Rango’s enclosure setup ideas :)

[Ronald7232]

First off i want to say thank you to @Beman she is truly one of a kind she has to be one of the sweetest, education person on this forum! She was willing to teach me for 2 hours on panther chameleons and answer my texts with information that same hour a lot of the tech I am getting is from her advice! so thank you so much for the help. My name is Ronald and I am 15. Tru out the little I have lived so far I always had a passion for nature, whether that being animals, plants, succulents etc. I have previously made vivariums for snakes, frogs and currently have 2 fish tanks which I am proud of so when I saw a chameleon in petco I feel in love! I knew the right choice was not to be a impulse buyer so instead I went home and did my research and thank God I did . I decided I was going to go with the panther chameleon because of it's beautiful colors, I then took it upon myself and build a enclosure that is arboreal yet still has a taste of jungle lush. I spent roughly 30 hours making the synthetic tree which I will not bore you with the details but if you want a step by step on how I built it I have a video to share for anyone I Do not yet have the UVB and heat and a few other things but that should be arriving later next week... Anyhow what I do want to say is my parents love my passion and Don't put a budget for this project as it's doubling as a Christmas gift I'm spending roughly 400-600$ on the enclosure but I'm sure you can spend a lot less and a lot more. Now please give me constructive criticism and feedback for any little changes i should make! (The tank is bio active and i did get safe moss and plants also i built a amazing drainage system and misting system) yes i know how to take care of a chameleon so please just give me feedback on the enclosure as im waiting for my plants to grow in i also used a lot of wild vine that wrapped around each other (cleaned)
-side info top 3 branches are open uvb and heat
- middle row has light planting
-bottom is planted

 

[DaChameleon66]

Wow! That is impressive! It must have taken a lot of hard work.

 

[Ronald7232]

Wow! That is impressive! It must have taken a lot of hard work.

Thank you so much! I devoted my life for the last 2 months

 

[Tkrd69]

That looks beautiful can't wait to see a cham in there.

 

[Beman]

You’re very welcome and you are doing so good!

I’m just hoping for that perfect tall plant to provide coverage on that left side.

See about getting a mass cane these have a thick stalk. Here is my big one in my living room
I think something like this would work really well in that spot and provide the higher coverage.

 

[Ronald7232]

You’re very welcome and you are doing so good!

I’m just hoping for that perfect tall plant to provide coverage on that left side.

See about getting a mass cane these have a thick stalk. Here is my big one in my living room
I think something like this would work really well in that spot and provide the higher coverage.

Definitely something im going to do

 

[Ronald7232]

That looks beautiful can't wait to see a cham in there.

Tysm! Hopefully rango likes it

 

[MissSkittles]

Wow! That looks great and I can only imagine how it’s going to look once your plants grow in. Do I understand correct, that you made the tree in the center with all of the branches coming out from it? Super creative!!! The time, effort and love you put into it show.
Now for questions. What are you using to contain your bioactive substrate? How are you managing any excess drainage? What clean up crew are you using? Are you going to add some leaf litter? My chams like to hunt their isopods, so I’ve had to put a pretty good layer of leaves and provide some cork bark pieces for the isopods to hide.

 

[Morpheo's Mom]

Coming along nicely love your shout out to your parents!

 

[Ronald7232]

Wow! That looks great and I can only imagine how it’s going to look once your plants grow in. Do I understand correct, that you made the tree in the center with all of the branches coming out from it? Super creative!!! The time, effort and love you put into it show.
Now for questions. What are you using to contain your bioactive substrate? How are you managing any excess drainage? What clean up crew are you using? Are you going to add some leaf litter? My chams like to hunt their isopods, so I’ve had to put a pretty good layer of leaves and provide some cork bark pieces for the isopods to hide.

Hey i would be more then happy to answer your questions! First i built the tree out of pvc pipe then i used expandable foam, after i shaved it i used 100% silicone to attached cocofiber to give it the tree look. I dont know what you mean by containing my bio active substrate if you mean separate then yes i used a barrier for the ABG mix and the LECA then underneath the LECA the bottom has 50 holes drilled all connect to a plastic bin where it goes tru the tubbing and into the dirty water container were i can empty it easy, my clean up crew contains wood lice(rollie pollies), springtails and earthworms and i am planning on getting leaf littler so the cham does not eat the isopods

 

[Ronald7232]

Coming along nicely love your shout out to your parents!

Lol thanks

 

[Sonny13]

Looks really good, well done

 

[MissSkittles]

Hey i would be more then happy to answer your questions! First i built the tree out of pvc pipe then i used expandable foam, after i shaved it i used 100% silicone to attached cocofiber to give it the tree look. I dont know what you mean by containing my bio active substrate if you mean separate then yes i used a barrier for the ABG mix and the LECA then underneath the LECA the bottom has 50 holes drilled all connect to a plastic bin where it goes tru the tubbing and into the dirty water container were i can empty it easy, my clean up crew contains wood lice(rollie pollies), springtails and earthworms and i am planning on getting leaf littler so the cham does not eat the isopods

Very creative and unique solution to the problem of how to add branches in an all screen enclosure. I see that you’ve also put some plants on it, which makes it even cooler.
I was wondering how you’re containing your substrate in the screen. Is it just the screen holding it all in? If so, how is that working out so far? Nothing like moisture or fine soil coming thru? You’ll definitely have to keep us posted on how it’s all coming along and working out. We all try different things, so the more who provide their input, the better to help learn and promote bioactive. I think it’s great being able to keep our animals as naturally as possible and to set up and maintain that little piece of nature within our homes. The only aspect that I don’t care for is every now and then an escaped isopod gets lost and I never know where I’ll find one.

 

[Ronald7232]

Very creative and unique solution to the problem of how to add branches in an all screen enclosure. I see that you’ve also put some plants on it, which makes it even cooler.
I was wondering how you’re containing your substrate in the screen. Is it just the screen holding it all in? If so, how is that working out so far? Nothing like moisture or fine soil coming thru? You’ll definitely have to keep us posted on how it’s all coming along and working out. We all try different things, so the more who provide their input, the better to help learn and promote bioactive. I think it’s great being able to keep our animals as naturally as possible and to set up and maintain that little piece of nature within our homes. The only aspect that I don’t care for is every now and then an escaped isopod gets lost and I never know where I’ll find one.

Yeah!!! Basically the screen is just holding everything since the screen holes are micro size almost nothing comes out