Moving my panther chameleon into a larger screen cage — how do you keep humidity up?

[benjamindavis]

I'm in Denver and keep a male panther chameleon in a glass terrarium that's starting to feel cramped as he's grown. I'm planning to switch him to a screened enclosure for better airflow, but our indoor humidity here is already low, so I'm worried a screen cage will dry out too fast and make misting a constant battle.

I've been looking up general information online about screen versus glass setups and how people handle humidity in drier climates, and it seems like there are a few common approaches, but I'm not sure which makes sense for my room. I'd rather not overcomplicate things or buy the wrong size and regret it. For those of you running screen enclosures in a dry area, what has actually worked for holding humidity without soaking the whole room? Any thoughts on enclosure size for an adult male would help too.

 

[LizardLurkin]

I live in Alaska, which tends to have very dry air especially in the winter months.
Shoving a bunch of plants in the enclosure is one way to keep humidity up, but you can also cheaply modify your screen enclosure into a hybrid enclosure following this method.
I also add an additional two sprays during the night, one at 11pm for a minute, one at 2am for 30 seconds, to make sure night humidity stays up.
Surprisingly, I have to run a humidifier some days to bring it down as all of this together seems to work quite well
You'd also benefit from buying a cheap little pc fan to put on top of the enclosure, sucking air from inside and blowing it outward, not pointed in, to keep good airflow while deploying all of these methods to maintain humidity. Hope these suggestions help!

 

[MissSkittles]

I’m in humid Florida, so can’t help much with humidity other than the standard ways to maintain as best as possible - applying cling window film to all sides and back, leaving the front open for proper ventilation, plenty of safe live plants and provided your night temps are below at least 68F, you could run a humidifier/fogger at night.
Regarding enclosure size, I do have an opinion on this and bigger is much much better. I upgraded all of mine to double wides (2 XL screen enclosures attached side by side to give 4’ width). Even my girls use all of the space. Watching my panther boys, I wish I could give them even more as they use it all and seem to be wanting more. One of my guys is very restless and does the equivalent of pacing back and forth, along with screen walking (ignoring the branch I placed in that particular spot). If doing a double sized is within your abilities to provide, your chameleon will definitely appreciate it. Link to attaching two is in my signature area. Btw, right now is the perfect time of year to get XL ReptiBreezes at lowest prices on line thru chain pet stores, like PetSmart.