Donnie's Free range

jamest0o0

jamest0o0

Chameleon Enthusiast
hey guys i'm always talking about free ranging on here so figured i'd post some pics of my dude's free range progress. Would love any suggestions or feedback.
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This was before i made it his permanent home.
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This is it now. I'm actually hanging some pothos off the wall above the bromelids today. He's here full time, but i'm moving it all to a longer table one of these days and adding some more plants/decoration. Going for a more natural look, possibly adding a foam wall of some sort. Putting plastic covering on the floor, shower liner on the wall, and maybe some bath mats around it. the room that's in stays at about 50% when everything is dry so i probably don't need a humidifier just yet, but might for winter. Working on building some sort of free roam feeding cave-thing that he can go into, without bugs getting out.
 
Also to give an idea of how large it is, i'm 6'4" and where he's sitting in that picture is slightly above my head.
 
I bet he loves being free. I do have a couple question though. It the free range in a safe area free from small children and other pets? What about lighting and drainage?
 
Yup it's in a separate room. I have 2 cats that aren't allowed in except under strict supervision. I have a uvb/plant light fixture that is going up, trying to figure an easy way to do it right now, but he has basking and goes outside daily for sun. I have plastic lids from bins under everything atm to catch water, but i'm going to get something easier. Right now it is a little unorganized.
 
Yeah I can imagine. I only have 1 cham atm and 2 goofy indoor cats that only care about the crickets. It's nice it's basically my 'office' for school work, so I get to sit here next to him. He seems so much more secure and natural on the free range. It's almost as if he is surprised at all the places he can go. I want another cham soon as well, but I enjoy focusing on just his stuff.
 
jamest0o0 said:
hey guys i'm always talking about free ranging on here so figured i'd post some pics of my dude's free range progress. Would love any suggestions or feedback.
View attachment 180865
This was before i made it his permanent home.
View attachment 180866
This is it now. I'm actually hanging some pothos off the wall above the bromelids today. He's here full time, but i'm moving it all to a longer table one of these days and adding some more plants/decoration. Going for a more natural look, possibly adding a foam wall of some sort. Putting plastic covering on the floor, shower liner on the wall, and maybe some bath mats around it. the room that's in stays at about 50% when everything is dry so i probably don't need a humidifier just yet, but might for winter. Working on building some sort of free roam feeding cave-thing that he can go into, without bugs getting out.
Click to expand...

Just wondering what those plans with the red are?
 
Aivanac said:
Just wondering what those plans with the red are?
Click to expand...
Just wondering what both these are?

Today I was able to get umbrella plants but they were very small to start (second picture)
 

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Here's his new home, at least for a minute while i finish up some classes and build a big enough substrate bin to fit on that table. Still need to set up the mist king, but otherwise good. Might need to move it a little more under the lights, i just didn't really want it up against the wall. Checked my solarmeter and temp gun, all of that seems to be good. Now i just need to repair relations with mr donnie after witnessing me tear down his home for the last few hours :/
 
Wish he'd get a little bigger, he has 6x3 feet of space.... don't think he could ever be in a cage again. I'd love to have a larger species one day with a huge free range.
 
Just wanted to note something here. This is only based off one chameleon and my experience, but what I have seen in changes has been very dramatic. Since moving my panther to his large free range posted above he has changed overnight. He explores the entire thing, eats much more, gladly climbs on me if I put my hand out, drinks water off the leaves immediately during morning mistings, and the biggest one i've noticed... He is entirely fine with the cats now. He ALWAYS freaked the second he got a glimpse of them, stretched out, looked sickly, etc. Now he goes on with whatever he is doing as if they are not there. His confidence and sense of security have seemed to shoot up. I just can't believe how calm and okay with everything he is now, not hesitating to eat, drink, or whatever. Anyway, thought I'd share with everyone. When I got into chams I didn't think free ranging was even a thing, then I thought it was only for advanced keepers, but now I couldn't be happier with how things are going. If you can free range, give it a try, just make sure the obvious cham requirements are in place.
 
How do you keep your guy in his free range area. When I let my guy out of his cage for his
free range time he wants to go all over the place.
 
Well i'm going to build a huge substrate bin to fit that table, which will have all my plants directly planted into. I was thinking of putting clear plastic sheets just around the border, just high enough to keep bugs in. I'm not worried about him getting off it, he never really tries since he has his own forest up there why leave but if he did there's nothing dangerous around.
 
Keep us posted. I would love to try it my Daughter's room (if she every moves out.)

Right know there are to many dangerous things he can get into if I don't watch him.
Hopefully soon the weather will be GREAT and Cliff can get some outside time.
 
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