Advice on setting up for a new Cham

[Quantum Mark]

Advice on enclosure size for a new Cham

Hello Chameleon Forums,

I recently visited a garden center/pet store and saw a chameleon for the first time. It was love at first sight.

Knowing absolutely nothing about keeping chameleons, I resisted the urge to buy the female veiled chameleon there and then and got stuck into some research as soon as I got home. After two weeks of reading, I'm glad I made that decision!

Im getting to the stage where I'll be buying my kit soon and am looking for some advice on flexarium sizes. At the moment Im thinking about getting a veiled chameleon because of their hardier nature.

I want him to have a big enclosure as I have a big flat and loads of space. I'm am thinking of a 30 x 30 x 48inches (175 gallon) but I understand this is too big for a baby. So I was thinking of initially raising it in a 16.5 x 16.5 x 30inches (38 gallon) before transferring it over. When he is fully grown I could perhaps use the smaller flexarium as a basking cage.

The question is; is this too much of leap from small to big? If so what sizes would be better?

On a side note, if anyone has had success keeping panther chameleons in mesh enclosures in the UK, I'd like to know if its hard to maintain humidity in them. Im sure people have had success with glass enclosures, but Im not keen on the idea of using one.

Many thanks for any help!

 

[camille]

You can use the larger enclosure with a baby. Just buy smaller plants and raise them near the top of the enclosure, perhaps with a small table or stool. That way you're not buying two enclosures.

 

[xanthoman]

best advice ; first, do more reasearch , second, get, buy, or make a REAL CHAM CAGE , look at lots of photos of other peoples set ups, try to make note of which keepers seem to have their act together, and follow their lead. reptariums and flexariums are poor substitutions for real, well designed cham cages. because of the design and materials used, flexariums do not make that good of basking cages .you can get 1/4 or 1/2 " mesh, plastic coated metal hardware cloth at many home or hardware places, using a pair of dykes and small plastic wire ties, you can fashion a decent basking cage in under an hr. lets more sun in , keeps other critters out, and cheaper than a flexarium , as far as humidity (again with the more research) that is a function of many factors, the three biggest of which are , type of cage , how it is planted /decorated , and your misting arraingements, you can keep even a poorly designed cage humid if you mist often enough. and remember a screen cage does not have to be all screen , it can be solid on one two or three sides , or just solid partialy up , having just one partially solid side makes a significant difference in humidity, 3 solid sides may be too much depending on the type of cham (again with the more reasearch thing)

 

[eisentrauti]

the big enclosure is no problem for them, the nature is even also big
Little calyptratus are active and will find the feeders

 

[Quantum Mark]

Thanks for the replies guys.

flexariums are poor substitutions for real, well designed cham cages

j walker, what would be your idea of a good cham cage? Do you have any pics of yours or a link to a good example of one? Been looking round but not sure exactly what to Google for. There is a photo of an aluminium cage here. Is that what you meant?

 

[Quantum Mark]

Does anyone else know what j walker means by a 'real cham cage'?

 

[Powers]

Does anyone else know what j walker means by a 'real cham cage'?

Not sure what he is referring to, most everyone here uses the type of enclosure that you posted a link to.

As another idea for you, here is a STARTER KIT that has everything you need for a new chameleon (except for live plants) it even has a misting system.

Good luck with whatever you decide, this is a very good forum, ask lots of questions.

 

[Quantum Mark]

Yeah, I found that starter kit the other day. I may put together something similar from a UK shop to save on the postage though. If I decide on a panther cham, ill definitely go for an automatic mister.

Found a company that builds aluminium screen cages here. I've pinged him an email to see how much it will cost to put together a custom enclosure.

I guess there's a big difference between the mesh used in the Exo Terra Flaxariums and the mesh used in aluminium screen cages like the ones in the link, and that's why they are better?

 

[Pure]

I guess there's a big difference between the mesh used in the Exo Terra Flaxariums and the mesh used in aluminum screen cages like the ones in the link, and that's why they are better?

Yep, The Flexariums aren't very stable and the screen is a very soft plastic that tends to block a lot of the light. They also close with a zipper that tends to rust and break. The one you posted is an aluminum screen that is stronger and allows for better light transfer through it.

 

[Quantum Mark]

Yep, The Flexariums aren't very stable and the screen is a very soft plastic that tends to block a lot of the light. They also close with a zipper that tends to rust and break. The one you posted is an aluminum screen that is stronger and allows for better light transfer through it.

Awesome, glad to get that one cleared up. Thanks, Pure.

If anyone has had success keeping panther chameleons in the UK with this type of enclosure I'd love to hear about it. I understand that mesh enclosures wont hold humidity as well as glass ones. Can this be dealt with by plenty of misting, be it by hand or an automatic mister?

 

[warpdrive]

here are my thoughts....

I'm in the same boat as you when it comes to humidity.
in the winter months my humidity in my home is low. say around 20% or so.
in the summer months it's far better, say 40%-50%

adding as much live plants as you can will help a little bit.
giving an extra misting or two will also help.

so how do I deal with low humidity durring the winter months?
with a room humidifier.
lots of people use them to add humidity into the room that houses the chameleon.
no extra work is needed realy. just add water and they will help your room get more humid.

works realy great overnight when you are not misting for at least 12 to 14 hours.
I was able to get my room humidity from 20% to 40% with just running it more or less 24 hours a day.
this might not sound high enough at first, but with some live plants, you'll have cage humidity at around 50% - 60%.
now I almost never use it as my room humidity is closer to 35% even with my AC being used once in a while.

while I spoke mostly about humidity, I also agree that real wire cages made for chameleons are far better then flexariums.
not just because they let in more light, but also because a wire screen cage alows you to view your chameleon from across the room realy well.

there are also a few members here from the UK.
try to find them and send them a PM to ask what cages they use and how much it costs.
I'll bet that a few of them are using cages that are half glass and half wire.
at the worst, it can't hurt to get some ideas on what they use and why.

Harry

 

[Quantum Mark]

I was able to get my room humidity from 20% to 40% with just running it more or less 24 hours a day.
this might not sound high enough at first, but with some live plants, you'll have cage humidity at around 50% - 60%.
now I almost never use it as my room humidity is closer to 35% even with my AC being used once in a while.

while I spoke mostly about humidity, I also agree that real wire cages made for chameleons are far better then flexariums.

Thanks warpdrive. (Play EVE Online at all?)

I may look into getting a humidifier if I cant maintain the humidity in a mesh enclosure using an automatic mister alone.

If anyone else has had success keeping panthers in the UK with this method it would be good to know.

Cheers

 

[joeandsoph]

Hello Chameleon Forums,

I recently visited a garden center/pet store and saw a chameleon for the first time. It was love at first sight.

Knowing absolutely nothing about keeping chameleons, I resisted the urge to buy the female veiled chameleon there and then and got stuck into some research as soon as I got home. After two weeks of reading, I'm glad I made that decision!

Im getting to the stage where I'll be buying my kit soon and am looking for some advice on flexarium sizes. At the moment Im thinking about getting a veiled chameleon because of their hardier nature.

I want him to have a big enclosure as I have a big flat and loads of space. I'm am thinking of a 30 x 30 x 48inches (175 gallon) but I understand this is too big for a baby. So I was thinking of initially raising it in a 16.5 x 16.5 x 30inches (38 gallon) before transferring it over. When he is fully grown I could perhaps use the smaller flexarium as a basking cage.

The question is; is this too much of leap from small to big? If so what sizes would be better?

On a side note, if anyone has had success keeping panther chameleons in mesh enclosures in the UK, I'd like to know if its hard to maintain humidity in them. Im sure people have had success with glass enclosures, but Im not keen on the idea of using one.

Many thanks for any help!

Hey Mark,

I'm in the UK. I'm currently using a glass cage but will be changing to mesh very very soon (probably in the next week or so). I'm finding it easy to maintain the humidity in the glass one, but not sure how I'll do when it comes to getting the mesh.

 

[Quantum Mark]

Hey Mark,

I'm in the UK. I'm currently using a glass cage but will be changing to mesh very very soon (probably in the next week or so). I'm finding it easy to maintain the humidity in the glass one, but not sure how I'll do when it comes to getting the mesh.

If it's sticks in your head, feel free to drop me a PM when you make the transfer to let me know how it goes

Any idea where you're going to buy it yet? I found the guy in the link a couple of posts above but I'm still looking around abit.