melleri cage informations

N

napoleone

New Member
Hy, I'm from Rome, Italy. Is three month now since I've got my mellery. I'm building a new enclosure. I've read on melleridiscovery: "Do not use screen size larger than .5” x 2” rectangles, or the melleri will injure its rostrum (nose) by trying to push through the screen to freedom." I'ts not clear to me if they are talkin about feet or inches. It must be inches. In this case 5x2 inches corrisponds to 12,7x5 centimetres. Is that correct ? Another question: except for 250 flexarium wich is 74x74x 180 is there any other kind of enclosure on sale that is possible to find and buy? I've also took a look on big aviary birds cage, but they also have the same problem: little door.

Thank you for any information
Alex
 
Hi ALex,

MD is indeed a great site to find a lot of information about the great Melleri. Before getting mine, I would read and reread it many times a week. I made some mistakes but I learned a great deal. After a while you get a feel for what a happy melleri looks and behaves.

To answer your first question, the proposed maximum mesh size is actually 0.5'' by 2'', and that would be 1.25cm by 5 cm. In my opinion, I believe the optimal size would be 0.5'' by 1'', or anything that fits the chubby feet of your melleri.

I've looked at many many sites and haven't found anything cheap that would get shipped. They were all very expensive. The cage size you need depends on the size/age of your animal. As stated on MD, the flexarium 260 is suitable for juveniles and for temporary setups for outdoor sunning. If you have the skills, tools and time I suggest you build your own setup. That way you'll get exactly what you want and pay less than store bought cages. There are a lot of threads on this forum that show all the steps towards building a nice one.

Good luck!

Etienne
 
I have the possibility to take a 95x95x190 (centimetres) zinc cage, with 1,9x1,9 (centimetres) mesh size, it's a aviary cage. Would it be ok for the mellery ?
 
I would love to get some melleri in the future.
I have done a little research on them. But cant you use a 260 gallon Flexi for housing 1 or 2 adult mellers? The 260 gallon is a pretty big cage.
 
I have 3 melleri.. 2 juvenile and 1 large adult. The juveniles are about the size of an adult male panther. I currently house them in 4x2x2 foot screen cages set up like I do for my panthers. The adult was very restless and seemed uncomfortable in a similar cage so I allowed it as much free time as I felt safe on a couple large indoor ficus trees, putting it back in the cage for UV, basking and water. I just purchased a 7x5x2 custom cage made out of a cloth mesh fabric that I believe will work well for the adult. The cloth mesh is soft to prevent damage from rubbing and also large enough gaps for comfortable climbing.
 
Hey guys,

No, both cages (flexarium and zinc plated) you mentioned wouldn't suffice for a full grown melleri. It would be plenty okay for 1 perhaps 2 juveniles but an adult would probably show stress behavior/colors.

If you look on melleridiscovery.com, click husbandry, then caging, you'll see that Christina (I think that's her name) states that a minimum size would be 4'x6'x6' or 120x180x180 cm. The first time you see a fully grown adult, you understand why they need such large cages. You could also look into free ranges (cage without a top or sides)

Btw I didn't notice the first time I read your post that you're building a new enclosure. That's good because you can choose the right dimensions right away. Don't forget to include a sound water colection system. They do need a lot of water (mist 2x16 min per day) and it all has to go somewhere. Make sure you include that in your design.

I hope everything is clear. If it's not, ask again :D
 
The zinc aviary cage, can be expanded in height to 285 centimetres. I colud do the same in width but i have a little space problem. Perhaps i could enlarge the cage on the higher part, also considering that the melleri likes to stand on the upper branches.
 
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