it's hot, hot, hot

[ijmccollum]

Those freezing lines are a malfunction of the AC unit.

Probably a fix for a summer or two is just to have a professional add coolant to the lines.

I was in UT in June- was actually cold LOL.

Thanks for the heads up on the ac, don't think we can afford a new one this year.

Summer didn't hit us until July and we are all hoping we will have a long autumn.

 

[Carlton]

I've tried a couple of DIY ways to get cage temps to drop enough at night for montane chams. The simplest one was putting a large bowl full of ice cubes next to the screen and running a small fan over the top. Draped a large sheet over the cage itself to confine the cool. Didn't drop the humidity too much this way. I re-froze the meltwater for the next day's needs. The relatively cooler air helped create a gradient in the cage.

One year I had a lot of surgery on one foot. The surgeon gave me a wrap that had tubes laced through it that were connected to a small cooler and a pump. It was supposed to chill down my foot to control swelling. You loaded ice and some water in the cooler, connected the hoses from the wrap, and the pump circulated the cold water all through the wrap. I draped this wrap around part of the cham's cage and used it to cool it down at night. I'm sure such thermo "blankets" are out there if you care to look. There are also chillers tropical aquarists use for temperate fishes. New they are spendy but you might luck out on craig's list or ebay.

 

[Carlton]

I've tried a couple of DIY ways to get cage temps to drop enough at night for montane chams. The simplest one was putting a large bowl full of ice cubes next to the screen and running a small fan over the top. Draped a large sheet over the cage itself to confine the cool. Didn't drop the humidity too much this way. I re-froze the meltwater for the next day's needs. The relatively cooler air helped create a gradient in the cage.

One year I had a lot of surgery on one foot. The surgeon gave me a wrap that had tubes laced through it that were connected to a small cooler and a pump. It was supposed to chill down my foot to control swelling. You loaded ice and some water in the cooler, connected the hoses from the wrap, and the pump circulated the cold water all through the wrap. I draped this wrap around part of the cham's cage and used it to cool it down at night. I'm sure such thermo "blankets" are out there if you care to look. There are also chillers tropical aquarists use for temperate fishes. New they are spendy but you might luck out on craig's list or ebay.

Oh I meant to add....putting blue ice gel packs on the cage top can help too.

 

[Vegas Chad]

You people with your talks of unbearable heat and low humidity make me laugh. It’s been 110+ here the past few weeks with negative humidity. Bringing up the humidity is the easy part all you need is water; cooling the air is more difficult. We keep our entire chameleon herd cool with a combination of Misting’s/ Swamp coolers / and an AC unit in the barn, listed in order of importance. Who gives a rip about what the humidity is in the room, a chameleon needs localized humidity that is to say the humidity inside his cage. Add in live plants with large root balls (area for water to evaporate), add a misting system, trays of water with ICE can be set out in a pinch, a humidifier pointed at the cage. All the time people get too worried about what the humidity is in the room, get a gauge with a probe on it and then adjust your husbandry till the parameters are correct inside the micro climate.

 

[Carlton]

Who gives a rip about what the humidity is in the room, a chameleon needs localized humidity that is to say the humidity inside his cage. Add in live plants with large root balls (area for water to evaporate), add a misting system, trays of water with ICE can be set out in a pinch, a humidifier pointed at the cage. All the time people get too worried about what the humidity is in the room, get a gauge with a probe on it and then adjust your husbandry till the parameters are correct inside the micro climate.

Hey there Chad,

The main reason I keep mentioning the room humidity (as you say) is because it can affect how efficient your misting/fogging/dripping ends up being for the cage. A bone dry house will make the cage more prone to drying out too fast unless you put more effort into misting it. I know the room humidity may not affect the cham in itself. Newbies may not understand this unless it gets mentioned.

I had 6 chams including a pair of deremensis at 9000 ft elevation in the CO Rockies. Sure we didn't get the heat you do but the house humidity was also about zero in winter if that's possible. At least it meant getting creative and really understanding what works and what doesn't! Good experience.

 

[Vegas Chad]

Hey there Chad,

The main reason I keep mentioning the room humidity (as you say) is because it can affect how efficient your misting/fogging/dripping ends up being for the cage. A bone dry house will make the cage more prone to drying out too fast unless you put more effort into misting it. I know the room humidity may not affect the cham in itself. Newbies may not understand this unless it gets mentioned.

I had 6 chams including a pair of deremensis at 9000 ft elevation in the CO Rockies. Sure we didn't get the heat you do but the house humidity was also about zero in winter if that's possible. At least it meant getting creative and really understanding what works and what doesn't! Good experience.

I just read the first page on this here thread, did not even make it to yours sorry if it came off like I was going after you. I do agree with what you say here though.