Help with final touches

[smurph]

Hi all, this is my first post here and I'm hoping someone can advise me with my project.
I work as a technician at an animal care college and have been asked to create a suitable enclosure for a panther cham. We keep a variety of reps but they are almost all terrestial so this is a new area for me.

I am hoping to acquire an adult cham. The room it is in is fairly humid since it is warm and has a 5' square terrapin pool in it.
The vivarium I was given to work with is wooden with glass doors, 4' high by
4' wide and 18" deep. I cut out a 2' by 18" piece from the back of the viv and meshed it to increase ventilation. I have also frosted one of the glass doors on the basking side to allow the cham to avoid its reflection. I am going to heat the enclosure using a ceramic bulb and a Lucky Reptile deep dome reflector attached to a pulse prop' thermostat. and it will be lit with a UVB 5.0. I have also included a small fountain for drinking - the pool the fountain is fed from is enclosed so the chameleon won't be able to defecate in it. I would very much appreciate your thoughts on this. I plan to run the enclosure for at least 2 weeks to ensure the temps and humidity are stable.

 

[Champeleons]

sorry, i am sure the experts will reply to this soon, i am a newbie so there is a lot for me to learn, but i have learned a lot just from being on this forum! Chams need proper ventilation, & a glass terrarium causes respiratory problems, & fountains are muchly discouraged due to easy bacterial buildup! Chams drink from leaves anyway, so you need a drip system put on the roof & drip water on the foliage

 

[smurph]

sorry, i am sure the experts will reply to this soon, i am a newbie so there is a lot for me to learn, but i have learned a lot just from being on this forum! Chams need proper ventilation, & a glass terrarium causes respiratory problems, & fountains are muchly discouraged due to easy bacterial buildup! Chams drink from leaves anyway, so you need a drip system put on the roof & drip water on the foliage

Thanks for replying - the fountain is just a small household water feature so the water won't run onto anything else in the viv and is really easy to take out and put fresh water in each day. It might help if I put some pictures up - I will be reading around the forum to pick up as much info as possible. I will put some pics up to give a better idea of what I've done so far.

 

[smurph]

I've made a fake rock background half way up the viv, you can see where the little water feature will be in the right hand corner.

This picture shows how I have cut a hole in the back of the viv and messhed it to increase ventilation - I can cut another hole in one side if needed.

This picture shows the frosted glass on the side where the basking spot will be.

There are real plants in there and the interior of the viv can be wiped clean.

 

[Champeleons]

i dont know enough to keep critiquing, but since the experts are still sleeping, did you cross-reference the plants to find out if they are safe for Chams?

 

[smurph]

i dont know enough to keep critiquing, but since the experts are still sleeping, did you cross-reference the plants to find out if they are safe for Chams?

It doesnt matter if you don't know loads - any comments are welcome - it raises issues that I may need to check.
I need to double check with the plants -there bromeliads and a couple of orchids I'd like to put in (except that the locusts keep escaping and munching on the orchids )

All the rest of the plants are artificial.