Housing Experience?

[pennington]

I think someone mentioned it but one point about free range could be the closer an animal is to the wild captured of that line the happier they are in a free range exhibit. An animal further down the line of captivity may be more happy in a cage/tank/ screen etc. A thought.

Another issue is those Chameleon keepers (like myself) in cooler climates. Oh to live in Australia, florida etc. Chameleons living in Manchester UK I would imagine benefit more from glass terrariums so they are warmer and in more humid environments.

The Exo-Terra Terrarium that I use seem great. They have a mesh lid and a vent at the bottom, this way the heater draws the air up out of the terrarium and out. Seems to provide good circulation and if misted well also good humidity. Just wish they made them taller, as the tallest terrarium is 90cm and thats if you can find someone to stock it!

 

[Blue84]

hi all i just bought an glass terrarium for my young veiled chameleon Blue lol but how long before should i move him into a bigger habitat!!

 

[Blue84]

oh and im new to the "forums" so please any tips would be much appreciated ive read over and over about my chameleon but im sure trial and error is prolly so much better on feedback so please again feel free to drop in and give me tips thanks!

 

[jojackson]

Id love to give free raging a go, but a very busy house complete with dogs makes this impossible.
I do believe there is something to be said for environmental enrichment though.
I wrote these thoughts in a thread about chams sleeping during the day....

I think folk tend not to consider that captivity and nature are very different environments.
Like any other living creature, including cham keepers, our world is full of stimuli.
Take that away and life gets very dull. In nature chams are subject to almost constant stimuli in their surroundings, things move, make noise, wind blows and brings interesting odours, they are surrounded by color and ofcourse, they move around encounter other creatures, not just food. Temperatures fluctuate throughout the day, it rains, sometimes lightly, sometimes a downpour..you get the idea.
Life in our homes, even freerange, offers by comparison, virtually no stimuli at all,
nothing to cause them alarm for the most part either, no varying breeze, light levels etc
Its not surprising then that they might simply be much less active over the course of their 'day' than a wild one and they stop a doze a while out of sheer boredom.
What else is there to do once the food we offer is gone, but walk around and around in their few feet of space aimlessly?
Locked in a small windowless room, you will eventually just lay down and rest for sheer lack of point in moving.
Point being, sleeping during the day would be unusual in the wild since the lizard is vulnerable so only a sick or injured one will do so, but this is not necessarily the case in captivity.
Every facet of care is discussed on this board, excepting environmental stimulation.
A brief handling, even freeranging does not amount to much difference.
While various climates may not always be conducive to outdoor sunning, I think its important to make the effort as often as possible unless the weather is extreme.

Other methods of providing the animal environmental stimuli, could be devised with a little imagination.

 

[javsto]

How many examples would you like??

I have 3 males (2 panthers and 1 veiled) free ranging in the same room. No barriers of any kind between them. Not one single time have they ever attempted to fight or defend territory against each other. They see each other, walk past each other can easily get in the others areas if they wanted to. When these exact same animals were caged, just the sight of another male in another cage sent them into their territory defending attitudes. Now they share the same area. Interesting.

Before when they were caged, I could not put my hand in the cage at all because I would get bit. Typical cham behavior. I experimented with free ranging. I wanted to test for myself what people were saying about the change in attitudes and temperments. I tried it first with my male Nosy Be. Even my dad wore leather gloves when he had to be taken out of the cage. The difference is amazing. Even my vet, Dr Alfonso, said he is the most laid back, non-stressed chameleon he has ever seen, including Luie (sorry Jann ). I asked him if he was stressed or harmed in any way by my handling, he assured me he was not. He even went freely to Dr A and sat on his arm the very first time he saw him. Dr A tried to put him back on his tree, he would not go. He said he had to admit, he had rather be with me, than on his tree. Intersting.

The same thing has happened with the other male panther that is free ranged. He was nicknamed the devil because he was actually WORSE than the Nosy Be! These animals NEVER attempt to hide when they see a person or run away. They come to us. They will literally climb out of their tree and cross the room (17ft) to climb the chair we are sitting in. They do this to my daughter all the time. She has NEVER fed them.

It really bothers me when people that have not tried this for themselves, automatically know for a fact it can't work. I am not saying this because it sounds good, but because I have actually done it, tried it and it worked exactly as I have explained. I didn't believe it either, but I gave it a try. If you have never tried something for yourself to prove it right or wrong, how can you be so certain you're right? Do I believe this will work for every single aggressive cham out there? No. They are individuals, nothing works exactly the same way for everyone or everything. But don't make fun of something that I have tried and have been successful with in my own keeping.

Wow you have a 17 ft tree IN your house? how high are your ceilings and what kind of tree is it?

 

[bridgofaith]

Wow you have a 17 ft tree IN your house? how high are your ceilings and what kind of tree is it?

The room is 17ft x 19ft, not the tree. lol

 

[sdheli420]

i free range my blue bar ambilobe male panther..have since the day he came home..i use a 8 foot ficus..he loves it..p.s. he poops in the same spot everyday..pretty easy to clean..

 

[Psychodrake]

probably he expect food when he sees you

I think you're underestimating chameleons social behavior. I've very rarely hand fed my chameleon and he does exactly what Jann's Luie does. I think they can learn to love, to a limit and also depending on the chameleons personality.

All the signs are there that he likes me - Comes to the cage door when I'm there, if I open he comes straight to my hand, and doesn't go for other routes such as up the mesh. When on me he goes straight for my shoulder and will sit carefully and quietly while I'm walking around.

Give em a bit more credit, there must be something. They're solitary by nature and commonly aggressive/defensive in captivity but it isn't the same for everyone.

EDIT: Woah, didn't see the 7 pages.

 

[okiroo]

i've used all 3. i love the FR the best:however, my screen atm is always unzipped so it's inda of a FR aswell. she can leave whenever if she wanted. both are happy and healthy and clair has become MUCH nicer since FRing. lets me pet her under her chin and rarely puffs up. chloe had always been sweet but seens to like her little jungle.

 

[JonRich]

I don't have the room for a large free-range. My free range is limited to just a 5" Ficus that my Cham explores for a few supervised hours a day.

I have both glass and screen enclosures. Let me tell you!! This is my first winter keeping Chams. In the summer keeping the enclosures humid was fairly easy. But holy dry air in the winter.. Only enclosure that wasn't really affected was my glass viv.

I really wish a had large enough all glass enclosures for ALL my Chams. I would do away with screen cages.

 

[SMCNARY]

While in florida I did somewhat of a free range. I had a huge screen porch encasing my pool and tons and tons of plants that were so thick you couldnt see through them! anyways I had 10 panther chameleons that peacefully live out there for most of the year and we always would find hatchlings all over the screen and plants over the 5 years they were kept out there we had found hundreds of babies. And for those of you interested in was a 4.6 group of panthers so there were scuffs nothing bad though as there was plenty of room for them to move about however it was so cool to watch them establish there own territories and protect them!

I have always wanted to do something like this!!! I have a very large room that should be free soon and would love to try this. I have used about every type cage you can think of but never been able to free range any Cham. I do think the cage type needed and how well it works depends on the Cham. I am truly enjoying this thread!!!