New to chams and have some questions!

[MaxT]

Hello everyone!

My name is max, im 24 and im from the netherlands. Ive been reading/studying about chams for around half a year and im currently working on revamping a glass terra for a Furcifer pardalis ambilobe blue/red bar(panther cham).

The reason i chose for a glass terrarium is because i live in a crappy student dorm, so the room where the terra will be placed is my living/study/bed room. Since its my whole living space ill have to be able to open up a window from time to time. for those reasons ive chosen a glass terrarium.

further more im currently building a back and side wall in which im planning to create some room to putt up some plants. Currently in the process of shaping the building foam into the desired shapes. Im planning to finish it with cocopeat pressed onto it so plants like pothos or mos will be able to grow onto it to create my own piece of jungle.

Ive already purchased the plants, currently have 2 ficus 1 stading pothos and one hanging pothos, some fern and a red plant which is called bromelia in dutch but i cant seem to find the english name.. so yeah.

Anyway the reason im typing this already pretty long post is because I wanted to ask some questions regarding soil and water drainage. Ive been reading about hydro cultures and since im trying to create a as naturally as possible habitat i was thinkingabout using a soil with moss or grass on top.

What would be the best/preferred set up in your experience? i was thinking about the hydro balls at the bottom, followed by a piece of root cloth(if thats whats it called xD) then use a mixture of cocopeat, sand and dirt as soil on top. in the soil ill put the plants(ofc) and then put moss or grass on top.
Do you guys think that set up will work? what does your experience say?

One last question. do you guys reccomend to put worms and other bugs in the soil to create a sort of self sustaining mash?

Hope you guys understand and know what i mean haha im very tired so my focus isnt all that at the moment!

Lots of love

~Max

 

[Carlton]

Welcome Max,

First, I know many keepers do use glass terraria for chams, but what is important is to create a range of humidity and airflow. It should not be completely static. Chams such as panthers will do fine with more air exchange (such as when you need to leave your room windows open). Glass terraria without built in ventilation panels tend to stay too warm during the day as the glass and the contents heat up, unless your room is really cold.

If your cham can reach the plants it will climb all over them, so the more fragile bromeliads may be damaged or knocked loose by its weight and its claws. Select larger sturdier types.

Most of us don't use substrates in our cham setups either because they can be difficult to keep feeders available unless you confine them, keep the substrate well drained, there can be a buildup of bacteria and molds in the substrates (and chams have relatively sensitive respiratory systems compared to many other terrestrial herps), and because chams can pick up pieces of substrate material on their tongues while hunting and ingest them. Your cham won't use the substrate surface, so its not really a necessary aspect of the cage. Some types of terrarium moss contain hard sharp spines that can injure tongues or intestinal tract if swallowed. Grass will need very bright direct light and very well drained soil to do well. In a humid glass enclosure this will be much harder to do.

A single cham won't produce a large amount of waste, so I don't know how well a self sustaining soil colony will work. Again, not something I've done so maybe others can chime in better.

 

[MaxT]

Thank you for the quick respons carlton! I forgot to explain the top side is a perferated panel(after i get my uv ligth im gonne test the uv with a meter and if its too low i will change it to an wire mesh top) and the front panel is gonne be a laser cut wooden door frame with an wire mesh door. im going to test run it probably for a couple of weeks or months before i purchase a cham. If it turns out i cant keep the humidity between 50 to 70 I will change my set up accordingly!

further more im going to feed the cham by hand suplemented with a cricket feeder. Ive got a bearded dragon which I pretty much handfeed( except for the grasshoppers) so im not worried about roque jimmeny's ^^ also I was planning on adding a bottle to the bottem through which I will be able to suck away excess water.

I see terrariums as bringing a little biome into your house, therefore i dont want to just have some pots standing on a glass bottom. But, the needs of the cham comes before my own whishes. also it is just a set up to use until the cham is fully grown. so I am planning on trying some stuff out before replacing it for a larger set up.

 

[Carlton]

Thank you for the quick respons carlton! I forgot to explain the top side is a perferated panel(after i get my uv ligth im gonne test the uv with a meter and if its too low i will change it to an wire mesh top) and the front panel is gonne be a laser cut wooden door frame with an wire mesh door. im going to test run it probably for a couple of weeks or months before i purchase a cham. If it turns out i cant keep the humidity between 50 to 70 I will change my set up accordingly!

further more im going to feed the cham by hand suplemented with a cricket feeder. Ive got a bearded dragon which I pretty much handfeed( except for the grasshoppers) so im not worried about roque jimmeny's ^^ also I was planning on adding a bottle to the bottem through which I will be able to suck away excess water.

I see terrariums as bringing a little biome into your house, therefore i dont want to just have some pots standing on a glass bottom. But, the needs of the cham comes before my own whishes. also it is just a set up to use until the cham is fully grown. so I am planning on trying some stuff out before replacing it for a larger set up.

So many of us initially wanted exactly what you do...an indoor biome. A closer idea is a setup for a colony of dart frogs. They are beautiful! But more often than not we ended up simplifying our setups for the benefit of the cham. A typical cham is larger and heavier than tiny frogs so they can easily damage delicate plantings. Actually I've found ways to satisfy my wish for a more "attractive" cham cage by creating a visual theme with specific types of pots (all one color or type, finding nice hand made pots) or hiding the lower area of the cage with a decorative border around the cage itself...a cluster of live potted plants or even artificial foliage around the outside, etc.