issues with outdoor enclosures?

[Metzzen1]

I have alot of experience with reptiles (breed albino cornsnake morphs) but none with chams. Im interested in keepin a veiled chammy outside 90% of the year. I am in houston, Tx and the weather here is....well..."tropical"...sorta

Temps are between 70-95 MOST of the year with a few months of 40's-60's and a few nights of freezing temps. We are 30 miles from the coast so humidity is always at least 80%.

The spot where we plan to keep the cage will get indirect sunlight (shining off of adjacent walls) and light through a tinted Skylight. The skylight wont do anything for UV for the cham but we tested the spot out with a few plants and they are growing like crazy. That being said, i will provide both UV and daylight with flourescent bulbs to the cage. Also a heat lamp for basking. Im kinda wondering if a heat lamp will be needed. for example. lets say its 85 degrees outside, would a heat lamp still be necessary???????

This spot, although outdoors, has a roof overhead and is closed in on 3 sides so no worry about birds/animals jackin with it. Plus it will be hung from the ceiling by cables so racoons will have a hard time getting to it.

I will check temps 3-5 times a day and may actually set up a auto mist system to mist if temps rise above 90* in addition to multiple mistings a day.

Are there any issues I need to look out for? Outdoor parasites?

What the LOWEST temp that a chameleon would be ok in? Whats the highest?

P.S. I searched before this post but didnt find the exact answer I was looking for

 

[Bay687]

sounds like a good setup to me, i would definitley keep an eye on temp at first 80's or 90's are perfectly fine, but once it reach the 100's i would definitley try to cool down, so if you have no worries about the heat reaching that high you should be fine, it could be in the 70's dont recommend since they are cold blooded they like to heat up and use the shade to cool off, so that sounds good tho if you keep it in the 80's or 90's.. also make sure your humidity stays around 80% or you'll notice that your chameleon will have dry skin and shed quite often

 

[Julirs]

Watch the humidity. A very wise friend of mine said it would be difficult to keep a Veiled outside here in coastal FL due to the humidity, and he was right. Remember-there is such a thing as TOO MUCH humidity. This results in URI and costly antibioitcs. I do keep one of my WC Panthers and all of my Oustalets outside here with no issues.

 

[Metzzen1]

thanks guys.

I have a thing that measures humidity and temp 24 hours a day and I can set alarms for both if they are out of a specified range.

More than likely he will be in the indoor smaller enclosure during the heat of the day (2-4 pm) and will be outside the rest of the time. My 5 year old gets out of school at 2 and we usually let the animals out to play when she gets home. There will be a heat source on 24 hours a day.

Im rethinkin the enclosure a little bit. Was going to be a paludarium but for ease of maintanance and the location where we decided to put it, a regular screened cage will be better. Will post pics when I have something to show

Thanks again!

 

[critterguy]

Any possibility of replacing the glass on the sunroof with screen...or wire mesh with larger holes to allow UV in? As long as you either keep mesh size reasonable or install barriers outside you shouldn't have animal problems.

In some areas where calyptratus occurs naturally their is frost. But keep in mind the importance of the difference between daytemps and nighttemps. 50 at night may be ok, but 50 in the daytime and you might want to warm them up or they will go off feed. I started a thread on a similar topic with additional good pointers. outdoor enclosures anyone?

 

[Metzzen1]

I cannot modify the sunroof as we are in a condo and exteriors are maintained and governed by the HOA.

After looking at it again, it is not as tinted as I thought But ill still provide 1 UV tube and 1 daylight bulb in addition to heat lamps/ceramic heat emitters.

Im throwin a few ideas around as to how to maintain temperature in this thing. It is currently just framed, with no screen as I havent decided on how to do it yet. Im thinkign of making the top and upper sides (cage is a octogon shape) plywood so all the heat wont rise out of the cage.

Would it be a bad idea to cover the cage up at night like you do birds?

 

[critterguy]

As for conserving heat, make sure whatever you do doesn't compromise ventilation. I don't think it should be too big of a deal providing night temps stay above freezing and your day temps can be brought up. Maybe a few basking lamps in addition to what you have?

You should talk to slowfoot here on the boards.