Need opinion - New Panther set up (Male Nosy Faly)

[Sabayon]

Hello!

So I've finally gotten my set up together for the most part and I wanted some input on some problems I'm having.

You'll immediately notice there is no UV light, thats because I dont have a chameleon yet lol. I have one, I just left it out of the picture so the inside is more visible.

I have a Monsoon mister going every 4 hours for 30 sec each time. A 75watt day light on a timer for 12 hour rotations. The mister is at the top corner, may be hard to see in the picture, but I have it angled so that it sprays 'past' the basking area. I let the whole thing run over night and the basking temp is 80 degrees F which I was told would be sufficient for a baby Panther. I checked this morning and it was 80 degrees on the dot in the basking area, which is also the highest point.

My problem is the humidity ... this morning it was 40% which seems really low to me. It goes up to around 55 or 60 shortly after misting. The gauge is hard to see, but its in the picture, at the top of the cage. Can I correct this by just manually misting with a spray bottle throughout the day? Or should I cover up the sides?

The plant in the cage is a ficus. The plant store wasnt sure if there were pesticides used on it so I lightly rinsed it for a minute or so all around.

Another thing you'll notice is I dont have drainage. When I get home today I'll be drilling a couple small holes in the bottom and place it on top of a rubbermaid bin with a hole so the water can drain out.

I just wanted to set it all up and see if I could properly maintain the temp/humidity so yeah it looks like the humidity is going to be challenging (I live in Alberta so its pretty dry here, especially now). Once I get some nods of approval I'm going to order this handsome devil.

Any and all criticism would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Ethen44]

I faced the humidity challenge as well. What I ended up doing is increasing the mistings (every 3 hours for 45 seconds), adding some extra plants, and purchasing a cheap humidifier from Walmart. That seemed to have done the trick

 

[Sabayon]

I thought about that too but was worried that there might be too much water kickin around for too long. I'll give that cycle a try tonight and see if it changes, and what the heck I'll use a spray bottle too.

TBH I don't really want to purchase yet another piece of equipment if I can get by without it. If I need to I will though.

 

[camimom]

place two pieces of shower curtain on the sides. helps humididty, keeps ventilation.
add some more foliage around the top, and some good vines or somthing for basking.

 

[Goggles]

I found it took more than a 45 second misting to get my guys to drink. I do 5 minutes(for the extra large cages) morning and night, and a minute mid day.

 

[Sabayon]

Thanks guys, I'll adjust the mister settings and add some more foliage and branches and post an updated pic when I get home.

Cannot .... contain ... excite ... ment

 

[camimom]

good luck on that lol.
they are addicting.

 

[Canny Chams]

i got a really good humidifier from a friend yesterday my apartment is usually at 20%, its managed to keep my apartment at 65% in the day, you guys prolly have bed rooms bigger than my apartment but it says it can keep up to 500 sq feet assuming the ceilings are at 8 feet high at 50% at all times, its cool mist too so it doesnt get to hot inside

 

[bigwigwabbit]

More plants vines bamboo, branch's they like ht so if this is for a 3mnth it might be ok but full grown cham definitely needs a bigger/taller cage.
@ CANNY CHAMS NO HUMIDIFIERS, NOT GOOD FOR RESPIRATORY SYSTEM I BELIEVE

 

[Sabayon]

Ok it's finally done (I think). I took everything out and restarted. As per hotdirt823's awesome idea, I stripped the ends of the bio-vine and poked it through the screen. At first I had pieces of plastic bag taped to the right and left side to help with humidity, but unfortunately all it did was raise the temperature of the entire enclosure. So I took those down.

I hooked up a second nozzle to the mister and made sure to mist heavily with a spray bottle this morning and will repeat this process 2 more times every day. The humidity has risen to 50 but falls to 45 about an hour afterwards. But at least its 5-10% higher than before!

In terms of more plants/vines, I added 2 fake plants. 1 in the back corner 1 in the front corner. Also added 3 dowels at different levels and a big branch along the bottom in case he wants to cool off. Temp reads 68-73 all along the bottom and 80 - 85 in basking area.

Let me know what you guys think

 

[EvilLost]

I don't know why he would be suggesting against the humidifier, but it is perfectly fine to use one to raise your ambient humidity as far as I know (just don't have it blasting the vapor directly into the chams face). I also use a 'cool mist' style one on really dry days (I place it next to the cham cage, but the purpose is to up the room humidity not the "aim" it at the cham)



In regards to humidity...the numbers you mentioned actually sound okay to me. My ambient humidity is 40-50% and goes up to 70-80% when I mist and then it goes back down. I have not had any trouble with my panthers in this setup.


Live plants always help of course, and even if your ambient humidity is lower, right "in the thick" of the plants, it will be a little bit higher too

 

[Sabayon]

Ok cool. Yeah, I think I will set mine up like you said - not point directly at him or anything.

 

[hotdirt823]

glad the bio vine thing worked out for you if ever you feel there loose or anything all you have to do is connect them in the cage with a small peice of vine i have so many vine highways set up this way for over 10 years and never had an issues. and quite shocked iam one of the only ones to do it this way

 

[hotdirt823]

here is a quick pic of one of the vine highways

 

[Sabayon]

Very cool. Thanks again for the great idea ... cant wait to get this sucker