Our Chameleon "Lab"

[Chameleons Northwest]

Thought I'd post a few photos of what we've been calling our Chameleon Lab . We took about a third of the space in a workshop we have on our property and built the 12' x 18' room. It's almost finished. We have a few more lines of auto misters to install, and, in the one corner, a Melleri habitat.

BEFORE:​

AFTER:​

 

[Brad Ramsey]

That's what I'm Talkin' about!
Awesome!!!

-Brad

 

[spatulars]

Very Nice

This is very cool, and probably the perfect space in which to keep chameleons. I am jealous.

 

[Chameleon Kingdom]

Wow wee

Beautiful job, I love it.

 

[KevinA]

So what shelving system did you use. I was at home depot the other day trying to piece together a shelving system that would bolt on to the wall. They had 24 inche braces, but no shelf floor to fit them and I didn't feel like getting some cut to fit then having to paint them. I was looking at the rubbermaid shelving which supports 400 pounds per 4 ft.

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

The shelves are wire rack closet shelving. We got them from a local distributor, but they are available from Home Depot. The shelves are 16", 20" and 24" deep, supported by 1/2 inch metal tubing (found in the electrical department of Home Depot). Depending on the location of the shelves, the metal tubing is either screwed to the wall (above or below the shelf) or set on the floor. We used the wire shelves so the water could flow through them into the trough below.

 

[Nicodemayo]

I cant wait until im out of school and have my own house to do something like this in.

 

[OldChamKeeper]

Wow! It's nice to see I'm not the only weirdo who devotes a whole room to my herps.....

 

[mika]

I love it! Looks great

 

[Kevin1873]

I would seriously do that to my room but my parents would probably kill me. lol. But this is the setup I would like to do in my house but I've always wanted to add a retractable ceiling on hydraulics so I could open it up whenever I want to let the sunlight in on a good day Your setup looks fantastic Gesang. I really like how you incorporated the natural green colors on the walls and trim in. The corner with the water basin and setup looks great there, is the misting system automated? The secondary hand-held misting line is also a really cool idea, I like that.

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

Yes, there is an automated misting system on a timer. The hand-held mister on the coiled hose is for supplemental misting. There is also a shower head installed above the sink. We use a hot water heater. The misting water flows through a pre-heated filter (also on a timer). The filter is pre-heated because we found that the water that sits in the filter, and in the pipes, gets cold and startles the chameleons.

 

[Julirs]

I AM SO JEALOUS! THAT IS AMAZING!

 

[VerteX]

Vewy vewy nice gesawg. Sowwy I swallowed mw tongwe becawuse youw pictuwes! Awazing wowk!!!

Kidding aside... What do you use the stethoscope for? Lil chams going lub-dub lub-dub lub-dub lub-dub

 

[Chase]

Very nice! That looks awesome. I'm jealous.

 

[RhettusMaximus]

lll

I LOATHE YOU! That is really going to be fun. I wish you the best of luck!

 

[Dave Weldon]

...The filter is pre-heated because we found that the water that sits in the filter, and in the pipes, gets cold and startles the chameleons.

Howdy,

Talk about long term.... Great setup! I know what you mean about cold water in the "pipes". One thing that I implemented to deal with that is a return line with a solenoid valve at the end that lets the cold water get flushed-out of the lines. After it closes the pressure can build-up and allow misting. I Bought a cheapie garden timer and one std. garden solenoid valve. Just adapt the big 3/4" pipe fittings down to our typical quick-connect fittings. Put it at the end of the mist tubing. When it opens either let the line water return to a holding tank or just let it go into the waste path. I let mine run for about 1-2 minutes to flush the lines with warm water before the valve closes.
Here's a layout similar to what I'm still using. Just add more Tee fittings and nozzles to expand as necessary. I've used as many as 6 nozzles for 6 enclosures at a time. This series method of misting distribution makes it easier to flush the lines but you may have issues with excessive line pressure drop with lots more nozzles on that series line. At some point, you may need to run a few sets of nozzles as parallel lines. No big deal...

 

[Vegas Chad]

Meh, just to against what everybody else is saying… Its OK…

All right, its an awesome room!

 

[Justin Carl]

your like HairFarm the "devils advocate"

 

[bg77]

Someay, someday....That will be me.

 

[PardalisGirl]

Geez you two!

You two did an amazing job! The only thing missing from the pictures of your chameleon "lab" is your microscope/camera setup. I know you have one somewhere. You gave a link for it to Pam. She gave it to me. I just got my new Amscope microscope with camera setup delivered to me yesterday. Thank you so much for that link even though you did not know you were responsible for me getting it! You need a shot of yours sitting on that island counter/cabinet hooked up to the laptop. Congrats on all your hard work. You have some very lucky chams living with you