Help with enclosure

[NotZack]

Hi all,
Ive attached a picture of my current enclosure and am looking for help and advice on how to make it better. My main concern is ease of mobility for my cham, as he sometimes struggles or just seems disinterested in exploring around the enclosure. If you have any tips on how to make this enclosure better please let me know.

 

[elizaann2]

Hello and welcome! I would add more sticks for your beautiful guy to move around on, remove the hammock because those have been known to take out chameleon nails and add more coverage for your sweet boy. I've attached a photo of one of my enclosures to give you an idea of what to aim for, you basically want a 'wall' of plants in the front middle/bottom of the enclosure so he has plenty of placed to hide but have the top open so he can get uvb. Behind the plants you want a network of branches for your baby to move around. (pic included as well).

You can get dragon ledges (highly recommend those) to allow you to attach branches and potted plants to your enclosure without putting strain on the screens of your enclosure. If you cant do that you can also attach corrugated plastic (done in my example enclosure) which will hold the branches and pots easily as well.

I do have a question, is the UVB light on the opposite side of the heat lamp? I would position it so that the uvb runs along that stick your boy is in in the photo so he can get uvb and decide what temps he likes to be in at the same time.

 

[Steve A]

Hi all,
Ive attached a picture of my current enclosure and am looking for help and advice on how to make it better. My main concern is ease of mobility for my cham, as he sometimes struggles or just seems disinterested in exploring around the enclosure. If you have any tips on how to make this enclosure better please let me know.

One major thing I notice here, besides a lack of branches/plants to let your chameleon cover and explore more, is your lighting set up. It looks like you have some kind of top cover. That cover is almost definitely blocking the light from having a more broad radius. Also, this is a crucial situation (IMO) that needs to be fixed ASAP because your UVB (I am assuming that's what it is) is on the far left. Which likely means only a small portion of your enclosure is getting UVB for your chameleon. I would replace that cover with a screen mesh. If that's not possible with that enclosure, I would 100% recommend a new enclosure.

Please keep in mind I am a new keeper myself. But this really sticks out to me as something that obviously needs to be fixed ASAP. It 'looks' good but it doesn't necessary look for your chameleons health. I think it's also safe to say you want to remove those twine hammocks you have. From my understanding, they're not good for your chameleon.

On a side note: Your chameleon looks awesome! <3j

edit: I meant to say you want that UVB to run along the middle of your enclosure, or diagonal (if it reaches corner to corner) so that you're getting the best possible UVB around the enclosure.

 

[CCT Reptiles]

Hello and welcome! I would add more sticks for your beautiful guy to move around on, remove the hammock because those have been known to take out chameleon nails and add more coverage for your sweet boy. I've attached a photo of one of my enclosures to give you an idea of what to aim for, you basically want a 'wall' of plants in the front middle/bottom of the enclosure so he has plenty of placed to hide but have the top open so he can get uvb. Behind the plants you want a network of branches for your baby to move around. (pic included as well).

You can get dragon ledges (highly recommend those) to allow you to attach branches and potted plants to your enclosure without putting strain on the screens of your enclosure. If you cant do that you can also attach corrugated plastic (done in my example enclosure) which will hold the branches and pots easily as well.

I do have a question, is the UVB light on the opposite side of the heat lamp? I would position it so that the uvb runs along that stick your boy is in in the photo so he can get uvb and decide what temps he likes to be in at the same time.

Agreed along with that make sure your using the right uvb (t5 5.0-6%) can’t tell from the pics but that kind of looks like a compact uvb light

 

[NotZack]

One major thing I notice here, besides a lack of branches/plants to let your chameleon cover and explore more, is your lighting set up. It looks like you have some kind of top cover. That cover is almost definitely blocking the light from having a more broad radius. Also, this is a crucial situation (IMO) that needs to be fixed ASAP because your UVB (I am assuming that's what it is) is on the far left. Which likely means only a small portion of your enclosure is getting UVB for your chameleon. I would replace that cover with a screen mesh. If that's not possible with that enclosure, I would 100% recommend a new enclosure.

Please keep in mind I am a new keeper myself. But this really sticks out to me as something that obviously needs to be fixed ASAP. It 'looks' good but it doesn't necessary look for your chameleons health. I think it's also safe to say you want to remove those twine hammocks you have. From my understanding, they're not good for your chameleon.

On a side note: Your chameleon looks awesome! <3j

edit: I meant to say you want that UVB to run along the middle of your enclosure, or diagonal (if it reaches corner to corner) so that you're getting the best possible UVB around the enclosure.

I appreciate the advice! The UVB problem will be fixed as soon as I can figure out the best way to move it as the top is made of wood. That placement is a goofy and poor design flaw that I made when designing this cage which will be fixed. I would like to add more 'viney' and leafy coverage by either using live or fake plants, what would you recommend for coverage and mobility?

 

[NotZack]

Agreed along with that make sure your using the right uvb (t5 5.0-6%) can’t tell from the pics but that kind of looks like a compact uvb light

The picture mildly failed at showing the lighting set up so that's my bad! But yes I do use a T5 5.0 uvb light which gotten a replacement bulb about a month ago.

 

[NotZack]

Hello and welcome! I would add more sticks for your beautiful guy to move around on, remove the hammock because those have been known to take out chameleon nails and add more coverage for your sweet boy. I've attached a photo of one of my enclosures to give you an idea of what to aim for, you basically want a 'wall' of plants in the front middle/bottom of the enclosure so he has plenty of placed to hide but have the top open so he can get uvb. Behind the plants you want a network of branches for your baby to move around. (pic included as well).

You can get dragon ledges (highly recommend those) to allow you to attach branches and potted plants to your enclosure without putting strain on the screens of your enclosure. If you cant do that you can also attach corrugated plastic (done in my example enclosure) which will hold the branches and pots easily as well.

I do have a question, is the UVB light on the opposite side of the heat lamp? I would position it so that the uvb runs along that stick your boy is in in the photo so he can get uvb and decide what temps he likes to be in at the same time.

Thank you for the reply! It seems my UVB is definitely the biggest issue here, and will get fixed promptly. I *think* I noticed some plastic vines/plants used in those pictures, and I would love to know where you purchased them because I could really use them for more coverage. (If they were real then that's my bad, but I am still interested in what they are!)

 

[Steve A]

I appreciate the advice! The UVB problem will be fixed as soon as I can figure out the best way to move it as the top is made of wood. That placement is a goofy and poor design flaw that I made when designing this cage which will be fixed. I would like to add more 'viney' and leafy coverage by either using live or fake plants, what would you recommend for coverage and mobility?

live plants! You have a veiled so you definitely do not want fake plants. At all. I'd remove any fake plants asap. They have a habit of eating plants so they will likely try, then have impaction issues. The easiest plants seem to be pothos and chameleones LOVE them. They're also super easier to care for. Basically put them in your enclosure, don't do much except make sure they aren't getting too dry.

I think you should have on over to chameleonacademy.com. check out that info. It tells you just about everything from plants, to temperatures, to lighting, etc. It's all in there. Give that a good read, it's extremely good information. For sticks, I recommend doing what I did. I went out to the woods and gathered a bunch of sticks that were on the ground, or easily broken off, but strong.

You don't want anything that will produce sap. Like pines. you want your deciduous stuff like oak for example. soap them up really good with some dish soap and rinse them off really well. Let them dry. Then start breaking them apart while figuring out how to put them in. There is likely no such thing as too many as long as they don't actually block your chameleon from moving, so load it up with sticks!

Make sure you have SOME rhyme/reason though when doing this. You don't just want it to be random. You want there to be paths for your chameleon to get from one place to another.

 

[elizaann2]

Here is a list of recommended safe plants that you can use. You want to be careful with what kinds of plants you put in your enclosure because veileds tend to eat the plants in their enclosure.