Any tips for Installing Mistking +decorations in a 260gallon apogee reptarium?

[martyllian]

Hi all,

We recently adopted a Melleri Chameleon. We were having a custom cage built, but the builder (a relative) had an accident and wont be able to finish it until around March.

I want to get a 260 gallon Apogee Reptarium and place it on its side so it will be six foot long and about 2.6 feet deep and tall, to last until his perma cage is done.

I need some tips for installing a mistking nozzle in one of these reptariums and vines/other decorations. I already have drainage and lighting figured out.

I have done several searches and unless I am using the wrong keywords, not finding many hits

 

[Carlton]

Hi all,

We recently adopted a Melleri Chameleon. We were having a custom cage built, but the builder (a relative) had an accident and wont be able to finish it until around March.

I want to get a 260 gallon Apogee Reptarium and place it on its side so it will be six foot long and about 2.6 feet deep and tall, to last until his perma cage is done.

I need some tips for installing a mistking nozzle in one of these reptariums and vines/other decorations. I already have drainage and lighting figured out.

I have done several searches and unless I am using the wrong keywords, not finding many hits

Did you mean suggestions for attaching these things to the Reptarium? If so, you can use small zip ties, light gauge wire, garbage bag twist ties, all sorts of things. If you have something relatively heavy (like a hanging plant) you want to hang from the frame, you can lay a 2x2 across the top and attach the pot hanger to that through the cage mesh. Did that help?

 

[martyllian]

Yes, it did, thank you! Just suggestions, to make sure I wasn't being obtuse.

So would the tubing for the mistking just get zipped up into a corner of the Reptarium or would it be reccomended to cut a small hole in the mesh and feed in that way?

I was hoping someone here would have installed misting into one of these Reptariums before.

 

[Carlton]

Yes, it did, thank you! Just suggestions, to make sure I wasn't being obtuse.

So would the tubing for the mistking just get zipped up into a corner of the Reptarium or would it be reccomended to cut a small hole in the mesh and feed in that way?

I was hoping someone here would have installed misting into one of these Reptariums before.

You could clip just the minimum opening of the mesh that allows pushing the nozzle through. Unless you can line the nozzle opening up with a mesh opening exactly, the spray could get diverted everywhere but inside the cage if you con't cut a little hole for it. To prevent fraying you probably should melt the cut ends of the mesh with a match.

I'm sure people have attached Mist King's to Reptariums, but most of us end up using Reptariums as short term or temporary (ie: outdoor basking sessions) cages and kept it simple. It should work just fine. You may find you'll need to zip tie the tubing along the frame or the mesh to keep the nozzle aimed where you want it to spray. There will probably be enough flex in the cage for the nozzle to shift every time you open the zipper (personal experience coming home to a wet wall!)

 

[kplatvoet]

I used a rain dome with one - mist king has a rain thing that stays on the outside - and some have made there own.

 

[fluxlizard]

I use a patio misting system, but same principle applies- I used to take a chopstick, sharpen it in a pencil sharpener, and then push it into a hole in the mesh, wiggle it in deeper and widen the hole until it was just large enough to pass the mist connecter through, then I'd press that connector through and attach the nozzle to it once it was inside the cage.

I used to have well over 100-something reptariums. I'm not a fan anymore after I had a fire. The covers are flammable and so are the pipes. Be careful and take whatever precautions you can. I don't use them anymore- it's all aluminum for me now.

If you want a sturdier frame to hang things on, you can make one yourself for not too many dollars (maybe $30 for that size cage) out of 1" pvc. You may need to go to a plumbing supply store for the corners or order them online. Well worth it though. I could stand on my 175 gallon reptarium frames that I home-made that way and I'm about 200 lbs. I found out that PVC can burn too that time...

 

[martyllian]

The chopstick Idea sounds great

Id get an aluminum or other solid screen cage if they made them bigger than 24x24x48.. and I thought of getting two of those and bolting them together, but 200+ to do that vs getting the reptarium.. reptarium is just economical until I can get his custom one done.

 

[fluxlizard]

If you are set on the reptarium and haven't bought it yet, if you want to build your own frame like I suggested, you can do that and buy a "replacement cover" for the size reptarium that you want to cover the home made frame and it is cheaper and much better than buying the actual reptarium. Reptarium frames are kind of crappy- and at least before my fire last year, they seemed to be getting lower and lower quality as the years went by. The year before I stopped using them I bought about 10 more and I literally could not assemble a single one of the kits without splitting at least one of the pipes when trying to fit them over the corners.

If you want to go aluminum- it isn't difficult to make your own, though it takes a little bit of time. There are good youtube videos on how to build them and you could make it to whatever dimensions you want.

I've bred melleri- if it were me, and I didn't live where there are fireflies, I'd probably just make a wood framed cage out of 2x2's and cover the frame with green rubber coated hardware cloth. Or for indoor use, I'd probably just put up a barrier on the floor in front of a south facing window ( an 18" wall of some sort, like aluminum coil or shelving board) or a corner of a room, and then put my plants and stuff behind the barrier and hang my lights from the ceiling. Melleri are really cool and having kept them in modified reptariums (framing as mentioned, 2 175 gallon reptariums side by side on a table with one side cut out and sewn together to make a 5' long x 30" wide x 4' high enclosure), they are much more fun to look at without thick mesh in the way. I did a lot of hand feeding with my melleri as well- I usually have to many lizards to do a lot of that with, but melleri are magical and I can't resist their charms. They had me hand feeding almost every meal for a while there, running from one cage to the next in circles. If you only have one or two- I'd highly recommend open housing and hand feeding. You will not regret it.

 

[martyllian]

I agree with the free/open range, and some day he/she shall be.. when I have a room that Dog, Cats, king snakes, gargoyle gecko, cresties and a dozen leapard Geckos and Degus are not in.

Ill keep the brittle frame in mind when this comes in. I got it for a nice price, right around $50. hopefully my dads old trick of heating the plastic/pvc will keep the joints from splitting when assembling. If not, Menards/home depot/Ace I go.

Mel is very cool, he/she just isn't up for hand feeding yet, as he is still settling in. He does like hunting Dubia, though.. at least when he is hungry. I ended up getting an adult.

He finally got out of his extremely thirsty stage and had a huge ole healthy poop yesterday, which is going to the vet tomorrow morning for a fecal.

This is Mel in his temp home, he gets let out on a perch when im home. he was eying the dubia, very dubiously
https://onedrive.live.com/embed?cid=CDEC7D8DE6529730&resid=CDEC7D8DE6529730%218786&authkey=ACV-pByypDYV3a4

And here is Mel on the drive home. H didnt like the snake bag too much, and he fell asleep up there when it got dark.
https://onedrive.live.com/embed?cid=CDEC7D8DE6529730&resid=CDEC7D8DE6529730%218770&authkey=ADjOlKHS2u9tpG8

 

[fluxlizard]

lots of water is critical for melleri.

Best of luck to yours! They are really cool lizards. You are in for a treat if you can get him cleaned up and acclimated and past the 6 month mark.

 

[CarlC]

Have you contacted Canvas Chameleons. The will make any size screen enclosure you want. Their cages are well built.

Carl