Best Poor mans' enclosure? saving money tips!

[Falyblue]

Hello,


MY PANTHER HAS OUTGROWN HIS ENCLOSURE!
I am big on saving money but at the same time I also want to give my little guy everything he needs! What would be the best cost effective way to save money AND build an awesome enclosure? Any gurus willing to part with some great advice? Any advice greatly appreciated!

 

[happy]

scour craigslist for enclosures, for cabinets, for "china hutches" made of real wood.... build one, they are relatively inexpensive to build... ive got about 200 into a 2'x3'x4' that covers the cost of a 24" quad t5 with built in timer, and a 2x3x4 "blind" corner cabinet base. its bigger than the pre made stuff, and has an attractive base that i can use to store stuff in.
Ive almost added a few lights into the bottom of the base, and used it as a makeshift "grow room"...
you could use a diagonal cabinet base from home depot, lowes, or any other retailer, and do the enclosure on top of that... thats probably what i'd do, can get 2x2 but with diagonal cut across the front, its more like 24"x12"x15". Im a huge diy'er myself, as its way way way cheaper, and you can customize it to your chameleons needs without sacrificing....

 

[laurie]

You can build a enclosure the size you want pretty cheap.

Here are a couple links to people who have built their own cages. Hope it helps.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/millsamus/593-my-chameleon-setup-build-how.html

And hear is a large list. They are from the blogs over on the left side of the page. Happy building!!

https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/82-enclosures-housing.html

 

[Carlton]

Hello,


MY PANTHER HAS OUTGROWN HIS ENCLOSURE!
I am big on saving money but at the same time I also want to give my little guy everything he needs! What would be the best cost effective way to save money AND build an awesome enclosure? Any gurus willing to part with some great advice? Any advice greatly appreciated!

Well, if you have the right space in a room in your house do you really need the enclosure itself? A large potted Ficus, Hawaiian schefflera could make a free range. Hang the lights you should already be using from the ceiling. Even a fake ficus from a home improvement store can create habitat or you can hang a clump of pots connected with branches in a corner of a room. Of course if you have dogs/cats, kids or other risks maybe not. Just another approach to consider. Some have made really interesting partial free ranges out of shop shelving.

You could also retrofit a large bird cage from a garage sale.

 

[MsCham]

This is something I built for my baby (veiled), and I'm not sure much bigger panther chameleons are, but I'm sure you can adapt the idea. Hurrah for University student budget!

Two very large planter pot water catcher things (what are they called, really?) or other domed circular large things - preferably plastic/glass/metal
Wire Mesh (some people call it hardware cloth?) - you can get this at any hardware store, and some places sell it plastic coated - plastic coated is best!!
Zip Ties
(Potential) Drill with small bits (for drilling holes into the bases/tops)

The rest, I'm sure, is self explanatory.

**Either do not cut the ends of the zip ties, or make sure they are facing outside the cage!! The sharp edges of cut plastic will do serious harm to your buddy!!**

This design is nice because the gaps are big enough for sticks to be pushed straight through!

Good luck!

 

[Falyblue]

Very nice idea how much did it cost you to make? Im looking at gard fruit tree mesh but idk if it will provide everything i need

 

[MsCham]

Ummm Im going to say less than $75 CAN including the Dracaena tree you see in there, and I bought cocking and other stuff that I had thought would work with it and it didnt. haha

The reason I used metal mesh instead of plastic is that it gives the structure for this design by itself. If you used a lighter mesh you would have to have something that would provide support in the design. Something to think about!