I'm not trying to start an argument by any means, but for breeds such as pygmies and smaller chameleons, yes it would make sense to have like an EXO-TERRA enclosure sure. But would you have a parsonni in a glass enclosure? No, I wouldnt think so. I dont even think you could get a glass enclosure big enough to be honest unless you customized it.
In your previous post you stated that "to be honest there seems to be a lot more disadvantages of glass terrariums versus a screen one. And it seems to have less benefits than a screen cage from what I have learned so far in my chameleon experience." This is not directed at the Exo Terra terrariums specifically, but glass terrariums in general and I'm telling you that your statement is incorrect because you can not characterize all chameleons the same way. Regarding your claim that you would not keep C. parsonii in a glass terrarium, I also disagree. You can custom build or purchase large custom built terrariums which would be completely appropriate to house C. parsonii in (there are photos in this thread of adult C. parsonii in glass terrariums in fact). You can also keep C. calyptratus and F. pardalis in larger terrariums. Are these large terrariums as cost effective as large screen enclosures? No, but your statements were not about cost effectiveness, they were about a supposed lack of benefit of glass terrariums to keep chameleons in, which simply is not true.
My point in the last post is that the glass and lack of air flow seem to really make for more problems then good unless you have a couple of spare hours daily that you want to clean and make sure no mold, or water is sitting in your enclosure.
You might want to read the first post of this thread and the airflow issue is discussed there. Also, I spend considerably less time on maintenance for my glass terrariums that I ever did on my screen enclosures. You seem to be assuming that different strategies are automatically more difficult strategies, which they aren't. There are considerations you have to make and things that need to be monitored in glass terrariums that you do not need to do in screen enclosures, but the opposite is also true.
The drainage sucks, it would be hard to customize it i would imagine unless you build your own glass enclosure. So the water would sit at the bottom and just let bacteria grow.
Only if you are doing it wrong. If you do your husbandry in screen enclosures wrong too, you'll have problems. The entire point is you do not have to mist as much in glass terrariums. I misted each screen enclosure with "montane" chameleons a total of 40-60 minutes a day but for the same species, I mist for 1.5 minutes a day in glass terrariums. Guess what? I do not have drainage or bacteria issues and I don't have hydration issues with my chameleons either.
Once again, just because something is different does not mean it is more difficult. That said, if you are unable to adapt your husbandry to different requirements, you probably should stick with a veiled chameleon and not stray from what you are comfortable with, as keeping other species or using glass terrariums does demand more flexibility and an ability to respond to husbandry cues.
The stress of your chameleon possibly seeing itself could be a huge problem and lead to stress.
This is generally something cited by individuals who have never tried using glass terrariums or from people who are misinterpreting another issue in their setup. Have you ever tried glass terrariums? I've never had a reflection issue.
It doesn't give as much room as a screen cage unless you like i have said before, spend a ton of money on a huge custom enclosure,could lead to possible obesity because lack of exercise and movement.Unless you have a bunch of free ranging setups it just makes no sense.
They now come in up to 36"x18"x36" enclosures standard without paying for a custom enclosure. That is more than enough space for most species, even most adult veileds and panthers. As for your obesity issue claim, now you're just making stuff up. I've never seen a single case of obesity caused by keeping a chameleon in too small of a glass terrarium.
The bottom is harder to cover up effectively, unlike Reptibreeze, DIY cages, and some other name brands that give you a plate to fit in the bottom for easy cleaning and easier drainage. Unlike if you had the glass terrarium it would be hard to keep something in the bottom like paper towel without having to clean it everyday considering you really dont want a substrate unless it is a pygmie chameleon.
Again, I recommend you actually read this thread as this is also discussed. Not being able to use any substrate with chameleons is a logical fallacy used to simplify things for unexperienced individuals who don't understand that fine organic soil without additives is not the same thing as fibrous or chunky substrates. Believe it or not, chameleons encounter substrate in the wild and larger chameleons are no more prone to impaction than pygmy chameleons. If you use the correct substrate, the chances of a problem are extremely low and there are numerous benefits, including the ability to seed your enclosure with natural cleanup crews, healthier plants, higher humidity, less maintenance, etc.
And by no means was I lumping the 200 chameleon species, my thing is just about everyone owns about the 10 most popular species(including panther locales) so it doesnt make sense to include the huge variety of chameleons that most of the average hobbyists dont own. That is just my thoughts on it so that you could understand me better chris. Thank you for the article i did enjoy it a lot. Hope to hear back from you!
Like I said, you can not use glass terrariums exactly like you would a screen enclosure. If you can't understand that you have to modify aspects of your husbandry to reflect fundamental differences in the design of the enclosure, you shouldn't try it. Large screen enclosures are much less expensive than comparably sized terrariums, but that does not make them better enclosures, however. Even panther and veiled chameleons can be kept in these terrariums quite effectively.
Chris
As for the 36x18x36 cages, that would be plenty of room for a male veiled or panther. Gary Ferguson did a study and found that cages as small as something like 12x12x18 were satisfactory for males. Bigger is better, but smaller isn't always an issue. An adult parsons might require something larger than a 36x18x36, but you can have a large glass cage made for them. It might cost quite a bit, but it is not impossible.
. The most tongue injuries in chameleons I've seen til now happened by using tweezers to feed the animal. The chameleon hit the tweezers and injured muscle filaments. Some couldn't shoot for a while. Same can happen with anything they hit by accident, e.g. a branch the tongue gets stuck at.
