My almost finished 'open air' enclosure.

[SeanCJ]

I was hoping to set this up for a trio of young parsoni, but today's financial climate wouldn't allow it. I had the money saved up, but things happened and that money was needed more importantly elsewhere. I'm still very depressed over not being able to get the parsoni. I was about to scrap the hole project, but, I was able to trade in some of my old salt water equipment for a trio of quadricornis which now call this home.
Its a 4 foot by 4 foot by 2 foot tall acrylic aquarium with a completely open top that used to house a salt water reef for many years. After many years of saltwater, I finally got bored with it and wanted to get back into my older passion of chameleons. So, I turned the tank into a vivarium.
A 3 1/2 foot tall tropical is the center piece with many smaller tropical plants surrounding it's base. Lots of ferns, bromeliads, vines, etc..
The light box, suspended above, has 4 48" UVB bulbs and 2 70 watt 4000 K halides. I have a misting system manifold in the light box with 4 fine mist nozzles.
The peat moss substrate will be covered soon with more ferns and ground cover tropicals.
Temperature is 75 at the highest basking spot and 65 near the substrate during the day. Temp drops to around 60 at night. Just right for the quads.
Humidity can be kept around 70% to 80% with intermittant misting.
What you see is temporary as I plan on adding another 30" to the height and enclosing it with sliding acrylic doors and a canopy. There will be a screen top and small fans installed on the back side for intermittant air circulation in between mistings. I'll be building a new canopy to match the stand I built as well. Once its fully enclosed, I may add a few small day geckos for a bit more activity, but not sure about that.

 

[Syn]

wow, that's some pretty interesting and amazing stuff right there, must be big.

looks cool. wait for a senior member to get in here to give you some constructive crit.

 

[NewOwner]

That is the most beutiful open terrarium i have ever seen!

You should be proud of yourself... thats very nice...

 

[OntarioLizardman]

wow looks great! can the chams escape?

 

[kylerenz]

I take it that the quads do not mind being housed together? That is a totally kick ass cage though. I have never seen anyone do something like that. I can't wait until you have the add-ons to make it taller and add more foliage. Too bad about the parsonii. I have been searching long and hard to get some for myself.

 

[KevinA]

Did you build that stand? If so, I am more than impressed.

 

[Jason4045]

Interesting set up. I like the idea, but im wondering about it being "escape proof"!?!? Looks like a pretty good fall for a cham. Keep us updated on the functionallity of the set up.


edit: Almost forgot... The wood work on the base is beautiful, did you do it yourself?

 

[Snarfit]

Outstanding!

This really is fine work. I am trying to work out the kinks in my own free range setup, and this really gets me thinking. Coupla questions though:

What sort of substrate is that? Seems the general consensus is to avoid any substrate for fear of impaction.

Also, how does water drain out?

Thanks for sharing your setup - really impressive work!

 

[Chameleon Caretaker]

Beautiful!

 

[Jerm]

Very nice! I have had quads jump so watch for escapees. Hopefully you dont' have dogs or cats running around just in case. I don't think that a day gecko would hang out in there though, it would probably be all over the room. Good luck with them in there, keep us updated on how it goes.

 

[reyesjoshuacruz]

ouch-oooh--aww---ouch

first of all as a former marine keeper my mind only wonders at how amazing that reef looked before it was taken down. open airs are in a league of their own as far as im concerned. ever see the infinity open air tanks?

sorry about the parsonii, i remember reading you've been saving for years.
must've been a tuff choice.


best looking system ive ever see.

how long have then been in it?

 

[Jayce]

WOW beautiful!!!

 

[SpikeTheVeiled]

It looks amazing, how long did it take to build?

 

[SeanCJ]

Hello all.
Sorry for my late reply. I've been out of town the past several days and just go back.
To answer a few questions:
I did build the stand and designed the aquarium. The aquarium was built by a local acrylic craftsman to my specs. It worked great as a reef aquarium and works now as a nice vivarium of sorts. It took me about 3 days of on/off work to complete the stand. That was several years ago. Since then, I've built many copies of it of various sizes for other salt water enthusiasts locally and across the country.
The chameleons have not escaped and unless they learn how to climb acyrlic, they should not be able to get out. All of the plants are well within the borders of the acrylic walls, so if they should fall out of the tall branches of the central bush, they will land within the enclosure and on the soft substrate.
The substrate was placed in the enclosure to help with humidity and asthetics, but it will be covered with tons of tropical ground cover within a few days. I agree that there is a risk of consumption and eventual impaction, but these guys are already feeding voraciously out of a large bowl I place at the base of the central bush, so I feel the risk is very minmal over the next few days.
Here are a few pics of the male soaking up the 'rain' from the misting system and then the "sun" from the 70 watt 4000K halide.
He, and the females, are young wild caught specimens and the male's horns have just started to bud. I'm hoping over the next few sheds, he'll lose those knee 'scars' and look very clean.
The females didn't want to cooperate for the photo shoot and I didn't want to stress them out, but I'll try to get some pics of them soon. They are gorgeous with their many tiny blue dots along their sides and many shades of green.
Below those pics is my design to enclose the top of the aquarium so I can add some geckos. Don't worry, I'll be adding 4 small 3" fans placed within the back wall of the enclosure that will be on timers for short intermittant air circulations in between mistings. The fans and misters will be on alternate cycles to allow for periods of high humidity followed by proper ventilation via the fans and screen top. I think this will give the quads just what they need in terms of temp, humidity, and ventilation. I did something similar many years ago and it worked well.
Thanks again to everyone for the positive comments. Its really great to share this experience with those of you that appreciate not only the great animals, but the devotion it takes to set something like this up for them. Most of my friends around town just don't get it

 

[alpine]

He looks so happy with all that water on him. Look at that tail curl!

 

[luevelvet]

You don't happen to hail from Florida do you? You're stype looks remarkably similar to my tank and stand I bought from someone near Tampa.

That setup is highly impressive. Will it accomodate the entire clan of chams for their life or are you planning on moving them elsewhere in the future?

Luis

 

[SeanCJ]

Thank you alpine and Luis.
I live in a suburb about 10 miles SouthWest of Kansas City Kansas.
Luis- The stand and aquarium was featured on www.reefcentral.com many years ago. Since that time, there have been many reef hobbyists that have copied it, so its very likely that someone in your area liked the design and built their own version.
The enclosure is 48" x 48" and will eventually be close to 60" tall when the top is put on. I think that as the plants mature and spread out, this size enclosure should accomodate this small harem of quads nicely.

 

[summoner12]

WOW that is impressive!

 

[Vince]

Very cool, i like the idea. I know exactly what you are saying when you say your friends around town just dont get it. My friends dont either, they think i am nuts to put as much effort into my cham as i do. They dont know what they are missing out on.
Anyway, very pretty chameleon, those poor knees though. Is that how you got him?
Good luck with the rest of the design.

 

[DubiaMan8]

That is amazing! you did good on it.