Well the material for the background is foam, its the basic background that comes with exoterra tanks, its the cheap 1 foam like you get in shipping materials, with it carved and some paint lol. Yes a chameleon can 100% climb it, as well as easily shred it apart and stick their nails into it.
On my phone and a quick look, I seen the reflection and that looked like screen, your right though its a glass Vivarium, the background says likely an exoterra (also the roof says exoterra), which leads to another possible issue to be fair.
Not saying for certain, BUT, that particular background is *usually* only shipped with 24 tall Exoterras AFAIK, and OP thats not big enough for a chameleon. Exoterra has gotten very good about background choices, and 36 tall vivs, have Tree/Bamboo backgrounds, not rock. Rock can be bought separate, so its possible they shipped some with rock, I just have never seen them.
Right again,
"Not saying you, or picking on you, just in general, do not understand the mindset of a 14 inch down basking branch and 10 inch pots."
IN General, Branches should reach close to the top, and due to that, lights should not ever be set on the top IMO.
Thats not completely true. Some Chameleons quite often go to the bottom. Females go to the bottom to lay, some go to the bottom to catch prey, some go down to explore. Do they do it all the time, no, but they do do it.
Also if you remove the bottom 10 inches of the cage, you have also shortened the mid section by quite a bit. 6 inches saved on the bottom, is 6 more inches of midsection in reality. Let me show you.
View attachment 262768
Your chameleon doesn't go lower than the 10 inch pots? So you assume they wont. Well thats just not true, if it was then why cover the soil? They dont go to the soil right? Except they do, especially the common ones we keep, Panthers and I am pretty sure Veilieds, are bush chameleons, they do not live in 20 ft tall trees. They live in 5-6 foot shrubs, and go to the ground to change shrubs, among other reasons. If you have no branches leading down, or 10 inch tall "pots" that barely allow them walking space, how could they go there? Build a bio-active 4x2 of floor space, with dirt they can actually move around on, and you will see them go down there more often. They wont sit down there, for sure. However if given a large enclosure with bio floor, they surely will do their "Laps" once in awhile to the bottom, and regulate their space. Might be some bugs down their causing trouble with their poop eaters, they got to regulate
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Lets not confuse, I dont have branches in the lower 24 inches as they wont go there, because they will if they have highways to do so. They will use any cage space they are allotted, quite often, if given it, if given only 2 branches that is all they will use. More branches, more exercise, and exploration.
"These few inches dont make a difference", well if that were true, why is 48 inches suggested and not 36? That is more than half the size difference between the heights. Which is how Glass makes up for being a max of 36 tall.
More than cage depth that we think about however, physical height is the actual most important. A 36 inch cage, as depicted above, assuming same width/depth on a 3ft stand, is vastly superior to a 48 inch on the floor. The animal doesn't care where the soil is, they care to be where they can look down on predators to feel safe. As you said its not in common nature, to go low, however that has ZERO to do with soil, and more to do with actual height especially above perceived predators.
At the end of the day, a 48 tall cage with a 14 inch branch from the top, and 10 inches pots isnt hurting anything, its a common layout. 36 inch cage is also okay, especially with a better layout (Bio / Higher branches). The point was, that having the bulb on the screen is not only dangerous, but that layout wastes space. If your going to have a 4ft cage, why waste space? Especially when nothing is gained by doing so.
