. you dont have to build it, B. It will look like furniture (because it is). Downside, A.This way will be very very heavy, B. if you ever get more chams, it will be very hard to macth depending where you get the entertainment center, hutch ect.

You dont have to spring for brand new, just go to a thrift store/craigslist. You may have to put a more solid back on. Just make sure you clean it will and epoxy it well.

Another option to this Epoxyless. You could take PVC sheet, or Plexiglass, and line the inside with it. Then seam the corners with silicon calking. that should make a waterproof inside, but semi risky again if the silicon comes of and the mdf gets wet you got problems.
 
Little_eazum said:
Thanks cyber. I'll probably use your ideas as he gets but for now I think a pre made cage is going to be quicker.
Click to expand...

Ya most likely will lol.

I mean you could do the framing cage with plexi sides and screen front fairly quick. I did mine in like 3 days a few hours each day. The miniwax only needs 48 hours to dry though 5 would be better, same with the silicon. Finding a glass/screen combo is hard and all glass is no good. Chams need ventilation.

With your temps a reptibreeze would be fine, as long as night temps are over 60 (65 for younger chams) and day temps basking is 85ish with 70ish at the bottom you are fine. as he gets older bump the 85 to 90, and the bottom can still be between 75-90. However honestly after the time it takes to ship, you could build a cage the way you want in the same amount of time to have one shipped. Build it and first coat miniwax say on Monday. Tuesday second third and fourth coat miniwax (5th also if you do five) (only needs 2 hours between coats). Wedsnday, silicon and screen put on, thursady dry, friday dry(could be used here, id try to wait) saturday dry (usable, better to wait) Sunday (Usable) Monday (Perfect, Zero Voxs).

As for cost, 10-15 for wood, 20 for miniwax (you will have alot left) 10 for silicon, 10 for screen, 10 for hinges and a handle. Assuming you have screws and staples/staple gun.

Now wood or acrylic? I already had acrylic so it was free. If you dont about 100 bucks for a 4x8 that should cover all you need. You could use wood, dont have to be thick. I would use laminate (melmaine) doesnt really need miniwax I would give it a coat or 2 anyway, that would add a day and 35 dollars for a 4x8. So you are looking at ~100-~150, depending. Yould could use thinner wood, and miniwax it. that would be cheaper, but it would need 5 coats of miniwax so more time painting the cage would be lighter though.
 
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I got the ReptiBreeze built and decorated, I have the fogger kick on every 2 hours till noon and every 3 till about 8 pm. Lol I noticed he's like me and sleeps till about 10 then gets moving so I figured the latest lights and fogger will be on is 10
 
I usually like to have my light in 12 hours cycle(more or less in summer n winter),as long ur cham can get a complete dark night to sleep,that should be fine,you can always adjust accordingly by observing ur cham's behavior.
 
The little guys new home
 

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Cage is looking good. However you will need a lot more branches along the top for your cham to find the right temp zone.. about 6-8" from the top. Right now the way it is set up he/she would only have one path to walk... Maybe have a look in the "enclosures" thread to get some ideas from other members set ups. A live safe live plant will also do wonders in there.
 
Within 48 hours I can say I'm done decorating the cage. Got some real tree limbs towards the bottom I baked and got all the plants I have for him in there. Friday the last piece will be a live plant and he will then have plenty of hiding spots and areas to climb.
 

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