enclosure setup ideas for baby sternfeldi's?

[christineacero]

So I'm thinking of potentially setting up a breeding program for my Sternfeldi chams. Currently I have 11 healthy babies (4 born almost 5 weeks ago, and 7 born on Monday), and I'd like to continue doing this in the future.

That being said, I'm looking at either purchasing or building a setup to house future babies. I know a lot of people house a few babies per enclosure, but I'd really prefer to house 1 baby per enclosure. This way, I can closely monitor how much food each baby is eating, how much they're pooping (and what it looks like) and give them the best start at life without having to compete. I'd like to have something that will house the babies from birth until about 4 months old. (Full grown adults reach between 4"-5.5")

I'm looking to buy about 16 cages. Sternfeldi seem to have on average 5-9 babies at a time. Anyone have any ideas??

 

[Lpsouth1978]

A lot of breeders seem to be going with these setups from Dragon Strand. They seem to be the best option for rearing babies individually.

http://dragonstrand.com/product/dragon-strand-nursery-caging-system/

 

[christineacero]

I really like these cages as well, and have looked at them in the past. Unfortunately they don't ship to Canada (like many other reptile suppliers!). I'm sure I could try and make a deal with them, but also trying to see if anyone else has any other ideas??

 

[CarlC]

Do you know anyone close to the border? You could purchase it and have it shipped to them. Then just drive down, meet them and bring back what you ordered. You might have to pay duties upon coming back in.

Carl

 

[christineacero]

Do you know anyone close to the border? You could purchase it and have it shipped to them. Then just drive down, meet them and bring back what you ordered. You might have to pay duties upon coming back in.

Carl

I was thinking of having them shipped to the UPS store right across the border. My mom goes over the border often to shop so I could have her pick them up for me. Just wondering if anyone knows of any others that are good quality as well that I could look into. I'd like to have a few options to choose from

 

[Lpsouth1978]

I am currently preparing to make my own cages similar to the dragon strand, though much simpler.

I will be making a large 17x17x48 cage from window screen parts. I am going to use corrugated plastic on the sides and back and aluminum screen on the top and front. The front will be one large door for all the separate cages, rather than a separate door for each cage. The floor of the cage will also be screen, but I will have small pieces of corrugated plastic cut so they can be removed easily to make cleaning much easier.

I will make separate cages within the large one by cutting 17x17 walls out of corrugated plastic that I will attach to the screen cage by drilling several small holes on each side edge of the wall and zip tie them to the cage (this will let me take out a wall later if I need more room for a cham). All of the corrugated plastic will have either tape or hot glue around the edges to keep any bugs from hiding inside the plastic sheets.

For the drainage, my roommate, a welder by trade, is going to weld a water tray out of aluminum sheets from the scrap metal yard.

This setup will only cost me about $100 for a cage that will house 8 baby chams, the Dragon Strand setup would cost about $400 for the same number of chams. It will also fit on a standard 48x18x72 shelving system like the Dragon Strand cages.

 

[kplatvoet]

Canvas Chameleon's has baby cages- I recently got a custom cage from them and from Dragonstrand - I quite happy with both - I needed a shorter cage so I originally got the Dragonstrand to fit into a kitchen cart I got from Overstock- and then got the Canvas cage for another one- I liked the Dragonstrand but wanted 4 open sides for the second one - I've ordered another cage for my panther also from Canvas -

 

[CarlC]

I have four of the neonate cages coming from Canvas Chameleons. Just need to make some room before Nick and Kyle drop them off.

Carl

 

[christineacero]

Carl, let me know what you think of them when you get them all set up!

 

[CarlC]

I sure will! Nick and Kyle are dropping them off Thursday evening

Carl