Help/feedback on a huge enclosure I’m making

stickenstein

stickenstein

Member
Hi all! I thought I’d try my hand at making a very large and very hopefully permanent enclosure for my panther chameleon. We moved to the mountains and his current setup doesn’t have enough humidity (our area is about ~20% on a good day). I’ve been noticing him struggling and decided to start this project. It’s my first attempt at anything like this so if anyone has any feedback or advice that would be great!

Here is the current progress/frame (please excuse the sharpie, my young son decided to “help” mom lol):
IMG_8018.jpeg


And here is the sketch I’m laying out for it:

Untitled_Artwork.png


I want to make it bioactive so I will be using a drainage layer that slopes down into an output on the back right corner. I plan to waterproof/seal everything and while I originally planned to use polygem zoopoxy to build a background, I’m now leaning toward printing a vinyl adhesive forest one and further sealing it with a transparent coat.

Does the top layout look ok? Should I move things around more? I’m also not sure what material to make the solid part of the top out of but I’m assuming metal would be the best for that due to the heat from the lights.

I also realize the poor guy will probably look like he’s about to be fed to something in Jurassic Park due to the way the beam supports are set against the background.

Anyway, thanks for reading and any help is appreciated!
 
Oh my gosh that is awesome!!!!! I have not built my own so I don’t have any advice. I just wanna say I’m jealous and I love it. 10 out of 10, no notes.
 
I forgot to add that the lights will all have mesh separating them from the enclosure for proper UVB levels etc. And I am planning to add small PC fans to assist with ventilation :)
 
What size is it that your working with? Front screen or just the strips on the bottom and top sides? Looks like you plan for the middle top to be solid. I would Go with all aluminum screen for venting air up and out the top. Otherwise you will get heat build up in the top. Then lay in supports to hold the screen and lighting.

For sealing everything... Make sure it is a water based product. Something like flex seal paint on would be a really good option. Also black pond foam works really well if you want to foam in anything and will hold up to the moisture and UVI levels.

Hopefully your cham is not currently in this room. The wood is going to give off VOC's which are really harmful for their lungs but also you want him far away from this area when you start sealing all the wood.
 
Beman said:
What size is it that your working with? Front screen or just the strips on the bottom and top sides? Looks like you plan for the middle top to be solid. I would Go with all aluminum screen for venting air up and out the top. Otherwise you will get heat build up in the top. Then lay in supports to hold the screen and lighting.

For sealing everything... Make sure it is a water based product. Something like flex seal paint on would be a really good option. Also black pond foam works really well if you want to foam in anything and will hold up to the moisture and UVI levels.

Hopefully your cham is not currently in this room. The wood is going to give off VOC's which are really harmful for their lungs but also you want him far away from this area when you start sealing all the wood.
Click to expand...

This is 5’ 3” wide x 6’ high and 3’ 3” deep. Due to the super low humidity here (~7000 ft elevation) I wanted to make something that can hold in both humidity and heat better. Do you think the entire top being screen would be fine then? He currently has a hybrid reptibreeze XL and it has nowhere near enough humidity for him. He definitely did fine when we were at sea level. :(

Both of my chameleons are in an open room on the opposite side of the house. Definitely not letting them around any of this while it’s in progress (probably not until a month after testing ecosystem too)!

Edit: the front is going to be glass!
 
Last edited:
stickenstein said:
This is 5’ 3” wide x 6’ high and 3’ 3” deep. Due to the super low humidity here (~7000 ft elevation) I wanted to make something that can hold in both humidity and heat better. Do you think the entire top being screen would be fine then? He currently has a hybrid reptibreeze XL and it has nowhere near enough humidity for him. He definitely did fine when we were at sea level. :(

Both of my chameleons are in an open room on the opposite side of the house. Definitely not letting them around any of this while it’s in progress (probably not until a month after testing ecosystem too)!

Edit: the front is going to be glass!
Click to expand...
So based on all sides being solid and front being glass then you have the small vent cut outs on the two side I highly recommend having the entire top screen. It will be a true hybrid this way. You need the air flow up and out so the cage does not become stagnant. I went from on the ocean to mountains of Arizona. So from too much humidity to now next to none. My hybrid enclosure with all real plants does its job though holding the humidity and regulating temps. I make a few changes summer to winter and that is it. Otherwise I literally rarely have to check because it sits so stable. This is Beman's set up. All solid sides. Door and above door are marine grade vinyl then the service door and the top screen are aluminum window screen. https://www.chameleonforums.com/media/10-22-22.54999/
I manage this without being bioactive as well so you will get a much larger bump because your making yours bioactive.

Make sure you buy aluminum window screen bugs can't chew through it but also it is what your uvb will penetrate without the issue of further reduction that you will see with the fiberglass stuff.

You are working with a huge space. flex seal the hell out of the bottom of the cage. Take a look at this cabinet conversion thread. I think it will help you a lot. https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/bioactive-mentor.167174/

Check out this thread but also the specific build your own fogger. https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/diy-chameleon-guys-youtube.192482/#post-1799031
You will need a strong one for the size cage your doing and this will do it. @crosscutts is also amazing with construction stuff and can give you feedback like your question for the material for the top and the heat from the lights.
 
Beman said:
So based on all sides being solid and front being glass then you have the small vent cut outs on the two side I highly recommend having the entire top screen. It will be a true hybrid this way. You need the air flow up and out so the cage does not become stagnant. I went from on the ocean to mountains of Arizona. So from too much humidity to now next to none. My hybrid enclosure with all real plants does its job though holding the humidity and regulating temps. I make a few changes summer to winter and that is it. Otherwise I literally rarely have to check because it sits so stable. This is Beman's set up. All solid sides. Door and above door are marine grade vinyl then the service door and the top screen are aluminum window screen. https://www.chameleonforums.com/media/10-22-22.54999/
I manage this without being bioactive as well so you will get a much larger bump because your making yours bioactive.

Make sure you buy aluminum window screen bugs can't chew through it but also it is what your uvb will penetrate without the issue of further reduction that you will see with the fiberglass stuff.

You are working with a huge space. flex seal the hell out of the bottom of the cage. Take a look at this cabinet conversion thread. I think it will help you a lot. https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/bioactive-mentor.167174/

Check out this thread but also the specific build your own fogger. https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/diy-chameleon-guys-youtube.192482/#post-1799031
You will need a strong one for the size cage your doing and this will do it. @crosscutts is also amazing with construction stuff and can give you feedback like your question for the material for the top and the heat from the lights.
Click to expand...
Thank you so much for all of the amazing advice/info! Love this forum!!
 
Here’s a progress update! I stained and sealed the outer boards yesterday and used a ton of flex seal today to start waterproofing the bottom. There’s wheels on it now for easier transportation too. Working on figuring out a good way to design a sloped/slanted partition leading to a bulkhead in the bottom for easier drainage!

IMG_8117.jpeg
 
stickenstein said:
Hi all! I thought I’d try my hand at making a very large and very hopefully permanent enclosure for my panther chameleon. We moved to the mountains and his current setup doesn’t have enough humidity (our area is about ~20% on a good day). I’ve been noticing him struggling and decided to start this project. It’s my first attempt at anything like this so if anyone has any feedback or advice that would be great!

Here is the current progress/frame (please excuse the sharpie, my young son decided to “help” mom lol):
View attachment 360276

And here is the sketch I’m laying out for it:

View attachment 360277

I want to make it bioactive so I will be using a drainage layer that slopes down into an output on the back right corner. I plan to waterproof/seal everything and while I originally planned to use polygem zoopoxy to build a background, I’m now leaning toward printing a vinyl adhesive forest one and further sealing it with a transparent coat.

Does the top layout look ok? Should I move things around more? I’m also not sure what material to make the solid part of the top out of but I’m assuming metal would be the best for that due to the heat from the lights.

I also realize the poor guy will probably look like he’s about to be fed to something in Jurassic Park due to the way the beam supports are set against the background.

Anyway, thanks for reading and any help is appreciated!
Click to expand...
Amazing enclosure build! 👏. I love how you added the vents near the bottom to create the chimney effect with screen top. Definitely diy a fogger that can accommodate a large enclosure will help with night humidity (watch the the diy chameleon guys on the chameleon academy youtube channel).
 
Sonny13 said:
An easy way would be, to put a small riser between the baseplate of the wheel and the enclosure, in opposite corner of the drainage.
Click to expand...
That’s what I’m thinking too. I was going off a paint pan design with all sides lifted a little to guide the drainage down to the bulkhead corner. It’s a little tough because I made all those corner braces for the frame and have to custom cut more stuff to fit that. Learning a lot with this 😂
 
MikeyBen said:
Amazing enclosure build! 👏. I love how you added the vents near the bottom to create the chimney effect with screen top. Definitely diy a fogger that can accommodate a large enclosure will help with night humidity (watch the the diy chameleon guys on the chameleon academy youtube channel).
Click to expand...
I have a few foggers but didn’t realize they might not be able to handle something this size so I’ll look into that video! Thank you! :)
 
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