Enclosure Upgrade!

markmora

New Member
Hey everyone. First post here as a new chameleon owner. Last month near the end of December, I bought a jackson’s chameleon! I had researched and thoroughly looked through all best possible appliances and cages for my guy. Ultimately, I started him off in a glass palidarium (18x18x36) with a double light heat dome with concentrated bulbs (yikes). Throughout the time I got him, I kept on researching and just kept it going and going. As time went on, I learned more and more about the pros and cons of certain enclosures and quite literally everything you can think of. As time went on, the humidity in the glass enclosure became too much to handle and mold started to grow. I was already planning and looking into screen enclosures at the time and that sealed the deal for me. After spending money on a glass enclosure, and then immediately investing in a screen enclosure, I will show you the upgrade my little one got. Personally, I feel very much accomplished with his enclosure. However, if there is any advice at all that you guys would recommend, I am all ears! As of now, Ankle (my chameleon) has a reptisun t5 5.0 uvb light, a 50 watt heat bulb in an 8.5 inch deep dome, and a big dripper. Currently on order, I have a mistking and an arcadia jungle dawn LED to further support the growth of my plants. I will also be buying a repticooler to further give my guy the temperature drop he needs for the night (I would appreciate any other ac recommendations that exclude window ac if there’s anything else). There are holes drilled under the big umbrella plant in the center for drainage, and I will be getting a terrarium controller extension block to give him the perfect 12/12 hour day/night cycle. One thing I am curious of is where to buy a nice backdrop. I have been trying to find a 24x48 tropical style backdrop and I could not find anything; it was all custom and the price was a little steep for if being just a vinyl backdrop. I want to use this to further keep the high humidity in the night time. I am debating just buying a black shower curtain as a substitute. Anyway, here are the pictures of the old and new enclosure (Ankle is in both pictures btw, try and spot him!!)
 

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Welcome to the forum! Looks really nice now and I am sure he is loving it. Look into PVC sheets. These are great and do not break down with moisture they are the same things the cage builders use for hybrid. I attached mine to the outside of the cage frame with self tapping screws. To the back and two sides. If you find yourself needing more humidity control you can pull the screen off the door and get a very thin piece of acrylic to hook into the door frame. Lots of ways to make it work. Don't want to buy all the extra stuff I just mentioned but still want humidity and temp control buy duct window film. Put the double sided tape on the outside cage frame then cover with the film use the blow dryer to tighten it down. Still leaving the service door open though for air flow. :)
 
Welcome to the forum! Looks really nice now and I am sure he is loving it. Look into PVC sheets. These are great and do not break down with moisture they are the same things the cage builders use for hybrid. I attached mine to the outside of the cage frame with self tapping screws. To the back and two sides. If you find yourself needing more humidity control you can pull the screen off the door and get a very thin piece of acrylic to hook into the door frame. Lots of ways to make it work. Don't want to buy all the extra stuff I just mentioned but still want humidity and temp control buy duct window film. Put the double sided tape on the outside cage frame then cover with the film use the blow dryer to tighten it down. Still leaving the service door open though for air flow. :)
I will look into the pvc sheets! Was hoping to find an outside background since I alrdy tied millions of branches to each side. Thanks!
 
Welcome to the forum! Looks really nice now and I am sure he is loving it. Look into PVC sheets. These are great and do not break down with moisture they are the same things the cage builders use for hybrid. I attached mine to the outside of the cage frame with self tapping screws. To the back and two sides. If you find yourself needing more humidity control you can pull the screen off the door and get a very thin piece of acrylic to hook into the door frame. Lots of ways to make it work. Don't want to buy all the extra stuff I just mentioned but still want humidity and temp control buy duct window film. Put the double sided tape on the outside cage frame then cover with the film use the blow dryer to tighten it down. Still leaving the service door open though for air flow. :)
Thank you! I installed 1 sheet of pvc on the back, but it has unfortunately done nothing. I have an extra piece that I plan on putting to his left side to see if it helps trap any more humidity soon. I am only worried that these sheets will trap more heat as well D:
 
Thank you! I installed 1 sheet of pvc on the back, but it has unfortunately done nothing. I have an extra piece that I plan on putting to his left side to see if it helps trap any more humidity soon. I am only worried that these sheets will trap more heat as well D:
They can trap more heat but in a sense that they actually stabilize your temps. You do not have flow of air pushing at the heat spot. You may have to adjust your basking temps after as you do not want it to be too hot either. You can add a panel to the side of the cage that is opposite of your heat fixture first to see how it changes your levels. I run a fully hybrid enclosure and honestly I love that I do not have to stress my temps/humidity the way I did when I had a screen cage.
 
They can trap more heat but in a sense that they actually stabilize your temps. You do not have flow of air pushing at the heat spot. You may have to adjust your basking temps after as you do not want it to be too hot either. You can add a panel to the side of the cage that is opposite of your heat fixture first to see how it changes your levels. I run a fully hybrid enclosure and honestly I love that I do not have to stress my temps/humidity the way I did when I had a screen cage.
Yeah his average basking temp is roughly 85-91 F which I've researched to be good, but that 90 personally scares me quite a bit. I also want to assume that the panel you recommend to put on the side should cover that entire side of the enclosure? The two sheets that I bought are both 24x48 and completely cover whatever side I would want to put them on.

If covering 2 sides doesn't work, should I try and emulate a hybrid enclosure by cutting a small section of the sheets to make somewhat of an airflow system on the sides?
 
Yeah his average basking temp is roughly 85-91 F which I've researched to be good, but that 90 personally scares me quite a bit. I also want to assume that the panel you recommend to put on the side should cover that entire side of the enclosure? The two sheets that I bought are both 24x48 and completely cover whatever side I would want to put them on.

If covering 2 sides doesn't work, should I try and emulate a hybrid enclosure by cutting a small section of the sheets to make somewhat of an airflow system on the sides?
That is actually a bit too hot for a Jackson's. You want a range of 80-85 max at basking. And they have to have night time lows of 50-65max. See this link it is all accurate info specific to Jackson's. https://chameleonacademy.com/the-jacksons-chameleon-trioceros-jacksonii/

Double check all of the info there and make your temps, humidity, basking, day and night all match up. Then when you are tweaking the cage modification you will not compromise the levels you need to be at because you will already be close or within those.
 
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