Cage design question

Cetacea

New Member
I am wondering if something like this could be turned into a chameleon cage. If you took the wood off the ceiling and put in screen, and added ventilation holes at the bottom, would you get the chimney effect? I read the thing about glass cages being ok, and wondered if it could work to make a cage in this manner. Of course, I'd remove the mirror backing and glass shelves. This one is kind or rounded, but there are rectangle ones too.
 

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There was someone on here quite a while back that did just that. Took a large cabinet similar to yours and made a chameleon cage out of it. Screened it in I believe and took out all the glass. It was a long time ago, so I don't know if you searched the threads you might be able to find it under enclosures and supplies but it will probably take you forever!
 
I converted a corner curio into a reptarium, I replaced the glass with screen, sqared and increased the dimentions, Installed screen doors, drylocked the interior(to protect from water damage) and removed the top to replace it with a medium lll screencage (in addition) for a basking area. It's for my Veiled. He gets less humidity than my panthers. But he absolutely wouldn't be in there if it wasn't the best I could make it. The Jury is still deliberating on how great it is but he and I like it so far.

Check out a search for Do it yourself (diy) chameleon cages. Your cabinet looks really nice. I would consider atleast replacing the side glass with screen. Also, with glass and the humidity and misting you need, consider that your glass might not look as nice as you imagine it to be when housing a cham.
 
If this is the cabinet you want to convert I would not jump into it without researching the cabinet first. How old is this cabinet? I have a similar one and it is an antique and worth many hundreds of dollars. The curved glass in the cabinet is very expensive. You may be better off selling the cabinet and buying a very nice cage with the proceeds.

The idea of taking some type of cabinet and converting it to a cage is a great idea. Just not sure you want to do it to this particular one.
 
if you are just wondering about ventilation put the hole where you want them and cover them back up then fill the enclosure with some i would use something like an in scent till it is chalky then remove the covers the time that it takes for the smoke to leave is how long it will take to get a complete air exchange ( should be fairly quick ) then if it has enough ventilation then clean the cage well and you know its good and your not just guessing. and if it is not enough put a few more holes in it and repeat till you know it is good just make sure to clean it really good
 
Thanks

Those are some good points. I guess the thing to do is buy a curio (haven't bought one yet, that was just one I saw on craigslist) and then see just how many changes I need to make to it for it to work. If I can't get the proper ventilation the way I am envisioning it then I can always take some of the sides out and put in screen. I'll have the whole cage perfected of course before I get my chameleon. Unless I get a baby one, in which case I'll be starting him out in a smaller normal cage first and can work on the big fancy cage in the meantime.
 
another thing you could do is mount a small computer fan in the bottom to blow the air real gently through the cage
 
Ya know.. For your first chameleon.. There are a lot of proven set ups out there that aren't so expensive and time consuming too...
 
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