Our first not-so-humble calyptratus terrarium

[Xepera]

Here's my first almost completely self-made cham terrarium for northern european needs. I think it's finally ready, but please tell if something still needs to be done! We have cold winters here, so we used mesh only for the ceiling. The terrarium is 200 cm = 78.7 in high, 140 cm = 55 in wide and 70 cm = 27.6 in deep. Thanks for everyone here in forums for valuable information and advice.

Side view with glass doors:

Front view:

Plastic feeding cup idea:

If you like our project please visit 2 albums for more pics!
In progress: http://s38.photobucket.com/albums/e137/Xepera/Terrarium in progress/
Pics from today: http://s38.photobucket.com/albums/e137/Xepera/Chamaeleo Calyptratus terrarium/


Greetings, Xepera + better half

 

[Julirs]

Beautiful! Looks great and very functional. I would remove the skull and lose rocks at the bottom unless you like scraping poop off of things!

 

[chameleonneeds]

Its very nice! Good idea to put those pebbles on the top of the soil in the pot plants to prevent the cham from ingesting substrate and causing an impaction.

Oh but one problem is the food bowl, its a good idea for it but its see through and the cham can sometimes sit next to the bowl and not above and try to shoot at the insects and will keep hitting the bowl.

 

[MATT2504]

When you looking on adding the lucky little so and so?

 

[Xepera]

Dunno, I think we'll have to wait 'till july.

 

[CleaTheChameleon]

Wow that looks awesome! What state or country do you live in? Europe?

I also second the skull thing. Remove it. To me it makes the cage look very weird ahah but without it it will look great

 

[Xepera]

Thanks! We'll have to see how it works. If our little fella doesn't know how to use the cup we'll make another one.

We live in Finland.

 

[kicsylany]

Your vivarium is beautiful with the skull and everything. Only one thing may I suggest? how close is the wooden vines on the top for the roof and heating? just worried if your cham can burn yourself. and bec. your basking lamp is sitting on the top the mesh will be hot just make sure it is safe. have a nice day

 

[Lizardlover]

All that ivy is artificial right? Looks great, but be careful with artificial plants as veilds like to snack on vegitation, and can't tell the difference between real and fake plants, and real ivy is toxic to chameleons.

 

[SliK JiM]

Looks great to me! It's a shame the skulls eye dont glow and it doesn't spew smoke from the mouth... Hope your cham doesn't have nightmares! lol! Only messing! You're going to have a seriously happy cham with all the space to play in!

 

[Dank241]

That looks great !!! I love the skull in it, its a great touch. I am sure your Cham will enjoy that cage very much and be very happy!! Its a sweet sweet setup great job

 

[Rocky]

All that ivy is artificial right? Looks great, but be careful with artificial plants as veilds like to snack on vegitation, and can't tell the difference between real and fake plants, and real ivy is toxic to chameleons.

My Veiled loves vegitation, but has never touched the artificial vines in his cage. He destroys other plants though.

Also, your viv is awesome!

 

[Xepera]

Thanks for all the suggestions and comments.

Both ivy plants are artificial but the parts are glued extra carefully with aquarium silicone so that cham cant bite them off.

I was worried about the lamps heating the mesh ceiling, but the UVB:s dont produce much heat. Heat lamp could warm the mesh too much, so we have something that is usually used under hot pots or pans between the lamp and the mesh. It's made of metal wire and it lets all the light through but isolates extra heat. I have no idea what that is in english, sorry, but that thing works perfectly well.

Oh, I found a photo from someone's blog: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_qzIUC5d33Zk/SM7NCX8JqCI/AAAAAAAAAiY/wU1XZAgcx8A/s400/puurokattilamuok.jpg

 

[joncro55]

Heating up the wire mesh with lamp

What size are the openings in the wire cloth or wire mesh that you have used there under the lamp? The size of the openings in the mesh may be a huge factor in determining how much heat is going to be retained by this wire mesh. Do you know how large these openings are? How many openings per inch?

-J

http://www.bwire.com/

 

[justjumpit621]

If you like you could paint the bottom of the feeding dish so he can only see from the top. Or replace it with a hard plastic tupperware bowl that is not see through.

 

[Texas Panther Man]

If i were you I'd just buy some spray paint and paint the outside and bottom of the bowl. Then he wont try and shoot bugs through the side of it. Your enclosure is professional looking and well thought out.

 

[whitespyder]

very impressive terrarium! i love the skull

 

[Xepera]

Do you guys really think that it's very likely that my veiled will try to shoot towards the food bowl from wrong angle? I thought I'd give that original cup a try and if it wouldn't work I'd replace or paint the bowl. But if you think that there's no or little chance the bowl will work we will make changes right away.

Someone asked about the wire mesh. The openings in it are about 1 cm x 1 cm (0,40 inch). It doesn't feel hot to your hand, but we put that extra-something between the lamp and the mesh to be sure.

Another question still: we have a black plastic box on the floor to collect the water from the dripper. It's very difficult to put mesh to cover it, so I put a large rock in it for balance and a root from one of the flowerpots so that if my cham will fall into it the climbing back will be easier. Is that enough?

 

[chamelisa]

Do you guys really think that it's very likely that my veiled will try to shoot towards the food bowl from wrong angle? I thought I'd give that original cup a try and if it wouldn't work I'd replace or paint the bowl. But if you think that there's no or little chance the bowl will work we will make changes right away.

He might figure it out but he also may try to eat feeders through the bowl. So maybe just try it out for a while and see. Have an alternate bowl handy if you notice a problem.

Today I saw my rudis try to shoot at a fly in the cage next to her. There wasn't a chameleon in there to eat it so it must have been driving her crazy. I gave her a lot of flies so she wouldn't obsess over the fly on the other side of the fence.

Your terrarium looks really nice. So clean! I like the skulls too.