My Exo Terra & A few tips!

[ReptiGeek]

Just wanted to show everyone how my veiled chameleon's adult enclosure's setup is coming along. The terrarium is an Exo Terra extra tall and the lighting used is a dual top fluorescent fixture with 35W halogen's and a 10.0 UVB tube (I find Exo Terra's have thicker screen tops so I went with the 10.0 to make sure Gizmo is getting enough UVB).
I mainly wanted to show you guys this update to give anyone using Exo Terra's ideas on how to incorporate horizontal branches/ perches onto glass, because unlike screen, you obviously can't use pins to provide the security. What I figured works well and supports a lot of weight is using suction cup hooks! They can have up to a 10lbs weight support and if you get the ones with metal hooks on them you can actually clamp them around branches. I even straighten out the hooks, put a little bit of hot glue on them and then shove them into the ends of bamboo. Once again, this will be shown in the pictures!
Also please note that the enclosure actually isn't 100% finished in these first set of photos. I still have a large pothos to include in the bottom and I will show you a convenient water collecting system I use to help keep the bottom of Exo Terra's free of water build up.

From an empty terrarium, to almost finished in less then 2 hours of work.

Small hanging pothos held up by two suction cup hooks and a piece of bamboo supporting it underneath (remember to cover up your soil!)

This is a bird ladder cut to fit into my terrarium horizontally. It is held by two suction cup hooks on one end and a single suction cup hook on the other end because the other side of the ladder is squeezed up tight against the glass and won't budge.

I screwed hooks into the ends of bamboo and hung them from the ladder and pushed the other ends into the styrofoam background

More suction cups are used to incorporate decorations such as large palm leaves. I clamped the hooks around the stem so they don't come loose.

 

[crocky]

This suction cups holding up that pothos gives me nightmares

I use suction cups and big ones that are rated for weight in my dragon cages and they are constantly coming down, I think with misting, them climbing etc they just come loose and they are only holding cloth hammocks. Just wanted to share my experience as I would hate for that pot to tumble.

If you are going to use them I suggest mounting them more permanently with glue and even then they don't hold that well IMO and experience.

 

[ReptiGeek]

Thanks for the advice. I'm not going to move my cham into the enclosure for another week or so. I'll be constantly monitoring the suctions cups within that time. If anything appears to have moved I will revisit another idea immediately and post this situation on here ASAP. As for now it has been holding well for half a day and I haven't come across any problems.

 

[showjet95]

Here is my exo terra, Ive used additional pieces of the exo terra styrofoam insert pieces on the sides so that I can put any branches I want into the cage by pushing them into the sides. Ive had full grown panthers and veileds in these although this one is for smaller species as you can tell. They can support alot of weight! Just an idea for anyone else out there that may want to try it

 

[ReptiGeek]

That looks brilliant showjet. Your enclosure designs are always so stunning. I'll definitely take that into consideration for my next project.

 

[chameleoman]

Nice to see someone putting a lot of effort/ work into making it suitable for a veiled. I'm currently setting up my terrarium for my pygmy's i want to get this weekend. If your permanently keeping the veiled in glass i would be careful to keep the humidity at a low so your cham doesnt get fungal infections or a URI

 

[ReptiGeek]

The Exo Terra's are just so pleasing to look at. And to me they help regulate humidity and temperature far better.

Updated:

Drainage system. I use a turkey baster to suck out the water from the bowl every night:

 

[chameleoman]

ya i eventually want to get into dart frogs as i just love terrariums. My biggest problem right now is i want a big exo terra to decorate but cant find the right size. My brother was gonna give me his 12x12x18 but that's too small i might just get a 18x18x18. I ordered some moss and got it today. I have some plant growing lights on the moss and foil around the whole thing because that light hurts me eyes plus the foil shines light all over on the inside. do you have any spring tails or clean up crews?

 

[ReptiGeek]

I've actually been thinking about getting into dart frogs. I've looked all over classifieds for dart frogs in BC, Canada but it doesn't seem there are any. It might be a hobby I'll get into down the road. Why don't you go with the 18x18x24? I've seen them in stores for $100 and you can probably easily find some on craiglist (if you use craigslist in LA).
What are spring tails and clean up crews?