The new setup and its progress...

I am making a complete over haul of my two veileds cages and setup. I have two males, one in a small 16x16x30 cage and the other in a large 30x30x48. Jakes is in the small cage and has out grown it. Fred is happy as a clam, but I can't keep two cages as large as his.

I have purchased a wire mesh shelf from where I work and two 24x24x48 screen cages. The shelf is 86" tall, 60" wide and 24" deep. I have drainage built into the shelf the cages sit on. The lighting hangs from a shelf mounted at the highest possible rung. The crickets and water system should fit on the lowest level shelf.

Here are pictures of the progress:

The drainage.

I used 16 guage wire, a shower curtain, hot glue and zip ties. I am going to add a piece of plastic where the water drains to manage the flow into a bucket.




The cage is just small enough.



The cages.

I am changing things around a bit from the old setup. I am now using a pothos in each cage and I think I might switch one of the cages over to an Schefflera arboricola. If you can see the wires going into the cage, they are holding the Pothos. I used a couple of more wires to support the branches. I think my boys will enjoy this new plant.

This is Jakes cage so far.




The lighting.

I had two 36" fixtures with two Reptisun 10.0 lamps. Since I am not going to be using two 30" wide cages like I had planned, I purchased a dual 48" fixture with two Reptisun 10.0 lamps. I can adjust the lighting pretty easily so I am not too worried about output. I am also burning in the new lamps while I do the setup. I plan to use one heat lamp above each cage. I will need to figure out the wattage, but I think I can use the same lamps from the old cages.





I am going to add photos as I move along with this project.

If anyone has any suggestions let me know. I was hoping to hear some feedback.

I took some pics of the boys today.

Jake.


Fred.

I did a test run with the 100w lamps that I used with the old setup. The heat was around 92-95. I ran down to LLL Reptile and purchased two 60w lamps. The temp went down to about 82ish. This should be ok right? I wanted to lower the output so I don't cook the Pothos, but I also want there to be enough heat for the chams.

Today I also went to Home Depot and picked up the Schefflera and another Pothos. I hung the Pothos and a couple of vines in Fred's cage and put the new Ficus in the cage.

I moved the misting jets over to the new cages. It was after lights out when I was finished and didn't want to leave Fred in his old cage. I woke him up and moved him over to his new home. Just like when I brought him home, he explored all over walking on the walls and top of the cage. He started to climb on the water jet and rub his head on the screen. I turned off all the lights in the room so he would stop roaming around. I came back 10 minutes later and he was asleep hanging from the water jet. I think he will be ok.

Here are some pictures of Jake and his new setup.

He wasn't happy to be removed from his cage again. He would not stop biting my finger. once in the new cage he stayed like this for a bit while watching me.


The cage.




Jake exploring after he calmed down.


Fred exploring the walls.

Looking Good summoner12!
A tip though... with the flouro you are using, maybe drop down to Reptisun 5.0, BUT more importantly, try and construct a hood or reflector for the fitting as you are losing plenty of light out the sides, it needs to be directed downwards to where your chams are...you'll be suprised at the increased effeciency of your fitting when you do
Keep us posted with your progress, well done.
cheers
Scott.

Scotty said:

Looking Good summoner12!
A tip though... with the flouro you are using, maybe drop down to Reptisun 5.0, BUT more importantly, try and construct a hood or reflector for the fitting as you are losing plenty of light out the sides, it needs to be directed downwards to where your chams are...you'll be suprised at the increased effeciency of your fitting when you do
Keep us posted with your progress, well done.
cheers
Scott.

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I don't have a reflector because the lamps are 10.0 and are new. Once I burn them in a bit I was thinking I would use a reflector. I just didn't want the initial UV to be too much. I burned the lamps in for about 18 hours before putting my chams into the cages.

I want to see how my chams react to the new cages before I raise and lower the lighting. I found that I had no issues in my other cage using 10.0 because of the depth. Trust me, I will not allow my chams to cook, I am keeping a watchful eye on them. I am also going to try and meter the cage.

Thank you for the concern, I am going to keep a close eye on this.

Edit: BTW Scotty! I saw your new setup, very nice. You have a good variety in your cage.

Kevin,
The set up looks nice! Jake is amazing!! I am glad he worked out for you.

Jake Bernstein

summoner12 said:

I don't have a reflector because the lamps are 10.0 and are new. Once I burn them in a bit I was thinking I would use a reflector. I just didn't want the initial UV to be too much. I burned the lamps in for about 18 hours before putting my chams into the cages.

I want to see how my chams react to the new cages before I raise and lower the lighting. I found that I had no issues in my other cage using 10.0 because of the depth. Trust me, I will not allow my chams to cook, I am keeping a watchful eye on them. I am also going to try and meter the cage.

Thank you for the concern, I am going to keep a close eye on this.

Edit: BTW Scotty! I saw your new setup, very nice. You have a good variety in your cage.

Click to expand...

Sweet,
I'm a sparky by trade and have alot of other herps in the collection, so lighting is a part of the hobby I am very interested in, the right type of lighting etc. All of my enclosures are all on timers, dimmers, moon lighting, I have pretty well everything automated, I guess i'm passionate about my lighting and electricals! lol
I didn't mean to offend you.
Cheers
Scott.
BTW. your Jake looks very similar to my popeye! Thanks for the comment!

I wanted to share the sleeping pictures of the boys. This is their first night in the new cages.

Jake.


Fred sleeping while hanging from the water jet. When the lights go out, he just knocks out wherever he is.

Scotty said:

Sweet,
I'm a sparky by trade and have alot of other herps in the collection, so lighting is a part of the hobby I am very interested in, the right type of lighting etc. All of my enclosures are all on timers, dimmers, moon lighting, I have pretty well everything automated, I guess i'm passionate about my lighting and electricals! lol
I didn't mean to offend you.
Cheers
Scott.
BTW. your Jake looks very similar to my popeye! Thanks for the comment!

Click to expand...

You didn't offend me at all! I am a techno geek myself! I want the lighting to be perfect as well. I just feel that because I haven't had issues with the linear tubes used on deep enclosures I might as well use them on this setup again.

Don't worry I was not offended, I want advice! haha.

Everytime I see someone put together a set up like that it makes me all happy inside! And the thermometers! Everything checked and tested! Looks great! And your cham boys are beautiful!

Thanks!

Julirs said:

Everytime I see someone put together a set up like that it makes me all happy inside! And the thermometers! Everything checked and tested! Looks great! And your cham boys are beautiful!

Click to expand...

Thanks Juli! I want this best for these guys.

(BTW, what are you doing up at 2am?!)

Thanks

westcoastchameleons said:

Kevin,
The set up looks nice! Jake is amazing!! I am glad he worked out for you.

Jake Bernstein

Click to expand...

Thanks Jake! And thanks for selling me such a nice looking cham! lol

Update on the cage.

Not 100% done yet, but almost there (is it ever done?!).

I was wondering if anyone could help me out with understanding my chams. Fred likes to walk on the ceiling and walls. He has even slept hanging from the ceiling or half way up a wall a couple of times. I also find them walking around on the ground of the cage. They have not been eating much this week with all of the activity going on. Is this all because of the move?





Here is the setup.



I had Jake and Fred outside today while I cleaned the carpets and moved the cage into its final location. Here are some pictures of them enjoying real sunlight for about 4 hours.

Jake noticing Fred in the other tree...


Fred looking back... doesn't seem to care about Jake.


Jake being shy.

Where did you get that cage? Mine looks exactly the same.

I went down to LLL Reptile. I wanted black, but then it has to be specially ordered.

I got mine off of EBAY from this one store. It was "Buy It Now" so I knew I would get it. And mine was in black. What's the dimensions of your cage? Mine is 18X18X36.

Bugeyes1 said:

I got mine off of EBAY from this one store. It was "Buy It Now" so I knew I would get it. And mine was in black. What's the dimensions of your cage? Mine is 18X18X36.

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Those two cages are 24x24x48.

How much did you spend on your cage?

I have a 5 month old male veiled and he has started to outgrow his enclosure too. 18x12x20 screen habitat. I wanted something small for him at first so that he could still hunt his food. How old would he have to be to go into an enclosure your size?? By the way, looks awesome.

joejoe519 said:

I have a 5 month old male veiled and he has started to outgrow his enclosure too. 18x12x20 screen habitat. I wanted something small for him at first so that he could still hunt his food. How old would he have to be to go into an enclosure your size?? By the way, looks awesome.

Click to expand...

Thanks!

I am not an expert... but I think your cham is of age. I took my cue that Jake needed a new home when I noticed that his coloring was changing, he seemed stressed. I think he is about 6 months now. So I imagine you are just about ready for a new cage. I don't know what your current cage is made of, but this cage seems great for feeding. The crickets seem to end up at the top of the cage and the chameleons can just pick off a meal at will.

summoner12 said:

Those two cages are 24x24x48.

How much did you spend on your cage?

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$69. What about you?