Housing a chameleon outside...

herpluva

New Member
What do you need to do different and what do you need to watch for?
What temps are good for them outside and when do you bring them in?
Should I bring him in every night? Should I put his reptarium in the shade or direct sunlight since he has a lot of foliage to hide under? How many times a day should I mist him if he is outside?
Thanks
 
As for different, I would be sure that your encloser is wild animal/domestic cat proof so that you don't come home one day to find your beloved pet has become and expensive lunch for someone else.

The temps should be about the same, highest 95ish, lowest 60ish (at night).

I personally would like to provide a bit of shade somewhere besides what the plants will offer.

As long as the outside temps don't go below 60, then they should be OK at night. If it goes below that then yes.

Misting should be as much as you would inside. I guess unless it rains for an hour some point during the day like in FL Then only during the time of day it didn't rain!

I've not housed a cham outside but I would like to. I just can't right now since I live in an appartment!
 
What species? You want to find a spot with some shade and sunlight either way,but some will be more tolerant than others. I like to mist heavliy when mine are outside.
 
all kinds of things to consider....

don't put them outdoors in a nice cage as your cage will only corrote and you'll have a beautiful screened cage with rust on it, even a little bit of that is not good...so if you have a nice cage leave it inside and instead of moving the whole cage in and out, just pick up a zip up reptarium as those are cheap and effective for outdoor, and they even partially block a little light which can be a very good thing esp in states like texas and florida where there is plenty of sunlight

you also have to think about this...just because its the temp outside..thats totally diff than temp you want to reach basking indoors......

for example its acceptable to have high basking zones in your cage, however if your going to be relating those to temps outside...you have to realize there won't be any cool zones for the cham to go to if he is too hot...you'll notice this if your cham hangs by the bottom of his cage...the whole cage will be that hot, and furthermore....if its in direct sunlight chances are it will probably be even hotter which is very stressful to chams...

follow some of these guidelines, tons of plants around and in the cage i like to completely surround the cage just to give all kinds of shade, and its really easy to hose the circle of plants around the cage to create a small amount of humidity a few times a day.

In the heat of summer, its best to let them chill in the sun from say sunrise to 1030 ish, usually by then it gets to the heat of the day...I then like to move them either under my porch, or move them so half of there cage is completely shaded and a small portion is in the sun should they decide they need some digestive help and bask it up.

at around 430 its usually cooling off so I put them back out into the sun where they can get good exposure without over heating, this helps them with maximum metabolism, you'll find chams grown this way grow very fast and eat a lot with few digestive problems.

If you live near woods, you should be very careful as crickets and other feeders and maybe even chameleon scent attracts everything from snakes raccoons, to hawks falcons and owls. which have all happened to me, so be careful....you def don't want to look down at your foot and see a 4 foot superfat cottonmouth or have a cham scooped by an owl

Its very important to keep your outdoor cages clean every 3 to 5 days as bacteria and other "bad" things spawn and thrive much faster than in indoor cages, not to mention your chams will poop a lot more.

rain is good for them, but not too much rain...hours on end of rain is going to hinder them even though some species may see that in the wild, its best to let them dry out or run out and bring them in esp at night.

keeep in mind veileds are very hardy and you should be very careful with other species...veileds can take a lot of abuse but its not to say they like it or it will help them on there journey to grow big and healthy.

for a few dollars you can rig a misting system that will hook up to a hose spicket and you can run 3 misting lines, if you are interested in the parts pm me...they are available at lowes and home depot and online at digcorp

for a few more dollars you can buy a hose egg timer so you can hit them with 10 minute sessions and leave. if you have poor municipal water I'd suggest just using filtered or purified water or buying a water softener and r/o unit which can become quite pricey.


at this time of year, its the perfect time to start outdoors, its starting to cool down and there is still quite a bit of heat in your texas area(sometimes even too much)

but, come december it will start cooling down and you'll want to bring your chameleons inside during the night time, or even in the day time if it gets too cold although it seems the coldest part of winter on states bordering the gulf coast is usually late februaryish although I'm not really being too precise, winter is cold there you go :)

if you have any questions like I said pm me I've had a really good year housing my chams outdoors, and had some get really reallllllly big, and I attribute it to the lush landscape and natural sunlight.
 
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