With the threads we see here I think we need a pick me up. So I am hoping all of you regulars and newer members that are thriving in this hobby will share your experience. I would also love it if you share pics of your enclosure so that newbies can see what theirs should look like. For a few of us seeing all the sad day after day gets really hard. So I think this is a great way to not only have a feel good thread going but to also educate a little.
So let me start things off. My name is Becca. I have been a member of Chameleon Forums since November of 2018. I started lurking in the forum in October of 2018 when I got my first chameleon from Petco. Impulse buy and my first reptile. I was lucky and found the forum very quickly so I was able to make total husbandry changes within the first week of having Beman. Beman was 4-5 months old when I got him and will be 5 years old this coming June/July. I do not have an exact hatch date since he is a Petco baby. He has been in the same Dragon strand enclosure since January of 2019. Although I have made some modifications to it so that it would be a full hybrid cage. I have spent well over 2k on his total set up over the years. Adding new and better things to improve his overall quality of life.
Details about his home... As I mentioned it is a Dragon Strand enclosure. This one is 30 inches wide 24inches deep and 48 inches tall. This one is no longer a cage that they make which is sad because it is by far my favorite size. I have a herpstat to control the basking temp which dims the fixture up and down. I am running a jungle dawn LED plant light and then 3 T5HO light fixtures. 1 of the T5HO fixtures is used for his 6% arcadia UVB bulb. Then I have 2 6500 daylight bulbs for plants in the other 2 t5ho fixtures. I have a mistking misting system and run 2 misting heads. He is currently getting 6-7 minute mistings 3 times a day. Once in the morning and two in the late afternoon and evening. This keeps my ambient humidity right in the sweet spot of 38-45% daytime which I need since I live in AZ where there is virtually no humidity and provides him with long misting sessions which he loves. I have 5 live plants in his enclosure. 2 hibiscus, 1 pothos, and 2 dracaena. All real branches were used for his enclosure. As I mentioned I modified his walls with PVC sheets to make his enclosure a hybrid. On the door panel I have 20 gauge marine vinyl and then the service door is screen to allow for the chimney air flow effect. I also run a small pc fan on top to help pull air up and out of the enclosure. I have a full throttle feeder cup as well for him. All of his lights are each on govee smart plugs so that the lights turn on slowly in the morning one after the other and then the same gradual lights off into the late afternoon and evening to start cooling down the cage. I also use 2 govee smart sensors so I know what my ambient temps and humidity are at all times. Govee devices are managed from an app on my phone which is super helpful.
What I love about this hobby and these animals is that I never stop learning new things. Beman is by far the most amazing animal I have ever had. With that said this is the most challenging animal I have ever taken care of. I found myself watching him constantly in the beginning trying to learn his behaviors. I think this helped me quite a bit as he matured and over the passed few years to know when something was off. I think anyone can be successful in this hobby if they put in the time and attention to detail. Making sure the chameleon comes first and has everything it needs to thrive. If done right you have less chance of something going wrong. And in this hobby things can go wrong even when everything is done perfectly.
Beman is at an age now where I hold my breath most days when I go to greet him in the morning. Being as he is almost 5 years old I really do not know how long I have left with him. But what I do know is I have given this petco boy an amazing life. I have been able to watch him grow and thrive. I was extremely intimidated getting into this hobby and I was very very overwhelmed at first. Now here I am years later and I am an active member in this forum and I am able to help others. This is very rewarding for me to be able to do.
For all the lurkers and newbies... Thank you for reading my story and learning about my set up. I hope this has been helpful for you.
Pic of Beman's enclosure. And some of my favorite pics of him over the years.
So let me start things off. My name is Becca. I have been a member of Chameleon Forums since November of 2018. I started lurking in the forum in October of 2018 when I got my first chameleon from Petco. Impulse buy and my first reptile. I was lucky and found the forum very quickly so I was able to make total husbandry changes within the first week of having Beman. Beman was 4-5 months old when I got him and will be 5 years old this coming June/July. I do not have an exact hatch date since he is a Petco baby. He has been in the same Dragon strand enclosure since January of 2019. Although I have made some modifications to it so that it would be a full hybrid cage. I have spent well over 2k on his total set up over the years. Adding new and better things to improve his overall quality of life.
Details about his home... As I mentioned it is a Dragon Strand enclosure. This one is 30 inches wide 24inches deep and 48 inches tall. This one is no longer a cage that they make which is sad because it is by far my favorite size. I have a herpstat to control the basking temp which dims the fixture up and down. I am running a jungle dawn LED plant light and then 3 T5HO light fixtures. 1 of the T5HO fixtures is used for his 6% arcadia UVB bulb. Then I have 2 6500 daylight bulbs for plants in the other 2 t5ho fixtures. I have a mistking misting system and run 2 misting heads. He is currently getting 6-7 minute mistings 3 times a day. Once in the morning and two in the late afternoon and evening. This keeps my ambient humidity right in the sweet spot of 38-45% daytime which I need since I live in AZ where there is virtually no humidity and provides him with long misting sessions which he loves. I have 5 live plants in his enclosure. 2 hibiscus, 1 pothos, and 2 dracaena. All real branches were used for his enclosure. As I mentioned I modified his walls with PVC sheets to make his enclosure a hybrid. On the door panel I have 20 gauge marine vinyl and then the service door is screen to allow for the chimney air flow effect. I also run a small pc fan on top to help pull air up and out of the enclosure. I have a full throttle feeder cup as well for him. All of his lights are each on govee smart plugs so that the lights turn on slowly in the morning one after the other and then the same gradual lights off into the late afternoon and evening to start cooling down the cage. I also use 2 govee smart sensors so I know what my ambient temps and humidity are at all times. Govee devices are managed from an app on my phone which is super helpful.
What I love about this hobby and these animals is that I never stop learning new things. Beman is by far the most amazing animal I have ever had. With that said this is the most challenging animal I have ever taken care of. I found myself watching him constantly in the beginning trying to learn his behaviors. I think this helped me quite a bit as he matured and over the passed few years to know when something was off. I think anyone can be successful in this hobby if they put in the time and attention to detail. Making sure the chameleon comes first and has everything it needs to thrive. If done right you have less chance of something going wrong. And in this hobby things can go wrong even when everything is done perfectly.
Beman is at an age now where I hold my breath most days when I go to greet him in the morning. Being as he is almost 5 years old I really do not know how long I have left with him. But what I do know is I have given this petco boy an amazing life. I have been able to watch him grow and thrive. I was extremely intimidated getting into this hobby and I was very very overwhelmed at first. Now here I am years later and I am an active member in this forum and I am able to help others. This is very rewarding for me to be able to do.
For all the lurkers and newbies... Thank you for reading my story and learning about my set up. I hope this has been helpful for you.
Pic of Beman's enclosure. And some of my favorite pics of him over the years.





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