DIY tips?

[boosh96]

I'm thinking about getting a young male Jackson's chameleon for my birthday and giving him a 24 x 24 x 48" screen enclosure to live in as well as letting him free-range under my close supervision now and again. But can someone give me tips and stuff on building my own enclosure? How do I provide him with the right basking spot as well as, let's just say, making my own fogger with a timer? Any help/tips would be fantastic!

 

[camimom]

Do you need help for the free range or the cage?

With the cage, you should just hang your lights over the top of the cage for him, with branches at various heights so he can bask.

If you mean for your free range, you can hang lights from your ceiling for him.

 

[boosh96]

What kinds of plants can I use for the cage? For the free range?

 

[camimom]

anything on our safe plants list, located in the resource section of this site

I use all fake- but I tend to kill plants.

 

[Lathis]

For an enclosure of that standard size, I don't think you can save much money and make an enclosure anywhere near the quality of something you can buy from LLL Reptiles or DIY. Building your own makes more sense with larger or highly custom enclosures. I would recommend buying one - heck of a lot easier on you. For basking spots, you can hang vines or branches about 6-8" from the basking lamp where the temperature hits the mid-to-low 80sF.

You should check out the enclosure stickies for ideas on how to organize and decorate your cage:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/official-enclosure-picture-thread-49688/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/official-enclosure-picture-thread-2-post-your-pics-94781/

For plants, most people will recommend: golden pothos, umbrella plants (schleffera), ficus benjamina, and crotons. All three are indoor plants that are pretty easy to keep and should be readily available from any big hardware or garden store. Chams also love hibiscus trees, but they can be fussy and hard to keep if you aren't a plant person. Pothos are super easy and make vines the perfect size for Jackson's. My Jax loves the vines and huge leaves of my pothos tower.

There is a long list of safe plants for chams, just be aware than many household plants are not on the safe list:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/live-plant-database-2632/

You can make your own dripper from a bottle, but making your own timer and mister or fogger will be much more difficult. I have a MistKing system. It cost about $100, but it was worth every penny in my opinion. It works great and their customer service is tops. Look into the MistKing and AquaZamp (I think) misters. Jax need high humidity and my guy just loves lots of water.

Make sure your lights (basking and UV), supplements, feeders, humidity, and temperature are all in place, and you should be ready to go.

If you haven't read through this already, here is a fantastic resource:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/jacksons/

Have fun and post lots of pictures!