My Bioactive Setup - Introducing Monet, my new Panther!

James&Monet

Member
Hey everyone! I am new the forum. I have found so much useful information on this site. I just purchased a 3 month old panther chameleon less than a week ago - A purchase I have been anticipating for years... actually since I was a child and begged my parents to buy me a chameleon. I even begged my friend to ask their parents to buy me one secretly.

I put a lot of time into building a wonderful habitat that Monet would be happy in. I didn't expect it costing upwards of a $1000... but at least my little guy will be happy. I chose to go bioactive because I love the idea and the way it looks. All my plants are living and planted within a wall of dirt.

I constructed the wall out of the expanding foam and used a coconut fiber substrate to adhere to the wall. I left pockets with good drainage for planting the variety of tropical plants, suitable and healthy for a chameleon. I think almost all my plants were purchased from Josh's Frogs. I have bromeliads, ferns, mosses, pothos, schefflera, ficus, airplants, and an avocado tree.

I set up an automatic misting system and I love the way it smells... it fills the room! The giant avocado leaves hold droplets of water all day long for Monet to drink from which makes me happy because the water seems to evaporate fairly quickly after misting.

I hope you enjoy the pictures!! And let me know what you think.

About Monet:

He is my little love! He is so adorable. He just went through a shed over the last day or so and he was a little grumpy. I didn't handle him. But I handled him today for the first time and he ate 2 waxworms from my hand. This made me happy because so far he has been very timid. He doesn't mind my hand in the cage or near him... but as soon as I withdraw he runs up to the top of the cage to escape. So I think he still fears me to some extent.

I was slightly worried the last 2 days because he wasn't eating much or drinking and grumpy. I thought he may be unhappy but after reading a lot of threads, I think he was just recovering from his shed because today he was LIVELY! He was all over the cage exploring his home and eating up bugs. It made me so happy to see.

One of the most precious things is he bedtime schedule. Every night at 8pm sharp he makes he way to the schefflera plant and has a special spot where he nests and goes to sleep. I will have to put my lights on that timer schedule. They turn on at 8am.

I will be sure to post plenty of pictures. Thanks for letting me share!
 

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First of all welcome to the forums!
That cage is incredibly stunning!
Congrats and good luck with Monet, he's a very handsome boy!
 
Thank you!!! :D

I sent a pictue to my wife, and she agrees! I'm not sure if a bioactive setup would be right for me, though I'd love one. Just afraid of the additional complexity. Just looking at your setup makes me thing I should. :)

Is your bottom dirt (bioactive) or just the wall?
 
Welcome! I feel we are identical! I too only just got my first 3 month old Chameleon in a bioactive after years of begging my parents! Mine is only in a 24x24x24 for now but in the next few months I am hoping to create something like you have! Although he has a vine that connects his terrarium with a few other plants across my desk and he is forever free roaming and will be the far side of the desk inside the ficus tree dead on 9pm to sleep! Almost as if to say "You get to sleep out here, so I will sleep out here too!"

Which vines did you use for your terrarium they look fantastic? Or if you made them yourself how did you make them!? They make it look brilliant!

Monet looks stunning though! What type of Panther Chameleon is Monet? He has fantastic blues already coming through already!

Welcome again from Klay & Hank!


IMG_1458 (1).jpg January 29th (1).jpeg
 
What a beautiful cage :)
Is that a Galapagos Moss Vine running through the cage? If so I'm curious what your thoughts are on it - I've been considering using them but I've only seen them online.
Welcome to the forums!
 
Welcome! I feel we are identical! I too only just got my first 3 month old Chameleon in a bioactive after years of begging my parents! Mine is only in a 24x24x24 for now but in the next few months I am hoping to create something like you have! Although he has a vine that connects his terrarium with a few other plants across my desk and he is forever free roaming and will be the far side of the desk inside the ficus tree dead on 9pm to sleep! Almost as if to say "You get to sleep out here, so I will sleep out here too!"

Which vines did you use for your terrarium they look fantastic? Or if you made them yourself how did you make them!? They make it look brilliant!

Monet looks stunning though! What type of Panther Chameleon is Monet? He has fantastic blues already coming through already!

Welcome again from Klay & Hank!


View attachment 223450View attachment 223451



I love your pictures!! Can't wait to see the cage you create. I researched a bunch of DIY vivarium set ups to learn how to build it, but happy to help in any way! The vines are moss covered vines that I bought on Amazon called Galápagos (05266) MossVine, Real Moss Vine, Natural, 12FT I love how it looks as well! And then bought sheet moss from the same company to cover bits of the wall for moisture and aesthetics.

Where did you get your cham? Mine is supposed to be a blue bar ambilobe... but when he excites his bars are red and body is yellow... so I don't know. Does anyone else know the progression of colors. In his resting state, the bars are black and body is a blue green.

I would love to have him free roaming and plan to do so, but only when my eye is on him at all times. I have a cat here as well and wouldn't want Monet to walk away into trouble when I wasn't paying attention. Must be fun to have it at your desk! Excited to see more pictures!
 
I love your pictures!! Can't wait to see the cage you create. I researched a bunch of DIY vivarium set ups to learn how to build it, but happy to help in any way! The vines are moss covered vines that I bought on Amazon called Galápagos (05266) MossVine, Real Moss Vine, Natural, 12FT I love how it looks as well! And then bought sheet moss from the same company to cover bits of the wall for moisture and aesthetics.

Where did you get your cham? Mine is supposed to be a blue bar ambilobe... but when he excites his bars are red and body is yellow... so I don't know. Does anyone else know the progression of colors. In his resting state, the bars are black and body is a blue green.

I would love to have him free roaming and plan to do so, but only when my eye is on him at all times. I have a cat here as well and wouldn't want Monet to walk away into trouble when I wasn't paying attention. Must be fun to have it at your desk! Excited to see more pictures!

Yours is genuinely one of the nicest bioactive terrariums I have ever seen. I indulged myself in YouTube videos of custom builds before making mine however yours is on another level. I built mine similar to yours with the expanding foam and silicon. Those vines are awesome though in combination with the moss. They make it all look so real! Hopefully i’ll be able to get them shipped to the UK!

I got Hank from a local breeder here in London, he’s supposed to be a red body blue bar ambilobe (RBBB). When he yawns and eats the reds come through but other than that he’s still really bland so i’m excited to see his sheds over the next few months.

So excited to see Monet grow and the terriaum become even more impressive!

P.s below is the small bioactive he’s in at the moment it has changed a little since then but not too much.

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