My Reptibreeze xL setup

[JlaPinska]

I have the cage put together so far and that's it. Nothing is in it yet. I have bought a 4ft ficus tree, and two 1'1" umbrellas. I have two exo terra small vines, one 6ft fluker's red coleus vine, and a 6 ft medium fluker's bend-a-branch. I have the 1gallon dripper system that i plan to suspend over the cage, i have a 5.0 uvb exo terra coil dome lamp and a 75watt florescent fluker's light in a dome for heat. (i plan to swap to 75watt flood halogen light soon for heat) I also have a 2ft grow bulb i plan to suspend above the entire thing for additional light for the live plants.

We are building a custom stand so that i can have a drainage system in place. Basicly just something the cage will set in with holes drilled and tubing in place/sealer so it can drain through the bottm of the cage/stand and into a 5gallon bucket.

I plan to go out and find my own real branches (no pine), strip & bake them.

I have also considered buying a pothos plant and mounting it to one of the corners of the cage.


Will all of the plants + misting be enough for a veiled cham or should i wrap 3 sides to hold in moisture? I think veileds only need 50-60% humidity so with the live plants i'm not sure if i will need to put anything on the sides.

I got my plants from lowes so i plan to wash them good with a dish soap mix and spray them down with white vinegar and let drip dry. I am also putting egg rocks in the plant pots to keep him off the soil. i don't plan to put any substrate. MAYBE paper towels.

When i went to purchase my setup i planned to get the 5.0 reptibreeze strip light & fixture but supplies where very low and just the bulb and fixture would have been about $75 so im waiting til i find them on sale.

Any comments/suggestions?? This is my first time with a chameleon..Thanks!!!!!

 

[APailthorp]

The Dragon Ledges from Bill Strand are really helpful. He's also got a nice blog posting on advanced cage setup. I decided to not do the foam for a naturalistic look, but did use his ideas otherwise.
http://dragonstrand.com/principles-chameleon-cage-setup/

 

[mvad]

Branches: As far as branches go you don't need to strip them of bark. Cut live branches still on trees. The bark or "skin" will help with grip.

Lighting: Lightyourreptiles.com is an excellent lighting provider. I would recommend a quad 24" fixture for you enclosure. I went with a dual 24" fixture and should have gotten the quad to begin with. (I just ordered a second dual 24" fixture yesterday), anyway, Todd is very knowledgable and answers all your lighting questions no matter what they are. It's very important your chameleon gets the proper UVB from the lights.
-Adjusting the wattage of your heat bulb is easy as any store bought filament bulb will work. I'm using a 60w (not florescent) bulb even in these cooler months. I had a 75w bulb (not florescent) to start and it was too strong. Much cheaper than most "reptile" basking lights.

 

[JlaPinska]

thanks guys. i was already on the up & up about store bought fluorescents for heat. i just have a really big cage, so i think 75w might not end up being enough. once i get everything put together i will have to check the temperature zones to see if i need more or less light


iwas going to swap to halogen instead of fluorescent

 

[Volta]

What wattage of halogen dont go to high they burn hot and you wont need that grow light your plants will get huge off of a hallogen. But be careful for temps!!!

 

[JlaPinska]

75watt halogen. i'm gonna have to get the cage all put together to really see what lights i'll go with

 

[ChamSky]

This is an interesting thread because I have literally the same exact setup including the same fake vines and branches haha, I will try Lowes for plants if I can (home depot didn't have anything but dracnea) I will probably be getting (hopefully) the same plants at a reptile show at the end of march. I have the same uvb and a 100w with an adjustable dome to regulate the right temp. I am contiplating putting sides on my xL Repti as well for moisture holding, we are also building a custom stand and want a vield lol. Good luck with your setup! I'm going to try it with a custom pan instead of draining the water and then if needed will drill a hole for water.
+1 on the dragon ledges from dragon strand. Just ordered mine and it will make the cage much stronger and offer more branching options.

 

[RobSquared]

I know most ovens wont support a branch that is more than 3 ft tall. My enclosures are 4+ ft tall so what I did was dilute bleach and water and scrubbed the branch so I can keep them at full length. Just make sure you rinse really well and let dry. It works and you will be able to have longer branches. Just my .02 cents.

 

[JlaPinska]

i'm really going to look for some willy-wonky branches that i can put in diagonal that will fit in the oven, i don't really like straight branches they look more like dowel perches for birdcages lol. gonna look for something more natural. thanks for you advice though, i might come across one that i can't fit.

 

[Adman]

I'm also finding this thread pretty useful, I've also purchased a Reptibreeze XL and now I'm just trying to decide on lighting and heating options. It's frustrating as hell deciding on what to get, I'm currently playing with the idea of buying an Arcadia D3 24W 12% Canopy for mine, but then I have to sort out the heating issue, which is driving me mad. I was originally going with a pair of Large Exo Terra Glow Light domes, but then had several recommendations to go with Arcadia instead. Any suggestions?