My Chameleon Room Redesigned

[Olimpia]

For several reasons I decided to do a total room make-over of the cham room. Here's what I did and why.

I used:
- Shelving unit from Lowe's (72" x 48" x 24")
- 4 grey screen cages from LLLReptile (48" x 24" x 24")
- Shower liner (mold resistant + waterproof)
- Charcoal metal grey spray paint for the liner (to make the background)
- Branches collected from outside
- Pothos and bromeliad plants from a local nursery
- PVC pipe and joints for drainage
- 4 serving plastic plates from Walmart ($1 each)
- 50lb fishing line

I opted for lots of horizontal branches over getting big plants because plants tend to have vertical or diagonal branches, and they don't provide the stability someone like my panther male needs. He looks uncomfortable on a ficus (besides, the pothos will grow in heavily in no time). And I also didn't want to have anything on the floor (besides a laying bin for the two girls), for easy cleaning.

Now to the good stuff:

The drainage idea for this project. The cage floor has holes drilled, which drain onto these plates, which have a hole connecting them to the PVC set-up below:

The underside of drainage:

Starting work once the shelves were in place.

First two cages with branches in. They are secured with thumb tacs.

The boyfriend helping me attach the plants. They are all attached using 50lb fishing line. The Pothos are suspended from wood bars that go across the top frame of the cage, also with fishing line.

Daedalus exploring his new home.

 

[Olimpia]

The Finished Cages:

Desdemona's

Cassio's

Azura's

Daedalus's

All four

We will go out this week for a few more branches to fill in a couple gaps here and there. But everyone seems really content with this set-up, and I love how much cleaner and organized everything is. Now I don't have Mistking tubing going from one end of the room to the other connecting cages, now everyone is lined up neatly. Also, these cages stand at more than 7' tall, so I need a step ladder to get up to the lights. At 5'6", I am well below the basking branches so I think everyone will feel more secure because of it, too.

Here are some more shots of the chams doing their thing in the cages:
Desdemona:

Enjoying a green banana roach:

Cassio last night:

Azura basking:

 

[reptilover]

Your room is Awsome! And the cages are set up so cool! I'm curious u said the branches are held by thumb tacks... How is this accomplished?

 

[Olimpia]

Thanks! You just cut the branches to be the exact width of the cage (in my cage 24"), you press one end against the mesh so you can push a thumb tack in through the outside, and hammer it in a bit if you have to. Then repeat on the other side and the stick will be held up. It works surprisingly well, even for the thicker branches, and it doesn't ruin the screen because the thumb tack point goes straight through the screen holes.

If you want something that's easier to remove, though, use push-pins. The thumb tacks are hard to pull out if you mess up because they are so flat. But I wanted the cages right up against each other so I didn't want to use push pins.

 

[Solid Snake]

Very nice Olimpia

I like the plates! Seems like it would work well.

Is there any fishing line "mid-air" in the cage?

It seems like the weight of the branches and plants would cause them to fall, I guess thats not the case though. I may actually have to try the push pins I never liked the idea, but if they support that kind of weight just fine, it may be worth a shot.

It all looks very clean

Im sure both you and the chameleons are very happy

 

[HUNYANGOAKO]

neatly done! nice job!

 

[Olimpia]

Yea, you'd be surprised how much weight they hold. Only the pothos have fishing line from them to the top of the cage.

Thanks!

 

[Anfsurfer]

Beautiful setups Olimpia!!! I think the Thumbtack idea is brilliant! Thank you so much for sharing your photos and ideas with us.

 

[Solid Snake]

Yea, you'd be surprised how much weight they hold. Only the pothos have fishing line from them to the top of the cage.

Thanks!

I know you know what you are doing, but dont you see that as a danger?

I use 550 cord to hang mine, they can see it, and they like to climb on it as well

 

[ChamFreak]

very nice!!!!Love it, I have cages just like that and I keep trying to figure out draining

 

[MATT2504]

Love the setup, guess who's changing there design yet again!!!!!!!!

 

[Olimpia]

I know you know what you are doing, but dont you see that as a danger?

I use 550 cord to hang mine, they can see it, and they like to climb on it as well

No, not at all. I did think about it, but the line is thick enough that it doesn't cut skin, and because of where it is I don't think it's something they'll come into contact with. I think they may even be able to see it, it's fairly thick - sometimes I'm sure they see better than I do lol

 

[arnau666]

the branches are like levitating love it !!!

 

[Ace]

Now thats cage designing!!! LOL

i am going to copy this with a bit of my style added

Thanks Olimpia

 

[Chameleonmaster]

wow that looks pretty darn awesome

 

[Olimpia]

Thanks guys!

Just thought I'd mention this - Another reason I went for screen cages again is that they are insect proof, and I really wanted my guys to have to hunt for their food again. With the ones I built I was down to hand/cup feeding only and I didn't like doing that for every meal. I think it makes them lazy and bored. So I'm happy to be able to let out a few crickets and watch them have to run the cage up and down for them. All animals should have some stimulation.

 

[K9Luvn]

Olimpia you cham room is absolutely beautiful! You have really done a nice and well planned out job of setting everything up so neat and healthy looking.

Do you have to put something in-between the sides of the cages to keep them from seeing each other?

 

[Olimpia]

Olimpia you cham room is absolutely beautiful! You have really done a nice and well planned out job of setting everything up so neat and healthy looking.

Do you have to put something in-between the sides of the cages to keep them from seeing each other?

Thank you!
Yes, you can see in the pics from the progress shots that there is a sheet of plastic on the sides of the cages. It's translucent but they can't see what's on the other side. I didn't go down all the way to the bottom so that air flows through and dries the bottom of the cage faster.

 

[coldbloodedAL]

Olimpia, Excellent job on your cages! They look fantastic!

 

[Synapse]

Thank you so much for posting this! I was thinking about re-doing my chameleon setups as well, and this is exactly what I was looking for. You take superb care of your chams and it shows! A+ setups. I like how the bottom is completely bare for easy poop cleanup.