How to Handle Drainage??

[jpowell86]

I know everyone is going to open up this thread and suggest drainage pans...HAHA!

I don't have a screen cage drainage issue....I have a large drainage issue!! Any thoughts?? Just kidding.

We had a flashflood today and my cloud forest became a rainforest real quick today. But the chameleons absolutely loved it. I can honestly say I saw behavior I have never seen before and I will be making some modifications in some of my setups. Still learning everyday....even if the lesson is taught via disaster! The Osh was more active and seemed to respond to large amounts of water in large drops more than I have ever seen with misters. The willsii male began displaying and bobbing their heads at the females. So I may have found a breeding trigger. The melleri of course loved it. The cristatus really became active which was cool. They got low in their enclosures and were hunting. They all ate a lot today. It was a head scratcher for sure.

I was able to pump all of the water out thank goodness.

 

[Andee]

Ugh frustrating thing to happen for sure, but often it is in moments of disaster that true beauty is found. Seems that is true for chameleons as well ^^ I am glad even in the midst of all the flooding you found some interesting behaviors out of it. I am honestly not surprised by the change in behaviors. Insects, a lot of species I raise now and some I have raised in the past, need increased "rain" or other weather phenomena to start breeding,hatching, or pupating behaviors. It's not surprising at all that reptiles are also affected. A lot of mammals and birds are too. Reptiles are just not domesticated at all so it makes more sense they would be affected by it more, especially since a lot of your crew is wild caught. Love new insights ^^

 

[leedragon]

I know everyone is going to open up this thread and suggest drainage pans...HAHA!

I don't have a screen cage drainage issue....I have a large drainage issue!! Any thoughts?? Just kidding.

We had a flashflood today and my cloud forest became a rainforest real quick today. But the chameleons absolutely loved it. I can honestly say I saw behavior I have never seen before and I will be making some modifications in some of my setups. Still learning everyday....even if the lesson is taught via disaster! The Osh was more active and seemed to respond to large amounts of water in large drops more than I have ever seen with misters. The willsii male began displaying and bobbing their heads at the females. So I may have found a breeding trigger. The melleri of course loved it. The cristatus really became active which was cool. They got low in their enclosures and were hunting. They all ate a lot today. It was a head scratcher for sure.

I was able to pump all of the water out thank goodness.

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this shit right here is why I love the forums. also i´d call it lol. what is your next course of action? if this somehow can be implemented ac couple of times a years in a controlled matter, it may be really good for the chameleons.

 

[Andee]

I definitely agree with Lee, you should somehow increase the "rain", and make it more similar to rain a couple times a year and maybe for like two days at minimum? (If your system can take it etc) I think you will see a lot of healthy behaviors and a spike in breeding behaviors.

 

[jpowell86]

Ugh frustrating thing to happen for sure, but often it is in moments of disaster that true beauty is found. Seems that is true for chameleons as well ^^ I am glad even in the midst of all the flooding you found some interesting behaviors out of it. I am honestly not surprised by the change in behaviors. Insects, a lot of species I raise now and some I have raised in the past, need increased "rain" or other weather phenomena to start breeding,hatching, or pupating behaviors. It's not surprising at all that reptiles are also affected. A lot of mammals and birds are too. Reptiles are just not domesticated at all so it makes more sense they would be affected by it more, especially since a lot of your crew is wild caught. Love new insights ^^

It was very very frustrating.

Yeah, I have to do some temp changes to get certain responses I need from my chameleons, but I never thought something like a heavy storm would provoke anything other than a hide response. It was very interesting.

 

[jpowell86]

this shit right here is why I love the forums. also i´d call it lol. what is your next course of action? if this somehow can be implemented ac couple of times a years in a controlled matter, it may be really good for the chameleons.

I am actually thinking about this now. Maybe running some sort of PVC system throughout the greenhouse that can simulate rain inside. The greenhouse was hurt by yesterdays storms, so I would imagine a shower inside would be no big deal. I am actually excited about coming up with something like this.

 

[Virgil1972]

You need a really big drain pan!

 

[Nursemaia]

You need a really big drain pan!

You had to didn't you

 

[Virgil1972]

You had to didn't you

Im sure you can get one at home depot or amazon.

 

[jpowell86]

I knew someone would have the answer! HA!

 

[JacksJill]

Your drainage pan is going to need a sump pump!

 

[jpowell86]

Your drainage pan is going to need a sump pump!

EXACTLY!

 

[JGspecial]

wow, thats a lot of water joel. the same thing happened to me, only different. i got like 2 inches in my basement when one of my water lines split while i was at work. i only have 3 cages but the water came out real bad. i had to use a shop vac and 5 gallon buckets to clean up the mess but i got it sorted in a couple of hours. i run my water directly from the piping with a filtration system so its always pressurized. i use powered valves to turn the water on and off but my split happened before them.

 

[JacksJill]

Seriously, a partially retractable roof might be the way to recreate this in a controlled fashion.

 

[kinyonga]

Interesting discovery! I've made a couple of discoveries like this too with my reptiles.

 

[Jared910]

Is this setup in the basement of your house? It looks like Jurassic Park in there! That's awesome.

 

[jpowell86]

wow, thats a lot of water joel. the same thing happened to me, only different. i got like 2 inches in my basement when one of my water lines split while i was at work. i only have 3 cages but the water came out real bad. i had to use a shop vac and 5 gallon buckets to clean up the mess but i got it sorted in a couple of hours. i run my water directly from the piping with a filtration system so its always pressurized. i use powered valves to turn the water on and off but my split happened before them.

That sounds like a true disaster. Yikes!!

 

[EveryGreen]

Is this setup in the basement of your house? It looks like Jurassic Park in there! That's awesome.

i know! look how many cages he has! its cham lover heaven!

 

[jpowell86]

Is this setup in the basement of your house? It looks like Jurassic Park in there! That's awesome.

No, this is a greenhouse. But I think I did see a Dilophosaurus chasing Dennis Nedry through my backyard.

 

[leedragon]

You know. this got me thinking when I was a teenager and was working at a fish store. when we did 40% water Changes in the large tanks.mthe scalares inside would start imidiatly laying eggs as soon as we started to fill the tanks back up. My flying geckos would start mating aswell after a Heavy misting for about half an hour or more.
animals seem to have some sort of a inside trigger system.