Help deciding which enclosure to go with

Bcloughen

Member
Alright, so I need a little bit of help deciding what type of enclosure to go with for a Panther (will be my first Chameleon) and figured you guys could give some better insight, as I am very undecided at the moment. I am thinking of putting the cage in the living room or office as both are pretty low traffic areas but was told by spouse that if I put it in the living room it has to look nice and match. So at the moment I was looking at some of the following:

1578082675528.png


with this I know I would have to paint and seal the wood to match and avoid water damage to the wood. I might turn the bottom into a storage area instead if I go this route, but would determine when I receive it and cut some holes for basking/lights in the top. I also believe I would have to redo the mesh as the crickets will definitely escape the .5 mesh it comes with, but I really like the setup and think it could definitely work. It's also on sale for $170.00 on Wayfair right now.
Size:
62.75'' x 27.5'' x 22.75''
https://www.wayfair.com/pet/pdp/archie-oscar-freddy-bird-aosc1628.html

My other option I was thinking of was one of the DIY cages preferably the Large or XL vertical, but I know my spouse is not a fan of the design and I would really have to jazz it up to be on her good side.
1578083169039.png


Also found this online, would need to pop out the glass and put wire mesh but this was definitely attractive as well.
1578083947454.png


I would honestly love to convert an old cabinet, but I am definitely not handy and question my own ability to do so.

Any help or other suggestions for an aesthetically appeasing cage that would be ideal for a Panther Chameleon would be much appreciated.
 
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Awesome, thank you. I'm just nervous it won't be appropriate for Panther, but I think I can work this to make it awesome. I'll post pictures if I go through with it.
 
Alright, so I need a little bit of help deciding what type of enclosure to go with for a Panther (will be my first Chameleon) and figured you guys could give some better insight, as I am very undecided at the moment. I am thinking of putting the cage in the living room or office as both are pretty low traffic areas but was told by spouse that if I put it in the living room it has to look nice and match. So at the moment I was looking at some of the following:

View attachment 255211

with this I know I would have to paint and seal the wood to match and avoid water damage to the wood. I might turn the bottom into a storage area instead if I go this route, but would determine when I receive it and cut some holes for basking/lights in the top. I also believe I would have to redo the mesh as the crickets will definitely escape the .5 mesh it comes with, but I really like the setup and think it could definitely work. It's also on sale for $170.00 on Wayfair right now.
Size:
62.75'' x 27.5'' x 22.75''
https://www.wayfair.com/pet/pdp/archie-oscar-freddy-bird-aosc1628.html

My other option I was thinking of was one of the DIY cages preferably the Large or XL vertical, but I know my spouse is not a fan of the design and I would really have to jazz it up to be on her good side.
View attachment 255212

Also found this online, would need to pop out the glass and put wire mesh but this was definitely attractive as well.
View attachment 255213

I would honestly love to convert an old cabinet, but I am definitely not handy and question my own ability to do so.

Any help or other suggestions for an aesthetically appeasing cage that would be ideal for a Panther Chameleon would be much appreciated.
Converting old cabinets usually take some woodworking skills as most (curio cabs) are not deep enough
 
And for build out your specific temp range and humidity will play a factor. I went with a screen cage but ended up needing to cover 1-2 sides to hold heat / humidity these factors will also dictate your lighting linear t5 or t8 bulbs (most would recommend t5 but didn't want to say t8 won't work) may require a good bit of work on the top of that bird cage to remove the roof and get something have an opening for uvb to pass through. and be sturdy enough to support the fixture

Appease the other half get live plants to keep them happy and a quad fixture to keep them plants happy make it a masterpiece!

The dragon stand dragon ledges are a great addition to any screen cage as well.
If your willing to Shell out a few extra bucks to have a clean look and super functional set up dragon stand will probably be the best route but you might have to wait for it be be built.
 
Good to know. Soooo I bought the birdcage, the Panther has a delivery date of February/March giving me more than enough time to convert and test out... worst case scenario i'll just go with the DIY. Thank you all!!
 
Personally I think if your considering the birdcage in the first picture you would be better off just building your own from scratch. By the time you do all the modifications you may as well have just built it yourself. After all a chameleon enclosure is essentially a rectangle frame with a door, anyone can build that! I built this one for about $70.
6274D1A4-2060-48C9-B673-536DA4C5404F.jpeg
 
If I could do my cage selection over again I would go with the Exo-Terra Large X-Tall screen cage 36x18x36 instead of the ZooMed Repti-Breeze 24x24x48. I think the extra width would be more useful than the 1 foot of height. My chameleon very rarely, if ever, utilizes the bottom 1-1.5 feet of his cage. With panthers being on the larger side, this would allow them more room to move around in the cage. I'm not sure about your main question regarding making it look like a piece of furniture. But I think if you get a nice looking wooden table for it or something it wouldn't look bad.

On sale for $99 at LLLreptile, might scoop one up myself:
http://www.lllreptile.com/products/...PdNGfC83Q_s4fWipXBiI-NznkoCbZGGBoCl1MQAvD_BwE
 
Since ya'll were very helpful in the decision process, figured I owed you some pictures. So far I've polyurethaned the cage over, rescreened all the sides (kept chicken wire on top and bottom, some plants, fake vines, etc. and sprayed great stuff foam on the bottom tray into a drainage system. Still trying to figure out what I'm doing with the top part and have alot more tweaks to do, but check it out.
 

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Any ideas what I can do to cover the screen mesh and Staples around my cage? I'm thinking Great Stuff Pond Foam but am open to suggestions.
 

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Any ideas what I can do to cover the screen mesh and Staples around my cage? I'm thinking Great Stuff Pond Foam but am open to suggestions.
I would get some nice finishing board, maybe cedar or something. I dont know the exact name of it, but it's a thin wood that sometimes has a design routed into it to make furniture look nicer.
 
I would get some nice finishing board, maybe cedar or something. I dont know the exact name of it, but it's a thin wood that sometimes has a design routed into it to make furniture look nicer.
Awesome idea, do you mean like moulding (attached)?
 

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I would just do it right with a dragonstrand cage very neat and clean looking with the dragon strand ledges. And if your thinking of splitting the cage in half it won’t sufficient for a adult male Panther.

You say that in the same breath as suggesting Dragonstrands???

Medium Atrium:

"The Dragon Strand Medium Atrium screen chameleon cage was specifically designed to have the dimensions that would allow it to be suitable for a chameleon for its whole life. The square width x height makes it comfortable for an adult male panther or veiled chameleon, while keeping the entire cage accessible to a three-month old baby.

The Atrium screen cage is 28.5″ wide, 29.5″ high, and 18″ deep. It comes with the standard Dragon Strand cage features including the following."


That bird cage is literally a bigger version (deeper) of 2 stacked Atrium's :).

Width > Height :). That is as long as the Male, is higher up when the cage is setup, so like on a stand or a whole other cage :).

I like that Birdcage Idea alot, with Dshulds Idea of using those Puck lights for basking, and some LEDs and a Flo, if you modified a screen right below the shelf in the center, giving a couple inches of clearance you could use that to house a Male and a Female Pretty comfortably. You would be surprised how many large breeders do exactly that, with racks sometimes 3 cages high. Use the same lights on the top cage, and same idea, wouldn't be too awfully hard.

Great outdoor cage for 2 chams as well.


Nice job on that birdcage OP, looks good :).
 
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