free range?

[pantherlover]

hey everyone, i wanna start freeranging my oldest male panter on permanent basis. people who freerange your chams, how do you water your chams? the tree i wanna use is huge & looks like a potential chameleon heaven. its just that i forsee watering being an issue. any suggestions? thanks in advance.

justin

 

[jannb]

I water mine with a dropper. See below.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/luie-having-drink-water-dropper-30703/

 

[chamtrainer]

I think that if you just spray him with it you'll be fine. But you have to do this very often. Or you can just buy a misting system or two depending on how big his cage is.

 

[morpheon]

What i have seen the most in free ranging is a few drippers placed appart, with some container on the ground where the water can drop and not ruin your floor!

So the water drops on your tree, and then in your container!

 

[pantherlover]

haha, thats awesome! my guy is too shy about drinking to do that tho. ive got to mist him throughly & leave the room most of the time if i want him too drink. i have a whole drainage system set up tohandle the excess water. dont know how im going to deal with it in a huge tree likwe this. cant let the water just drip onto the floor. maybe hes just better off staying in his cage if its a potential issue?

 

[pantherlover]

ya im going to set up a dripper & see if i can contain wher the water splashes off the leaves. hopefully the container teick will work. thanks

 

[jpm995]

Maybe put a drip pan underneath to catch the water. Use a small dripper so it runs out by 6-7pm after cham goes night-night.

 

[pantherlover]

ya just gotta find one big enough. i tried last night but the tree almost 8 ft wide & the water runs along the branches & drips everywhere. maybe just try & make one.

 

[chams1]

You can use a shower curtain or plastic drop-cloths. They are easy to clean and cheap enough to replace if you have to.

 

[draetish]

ya just gotta find one big enough. i tried last night but the tree almost 8 ft wide & the water runs along the branches & drips everywhere. maybe just try & make one.

OMG what kind of tree do you have and how tall is it? That would take up half a room.

 

[pantherlover]

its a giant benjamina ficus. stole it from my mother when her & my dad went to the cottage. its about 20 years old. haha, my living room dining room are this open concept thing. so it seems more spacious than it is. over the years its been growing lopsided towards the window. its an awesome cham tree! i used to let my iguana free range in it. i waited for him too pass on before i replaced the curtains 4 the rents tho. lol.

 

[GoFast]

So he never leaves the tree or that window? He never wants to run across the floor or anything? HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

 

[hallenhe]

I have a hanging plant set up - they used to sell them as "Chameleon Condos" - light, reservoir and drip system at the top, two hanging plants, one below the other, and two tubs below - holes drilled in the upper one so water goes through it and into the catch basin at the bottom and doesn't pool up so there's stagnant, standing water. Below shows it in its earlier, less bushy incarnation, but gives a reasonably good picture of the whole thing; more recent pictures are in my thread Thaxter's domain.

 

[draetish]

Wow, how awesome. I can't get those to grow in the house without the leaves falling off.

How about setting up a watering station? You could mount a dripper set up to the trunk on the backside of the tree and tie the hose to one set of leaves so it only runs down that area. Then have a catch container on the ground. Here is a dripper set up I made.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/draetish/225-making-dripper-set-up.html

 

[pantherlover]

thats a great setup to date, ive only let him free range for couple hours at a time. ive never seen him looking like he was too intersted in anything but getting streched out on the branches that get the most sun. as for feeding id staple some mesh to the wall & let him pick off the feeders as they crawl up the wall... was thinking this would help aid him in not feeling the need to roam too much. he could possibly go across the top ledge of the window because its high but i dont see him moving around much when hes low. ive rarely seen him use the bottom half of his cage. sometimes to drink hell go below the canapy or to sleep but other than that ive created a shady side up high where he can get out of the light without descending. valuebale point tho. i will definately have to monitor him closely if i do want to make the free range his permanent home. thats a good idea too donna. i could try something like that. a hose dripper would probably work out better in this situation, that way i could control the dripping area better maybe. keep in mind guys & gals, this is an older fella & im considering making this his "retirement home." im also considering just letting him stay in the surroundigs hes used to?

 

[glaceauz]

you could also try this lol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7WTtg45GC4
not very productive but funny none the less

 

[Carlton]

its a giant benjamina ficus. stole it from my mother when her & my dad went to the cottage. its about 20 years old. haha, my living room dining room are this open concept thing. so it seems more spacious than it is. over the years its been growing lopsided towards the window. its an awesome cham tree! i used to let my iguana free range in it. i waited for him too pass on before i replaced the curtains 4 the rents tho. lol.

Just lay a large waterproof tarp on the floor and put the tree in the center. I've done that for a room sized free range and it worked great.

 

[pssh]

Last time I suggested laying down a tarp, I was told it wouldn't work... Too much water or something.

 

[GoFast]

Last time I suggested laying down a tarp, I wos told it wouldn't work... Too much water or something.

Too much water for a tarp? I could see that if it was a cloth tarp but not a plastic tarp

 

[pssh]

No, like it would flood.