reptibreeze advice

M

mark246lynn

New Member
To explain, i have been reaserching for a while now about getting a yemen chameleon and had everything set up that i wanted. however being from the uk i was hoping on lllreptiles shipping cost not being to high but it was alot more than i wanted to pay. i have now decided to choose the xl reptibreeze and would like advice/opinions

1.do people like this cage?
2. which hood for a day time bulb would people suggest for this cage?
3. which lamp for basking would people suggest?

thanks for reading this, just dont want to get the wrong stuff for my new chameleon
 
Hi and welcome to the Forum!!

I'm in Blackpool in Lancashire and I have a one year old male Veiled (Yemen) Cham. Three weeks ago I upgraded him from the glass Exo-Terra that I have had him in since he was about 6 months old to an Ex Large Reptibreeze and I can say without a moment's hesitation that it was the best thing I ever did.

The only thing that you will need to watch is humidity - it is harder to keep levels up in a Reptibreeze in the UK because it isn't as warm as the USA, but I have covered two sides of the screen with tough bubble wrap, so that when I mist his cage my walls don't get soaking wet.

I have an Arcadia T5 UV strip, with reflector at the back, raised approximately 4 inches from the top of the outside of the screen and a 150 watt bulb in a ceramic heat lamp, again suspended about 3 inches from the top of the screen at the top, to the left, with my highest basking branch about 6 inches below this. This provides a basking temp of approximately 88 degrees, with an ambient temp in the rest of the cage at mid seventies during the day.

I have a large ficus and an umbrella plant in there as well, which help with humidity.

its important to provide places of brightness and shade in a big cage so that your cham can select where he wants to be to be comfy.

If you are getting a very young chameleon tho, I would say that the XL will be too big for him, unless you are going to section it off, as tiny chams will struggle to find their food in such a large enclosure.

Good luck!
 
thanks, thats alot of help. Do you have any pics of your set up?
i was planning on getting a young chameleon and cup feeding him for a while or putting a section in. just because i dont see the need in buying a small cage and then getting another one in a few months

i was speaking to someone about the humidity and they suggest a similar thing to you, they said put a shower curtain downn1-3 sides of the cage
 
Any kind of flexible plastic will do, some people use the same material that For Sale boards that estate agents use, I did look into this, but four feet of it in B&Q was pretty expensive, and I find the bubble wrap does a great job - it insulates the cage as well, which is important in the winter at night, if you don't have your central heating going 24/7.

I'll take a couple of picture of my set up and try and post them for you.

Cup feeding is okay, but I do find that a lot of the insects escape anyway and if you are using very small crickets and juvenile locust as prey items, they will get lost in the foliage and be hard for a small chameleon to find.

What you could do is get an XL and sectioning off half of it making the bottom half inaccesible to your cham - to do this easily you might need to wait for the live plants in pots, but I kept Ziggy my now adult male in an exo-terra glass viv for the first 5 months of getting him and used fake plants, which you can attach to the Reptibreeze using thin wire or thin cable ties so that he has stuff to climb on.

The only reason that I have the smaller glass viv in the first place was that I was sold it as part of my set up, being told that it would be fine for a chameleon, when it evidently isn't! Screen cages are definitely the way to go, as chameleons like a lot of ventilation which you don't get with a glass enclosure.

I've just bought a three month old Panther, and he is currently in the Exo-Terra, but I've just bought a medium Reptibreeze for him, which will do him until about Christmas and then I'll get another XL.

Will try and get some pics now.
 
yeah i nearly bought a similar small cage as i was told it would be fine but then got told they were lieing to make money haha. Pics would great thanks. Yeah B&Q are really pricey, i was going to build my own cage and then seen the prices of the materials.

What light fitting do you use for the bulbs? i take it the reptibreeze doesnt come with a hood for your bulbs to go in?
 
They do, but I personally wouldn't recommend it. Its up to you,of course, but I just have an Arcadia UV strip at the back and then basking lamp at the front. couple of pics hopefully attached! Including one of Mr Grumpy Knickers, he wasn't happy about me going in with the camera lol!!

IMGP2763.jpg

IMGP2757.jpg
 
wow nice set up and beautiful mr grumppy haha. where do you get your Arcadia UV strip from? sorry for all the questions haha really greatful for the help, just want it to be perfect
 
Please don't apologise, to be honest its great that you are doing your homework before getting your cham.... there are far too many people out there that buy the animal without a getting the basics right beforehand.

I'm fortunate enough to live 10 miles away from one of the most knowledgeable and reputable breeders in the UK - Jamie Hardie. I have just bought a 3 month Blue Bar Ambilobe Panther from him. He has a website - Chameleoco - google it. They sell everything - from screen cages to Arcadia bulbs, which are the best by far. If you give him a ring and tell him what you're after, he will do the whole set up for you. He's honestly brilliant and has taught me so much in the last few months.

They do mail order as well, to the UK.

Seriously, anything else I can help with, please let me know?? :)
 
lucky you, i will look him up and see whats what. again thank you for the help. thats it for now but when im stuck i will message you again haha.
 
Bought my XL Reptibreezes from Amazon at £80 each. Shipping was free. If you can't afford that then I don't wanna be mean or anything but you shouldnt be getting a cham.
 
ZiggyStardust said:
Hi and welcome to the Forum!!

I'm in Blackpool in Lancashire and I have a one year old male Veiled (Yemen) Cham. Three weeks ago I upgraded him from the glass Exo-Terra that I have had him in since he was about 6 months old to an Ex Large Reptibreeze and I can say without a moment's hesitation that it was the best thing I ever did.

The only thing that you will need to watch is humidity - it is harder to keep levels up in a Reptibreeze in the UK because it isn't as warm as the USA, but I have covered two sides of the screen with tough bubble wrap, so that when I mist his cage my walls don't get soaking wet.

I have an Arcadia T5 UV strip, with reflector at the back, raised approximately 4 inches from the top of the outside of the screen and a 150 watt bulb in a ceramic heat lamp, again suspended about 3 inches from the top of the screen at the top, to the left, with my highest basking branch about 6 inches below this. This provides a basking temp of approximately 88 degrees, with an ambient temp in the rest of the cage at mid seventies during the day.

I have a large ficus and an umbrella plant in there as well, which help with humidity.

its important to provide places of brightness and shade in a big cage so that your cham can select where he wants to be to be comfy.

If you are getting a very young chameleon tho, I would say that the XL will be too big for him, unless you are going to section it off, as tiny chams will struggle to find their food in such a large enclosure.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

sorry to come in on this thread but i also have a reptibreeze cage and have covered three sides with hard plastic. i was just wondering how you manage your drainage with this cage as ive had to put an automatic mister in as well as a dripper to keep humidity up (im in northern ireland). my veiled is only 6 months old so he is only in a medium one at the min but will be looking to get an XL in the next few months but want to sort out a better drainage system out first. Any advice is greatly appreciated :)
 
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