Need help on this Vivarium

[Caelithar]

Heya folks , thought I would join up and have my first post here .
This is about habitat , from what I have read here and other places on the net , this is the wrong thing , can you tell me if that is so thanks .

I actually paid for this but am asking for my money back , this pet shop was very nice , kept lizards / fish etc but could'nt get to see the boss . I spotted a young yemen and fell in love with it , I have had no experience with chameleons in the past ( other lizards years ago) and relied on the people in the shop to keep me right . The Yemen they have is in an all glass Viv , I never thought much about it at the time , he showed me it feeding from his hand .
Anyway I looked around at vivs and saw that huge thing , now the glass is around 4' high and sides are 3' all round , a fair size . At the bottom you can see small vents , 2 sides are all glass , the other 2 sides have glass doors set in and swing outward . The roof is mesh . Now I asked certain things like humidity . I was told to keep it up I could cover the mesh at the top .
I'll stop right there . I knew no better really , I was taking all this as good advice . Anyway delivery is a couple weeks away.
Imagine my dilemma when I get home and start trawling through sites on habitat . This thing I purchased seemed 100% wrong . Too much glass .I could'nt get this out of my head , had a bad nights sleep over this and it was on my mind when I awoke . This thing was not cheap .
I phoned the shop and told them I think they misinformed me and to cancel the delivery . They have done so .
The boss is on holiday atm so cant sort out a refund .So I would like your thoughts on the matter . have I done the right thing . Thanks .

Caelithar

 

[vindicatedornot]

There's no way you could knock out some of the glass and glue on some mesh or screen? I think that would work out wonderfully.

-Andrea

 

[reptilemancan]

There's no way you could knock out some of the glass and glue on some mesh or screen? I think that would work out wonderfully.

-Andrea

you proberbly could get a side of glass out, if you did it would make a great habitat but without the mesh it will not be ventelated enough, not good for tham.

 

[Sancho]

Remove the glass and add screen and you have a awesome cage.

 

[Dean Pulcini]

There are some chameleons that could be kept in it as is. You can make an excellent vivarium out of it. Most Europeans keep chameleons in all glass cages mostly for high humidity cool weather chameleons you can always incorporate a small fan for ventilation.

 

[Sang]

it seems like a rather large vivarium.

Ventilation is the Key.


as long as you ventilate well, maintain the proper temperatures and humidity, an enclosure such as that should be fine, even for a yemen.


Test what you have and see if you can get it working really well. so many people take a bad view on glass, but really if its done right, it can be goodl

 

[Docility]

Im betting this thing cost a good penny, and this guy doesnt want to make it look ghetto. If the glass is easily removable, and you could take the top frame apart with out tearing it up i would say go for it on making a screen enclosure, and route out a channel and then make it like a normal screen cage. the most simple thing would be to return it like stated , and buy a screen cage if thats what you want. in the cage with a solid bottom you will have a ton of water drainage issues from large amounts of misting. Chameleons dont stink at all, and i use an aluminum in my room and dont have issues with smell ect. so if that was holding you back then have no fear. if you want to keep the cage you could cut holes into the glass, or be even more creative, and get circular/ hexagonal screen holders, and have a good air flow with great visibility, but that requires a large amount of experience before attempting, and possible ruining your investment

 

[SliK JiM]

I love the whole glass no glass argument as it's one of those things no one ever agrees on. It comes down to circumstance to whether it's right or wrong.

If the top is entirely mesh, which it looks like it is, due to the size of it, the convection currents created by the heat lights should create enough air movement to keep everything circulating and keep it fresh. It is after all a large enclosure, so stagnant air is not so much of an issue. So that shouldn't be much of an problem, especially if you're opening the door as that'll create a rather large draft!

Heating is one of the main concerns. If you're in a hot area (sorry, I don't know much about Jarrow??) then it may be an issue as you'll get very high temps very easily, which will cause all sorts of problems. But if you're in a cool area, the glass may help you keep the ambient temps at a good level. So take that into consideration.

The other thing about glass is the reflections. If the lighting outside of the enclosure is pretty heavy, it will greatly reduce the likelihood of your chameleon seeing himself or something else as a reflection (ie if you keep the enclosure in a brightly lit room, your chameleon shouldn't be able to see a reflection in the glass) so it'll be fine. However, if the room is naturally dark and needs additional lighting to keep it bright, then when the lighting is off in the room the chameleon will more than likely see a reflection of himself and get stressed out by it.

Another issue, is that the chameleon won't see the glass as glass, and will think he can just walk through it; so they can spend a lot of time scratching away getting stressed. This can be solved by blocking the bottom 8" or so they can't see through it and can't climb onto anything that'll allow them to be able to get to the glass from above the barrier. This way, they'll be happy to stay in their little perch area, as they will realise they won't be able to access anywhere better (which is normally why chameleons move to the ground as they know that if they want to get somewhere high up, they have work their way up! )

There are horror stories of chameleons breaking their tongues on glass, but this is seriously rare and next to impossible, if the room the enclosure is kept in is well lit.

I personally don't use glass as I don't need to. My temps stay adequate all year round, so I prefer using screen for the extra ventilation. But that said, glass is a viable alternative if you need to use it, and are prepared to make it more cham friendly! I know people who use it very successfully and I know those who will never use it. It's your judgement call to if you think you can make it work! It looks like a lovely big enclosure, so it'd be a shame not to. That said, you could just go to LLLreptile and get an all screen enclosure pretty cheap!

Hope all that helps!

 

[Caelithar]

Cheers folks , from the replies here and the numerous threads and sites I have trawled through , I think it's a mistake using this .

Thanks for the replies , appreciate it .

 

[Karen]

Did you buy that from Cyber? sorry but he has no clue when it comes to chameleons, i have spoken to them about it on a few occasions. sadly i am at the point where i dont visit the shop any longer.

 

[Caelithar]

Did you buy that from Cyber? sorry but he has no clue when it comes to chameleons, i have spoken to them about it on a few occasions. sadly i am at the point where i dont visit the shop any longer.

Oh dear , you guessed . Like I say though , only spoke to the guys who work there , the boss was on his holidays , I have to wait until he gets back to sort this .