Our Habitats - A Pictorial Overview

[DJnSoCal]

Since bbqandtinyb and I have received a lot of questions and comments about our habitats, we wanted show everyone how we constructed them. If we would have known we would be THIS into chameleons, we could have constructed these all at once and saved some money and supplies. As it stands, we have built 4 separate housing cages (10 habitats in all).

The first consideration was the size and space they would take up. In order to house more chameleons, we decided to have habitats on top of each other. I know what you’re thinking… with the water needed to mist and drip we are going to electrocute ourselves. We’ll get to that later…

Our habitats are approximately 18” x 18” x 36” or 18” x 18” x 20” for large and small chameleons, respectively. We’ll be making some larger ones in the future.

We measured, sanded, stained, coated, sanded, coated, etc… the wood pieces and purchased screws that would not rust.

It is important to pre-drill each hole or you will split the wood fairly easily. You will need to make brace pieces. These pieces hold everything together and give the Plexiglas on the bottom of the habitats something solid to sit on.

The doors were put together using Kreg Joints (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=kreg+joint).

For the doors, there is an inside frame and the outside door. We did this so the doors would sit flush against another surface to keep the bugs in. Don’t worry about the edges of the screen. When you screw the wood together, the seams won’t show and it will be “clean” on the inside of the cage.

We experimented with different screens and prefer the dark colored fiberglass or coated screens better than the aluminum screens because they are easier to see through and don’t have sharp edges or left over pieces (when you’re putting the cages together we would get stuck by pieces of the aluminum screen – not fun).

For the top of some of the larger cages we used ¼ inch screen to allow as much UVB through as possible. It also makes putting in the misting nozzle easy since the larger screen is very sturdy. It is also easy to hang plants from the larger screen. Most of our cages have only hanging plants which makes cleaning easy.

Continued...

 

[bbqandtinyb]

Our Habitats - A Pictorial Overview - Continued

For the bottom of the cage, we cut a piece of Plexiglas to the exact dimensions of the cage. Next, we made a wood form to fit over and under the edge of the Plexiglas. Set your oven to about 350 – 400 degrees and pop the Plexiglas in the oven on top of the wood.

It’s okay if the oven does not close completely. After a few minutes, the Plexiglas will start to sag in the middle. You don’t need much of a bow. In fact, it seems to drain better with a small bow. Once it sags a bit, take it out and clamp the edges of the Plexiglas to the mould so the Plexiglas will be flat.

Drill a hole in the bottom of the Plexiglas and attach whatever size drain you would like. We use a simple ¼ inch drain which works fine for us, but you can use a larger one. The form fit piece of Plexiglas will collect water and keep it away from your lighting… This works GREAT. Spray paint the underside of the Plexiglas and it will look very nice.

The water from the cages is directed into a drain bucket or reservoir:

In order to cover the gaps between the cages (which is about 6 inches) we cut and stained pieces of wood. We used a screw at the top of the wood so it will hinge open easily and allow access to the lights.

Find some hinges, some magnetic door locks, and some nice handles and you’re set. Some wood is not as straight as other pieces. We added pieces of weather striping to fill in some gaps along the doors or under the Plexiglas. Most of the wood was nice and straight and did not need any, but it is an option nonetheless.

bbqandtinyb & DJnSoCal

 

[bbqandtinyb]

Saved for more information.

 

[Chris Anderson]

I really like the idea about getting the plexiglass bottom to sag for drainage. Very clever!

Chris

 

[eisentrauti]

Are the frames complete made of wood ?

 

[Carlton]

Melting the plexiglass bottom to a mold! What a great idea! Even if you have just one cage you could force it to sag toward a particular spot by putting a rock on top of the plexi before putting it in the oven maybe. There are some other plastics that also might melt this way too. Then attach your drain to a bucket underneath.

 

[chambabysitter1]

Plexiglass idea is genius. I will steal that genius plan so fast.

Amazingly well thought out rack system.

 

[Joy Leaf]

Hmmm.... very interesting. I'll definitly have to bookmark this for a project later this fall when it cools down some here in FL. Great work and ingenuity!

 

[DJnSoCal]

Are the frames complete made of wood ?

I should let bbqandtinyb handle all the construction questions because he completely designed everything, but this is an easy question since I did a lot of the manual labor... yes, the cages are made out of wood (but sealed well with several coats of our favorite sealant). We angle the misting nozzles to hit the plants and it funnels the any left over water directly onto the Plexiglas and is collected in the drain bucket. The wood stays very dry actually. Hope all is well with you and yours.

Melting the plexiglass bottom to a mold! What a great idea! Even if you have just one cage you could force it to sag toward a particular spot by putting a rock on top of the plexi before putting it in the oven maybe. There are some other plastics that also might melt this way too. Then attach your drain to a bucket underneath.

We tried adding something to the Plexiglas to encourage it to bow, but it wasn't needed since we made a frame for it to set on and immediately clamped the edges to keep it flat. It was R E A L L Y easy to do this way. Thanks for looking!

 

[eisentrauti]

Are you sure that this will be stable for some years ? The combination water + wood isn't the best one

 

[Klemins]

Very cool designs. I may have to implement the plexiglas idea when I finally build a rack system. Don't you get a lot of escaped feeders through the large mesh on top?

 

[DJnSoCal]

Very cool designs. I may have to implement the plexiglas idea when I finally build a rack system. Don't you get a lot of escaped feeders through the large mesh on top?

We get the occasional cricket loose when we feed them, but not that often. If the crickets get up that high they are easy prey for the chameleons and don't last long. We monitor their feeding and it hasn't been a problem. With Dubia roaches and other bugs, they aren't able to get out. We can't feed flies in the cages with the larger screen though. Although, not all of the cages have the large screen.

 

[bbqandtinyb]

Are you sure that this will be stable for some years ? The combination water + wood isn't the best one

I know how many hours and weekends and money I spent on this project and if I didn't want it to last years, it would've taken much less time and effort and most likely wouldn't have looked the way it does. Since the cages are for showcasing our chameleons, I wanted something wooden that matched the rest of the room, and I do not appreciate the aesthetic of metal cages for our set-up (not that I have anything against them, they just aren't the most appealing). I know of very many cases where keepers have successfully kept chameleons in wooden enclosures as long as the set-up is right from the beginning. Very many man hours and cans of polyurethane went into the making of these cages and I am very confident that they will last many many years.

 

[Pure]

You guys did a great job! I'm def gonna steal that plexi idea. Bout how much does that stuff cost and where did you get it?

 

[Silverdusk]

Very Nice!!

 

[sandrachameleon]

Looks good!

Are you sure that this will be stable for some years ? The combination water + wood isn't the best one

My first home made wood cage is over ten years old, no issues, and I only use low voc latex arcylic.

 

[bbqandtinyb]

You guys did a great job! I'm def gonna steal that plexi idea. Bout how much does that stuff cost and where did you get it?

You can buy a large 4'X8' sheet for about a hundred dollars. Depending on the sizes and amount of cages you have, it could be worth it vs. trying to find a bunch of scraps that fit your needs. If you have a plastic shop near you, they should sell scrap pieces for cheap. Don't buy black acrylic unless money isn't an option cuz it's hella expensive, and if you just spray paint the underside black you get the same effect. Thanks for the compliment!

 

[chameleonman57]

I love the cages and the plexiglass idea is genius.

 

[zombiepixel]

That plexi idea is game changing for me!! Brilliant!

Couple questions:

1. how thick is the plexi?
2. how quick does the plexi start to bow in the oven?

 

[bbqandtinyb]

That plexi idea is game changing for me!! Brilliant!

Couple questions:

1. how thick is the plexi?
2. how quick does the plexi start to bow in the oven?

Glad we could help! It's 1/4 inch ABS sheet plastic, or it also goes by acrylic sheet. It depends on your temperature, if you have it set at 400 it'll start to bow in 4-5 minutes, where at 350 it takes about 7-8 minutes. We prefer the lower temperature because you have less of a chance of bubbles appearing. They don't affect the performance of the drain but they don't look nice. These are pictures of an imperfect sheet before a coat of black spray paint to the back. Like we said before, you only need the slightest bow to the plastic for it to work, a very deep bow doesn't allow the water to drain as easily with our size drains. But If you go for a bigger drain it might be a non-issue. Thanks for asking!