Question about all screen enclosure

[CLP]

I am in the process of planning a new enclosure for my veiled. He's only about 3-4 months old right now, but I know sooner than later he's going to need to be in a larger home than his "baby" home. I understand the reasoning behind an all screen enclosure, but am having trouble understanding how I would keep the heat and humidity high enough in one.

I live in Canada, so as you can imagine, the heat is on all the time in the winter which makes the house very dry. Also, the temps are only around 68 degrees. If I have a screen enclosure, isn't it going to be extremely difficult keeping the humidity as high as it should? As for temps, I assume the top foot or so (assume a 4 ft tall enclosure) would be a reasonable temp as that is where the lights and basking lamp will be, but isn' the temp going to drop very quickly as you descend towards the bottom making it cold enough that my cham would really have no interest in going more than about 2 feet from the top? I know they like to find cooler temps sometimes, but seems to me by the time he gets down about 2 feet, he's not going to want to go any further. Kind of defeats the purpose of a 4 foot tall enclosure for about 6 months a year.

How do those of you not blessed to be living somewhere warm all year manage the temps and humidity? I know I can put in a Mistking or something, but wouldn't it need to run really often?

 

[Decadancin]

I live in Florida, and am currently building my own enclosure. I am installing an acrylic door on the front, and the back will also be acrylic. The top and sides will be screen. This should give sufficient ventilation from what I have read. One thing I have seen in a thread was the use of removable panels for the sides made of bamboo. (Sorry I can't give credit to the designer due to looking at so many threads!) This allowed more control of variables depending on the season. When removed, the sides were screen. Although it seems silly to have a tall enclosure for a cham if he is only going to use the top, the fact is that a tall enclosure is going to be more comforting and that is worth it! You will probably find that more of the enclosure is used than you expect! You can mist more often to increase humidity, and also add some decor to hold moisture as well. Just try not to have any pools of standing water to allow bacteria to breed! Good luck!

 

[Hoj]

I too live inn Canada, Most of my cages are next to another and have solid back so they are tech covered on 3 sides. If you need you can always cover a few sides with plastic, some members use garbage bags or shower curtains, I like to use coroplast that i cut too size. It helps keep temps and humidity up as well as the overspray from misters.
Most of my chams spend 80% of their time in the upper portion but like to go on a cruze aroound the cage a few times a day.
Adding some real plants and using a cold air humidifier are other good ways to keep the humidity up in the winter months

 

[CLP]

Thanks for the replies. I am looking at building an enclosure where the bottom sits two feet off the ground on a storage cabinet. My plan is for a 3 ft wide x 2 ft deep x 4 foot tall enclosure. I was thinking of a screen front and top, but solid sides and back. Anyone see any reason why this would not be enough airflow?

 

[GrimsGal]

Screen Cage Stand?

My screen cage arrived today! It dawned on me I had not quite thought it through...misting - water...oh.
I was thinking of creating rollable 'tent flaps' for the two sides. Attaching them to the cage with velcro tape. Or having plexiglass cut to fit the back and one side...
A shower curtain would be much easier.
And it's huge...(48 x24 on the square)
What are these cages sitting on? I don't want it on the floor.

 

[Devokid]

I'm not sure what you are talking about with regards to humidity. The humidity in the wettest part of Yemen ranges from 50~70%. Today in Sana'a it is 26%. The humidity in Nova Scotia ranges from 62~73%. Unless you have a dehumidifier or AC running constantly you should be just fine with screen and a few mistings.

 

[Tyaeda]

I live in Canada too, and my house gets pretty dry as well. Veileds can withstand a lower humidity than many other chameleon species. The important part is hydration. I see my chameleon drink from his dripper, and his urates are always white, so I'm ok with the amount of misting I have going on. When he's shedding I'll make the mist sessions a little more frequent, and if it's really dry, I'll get the humidifier going in the same room.

The cage I currently am using is all screened - no covered sides. It's also completely filled with live plants that really help keep the humidity where you want it.

Like previously mentioned chameleons need a range of different temps to hang out in so they can maintain the correct temperature. It helps them sleep, digest their food, all that good stuff. The bottom of the cage should be fine at room temp (20* C) , and as long as he's not next to an open window, he'll be fine


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I just finished my latest build if you want to take a look:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/new-cage-build-124285/