How is my setup looking so far?

[Metalboop]

Hey guys, it's Ben again. I'm super exited to get my new chameleon sometime in the next few weeks. I've been feeling like a kid waiting for Christmas again! So to keep myself ocupied I've been buisy buying and setting up the cage. I bought two plants, a pothos and a dwarf umbrella. I couldn't seem to find them at any greenhouses near me so I ordered them online (home depot with free shipping). The pothos looks great, lots of leaves and nice and green. But the umbrella was a bit more "dwarf" than I expected... It's only about 8 inches tall with almost no branches. I think it was more intended to be a bonsai type. Hopefully it grows in. I drilled a few holes in the bottom placid and elevated it on a stand that I built above a rubbermaid bin for drainage. I'm waiting on my mistking to get here still, takes a while to ship from Canada I guess. And I got a small aquarium heater for the water reservoir.

Should I just leave the umbrella tree out for now until it grows to give my chameleon more room to climb up and down, or does this look good as is? I also have some fake plant pieces coming with the aquarium heater.
Here are some pics

 

[camimom]

Hey guys, it's Ben again. I'm super exited to get my new chameleon sometime in the next few weeks. I've been feeling like a kid waiting for Christmas again! So to keep myself ocupied I've been buisy buying and setting up the cage. I bought two plants, a pothos and a dwarf umbrella. I couldn't seem to find them at any greenhouses near me so I ordered them online (home depot with free shipping). The pothos looks great, lots of leaves and nice and green. But the umbrella was a bit more "dwarf" than I expected... It's only about 8 inches tall with almost no branches. I think it was more intended to be a bonsai type. Hopefully it grows in. I drilled a few holes in the bottom placid and elevated it on a stand that I built above a rubbermaid bin for drainage. I'm waiting on my mistking to get here still, takes a while to ship from Canada I guess. And I got a small aquarium heater for the water reservoir.

Should I just leave the umbrella tree out for now until it grows to give my chameleon more room to climb up and down, or does this look good as is? I also have some fake plant pieces coming with the aquarium heater.
Here are some pics

no pics.

 

[Metalboop]

pics are now up. the upload for my iphone wont work on here i guess

 

[camimom]

You need taller plants. and more foliage up top, CHams like to climb and be hidden.

 

[Metalboop]

How much taller should I go? I didn't wanna get him too close to the 5.0 light and burn. Or is it only the basking lamp that you have to worry about with that?

 

[camimom]

How much taller should I go? I didn't wanna get him too close to the 5.0 light and burn. Or is it only the basking lamp that you have to worry about with that?

to the top of the cage essentially. its better to move your lights, than lose height for your cham to crawl.

 

[KTown333]

Not bad. They could use some higher vines it looks like

 

[allllllen]

id definitely add more branches towards the top.
More branches means an easier time for him to move around and control his body temps. Also, it will make it less likely to see him crawling the screen walls since he has many "highways" to use.
Oh, and if you cnt find any taller plants or just dont want to replace those.
When you're adding the branches up top, zip tie some fake foliage. i bought a 72 tropical vine from LLL for 4 bucks, cut it up to the length
of my branches and zip tied them to it. Works great!

 

[Metalboop]

How does this look? I added sone more branches wrapped in fake vines. And also my mistking came!

 

[DavidBuchan]

Now that looks very nice As long as the temps are good any Cham should be happy in there. What species/sex/age are you getting?

 

[Metalboop]

I'm getting a 2.5 month old male blue bar ambilobe. The temps are between 80-85 in the basking spot under the light, and roughly 10 degrees cooler down lower among the plants. A digital thermometer and hydrometer combo is on my future shopping list. I only have the analog ones that came in my starter kit.

And while I'm at it I might as well ask this too, though it's the wrong section. How well do crickets cup feed? Will they just jump right out and run all over? I deffinatly wanna cup feed atleast half the food to cut down on trying to chase tiny crickets around the cage at night. Not to mention how much me reaching all throughout the cage to grab them would stress him out.

 

[Metalboop]

Or other good cup feeders for young panthers. I'm also planning on fruit flys

 

[camimom]

I'm getting a 2.5 month old male blue bar ambilobe. The temps are between 80-85 in the basking spot under the light, and roughly 10 degrees cooler down lower among the plants. A digital thermometer and hydrometer combo is on my future shopping list. I only have the analog ones that came in my starter kit.

And while I'm at it I might as well ask this too, though it's the wrong section. How well do crickets cup feed? Will they just jump right out and run all over? I deffinatly wanna cup feed atleast half the food to cut down on trying to chase tiny crickets around the cage at night. Not to mention how much me reaching all throughout the cage to grab them would stress him out.

It really depends on the size of your cup. I use a red dixie (beer pong) cup cut in half to cup fed. most of hte time my crickets stay in. If you really want to make sure they stay in th ecup, pull off their back legs.

 

[DavidBuchan]

I'm getting a 2.5 month old male blue bar ambilobe. The temps are between 80-85 in the basking spot under the light, and roughly 10 degrees cooler down lower among the plants. A digital thermometer and hydrometer combo is on my future shopping list. I only have the analog ones that came in my starter kit.

And while I'm at it I might as well ask this too, though it's the wrong section. How well do crickets cup feed? Will they just jump right out and run all over? I deffinatly wanna cup feed atleast half the food to cut down on trying to chase tiny crickets around the cage at night. Not to mention how much me reaching all throughout the cage to grab them would stress him out.

Sounds good, and just use a big enough cup, or pull back legs off, as suggested.