Indoor vs outdoor - opinion requested

[lagoon]

I just moved to an apartment with a patio and I debating the merits of keeping my cham outdoors or indoors and was hoping to get some opinions.

Outdoor: A covered patio on street level with a fence. Gets great airflow, direct sunlight for 4 hours or so a day, not exposed to the rain. It's also great for drainage of the dripper. Drawbacks are I can't get a extension cord out there so no UV lamp, just sunlight. It also faces a moderately busy street on the other side of the fence so there's a steady amount of traffic noise(not sure how much noise has an effect on chams). Also, being outside, there's always accumulating dust in the air. Temperature outside does not get significantly cold, upper 60s at lowest.

Indoor: Pretty typical. UV lamp, misting, etc.

 

[jamncristian]

where do you live?

 

[LVmama]

Yes, I am interested in this too!
Are you leaving your chams out all night as well?
Does vitamin supplimentation stay the same?

 

[summoner12]

Yeah, not sure where you live.. if night time temps are above 55 and you can figure out the power cord (you'll need it if you go outside) I would house him outside. Also be sure that the day time temps won't get too hot... if they are going to be warm you should plan to have misting during peak heat times.

if you have a patio light, you can buy a screw in fitting that has an outlet on it for use in lighting recepticals.

 

[draetish]

Watch out for stray animals like cats, too risky unless you're there to watch over him and make sure he is safe. If you do decide to do this, you might want to take a day to sit and watch how he reacts to everything. Even if you take him out in the evening for some sun for an hour or so, that's great as long as you have the UVB on him during the day.

 

[lagoon]

@summoner12, that's great, that would be perfect. I didn't know those existed.

I'm in Hawaii; daytime temp maxes at 85 or so, nighttime low is maybe 70.

I tried him outside over this past weekend. He ate and drank normally but he did seem a little stressed so I brought him in. How much of a factor is noise to chameleons?

 

[summoner12]

Are you keeping jackson chameleons then?

 

[morpheon]

Does the fence protect him from outside animals?

Also, will he have a good place to hide and feel hidden in your enclosure? Because much traffic can be a great entertainement for him, but when he wants to be alone, he will need to be alone.

Another thing i would worry is not sound itself, but vibrations. Here, kids (*cough, i'm 25 so no longer a kid ) drive Honda Civics with subwoofers as big as their motor. So when i realized that, i decided to put my little Delko only in the backyard, to reduce the vibrations.


Nevertheless, if i had an opportunity to leave my chameleon outside 100% of the time, you can trust me that i would do everything i could to make it! No doubt about it!

 

[Elizadolots]

I don't know about noise as a factor...but my concern would be natural predators who would be scary. While you could probably rig it so a cat couldn't tip the cage over (there are some big cats out there!) how happy would your chameleon be to have kitty sitting on the cage looking down at him? My first thought, though, was birds. My neighbor used to keep her little parakeet out in the front yard. One day I walked by and there was a big hawk sitting on the cage staring at it. YIKES!

Of course, there are ways to make is so the cage isn't that easy to see... I don't know. It would be hard for me to leave one alone outside without a substantial amount of cover.

 

[fluxlizard]

All of my lizards go outside from sometime in May until sometime around the first of october- from the time night temps are going to remain above 50 until they are going to drop below 50 once again.

I haven't found traffic to be a problem- though when I have placed cages near traffic there have been some light plantings between the cages and the traffic- but they still got the vibrations (from tractor trailers during the day) and they could see the traffic and no problems that I noticed.

I now live out in the country a bit and although I have seen coyotes, stray dogs, a bobcat, rats and mice and housecats and falcons and other birds in my yard, none have ever bothered my lizards enclosures, or even taken more than a curious glance as they passed through them (literally walking between rows of cages)- at least that I have seen.

When I lived in town however, one summer a racoon ripped into a metal screen enclosure and ate a beautiful group of about 15 2 month old dilepis and left me a big poop behind in the cage. (The bugger must have had a nasty sense of humor!) Which is how I learned he was a racoon- I took the poop in a baggie to the local extension service to find out what it was. This cage was 4' high and 4' long and was sitting on the ground. I moved my screen cages onto low tables about 2' off the ground where I have kept them ever since and no animal has bothered them outdoors since. They ignore them- I think too much bother for them to get up and into and lizards don't smell enticing enough for the effort.

Watch your temps outdoors- I use patio misters to help control temperature and shady trees where cool loving species can get sun morning and evening, but not most of the day for montane species...

Personally I think rain not coming into your cages is a downside of your patio situation. My chams do well with rainy days about once or twice a week much of the summer.

edit- oh yeah- you don't need your uv light out there anyway. The sun is the uv light they have been using best for zillions of years.