Housing chams outside year round.

[poison]

What are you thoughts on this? I live in San Diego and I read there are some invasive jacksons in certain parts out here. I was wondering if you guys think it would be safe to house a pair outdoors year round. Even through the cold seasons?

 

[qdude46]

It could be possible but when there are some real windy days or so,etching I'd have a place ready to out them. I don't think you need to worry much about invasive Jackson's though, the biggest population is in Hawaii.

 

[poison]

Any other species of cham that would do fine in SD weather? And yes I do plan on having extra enclosures for safety.

 

[fluxlizard]

Not familiar with sandiego weather myself, but regardless, if you attempt outdoor year round enclosures, keep in mind the microclimates you create inside your enclosures. Free running wild chams can find warmer microclimates in times of cold- in deep vegetation for example, against south facing barriers (concrete walls or boulders or hillsides for example- which build heat in the day and release heat at night) or in the case of wild veileds, they have been known to seek shelter beneath large rocks to avoid night frosts.

So you might consider working out ideas for special enclosure construction that would provide a little warmer than ambient temps in the winter (block out northern windows, build heat from the south) and a little cooler in the summer.

 

[CarlC]

Didn't Ken used to keep his parsonii outside all year. I think his female even layed in the ground.

Carl

 

[poison]

Thank you guys very much for the info

I don't think I'm going to attempt a year round enclosure. I do not feel confident that I can pull it off. What I do think I'm gonna do instead is set up 2 enclosures one indoor for the cooler weather and the outdoor one for when its nice. The weather out here is great most of the year so (other then winter which about this time) they will spend most of their time outside. I think I'd prefer a veiled and not jacksons as most are WC out here and not to sure how they would react to being tranferred to different enclosures. What is the lowest temps that a veiled can withstand? On a good day at night the temps drop to about 70F do you think this is to low for night time? When I had my veiled his temps were about 75F at night.

 

[poison]

And by the way, this enclosure is 5LX6TX2W

 

[poison]

Well just picked up a baby male veiled. Gonna raise him up indoors for the cold season and put him in the out door enclosure when its nice out side and he gets some good size. Hes already eating like a champ for me

 

[junglefries]

I live in va and have had great success in keeping my chams outside may - september. (jax. veil. blue bars) (yet to keep my nosy bes outside). Do not know specifics of diego weather, however i assume you could get a couple extra outdoor months than me. go to the weather channel website. they have yearly monthly averages of temps and rainfall listed. will make it extremely easy to identify needs per specific breeds. i also utilized the barrier and cage placements as mentioned by previous posters. i set it up so they got full sun from 10am-1pm. half sun from 8-10am & 1-3pm. made a huge difference in overall colors, health, d3, & saved lights and power bill. you would be doing yourself a disservice by not taking advantage of ca weather. pm me if you need any specifics or little tid bits of what i learned in order to eliminate any mistakes.