I had a VERY large batch of baby Veileds hatch out this July, and I had a tough time with a few things. I've went back and forth from keeping some chameleons outside-some inside over the years. This batch I decide to give natural sunlight to. I have always stubbornly used screen cages-I'm very anal about it. I came home one day to find I had lost a huge portion of my babies to a Fireant invasion. The remaining ones started to drop out slowly. I finally moved them back inside and made some plastic bins for them, because me and forum member jrh3 made the determination that most of the tiny crickets were just slipping through the screen and escaping. Only the biggest, healthiest ones were getting fed, out competeing the smaller weaker ones. My luck has completely turned around and all remaining babies are doing great, and I think the main reason why is that the crickets can't slip through the screen and are picked off quickly. I try to wait until my crickets are big enough so that they can't slip out, but you always have a variety of size in a given batch.
My baby bins are very similar to these that Seeco has made, and yeah, it takes some time to make each one- I hate hot glue!!!!! Very time comsuming. However, due to the cricket escape problem, I did not make the entire bottom of the bins screen.
Hot glue will stick well to some material, and not to others. Some plastic will not allow hot glue to fuse to it, so I drill a series of holes around the perimeter of the lid and make what I call 'Hot Glue Rivets'. You just make sure the glue goes through to the other side, then I blow each side with great force while it is still soft until it flattens out, forming a min glue rivet. This keeps the glue from losing its hold on the plastic.
For drainage, I drilled several large holes about 1/2 to 5/8" in diameter and hot glued 2 pieces of aluminum screen over it to to allow good drainage, but to keep the crickets from escaping.
I cut 2 pieces of PVC pipe and set them over the rack and placed the bins propped up on them with the drain holes at the other end. This creates enough slope so that there is never any standing water in the bins. The screen does accumulate wastes and must be cleaned every 1-2 days in order to maintain maximum drainage. But my babies are doing a whole lot better in these cages.
And ever since having chameleons since 1997, I finally got my first bite from a psychotic female Veiled today. They have quite an impressive grip!!!
