Help with a new enclosure

[davisc12]

I am looking into purchasing a larger enclosure and am looking for input from people with experience. I have the 18x18x36 screen kit and am torn between just getting the XL version of the same enclosure or i am also looking at the zen habits one. I definitely find the zen more appealing on many levels and do think i need a hybrid enclosure since i seem to be having trouble keeping the humidity up tonight with the small humidifier i found at home depot. It is fogging the bottom 1/3 of the tank great, its about 95%. But about half way up its closer to 60% which is about room level. My big concern with the zen is cutting off too much air flow and think it will be much more difficult to mount branches/pots for plants without the screen to secure them to. This is why im currently leaning more toward the screen enclosure and using plexglass to cover parts of the sides after everythingis already secured to the screen.

So in your experience what is the better setup to work with or if i should not worry about plexiglass at all and just add another humidifier higher up in the enclosure.

I also just posted a thread about a my fogger causing alot of water on the floor overnight so this is also now a consideration.

 

[Beman]

Hey there can you tell me a bit about your ambient humidity levels (without fogging)? What species do you have? Both of these will play into what you could do.

Per the screen vs hybrid. I personally prefer hybrid. But if you are in an extremely high humidity area I found it best to have a partial hybrid where the entire front of the cage was screen.

With the zen you can modify this one. You can buy dragon ledges and the drain pan from dragon strand and mount these in a zen. Dragon strand does make cages as well.

Have you found this site yet? https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-husbandry-program-getting-started-with-chameleons/ It will walk you through the how to set up and tricks. Then ask questions here and we can help additionally.

 

[davisc12]

Hey there can you tell me a bit about your ambient humidity levels (without fogging)? What species do you have? Both of these will play into what you could do.

Per the screen vs hybrid. I personally prefer hybrid. But if you are in an extremely high humidity area I found it best to have a partial hybrid where the entire front of the cage was screen.

With the zen you can modify this one. You can buy dragon ledges and the drain pan from dragon strand and mount these in a zen. Dragon strand does make cages as well.

Have you found this site yet? https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-husbandry-program-getting-started-with-chameleons/ It will walk you through the how to set up and tricks. Then ask questions here and we can help additionally.

I just got a year and a half old panther and i live in rhode island where winters are usually dry. However my chameleon is in my fish room with about 8 fish tanks so the room is usually 50-60% humid. Currently 56% in the room 76% at the bottom of his tank and 58% mid way up.

 

[Beman]

I just got a year and a half old panther and i live in rhode island where winters are usually dry. However my chameleon is in my fish room with about 8 fish tanks so the room is usually 50-60% humid. Currently 56% in the room 76% at the bottom of his tank and 58% mid way up.

Ok perfect that gives me a ton of great info.... Personally if your year round humidity is that high I would go with either all screen or semi hybrid meaning screen door and the rest of the side panels solid. This will give you the air flow you need. If you go with a full hybrid you will have major issues with humidity being too high in the cage.

 

[Beman]

Also I should add you do not need 100% humidity at night. It will fluctuate naturally especially if you have a lot of live plants.

You can modify a screen cage as well by attaching pvc sheets to the frame of the cage. You could look into Tamura designs cages as well. He builds some gorgeous set ups. His you can have side panels that open to screen so you can have additional humdity when you need it. These are more expensive but worth every penny.

 

[davisc12]

Ok perfect that gives me a ton of great info.... Personally if your year round humidity is that high I would go with either all screen or semi hybrid meaning screen door and the rest of the side panels solid. This will give you the air flow you need. If you go with a full hybrid you will have major issues with humidity being too high in the cage.

Honestly the only reason im thinking about the zen other then looks is the mess i woke up to this morning. I went into the room to mist the tank before getting ready for work and turning the lights on and initially thought on le of my fish tanks was leaking the hard wood floors were soaked. So im trying to minimize this without cutting off too much air flow. Also i feel securing sticks to thw solid sides will be a nightmare.

 

[davisc12]

Also I should add you do not need 100% humidity at night. It will fluctuate naturally especially if you have a lot of live plants.

You can modify a screen cage as well by attaching pvc sheets to the frame of the cage. You could look into Tamura designs cages as well. He builds some gorgeous set ups. His you can have side panels that open to screen so you can have additional humdity when you need it. These are more expensive but worth every penny.

I like the idea of this i was thinking putting plexi glass on hinges so i could open the sides a few inches during the day. I am going to look at those. Thank you!

 

[Beppo]

I am looking into purchasing a larger enclosure and am looking for input from people with experience. I have the 18x18x36 screen kit and am torn between just getting the XL version of the same enclosure or i am also looking at the zen habits one. I definitely find the zen more appealing on many levels and do think i need a hybrid enclosure since i seem to be having trouble keeping the humidity up tonight with the small humidifier i found at home depot. It is fogging the bottom 1/3 of the tank great, its about 95%. But about half way up its closer to 60% which is about room level. My big concern with the zen is cutting off too much air flow and think it will be much more difficult to mount branches/pots for plants without the screen to secure them to. This is why im currently leaning more toward the screen enclosure and using plexglass to cover parts of the sides after everythingis already secured to the screen.

So in your experience what is the better setup to work with or if i should not worry about plexiglass at all and just add another humidifier higher up in the enclosure.

I also just posted a thread about a my fogger causing alot of water on the floor overnight so this is also now a consideration.

Hey I just wanted to say that the Tamura Design enclosures are amazing. I just got one and I too have higher humidity , I got it with double doors like @Beman was talking about. It has a drainage system and lots of ways to tweak things to suit the constant changes in temps and humidity we’ve been experiencing here. Definitely second checking them out.

 

[Beman]

I like the idea of this i was thinking putting plexi glass on hinges so i could open the sides a few inches during the day. I am going to look at those. Thank you!

If you want a piece of art... Tamura designs is the way to go. He has it to where you can also do an all plexi glass front so you can see everything. @crosscutts has a few of his enclosures as well.

 

[elizaann2]

If you want a piece of art... Tamura designs is the way to go. He has it to where you can also do an all plexi glass front so you can see everything. @crosscutts has a few of his enclosures as well.

I was looking at these the other day, they really are beautiful.

 

[Beman]

I was looking at these the other day, they really are beautiful.

Yeah I think they are awesome... I took this screen shot of one of his posts on fb... Someday I want this but I think I want the white pvc instead of the black. And I want the double doors for the side panels that I saw on @crosscutts last enclosure he got. But I am in love with this one... 36 wide, 84 tall, and 24 deep... I absolutely love this idea because I could put the tall big plants in it. Also I like the 36 wide option.

 

[elizaann2]

Yeah I think they are awesome... I took this screen shot of one of his posts on fb... Someday I want this but I think I want the white pvc instead of the black. And I want the double doors for the side panels that I saw on @crosscutts last enclosure he got. But I am in love with this one... 36 wide, 84 tall, and 24 deep... I absolutely love this idea because I could put the tall big plants in it. Also I like the 36 wide option.


View attachment 345053

Oh my gosh how amazing! Dream enclosure right there!

 

[crosscutts]

Yeah I think they are awesome... I took this screen shot of one of his posts on fb... Someday I want this but I think I want the white pvc instead of the black. And I want the double doors for the side panels that I saw on @crosscutts last enclosure he got. But I am in love with this one... 36 wide, 84 tall, and 24 deep... I absolutely love this idea because I could put the tall big plants in it. Also I like the 36 wide option.


View attachment 345053

If you give Dale a call, he can pretty much build anything you want that’s how we got started. My first one is 30 deep 5 foot long and 4 foot tall and that’s where we came up with the side door idea. He sense perfected it. My recent enclosure started out just being a 4 x 4 x 2 and of course I had to go crazy and spend more money lol. But I just love this clear front.