Picture of new setup for Panther, appreciate input

[dlaunde]

Hey all,

Here is a picture of my 18x18x36 Reptibreeze (I know, I will be upgrading to a 24x24x48 in a few months when I get more space) for a very young male Panther (should be getting him within the next week or two).

The lighting is an Exo Terra 5.0 UVB, 2.0 UVB, and 50w Halogen, running from 8am to 9pm everyday.

I have two brand new Pothos plants with fertilizer free potting mix and covered with large stones (grape sized and bigger). There is a dripper system (about one drip a minute) above each Pothos plant and a misting system also aimed at each plant that runs for two minutes 4x a day.

The branches are all from my own backyard, scrubbed and soaked in White Vinegar. Plus it's about 20 degrees here so nothing is growing/living on outside plants anyways.

The bottom is a Dragon Strand Heavy Duty tray that I I attached a small 1/4" hose connector to drain into a bucket.

I am going to get another repti vine or two from Petsmart to create a couple more criss cross type bridges through the middle of the cage.

Oh and the right side will be completely covered so he will not be disturbed by the Leopard Gecko cages.

Two Questions:

1) My only concern is the Pothos plants were not very "viney" when purchased and are more clustered together, so it looks/feels a little too open. Will they grow at a good rate that I can wrap them around branches and the fake vines to fill in spaces more or should I get some fake leaves to offer more coverage?

2) The bottom half of the cage is obviously completely bare...is there any need to offer coverage down there since chameleons mostly spend their time in the upper portions of the cage anyways?

Thanks!

 

[Lizzie The Chameleon]

it looks good, but i would add a lot more foliage and branches. yes, put foliage in the bottom as well, they come down there to cool off sometimes

 

[Atlas chameleon]

Hey all,

Here is a picture of my 18x18x36 Reptibreeze (I know, I will be upgrading to a 24x24x48 in a few months when I get more space) for a very young male Panther (should be getting him within the next week or two).

The lighting is an Exo Terra 5.0 UVB, 2.0 UVB, and 50w Halogen, running from 8am to 9pm everyday.

I have two brand new Pothos plants with fertilizer free potting mix and covered with large stones (grape sized and bigger). There is a dripper system (about one drip a minute) above each Pothos plant and a misting system also aimed at each plant that runs for two minutes 4x a day.

The branches are all from my own backyard, scrubbed and soaked in White Vinegar. Plus it's about 20 degrees here so nothing is growing/living on outside plants anyways.

The bottom is a Dragon Strand Heavy Duty tray that I I attached a small 1/4" hose connector to drain into a bucket.

I am going to get another repti vine or two from Petsmart to create a couple more criss cross type bridges through the middle of the cage.

Oh and the right side will be completely covered so he will not be disturbed by the Leopard Gecko cages.

Two Questions:

1) My only concern is the Pothos plants were not very "viney" when purchased and are more clustered together, so it looks/feels a little too open. Will they grow at a good rate that I can wrap them around branches and the fake vines to fill in spaces more or should I get some fake leaves to offer more coverage?

2) The bottom half of the cage is obviously completely bare...is there any need to offer coverage down there since chameleons mostly spend their time in the upper portions of the cage anyways?

Thanks!

On number 1: Yes they do I myself have a pothos plant and it wraps around literally almost the whole cage and trust me they will become "viney" and they well wrap around
Number 2 : Just like Lizzie the Chameleon said yes because since they can't sweat to remove heat they will go down to cool
Hope it helped.
Keep me informed

 

[dlaunde]

it looks good, but i would add a lot more foliage and branches. yes, put foliage in the bottom as well, they come down there to cool off sometimes

On number 1: Yes they do I myself have a pothos plant and it wraps around literally almost the whole cage and trust me they will become "viney" and they well wrap around
Number 2 : Just like Lizzie the Chameleon said yes because since they can't sweat to remove heat they will go down to cool
Hope it helped.
Keep me informed

Thanks!

I will add a fake leaf vine strand from Petsmart to the top half to help fill in some more while the Pothos plants grow.

Regarding the bottom, is there a good 12-18" tall Plant species that would do good near the bottom with less light (I can make sure the runoff water from one of the Pothos hits it so watering will be good)? I have a local greenhouse that still has a great selection of indoor plants and not sure what is a common plant, chameleon safe, that I can keep in a simple pot on the very bottom that will vertically fill all that dead space in the lower half of the cage (i.e. something more filling then the Pothos obviously).

Thanks again!