I have now finished my cage

[Mark7616]

Right guys its now finished I have moved it into place and quickly threw a 10% uv light in the hood to take some pics but ill get all the equipment installed in it tommorrow. I will be have 1x 5% 24" UV, 1x 30" flurecent tube to aid in plant growth and extra light, a 75w basking light and the dripper mounted in the hood.

Here it is now all finished I do need to just varnish the shelf that the ficus is standing on:

 

[jmdavis]

Very nice! I wish i was handy enough to build a nice setup like that

 

[Lizardlover]

Its a bit sparse though..add some more plants a pothos maybe, and some branches and vines, its pretty to you but not adequate to a cham...nice cage though

 

[Mark7616]

Right guys its now finished I have moved it into place and quickly threw a 10% uv light in the hood to take some pics but ill get all the equipment installed in it tommorrow.

Its a bit sparse though..add some more plants a pothos maybe, and some branches and vines, its pretty to you but not adequate to a cham...nice cage though

Yes mate thats right I spent all that time building an enclosure like this and didnt once think about the chams needs. Or did I say I will be installing all the equipment tomorrow.

 

[CHAMpion]

very impressive post some pictures of it when it's all decked out

 

[Mark7616]

Yeah I will do I have some about 6 vines in total have the exo terra vines I have 2 small, 2 medium and 2 large. I also have a few fake ficus plants to add to the top just untill the plants grow up.

 

[blackbetty]

Looks nice. Def vines. Is that a high traffic area? I moved Leo into a high traffic area and he freaked out and stopped eating, so you might want to consider somewhere serene and quiet if possible. Mine is my bedroom where I do not frequent during the day.

Beautiful craftsmanship!

And where are you? I see you said Mate and Ive never seen handles like that on the windows.

 

[OntarioLizardman]

dude thats awsome cage/furniture piece, nice going! i bet lots of peps will ask about it

 

[Mark7616]

Right I installed the water dripper today changed the bulb over just for a plain white bulb for some extra light and put all the vines and a couple of fake ficus in there. I will be putting the UV and basking bulb on when the Cham is big enough to go in I am currently using them on its grow out viv. I have put 2 thermometers in there one directly under the basking lamp and one hidden in the other end in a plant so I can monitor ambiant and basking temps. Here is what it now looks like overall I am happy with the look and as the pants grow I can train them to grow over the vines etc:

 

[blackbetty]

Looks great...When do I move in?

 

[Chameleon Caretaker]

Looks much better!

 

[chameleon97]

that is beutiful.
wow.
3 thumbs up

 

[beeze]

Nice lookin cage......work of art!!!!

 

[Syn]

I don't know if anyone's said this yet, but:
Try to get it off the ground. Unless all you guys are short, try to keep the highest branch above eye level.

Is it in the living room? If there's a ton of traffic it could stress him out.

Also, I might glue those plant pots down, never know if they might fall or something.. well, maybe not GLUE, but you might want to make them a bit more steady.

 

[Mark7616]

It is off the ground it stands 7ft tall. There is no way anything is going to knock over the plant pots trust me. And as for high traffic area it is in my front room in the corner people are in and out all day but I have had my cham since he was 6 weeks old and he has always been in this corner and I have suffered no problems.

 

[lrg83caleb]

This puts my set up to shame. Excellent stuff!!

 

[luevelvet]

If don't mind me asking, how did you tension the screen with only wood? I'm looking at your pictures for ideas on a larger enclosure for our Meller's and like the idea of not working with the aluminum strips you normally see screen cages made from. Also, did you use aluminum or fiber glass screening?

I think it looks great. Clean craftsmanship.

Luis

 

[NewOwner]

Maggie and the ferocious beast - nice!

Love the cage , very beautiful, and i think your cham will absolutely love it

 

[DaSlackMan]

Very nice cage! Can't wait to see the plants grow out. I like how all the hardware is hidden. Quick question. How do you handle drainage? Is there a tub, etc. hidden below?

 

[Mark7616]

This is the mesh that I used its a fly screen mesh comes rolled up. It was very tricky to keep taught a 2 person job definatly. I cut to size then basically stapled in place pulling it taught then covered the stapels with a wooden bead to stop him catching his self. This is the mesh I used http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....rkparms=algo=CRX&its=S%2BI&itu=UCI%2BSI&otn=4.

As for drainage as you can see in the pics the bottom of the cage is meshed this will collect all the detrius and the water falls through that into the base where I conceal the container to catch the water see pics:

Water falls down here:

into this pot:

And then I remove and empty water: