Mark's build, critiques welcome and encouraged

M

Mark_C

Established Member
Hi all, thanks for having me aboard.

I've been a big reef tank guy for years and have been researching chameleons for just over a year now.
Think I'm ready to go with a habitat for a captive bred panther, approx 6mos old, from breeder (when time comes).
I'm still in planning and design stages and did a general outline for myself to keep things focused.

If you have the time to take a look at my general outline I'd appreciate it.
And, having been in the coral hobby for many years I know the value of experience and appreciate any anyone is willing to share.

I plan on an interesting mod to the cage to create a hybrid. Will keep this thread current with the build as I go along.

Thanks again!

BUILD SPECS

Ambient temp 75 day / 65 night
Basking temp 85
Humidity 65 - 75

Cage:
Zoo Med Reptibreeze XL (2x2x4) customized
Zoo Med Reptibreeze XL stand
Deep drain pan (with biomass inside)

Biomass (establish over 1 month+ pre-cham):
1” lavaballs, Fabric screen, 1/4” charcoal, 3” soil (cocoir, potting soil, sticks, lavastone, spahgum, sand), 1” leaf, biobooster, top botanicals and rocks
Microfauna seeded (dwarf whitetail and granulated isopods and springtails)

Plants:
1 large weeping fig (center)
Climbng fig, pothos, spider, pitcher (trailings)
Maiden hair fern (accents)
‘Forest edge’ setup with at least 30% full coverage for hiding

Lighting:
Repitsun T5 HO 24” with 22” 5.0 T5HO bulb 8am - 8pm
Basking bulb, white, 60-75w for 8am to 8pm

Diet:
Gutloaded cricket, blackfly larvae, roaches at 9am daily
Occasional superworms
Weekly hornworm

Gutload mix:
70% collard greens, 20% veggies (carrot/yam), 10% fruit (banana/apple), spirlina dusting

Supplementation:
Fluker’s Calcium without D fed daily
Flukers Calcium with D fed every 2 weeks
Fluker’s reptile vitamin fed every (alternative) 2 weeks

Water:
Generic misting pump from amazon, RODI water (remineralized) on for 30-60sec at 8 (lights on), 12, 5, 9 (lights off) - adjust based on humidity
Small slow drip (1 drop per 2-4 sec) through day on a ‘drip vine’

Misc:
Multiple temp/humidity monitors
 
Mark_C said:
Hi all, thanks for having me aboard.

I've been a big reef tank guy for years and have been researching chameleons for just over a year now.
Think I'm ready to go with a habitat for a captive bred panther, approx 6mos old, from breeder (when time comes).
I'm still in planning and design stages and did a general outline for myself to keep things focused.

If you have the time to take a look at my general outline I'd appreciate it.
And, having been in the coral hobby for many years I know the value of experience and appreciate any anyone is willing to share.

I plan on an interesting mod to the cage to create a hybrid. Will keep this thread current with the build as I go along.

Thanks again!

BUILD SPECS

Ambient temp 75 day / 65 night
Basking temp 85
Humidity 65 - 75

Cage:
Zoo Med Reptibreeze XL (2x2x4) customized
Zoo Med Reptibreeze XL stand
Deep drain pan (with biomass inside)

Biomass (establish over 1 month+ pre-cham):
1” lavaballs, Fabric screen, 1/4” charcoal, 3” soil (cocoir, potting soil, sticks, lavastone, spahgum, sand), 1” leaf, biobooster, top botanicals and rocks
Microfauna seeded (dwarf whitetail and granulated isopods and springtails)

Plants:
1 large weeping fig (center)
Climbng fig, pothos, spider, pitcher (trailings)
Maiden hair fern (accents)
‘Forest edge’ setup with at least 30% full coverage for hiding

Lighting:
Repitsun T5 HO 24” with 22” 5.0 T5HO bulb 8am - 8pm
Basking bulb, white, 60-75w for 8am to 8pm

Diet:
Gutloaded cricket, blackfly larvae, roaches at 9am daily
Occasional superworms
Weekly hornworm

Gutload mix:
70% collard greens, 20% veggies (carrot/yam), 10% fruit (banana/apple), spirlina dusting

Supplementation:
Fluker’s Calcium without D fed daily
Flukers Calcium with D fed every 2 weeks
Fluker’s reptile vitamin fed every (alternative) 2 weeks

Water:
Generic misting pump from amazon, RODI water (remineralized) on for 30-60sec at 8 (lights on), 12, 5, 9 (lights off) - adjust based on humidity
Small slow drip (1 drop per 2-4 sec) through day on a ‘drip vine’

Misc:
Multiple temp/humidity monitors
Click to expand...
Looks pretty good. A couple pointers:
- Once your cham is fully grown, you will want to cut back on feeding to three days per week.
- 85 is a tad high for basking, 81-83 is ideal
- Flukers Reptile Vitamin contains D3 so the calcium with D3 isn’t necessary- just use the reptile vitamin every other week.
 
Couple of other items:
- I run an IR heat element in addition to the basking light - find that mine gets too cool otherwise, depends on the environment.
- If of interest, there are several options for heat and humidity controllers - I use some units from Spyder Robotics. Think of them as simpler versions of an Apex (reef analogy)
- I think the misting is better done at night - idea is to raise humidity at night and dry it out during the day
 
@Mark_C Has anyone ever told you that you are awesome? ;) I simply love that you’ve not only done your research, but that you are double checking and getting everything set up before getting your chameleon. The only recommendations I have are to increase misting time to about 2 minutes to help stimulate drinking and I’d limit the dripper to about 20 minutes. The enclosure should dry out in between watering. Add some silkworms to your staple feeders…nutritious and hydrating. It’s optional but bee pollen is also great to add to your feeders diet. Now, most important of all is you absolutely must share pics of everything once you get it all set up and it is mandatory (IMO) that you share pics of your chameleon when you get him and just need to spread some joy. 😁
 
@Mark_C excellent start and from a fellow reefer your reef experience will indeed prepare you for a chameleon... It's a similar mindset of creating a full environment/ecosystem not just a cage/tank. You also will be prepared to respond to observed changes and have a dynamic response to husbandry as required by reef keeping. I have not tried full bio active with a chameleon but definitely keep an eye on drainage. You will be misting a lot and may need a way to remove excess water from drainage layer. Also if you have not already read through the chameleon academy I highly encourage you to do so.

Edit:. Also make sure you have some 6500k plant lights t5 or led... The heat lamp and the UVB alone will not be enough light for the plants to thrive.
 
Thanks for the feedback folks, taking notes!

Adding a 65k light or LED for plants
Basking temp to be between 81-83
Adding silkworms to feeding and bee pollen as supplement
Removing the Flukers Calcium with D (just dusting daily and supplementing multi bi-weekly)
Move drip to the day, setting on multiple 20 minute intervals
Shifting misting to night at 9pm (lights off), 3am, 9am (lights on) and will modify based on humidity.

Saw a panther beauty in the shop yesterday, soo tempting, but have a lot of legwork to do first.
 
Mark_C said:
Thanks for the feedback folks, taking notes!

Adding a 65k light or LED for plants
Basking temp to be between 81-83
Adding silkworms to feeding and bee pollen as supplement
Removing the Flukers Calcium with D (just dusting daily and supplementing multi bi-weekly)
Move drip to the day, setting on multiple 20 minute intervals
Shifting misting to night at 9pm (lights off), 3am, 9am (lights on) and will modify based on humidity.

Saw a panther beauty in the shop yesterday, soo tempting, but have a lot of legwork to do first.
Click to expand...
Basking temp is highly debated and dependent on species and sex of chameleon. For a male panther I would do 85-90 imo, with heat lamp raised above cage to avoid burns. When in doubt follow the chameleon academy program and you'll do well. Also the misting schedule should depend on light schedule not a certain time of day. Make sure you offer plenty of drinking opportunity when lights first come on to simulate dew in wild... Dry out enclosure during day... And aim for high humidity and cool nights. Also consider keeping outdoors when/if your climate allows. For me outdoor keeping is the most rewarding.
PXL_20210901_151917951.PORTRAIT.jpg
 
Edit:. Also make sure you have some 6500k plant lights t5 or led... The heat lamp and the UVB alone will not be enough light for the plants to thrive.
Click to expand...
I use this T5 Fixture and have 2 UVB lamps and 2 plant lights - it's not cheap at ~$300, but probably not that far off having multiple, individual fixtures. I also took a Radion XR30 Pro unit and slapped it in the middle, but not using it at the moment.

50984301681_131094d0d2_b.jpg
 
Thanks again all.
The lighting is where I'm in debate at the moment.
Love theAquatic Life fixture, had one of those over a 120g reef tank and loved it, but it may be a bit much for what I need atm.

So I know I need: daylight for plants, UV for cham, basking for cham.
The basking is easy enough, just debating fixtures on the other two.
Would love some input on plusses and minuses of the domes v the bars.

Thought 1...
https://www.amazon.com/REPTIZOO-Fix.../B07CWKXYPP/ref=psdc_2975515011_t1_B07L53YH7D
https://www.amazon.com/LUCKY-HERP-U...40938d&pd_rd_wg=jlFvh&pd_rd_i=B082DY67TZ&th=1
https://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-Agrobrite-FLC32D-Compact-Fluorescent/dp/B0055F4VB4/ref=sr_1_6?crid=ILVABJO4LM7X&keywords=cfl+grow+light&qid=1641335385&s=hi&sprefix=cfl+grow+light,tools,50&sr=1-6

Thought 2...
https://www.amazon.com/DuroLux-DL822N-Fluorescent-Lighting-Reflector/dp/B0721TG86M/ref=sr_1_34?keywords=24"+grow+light&qid=1641335529&sr=8-34
https://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-Reptisun-T5-Ho-Fluorescent/dp/B00AQU8GF0/ref=sr_1_2?crid=34T9R2RHK9X88&keywords=24"+chameleon+5.0+light&qid=1641335623&sprefix=24+chameleon+5.0+light,aps,66&sr=8-2

Once I have a better idea on the dome or strips, I can move forward in that department.
 
Any dome fixture will work for basking. The T5 ReptiSun with a 5.0 or T5 Arcadia with a 6% is what you need for uvb. The screw in bulbs just don’t provide adequate UVB levels at any reasonable range beyond 2-3”. For plant lights, I like/use these. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07TKKG8Q3/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
If you get a linear T5 double fixture for both plant light and uvb, make sure each bulb has a separate reflector or your uvb could get overly diffused.
 
I have a dome fixture on a ball python enclosure like the dual ReptiZoo in your first link, no complaints. For my cham, I have 2 smaller dome fixtures for a basking lamp and IR heat - they fit in the holes on either side of the Radion.

I use only Arcadia bulbs at the moment, have one 6 and one 12 which works perfectly for my setup - UVB levels measured by a Solarmeter. My lights are a few inches off the top as you can see in the picture.
 
 
Hi folks.
Trolling and figured I’d update.
I found a mostly perfect enclosure!
Custom 2x2x8 (6’ of cham space). Modding a bit yesterday and today.

image.jpg


Its a screen top and full screen front. Sides replaced with plexi to keep heat/humidity. Has mister lines built into enclosure
With the way the base is set up I have to give up on the bio-substrate idea.
Going to run drainpan (with collection bucket under stand) with potted centerpiece plant and big rocks to cover any visible pan.

Working lighting today and the more I read the more my head is spinning.

When i picked up the enclosure it came with an 18” T8 and a dual bulb dome.
We also have a number of 18-24” white LED grow lights around.
Now, I’ve read that a 10.0 UV in a T8 is the equivalent of a 5.0 in a T5.
Was tempted to try this but decided to go with a full T5.

So, today’s question…

Initially was going to do a 4 bulb T5 as suggested, replacing 1 bulb with an Arcadia 6%.

Now thinking it might be possible to do a 2 bulb T5, with one 6500 and one UV, then supplement with LEDs around plants for better coverage and lighting the enclosure adequately.

Thoughts?

Also, with the dual dome…
Is it consensus to do a basking bulb and white bulb or is it viable to do a basking bulb and a non-light generating hear element?
Curious what you guys recommend on this as well.

Again, thanks for the help. Going to be a fun week getting this all up and running.
 
Cool looking enclosure! I have a basking light and a heat element in my dome fixtures. My 4 T5s are 2x6500, 1x12.0 UVB, 16.0 UVB. The 12 and 6 work well together in my enclosure, based on where the basking areas are located. I'm getting UVB numbers right on target.
 
image.jpg


Well, lights in. A high output LED grow panel, a dome with a 50W bulb (82 in basking area) and a CF UV. (3.1 on basking branch (see separate post on UV bulb), and a supplemental grow light.

Generic misting system in, waiting on delivery of Mist King system today.

And plants are in (verified all are on safe list), but still need to swap out for organic soil and cover with rocks.

Now have to play around a bit with schedules over next few days to ensure I have heat and humidity levels right.
 
Mark_C said:
Supplementation:
Fluker’s Calcium without D fed daily
Flukers Calcium with D fed every 2 weeks
Fluker’s reptile vitamin fed every (alternative) 2 weeks
Click to expand...
The one thing about Fluker's Reptile Vitamin is that it only has proformed Vitamin A in the form of Vitamin A acetate (carotenoids). It's still up to debate whether or not chameleons can convert proformed A into preformed A (retinol)--but most think that they cannot convert it. To be safe, you should get a multivitamin that has either retinol or both retinol and carotenoids.

To save you the time of processing this information. Two very top-notch supplements that include retinol are Repashy calcium plus LoD and Reptivite with D3. Both of these supplements also include D3.
 
Mark_C said:
View attachment 318286
Click to expand...
You may find that a chameleon will bask directly under the plant light rather than your intended basking site. I've had this happen. Chameleons (and others) try to bask under the brightest light available, which is often the plant light.

If you find this to be the case, you might try angling your basking light to shine on a basking site directly under the plant (brightest) light.
1642255820617.png
 
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