OldChamKeeper
Chameleon Enthusiast
I'll add in some pictures later of my habitat.
For those here who I have not met yet I'm goofy herp keeper with over 30+ years of experience, mostly with Chams. As such my habitats are rather elaborate and I was looking for some input from other Cham keepers here. I can still remember the days where trying to find another Cham keeper to talk to was difficult let alone a whole website full of them.
In my home we have a full bedroom converted to the "Reptile Room". Tiled floors etc. etc. The closet for this bedroom was removed and I converted it into a very large habitat. The interior walls and floor were lined with bathroom tile. I replaced the closet doors with a set of glass sliding patio doors. There is a fine silver metal screen seperating the lighting from the cage below. The cage itself measures 8' long by 30" wide and 6 1/2' tall.
For lighting I have a 4' long 10.0 ZooMed bulb paired with a standard sylvaina bulb. I found that these did not really provide much light to the habitat for the plants and added a dual socket fixture with a ZooMed 10.0 compact flourescent bulb paired with a cheapo flourescent compact bulb that provides a bright natural light. The compact bulbs are horizontal above the habitat providing maximum surface area. The Chams have a basking spot 14 inches under the compact bulbs and of course can go up to 7' away from the lights if they want to. I'm keeping Four-Horned Chameleons currently. Temps range from 73-80F and the cage is on an auto mister which sprays everything down 3 times a day for 15 minutes a pop. Air circulation is assisted by a powerful vornado mini fan located above the screen.
I'm under the understanding that my lighting is filtered by up to 50% with the screen, I figure between that filtering and the cage height my Chams should not be getting too much UV lighting. Thoughts?
Thanks
For those here who I have not met yet I'm goofy herp keeper with over 30+ years of experience, mostly with Chams. As such my habitats are rather elaborate and I was looking for some input from other Cham keepers here. I can still remember the days where trying to find another Cham keeper to talk to was difficult let alone a whole website full of them.
In my home we have a full bedroom converted to the "Reptile Room". Tiled floors etc. etc. The closet for this bedroom was removed and I converted it into a very large habitat. The interior walls and floor were lined with bathroom tile. I replaced the closet doors with a set of glass sliding patio doors. There is a fine silver metal screen seperating the lighting from the cage below. The cage itself measures 8' long by 30" wide and 6 1/2' tall.
For lighting I have a 4' long 10.0 ZooMed bulb paired with a standard sylvaina bulb. I found that these did not really provide much light to the habitat for the plants and added a dual socket fixture with a ZooMed 10.0 compact flourescent bulb paired with a cheapo flourescent compact bulb that provides a bright natural light. The compact bulbs are horizontal above the habitat providing maximum surface area. The Chams have a basking spot 14 inches under the compact bulbs and of course can go up to 7' away from the lights if they want to. I'm keeping Four-Horned Chameleons currently. Temps range from 73-80F and the cage is on an auto mister which sprays everything down 3 times a day for 15 minutes a pop. Air circulation is assisted by a powerful vornado mini fan located above the screen.
I'm under the understanding that my lighting is filtered by up to 50% with the screen, I figure between that filtering and the cage height my Chams should not be getting too much UV lighting. Thoughts?
Thanks
