Drainage Solutions

So I have most of my cage setup. My sheffelera is going to sit inside of a bonsai pot so there is a good gap between the ground and it.

Problem is, during spraying and dripping, everything is going to drip all over my table. What drainage solutions do you guys use? I was going to try to find a rubbermaid bin shallow and wide enough, but I am having a bit of trouble at the moment.

Let me know what you all use and where you bought it, that would be tremendous.

The best thing to do is get a wire cage or a cheap table that your not afraid to drill a hole through and drill some holes in the bottom of the cage if it's a wire cage from LLLreptile. Otherwise you really just have to improvise and try jury rig something. I'll try and get you a picture of how my cages are set up after this

what i did was i made a wooden box with a open slit in the frot so i can slide an empty tub in and out of the box, i have my enclosure ontop of the box with holes in the bottom so all water leeks out ofthe cage and into the tub underneath it, very succesful





and wat i did so that the wood doesnt get moldy is i make sure that the tub is under the holes and catches all the water. i had a deja vew(or however you spell it) that alot of ppl were gunna talk about mold. crazy i know

It's a wire cage from LLL. The PVC has drainage holes in it but I am not sure how to utilize it yet. I like that setup grantman, I might steal it.

I like keeping my cages intact and portable, so I have always liked this idea for a single cage: https://www.chameleonforums.com/cage-drain-under-30-a-14626/

I got an elephant rack or any rack that is as large as the square area of your cage and i put my cage on top of that but in between the two i have some metal screen so that nothing will fall down the large holes. This works really well for me because no matter where you have drips it drains. There is a shower curtain on the back wall and under the whole rack to collect all the drippings and they drip into a bucket. Here is a pic of what i do.

nightcrawler said:

I got an elephant rack or any rack that is as large as the square area of your cage and i put my cage on top of that but in between the two i have some metal screen so that nothing will fall down the large holes. This works really well for me because no matter where you have drips it drains. There is a shower curtain on the back wall and under the whole rack to collect all the drippings and they drip into a bucket. Here is a pic of what i do.

Click to expand...

Night Crawler, can I see pictures of your cage?
Different angles and all.
I love what you have done to the bottom instead of the usual PVC.
Did you made it yourself?

Howdy Chris,

Here's an article that has a few more ideas in it:
http://www.chameleonnews.com/?page=article&id=73

If you get totally stuck without a drainage solution, I can loan you one of my custom drain pans while you continue sort things out. Don't let that stop you from becoming a chameleon keeper . My spare is sized just right to fit your small screened enclosure. It's the same one photographed in the article .

Since I am in the boonies I had to adjust. I bought 3" pvc pipe cut it in 6" lengths to sit the cage on. I drilled small holes in the bottom of the cage near the middle so the plants weight would make the middle lower to drain. Then I spent 1$ at the dollar store bought a dishpan which slides under the cage. I go in a dump each of the 9 dishpans in agout 10 minutes. Then I just remove and poo or dead leaves and my daily cleaning is finished. I looks a little strange to have the cages up on stilts but it works for me!

Here is what I do for most cages .

https://www.chameleonforums.com/carpet-setup-humidifier-mister-16179/

Pic 4 you can see the bins . I drill holes in the pvc and it drains through the rack into the bins.

Thanks for the awesome tips guys. Oh and Dave, thank you for the offer, you are too kind for words. I have a friend who makes plexiglass arcade stick housings, but I think I found a cheaper, work-free solution.

Last night after goofing around in chat with summoner12 and sageghost, among others. I came to the conclusion to use this:
http://www.tractorsupply.com/webapp...10551_10001_28434_-1______?rFlag=true&cFlag=1
24" Rabbit Drop pan.

I suppose I'll prop the cage up on some bricks or metal if it sits too deep, but the ribs seems like will catch alot of water. Probably put one side up as well, and stick a hole with a drainage pipe and sealant in it. We'll see how this works in practice.

Thanks for all the interesting ideas everyone. Ryan that setup is elaborate but clean and visually appealing, no plastic bags all over the place. I love it.

dodolah said:

Night Crawler, can I see pictures of your cage?
Different angles and all.
I love what you have done to the bottom instead of the usual PVC.
Did you made it yourself?

Click to expand...

Certainly. I dont have many new pics and i dont have my camera ready but ill give you what i have and if you need more then i can get some in the next day or two. Also just ask questions if you need any clarification. The bottom looks a little different because i redid my room and that ment taking everything down and moving it to another so the shower curtain doesnt hang so low anymore but the general idea is the same.
Its only hanging about 3 inches below the rim of the rack compared to this now.

this is top down to show how the screen is set up. i had to fold the screen a few times because some crickets could hide in between the rim of the cage and the screen because there wasnt enough weight to make a flush cutoff edge without and gaps.

This is what the bottom of the rack looks like. its made to hold like 75 lbs or soemthing but it was like $40-50 and its 4 tier so i got two racks out of it, and its 3'x6'(if you want it to be)x2'


Thats alls i have for now, but if you have any questions feel free to ask, and if you want more updated photos just ask as well, i can show you my little tweaks to it that make it a little less of an eye sore. I like to not worry about drainage more then i like to look at a nice rack.

Hi Christopher,
Did you decide where you are going to get your panther? I think I read you are picking one up this weekend.

chambabysitter1 said:

Thanks for the awesome tips guys. Oh and Dave, thank you for the offer, you are too kind for words. I have a friend who makes plexiglass arcade stick housings, but I think I found a cheaper, work-free solution.

Click to expand...

Chambabysitter, think simple and you'll be glad.
Buy a metal rack or plastic rack from target or walmart.


Drill many holes on the PVC bottom that come with lll chameleon cage.
Put big plastic tub or bucket at the bottom.
Voila!

chambabysitter1 said:

...Last night after goofing around in chat with summoner12 and sageghost, among others. I came to the conclusion to use this:
http://www.tractorsupply.com/webapp...10551_10001_28434_-1______?rFlag=true&cFlag=1
24" Rabbit Drop pan...

Click to expand...

Howdy Chris,
(I'm home for lunch!)

That looks like a much better pan than the other Rabbit Pans that we've seen posted in the past. I like the bottom design of that pan. Too bad it isn't closer to the roughtly 16x16 enclosire size. An 18x18 drain pan would be perfect for your current enclosure and a 26x26 size for your future 24x24 enclosure would be nice too.

Buy one so we can find out more about them !

Yeah, it will sit a little big for the little cage. I should be able to squeeze the big cage in there by about half an inch. We will see for sure. If not it's like 20 bucks lost, not really anything big lost.

Do the edges of the aluminum cages tend to drip or with the holes drilled in the PVC, can I have it safely collect to one area? I wouldnt want it dripping off all the edges everywhere. Hence finding something with a nice lip on it that covers the cage, still haven't put anything into practice yet though, so I am still not 100%

ponders said:

Hi Christopher,
Did you decide where you are going to get your panther? I think I read you are picking one up this weekend.

Click to expand...

Hey Tylene, I dont think I know how to spell your name, sorry . Anyways, after seeing some samples little guys from Kevin, we decided we will catch him tomorrow and see what we can get. I love your enthusiasm for me to own, it's addictive and after the meeting I was too tempted to buy.

I am going to post a picture of my setup tonight. I have a temporary solution that I hope works okay.

Yeah! Kevin has some great looking babies and their dad's colors are off the chart. Good luck trying to decide now! Are you getting a male or female?
(BTW, you spelled my name right)

Drainage

I build wooden racks from 2"x2". I frame out the rack, get everything all square and make sure it is sturdy to hold the weight of the cages. I then lay a 1"x2" along the back just to make it a little higher on the back then what it is on the front. I then screw on a trough (some places will customize it to what ever measurements you want) and make sure that it slopes either to the left or the right. Now because everything is tilted to the front, all water should drip into the trough and run out the end. Put a bucket or what ever you choose to catch the water in and be sure to empty it regularly.