Housing Experience?

[sandrachameleon]

Used a screen cage - it wasnt a good choice
Used a wire (like bird) cage - its was pretty good
Now use wood/wire/plexiglass combo cages - excellent!

I have both "friendly" and "normal temperment" chameleons, each housed in the same arrangement, and fed the same ways. Caging and good dont seem to be factors influencing temperment around here.

 

[Motherlode Chameleon]

I free range, use screen cages and use glass terrariums. I have found each has there own application towards keeping chameleons. I find the free range exhibits chameleons prefer to spend most of their time "chillen" in this kind of situation. However for hunting a screen cage is optimum. I normally tend to go with glass terrariums when raising or growing out baby chameleons.

 

[jocyburns]

I havn't kept chams before now but have kept a lot of reptiles and p. arrow frogs... i believe there is a certain intuition some people have with cold blooded's and i agree with motherload...There is not one set way unless you have been studying for a long time Every Way captive and uncaptive. Do you think these animals are like people, some openminded some closed minded?

 

[andy27012]

Perhaps I am missing something, but why do the three cage types equal 144 percent of the vote?

 

[laurie]

Perhaps I am missing something, but why do the three cage types equal 144 percent of the vote?

Because a lot of us use more than 1 type of cage set up.

 

[skyedog]

I have used all three types with different levels of success...

The first chameleon I ever owned was a veiled chameleon. This was many many years ago. I didn't know the "proper" caging methods for him, so I had him in a glass tank. It started off as a 20 high, then a 30 extra high, and eventually I had him in a 45 gallon and a custom made 55 gallon extra high (I still regret giving that tank up). He lived as a healthy chameleon for several years. He never had a health issue.

I did free range a mellers chameleon. I had part of my room set aside for him, and he seemed to be ok with the free range, but at the same time I introduced him to a 260 gallon reptarium. He would go in that when I wasn't around for a while. I always worried about the safety of the cham when he free ranged. I had a fear of something being able to get to him, or him getting away to something and becoming injured. I currently house a sub-adult mellers in a 260 gallon reptarium. I can say, even though I'm talking about 2 different chameleons, that there was no difference in attitude or behavior with the 2 mellers. But like I said this was just a personal observation.

Every other chameleon I have owned, with the exception of the brevs, were housed in screen cages.

I guess my personal opinion is that the method of housing, whether its free range or screen cage, is influenced a lot by the chameleon itself. I have seen other people's free ranges, and as nice as they are, the temperment of the veiled chameleon in one of the free ranges I saw is about the same as the one I have in a screen cage, and healthwise there was no difference either.

The question I have is would it be better for a wild caught chameleon to be placed in a free range to try to mimic the enviornment it was taken out of, and do cb chameleons have the brain power/instinct to want or need a free range setup if caging is all the chameleon has ever known?

Ok I'm done rambling. Hope this made sense...

 

[Miss Lily]

Amy is housed in a glass Exo Terra terrarium and Tommy is housed in a VivExotic wooden vivarium with glass doors.

 

[dreamforthedead]

If you guys ever come to FL you must stop by my house and meet Luie & Camille, see how they live and see how they interact with me. They are by far the smarted animal that I have ever worked with and I've had about everything being an animal lover all my life.

You can just tell by looking at Luie how happy he is, one of the most content chameleons i've ever seen. I'm going to free range Mia in my bedroom i just need to actually get some time to start working on it.

 

[hallenhe]

I hadn't realized when I voted that this was multiple choice (read the directions, dummy!); I'm actually all three. Glass cage for pygmies, free range for healthy adult non-pygmies, screen cage for juvies, quarantine, some ailments.

 

[mardithepanther]

more people use glass cages than free range

 

[pssh]

more people use glass cages than free range

Uh, okay? Glass is more practical than free ranges. Plus glass keeps humidity up.

 

[EvilLost]

can you guys who free range explain how you handle their poop? water and lighting can be controlled, but I hesitate to attempt it because I just can't figure out how to handle the poop...

 

[Mr Wilson]

Ours are all in their own separate screen enclosures. We have a dog who is in the same room as them all the time, and 2 other dogs from by boyfriend's mom who come to play all the time with Spud. With them all running around like complete maniacs, it's safer and more practical for us to have them caged. Ours are perfectly happy little guys. While I'm sure they associate us with food as well, they aren't afraid of us, they are happy when we come by. Sometimes they're fresh, but so are human children and they're "free ranged", aren't they?

Either way, I don't think there is one way that is right or wrong. They are all obviously wonderful and successful ways to keep your chams safe and comfortable! Maybe one day when we get a bigger place with a reptile room we'll be able to do more of a "free range" section for them.

 

[yoshi9]

What chameleon housing methods listed below do you have experience with? This poll is multiple choice - choose all options that apply.

# Screen Cage
# Glass Terrarium
# Free Range

Let us know if you have experience with something unique or a thoughtful observation.


Note:
Free range discussions at Chameleon Forums can sometimes attract strong and conflicting opinions. A common view believes that the open environment provided by a free range setup offers mental health benefits and reduced stress for chameleons. People belonging to this camp will often argue that chameleons are happier when living in a free range setup. The general opposing view acknowledges that standard enclosures cause stress; however, this group is of the opinion that the possible dangers and increased complications of a free range system far outweigh the possible benefits. One common point of agreement is that free range setups are for advanced keepers and should only be attempted by those with sufficient experience, time, and floor space.

Credit: Thank you Motherlode Chameleon for the poll idea.

In my opinion screen or free range are better. I believe that a baby who is born CB wouldnt even know what free range is because he/she has lived in a cage all its life. Obviously if it was kept free range as a baby this would be different. Sorry if this doesnt make sense

 

[yoshi9]

can you guys who free range explain how you handle their poop? water and lighting can be controlled, but I hesitate to attempt it because I just can't figure out how to handle the poop...

Well im not experienced in free ranged but, I have seen people use small plastic play pools which i could see would make it much easier to control poop and use a small broom and dust pan to sweep it up.
Hope this helped

 

[facelesdoll]

i have experience keeping in/on all three. and my experience was that free ranging is number one! the chams love it, and they tend to bloom personality wise. the only down fall is rigging everything up to work on a free range including misting/drippin, poop catching, and setting up the lighting just right so they cant mess with it or get to close. second up, is screen cages. they are just simply perfect for our use but slightly poor to the animals environment, though it is kept in mind that some would still rather the screen be there for their own hiding purposes which i have experienced also. lastly is ofourse the glass tank syndrome. for many of us in the colder regions, it seems almost necessary to have a complete closured environment to balance all of the so called levels of what we need to act on for their thriving purposes. but this is simply what needs to be done, just differently, in these environments. what i do is hand plastic up from the ceiling to floors in the area i want to use as my chameleon room, so that their space is segregated aay from the rest of the room. a black and white sheet plastic works well, keeping the white side in for reflection. i am soon to be free ranging 2 males inside of it on one side, seperated by a divider. and on the other side i will have 3 females in cages on a rack i made and mounted to the wall. draping off of the rack is a towel that nearly scathes the floor some 43-44 inches down, and hangs into a bucket full of water, placed neatley behind that is a space heater and small fan sitting right on the space heater taking the hot upward moving air into it and displacing it toward the towel. i get no more than a 1degreeF difference in the entire enclosed environment, and have perfect humidity. the basking lights during the day are enough alone to raise their temps to the perfect day time temps, and the space heater maintanes the exact night time temps. my enclosed environment is 4'x8', with 2 dual 4 foot fluro's(each with a reptisun5.0, and a 6,500k) and each chameleon has 1 40 watt house bulb for basking. i also keep my feeders in here and my crickets are hardy as can be! i hope this helps but other than some pygmy species no chameleons should really be kept in a glass or plexi cage at all. and if possible not even a screen cage, do FREE RANGE!

 

[pssh]

Mine have 'poop spots.'Plop down some newspaper/paper towels and you're set!

 

[djfishygillz]

well even if it is because he expects food, a chameleon that doesn't stress when you see him is better than a chameleon that is in a cage and hates your guts. lol. But then again im sure that there are friendly cages chameleons also.

 

[HiImAMac]

I've used both free range and screen cages. Currently I'm using screen cages, and like many others, I don't LIKE caging my animals, but sometimes it is necessary. I do have a large screened in porch that gets lots of sun, and my chameleons spend most of the summer mornings out there. The biggest difference that I have noticed between the two methods are the amount of stray crickets I find in my house and the friendliness of my chameleons. Sometimes crickets escape the cricket cup and end up on the floor, but for some reason the chameleons seemed more friendly and not so bothered when someone was in their room when they were free range. Either way, as with anything there are advantages and disadvantages to both, but even though my chameleons are in cages, they are still spoiled rotten and happy.

 

[Chris Jury]

I've used all three at various times in various circumstances. All three have their strengths and all three have their weaknesses. Depending on circumstances, I have found each of the three to be clearly superior, or clearly inferior, to one of the others. Screen is an obvious choice for outdoor housing, and works well indoors under some circumstances. Free-ranging can work well, but they are signficant obstacles to overcome IME. Glass or other solid-sided construction works wonderfully indoors in some circumstances. For instance, largely solid construction (glass or other) worked much better indoors in the winter when I lived in Michigan, and was darn near required for hatchlings.

I was absolutely on board with the paradigm that all or mostly screen construction was required when I first started out keeping chameleons, about 14 years ago. It took dehydrating and killing more than a few hatchling Veiled (and struggling to keep the adults fully content) during MI winters for me to realize this view is off base. For the life of me, I still fail to completely understand how this idea became so entrenched. All screen is useful sometimes, and less useful others. Glass or solid-sided enclosures (i.e., more limited ventilation) is useful sometimes, and less at others. Free-range is like screen, but can be big very easily, though there are big hurdles to overcome to make it work well.

I've used all three, and I almost certainly will in the future as well.

cj