Meet Thor

[stringfellow]

Hi there, Todd here. I'm new to the forums, and chameleons in general, but I've managed to meet some of the members of this forum and get a great setup going.

Meet THOR, a beautiful panther that I got from a local breeder here in SoCal. He also helped hook me up with Kevin from AquaZamp, and I highly recommend the AquaZamp mister system with the RainDome. Excellent product, and I have to say that Kevin was willing to drive more that 60 miles to my house on Superbowl Sunday just to help me get my pump working. Turns out I just needed to prime it, so he didn't have to make the trek, but you could not ask for customer service like that anywhere. Thor gets a nice little rain shower several times a day, and loves every minute of it.

I've searched high and low for a complete cham housing system that takes drainage into account, but no luck. It's really a shame to have to display such a beautiful work of art in a makeshift setup with tubes and wires sticking out everywhere. So, I've done my best to create something that looks decent in my living room, and worthy of the beauty of the creature I keep in it.

I've got the AquaZamp for misting, a cool-mist humidifier that runs to the top of the cage to help with the humidity levels here in SoCal, and I drilled a drain hole in the drip pan that runs into a return bucket in the cabinet under the cage. Everything is on a 12 hour master timer and the mister and humidifier are both on timers that turn off and on periodically through the day.

Here are some pics of my setup as it exists now, and of course a few shots of my boy, Thor.

 

[melric]

He's very good looking. That's a nice set up you got going there too. I'm eventually going to have to go auto-misting.

 

[alexbrock]

nice set up

 

[theresaintucson]

Beautiful set up. Lucky (and good looking) Thor!

 

[Manik6]

nice start, only thing is i noticed u have a coil bulb for uvb. try looking into getting a linear bulb and fixture. there are reports of coil bulbs causing eye problems. some have no problems but still. better safe than sorry.

 

[primestick]

Where did you get the base you are using ? Also what brand of cool-mist is that ?

 

[stringfellow]

Where did you get the base you are using ? Also what brand of cool-mist is that ?

Finding that base took the most time... Finally settled on this one.

It's actually a computer/printer cart from IKEA. It's almost the perfect size, has a pre-drilled hole in the top, a drawer (i keep supplements in), plus the cabinet to keep the buckets and such.

Can't remember the model, but it was around $70 I think.

I drilled one hole in the back for my humidifier tube and didn't install a shelf that would have split up the cabinet space, but other than that it's stock from the store.

The humidifier brand is Safety1st. Found it in the baby section at Target. I grabbed that one because I figured I could rig a tube up to that opening, and it works great.

Here's a few pics of the back of it and the drain.

 

[RAFASTAR23]

What size is your cage? ...just wondering if the cabinet you found will hold my cages aswell.

 

[stringfellow]

What size is your cage? ...just wondering if the cabinet you found will hold my cages aswell.

It's 2x2x4 screen cage. It's a Zoo-Med ReptiBreeze, but it is pretty flimsy. I'm going to use it as long as it holds up, but I've seen better cages out there for sure!

Hope that cabinet fits your cage, it's pretty nice.

 

[Ekproject]

nice i like the set up...also great looking cham!

 

[primestick]

Found it http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60180084

 

[RAFASTAR23]

It's 2x2x4 screen cage. It's a Zoo-Med ReptiBreeze, but it is pretty flimsy. I'm going to use it as long as it holds up, but I've seen better cages out there for sure!

Hope that cabinet fits your cage, it's pretty nice.

Thanks for the info. I have two of those cages myself 24"x24"x48". I had a hard time finding a base that would fit them. I currently use the Florenzia end table (black) from Wal-mart.com, but the cabinet you found has more perks (concealed storage), for a better price.

 

[stringfellow]

Found it http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60180084

Yeah, that's it!

 

[RAFASTAR23]

Oh, i noticed the cabinet is not deep enough. the cage's base is 24" x 24" , and the cabinet is only 19.75" deep. Wish it was exactly 24" x 24" to fit the cage perfectly!

 

[stringfellow]

Yeah, I've found very few things that are that depth. Not a common size for furniture. So I look at it more like a pedestal setup. The cage overhangs a bit in the front and back, but it looks kinda cool. It's somewhat secured to the base by the drain plumbing, but it's also a work in progress.

At some point I'm going to have to come up with a better drainage system. I have some ideas, but less time than I need.

 

[Murrdox]

Just to clarify...

The "Bottom" of your cage is really just the top of the stand, to which you've drilled a hole and installed the drain? You basically just have the screen cage sitting on top of the stand, with no bottom?

 

[ryno202]

what is/where'd you get that background piece?

 

[Texas Panther Man]

I found a cabinet at Bed Bath & Beyond. It almost fits a standard 24X24 x 48 cage. But to make it a little more user friendly I installed a piece of plywoood on top of the base top. So that the cage doesnt hang over. Your right finding a cabinet thats 24x24 is almost impossible. I looked forever. Now I just hang shelving. Its alot easier to deal with although not as pleasing to the eye.

 

[stringfellow]

Just to clarify...

The "Bottom" of your cage is really just the top of the stand, to which you've drilled a hole and installed the drain? You basically just have the screen cage sitting on top of the stand, with no bottom?

Sorry, didn't explain that well. I actually bought a drip pan from LLL. The cage sits on that, then I drilled a hole in the pan for drainage and ran it through the pre-cut hole in the IKEA cabinet. The plumbing actually helps secure the cage/pan to the base.

 

[stringfellow]

what is/where'd you get that background piece?

It's 2 of the exo-terra stone backgrounds. So there is a "seam" but my umbrella plant obscures it, so it basically looks like 1 piece.