Just completed my new and first enclosure

[Jon S]

My Screameleons kit came today and I just finished putting everything together. I don't have a camera with me (my girlfriend has decided it is her camera), but it looks like the one on the Screameleons website and in an earlier post by another member who just set theirs up.

I did add my small ficus tree (it seems to be doing much better). I replanted it into a larger clay pot with miracle grow potting soil and river rocks covering the soil to prevent ingestion. I also have one of those small, pliable, jungle vines running through the cage.

So far the temps are on spot and the humidity is where it needs to be. The lighting includes a 60 watt blue day bulb and a 5.0 Reptisun bulb. I forget the dimensions of the cage, I think it is 20x18x24?

It will be a couple weeks before the new guy (male sired by Screameleon's War) is ready to be sent to me, so it gives me a good amount of time to tinker with cage placement and such. REEEEEEEEEEAAAAAALLY excited!

For so long I felt like an envious poser reading all the posts for a couple months and never having a cham of my own! It deff made me more prepared for him though.

I'll post a pic whenever my girlfriend decides to let me have my camera back

 

[zombiepixel]

right on man, you are smart getting everything ready way way in advance, I thought a week would be sufficient but he is here and i'm still working on his enclosure.

How is your Habba mister working? I think I need to tweak the pressure valve more but my is more like a sprinkler right now than a mister.

 

[ChamNovice]

right on man, you are smart getting everything ready way way in advance, I thought a week would be sufficient but he is here and i'm still working on his enclosure.

How is your Habba mister working? I think I need to tweak the pressure valve more but my is more like a sprinkler right now than a mister.

Not to disappoint you, but the Habba mist will always be more like a sprinkler than a mister. That's why people on here call it a Habba "Spit". It really doesn't produce a fine mist, like the other misting systems people on here rave about(Mistking).

 

[zombiepixel]

Not to disappoint you, but the Habba mist will always be more like a sprinkler than a mister. That's why people on here call it a Habba "Spit". It really doesn't produce a fine mist, like the other misting systems people on here rave about(Mistking).

you have ruined my day...


No you didn't, thats what i've read. My humidity doesn't move after a spray (well maybe a little). What is the problem with it? is it the nozzle? is it the pressure limitations of the system? While I was home depot I picked up a bag of micro spray jet tips used for drip systems, If I was to replace the stock nozzle with something like this would it help? I'm not saying that my micro jet spray tips are misting tips or anything, just using them as example.

I'm gonna get a Mistking ASAP, but for the time being I still want things optimal.

Jon S let me know if you get better results

 

[Jon S]

right on man, you are smart getting everything ready way way in advance, I thought a week would be sufficient but he is here and i'm still working on his enclosure.

How is your Habba mister working? I think I need to tweak the pressure valve more but my is more like a sprinkler right now than a mister.

I saw your video in a previous thread and meant to ask you when and what kind of panther you got from Vince.

The habba mister works about as well as I expected from reviews. It is a little more noisy than I thought, and it is more of a spray, but it leaves plenty of water droplets on the leaves. I plan on hand misting a couple times a day if necessary and setting up a drip cup. I'll invest in a mist king when the cham has to move to a bigger enclosure.

Make sure to use distilled water for the habba mist. From everything I've read and from information from Vince, tap water and the minerals in it can clog up the system and cause it to stop spraying.

In my enclosure, I took out the middle stick with the leaves and placed a small ficus from LLLReptile in the cage. It's height reaches to the height of the first basking branch (with the temp and mist nozzle on it), and it offers many different heat gradients. Then I ran one of those bendable jungle vines through where the second branch would be.

The ficus seems to keep the humidity a big higher, fills out the enclosure, and makes for a bit more of a naturalistic environment.

I tightened the misting nozzle to about the tighest it gets to get the most fine spray I could get out of it. Having the ficus allows for more surface area for water droplets as well. I would highly recommend it. A small one from LLLReptile is like $23 delivered, or you can buy one (lord knows I looked in 6 different nurseries including home depot and lowes and could not find one).

How is your cham taking to the tank? Which kind was it?

 

[zombiepixel]

I didn't get a panther, I got a veiled from lancecham. I was thinking about getting a panther but I've always wanted to start out with a veiled.

I'll try that with the mister, since he is already in there I didn't want to tighten the misting nozzle to much and have him miss a shower. We were able to find a ficus at home depot, it's pretty small but adds much more foliage to the enclosure.

I think he is taking to the cage well , he is still to freaked out to do anything but hide when I'm around, crickets are disappeareing so I assume he is eating here and there.

 

[Jon S]

I was torn between a veilded and a panther. Congrats on him! I imagine mine is going to be scared to all hell when he gets here. I'm kind of nervous, I feel like I'm ready and have everything the way he needs it, but it seems like these things are so damn delicate! Everytime I check out the forum or look them up, I think that when I open the door to come in a breeze is going to hit him and kill him, or if I sneeze he'll stress out and keel over! I'm overly paranoid as it is about my other reptiles.

Hope your new guy does well!

 

[zombiepixel]

Yours too!

Yeah I'm über paranoid as well, I treat him like a delicate leaf, but I'm sure I he is a little tougher than that.

 

[warpdrive]

Jon and zombie,

as a new owner of a 4 1/2 month old panther, I can understand your feelings about getting a chameleon and how delicate they can be.
rest asured that they are quite tough and hardy if kept corectly.

both of you are on the right track and I'll bet that in time you'll find that they will suprise you in how tough they can be.

please don't worrie about a breeze or some other silly thing that could happen.
remember that normaly they live in the wild and have to deal with everything from heavy rain, wind, drought, lack of food, birds, and so on.
in other words, they have it easy in your homes.

both of you and the chams will be fine in the end.

Harry

 

[Screameleons]

Habba Mist feedback

Guys,

The MistKing system is awesome. In fact, I use one myself. However, this is better suited for larger enclosures and for adults.

Keep in mind that your juvenile is housed in a smaller enclosure. The higher pressure systems usually run for a minimum of 1 minute. You can imagine how much water will be sitting in your enclosure after a full 60 seconds of misting.

The Habba Mist is a good solution to this problem. Yes, we know the misting system is not strong like a Mist King, but this is the reason why we use them with babies. Over moisture is one of the top reasons chameleons get sick. That is why it is so important to keep the bottom of your cages dry. With a high pressure system and a small cage, you'd need drainage to keep a healthy environment. The Habba Mister offers a good balance of automatic watering, and a healthy environment.

They key is to tweak your Habba Mister to offer a good amount of water, while having the bottom of the cage dry out completely between mistings.

Hope this helps.

Vince

 

[zombiepixel]

Thanks WarpDrive and Vince

i like the way that the habba leaves a lot of water on leaves. I am still tweaking the nozzle so I can get a better spray. I have a water collection bowl and a paper towel down that I have been dumping/changing daily since I still get a nice puddle of water on the bottom.

here are a couple pics of my current setup