New cage, HOORAY!!

[wendysjungle]

I am soooooo happy to bid goodbye to the rigged up ferret cage! That velcro door was NOT holding up to the misting, and the daily repairs were driving me nuts!!

I have to say, these aluminum and screen cages from LLL are GREAT, very easy to put together and the 24x24x36 size I ordered works perfectly. I ended up just drilling several holes in the plastic bottom and attaching a sink drain underneath (freaked out the guy at Lowe's explaining why I needed a sealant that would attach a metal sink drain to a piece of plastic!), and then placing a plastic bin underneath to catch the water. I elevated the cage on a metal frame with wheels (used to be under the ferret cage), with some extra support under the cage bottom to take the weight of the schefflera tree and her VERY heavy sand filled nesting box.

A couple minor questions: The plant in the bottom is a pothos, which I expect will eventually grow everwhere and provide more greenery on the sides and bottom. I have seen that some of you have pothos winding throughout your cages, and love the look. Do you attach it to the walls and vines with ties of some kind, or just drape in over things as it grows? And I plan to get a misting system next, will I still need the dripper hooked up when I do, or do I get rid of that?

I though Joyce would be hacked off about being moved, but she seems to love her new digs. She went straight to her feeding cup when her lights came on this morning and gave me a look like "Well???" I was surprised, since she just ate yesterday, but fed her again and she PIGGED OUT, ate 5 crickets and 3 superworms! Then basked under her lights all happy.

Oh, and in case anybody wonders, the red light you can see just adds extra heat to her basking spot and cage in general, which was too cool before I added it. I have it right next to the white light, so she has no problem finding her basking spot, and I do NOT leave it on at night, all lights shut off at the same time with a timer. I had bought it before I knew chams don't need nightime heat sources, so just put it to use since I couldn't return it.

 

[Brian]

What I did was got a photos with the hanging basket and hooked it to my jungle vine...in another cage I attached it to my manzanita perch. Just make shure not to get a real big one, they grow quickly

Brian

 

[wendysjungle]

Thanks Brian. I already have it, it's that plant sitting in the bottom of my cage, so medium sized I guess? The shefflera tree takes up too much room for me to get a hanging one, so it will have to grow from the bottom up.

 

[mika]

How much did you get the schefflera for?

I think I went to a nursery one time and a ficus the same size of that schefflera was like 60 bucks! Geesh!

 

[Brian]

I guess Home Depot got a shipment of ficus trees or something, because they have a ton I got 2 large 3 1/2- 4' ones for $30 they work great for the larger cages . I got a nice 3' one for $25 or something.

Brian

 

[wendysjungle]

How much did you get the schefflera for?

I think I went to a nursery one time and a ficus the same size of that schefflera was like 60 bucks! Geesh!

I got REALLY lucky on that one. The price tag said $65, and I was too frazzled to care having first put in a peace lilly that turned out to be toxic, then the WRONG KIND of schleffera so again toxic, and each time I replaced the plant having to completely take apart that stupid converted ferret cage AGAIN, so I was ready to pay anything at that point just to get the right freaking plant!!! Then I got to the register, and the thing was 50% off, so I ended up paying $32.50. I was HAPPY!!

 

[mika]

What??? Wow! That's some serious discount! They sure are expensive.

Nice setup. I like the digging box and how you placed the pothos at the bottom.

That plant looks like something you can actually put in the living room for display!

I'm sure she'll be so happy in there

 

[Brian]

I know schefflera's are not that expensive at home depot... I think I paid $15 for one. The only down side is there a little over a foot, they never have large ones.

Brian

 

[wendysjungle]

What??? Wow! That's some serious discount! They sure are expensive.

Nice setup. I like the digging box and how you placed the pothos at the bottom.

That plant looks like something you can actually put in the living room for display!

I'm sure she'll be so happy in there

Yeah, it is gorgeous, and when I told the nursery what it was for, they actually rinsed it down completely for me right there and repotted it in organic soil, no extra charge! I added the river rocks on top of the soil just to discourage her eating any. She LOVES that tree, hangs out in there all the time unless she is basking or eating, and it has a dozen or so really sturdy branches within it so it holds her no problem. It must be fairly old, as the little schefflera plants I saw at Lowes didn't have any sturdy branches like that.

And I am SOOOOO happy the ferret cage is gone and she is now in a real cage with a real door that I can actually open and do maintenance!

 

[mika]

Yeah, it is gorgeous, and when I told the nursery what it was for, they actually rinsed it down completely for me right there and repotted it in organic soil, no extra charge!

Geesh! Now that's customer service.

What's the name of the nursery? Maybe we have one over here..

Yeah the large ones like the one wendy has that looks like a tree is expensive. The cheaper ones are the small ones.

 

[wendysjungle]

It's called Furney's Nursery. I have no idea if it is only local or if it is a chain. They are always great, and I buy a lot of their plants because they are always SO healthy and such great quality. My entire deck is filled with flowers and plants from them.

Do you have any idea on my other question, if I will still need my dripper once I order my misting system? Right now I hand mist in addition to the dripper, but next month (after I recover from the $1057 in tuition I just paid!), I'm definitely ordering a misting system!

 

[mika]

Well I have a herpmist. I think it all depends on the cham. Well mine have different likings..

IMO, I shouldn't need the dripper because I have a misting system but the problem is, my female veiled seems to be dehydrated cuz I've never seen her poop with a yellow tinge but ever since I just used the misting system and took out the dripper, I see some now. Sooo.. I will have to use a dripper (need to buy one). I actually see her drinking from it when it's there.

My male also likes a lot of water but he likes it warm. I've noticed his poops have been yellowish even with the misting sytem going on 6 times a day, 2 of them for 30 mins with a dripper running almost all day. Soo.. I'm going to try to hook up the Hydor Inline heater to see if there's any improvement.

My panther does not get the misting system cuz he has URI, so I just use a dripper on him and use a hand pressure sprayer pump twice a day till he gets better.

Maybe once I hook up the heater and the water is warm, they won't run away from the water & I won't need the dripper.

Mczoo (Sean) said his chams took 12 weeks to get used to it.

I think each cham is different and you'll get a feel for what works with each one and what doesn't work.

Hmmmm.. Maybe I just have chams that are "high maintenance"

 

[mika]

Are you planning to get more chams?

Cuz when I just had the 2 chams I used to just use the hand pressure pump sprayers they sell for 12 bucks but I worked graveyard so I had time to mist them.

Now that I work days, I had to get a misting system because I can't mist them anymore. Plus I thought it would be good for the panther (geesh! he's not even using it)

If you only have the one cham, I think the hand pressure sprayers would work great.

Do you attach it to the walls and vines with ties of some kind, or just drape in over things as it grows?

I attach mine to the corners of the screen with some plant ties and when it grows i fix it so it doesn't touch the floor of the cage.

 

[wendysjungle]

Are you planning to get more chams?

Cuz when I just had the 2 chams I used to just use the hand pressure pump sprayers they sell for 12 bucks but I worked graveyard so I had time to mist them.

Now that I work days, I had to get a misting system because I can't mist them anymore. Plus I thought it would be good for the panther (geesh! he's not even using it)

If you only have the one cham, I think the hand pressure sprayers would work great.

I've promised myself no more chams until I finish graduate school. I am working full time AND going to school full time, so I barely have time for a life outside of all of that. I had not planned on even ONE cham, but found Joyce abandoned and couldn't let her die (and I love her to death, so I'm not regretting that she's here!).

The hand misting is easy, but I leave before her lights come on most mornings, and then get home so late that she usually only gets one good misting a day on top of her dripper. I'd rather have a good system set up for her, so she doesn't ever get dehydrated.

 

[mika]

Oh yeah, seems like you do have a busy schedule. The misting system would help.

Believe you me, your prob gonna get more chams.. LOL

 

[wendysjungle]

I attach mine to the corners of the screen with some plant ties and when it grows i fix it so it doesn't touch the floor of the cage.

Yeah, I was thinking of something like that, just trying to figure out how to attach it since the inside of this new cage doesn't really have anything to hook ties to. I suspended the bendable fake vives with wire that I ran through the screen, but I'm sure that would cut into a live plant. Maybe I can just tie the plant to the vines and other decorations as it grows.

 

[mika]

What I did with mine is I placed the pothos in small pots, drilled some holes on the pot and hanged it on the corners with plant ties.

As the pothos grew, I didn't secure the vines. I just draped them over everything.

I've never had a chameleon fall from it. Well mine is densely planted.

I'm not sure if this answers your question though.

 

[wendysjungle]

What I did with mine is I placed the pothos in small pots, drilled some holes on the pot and hanged it on the corners with plant ties.

As the pothos grew, I didn't secure the vines. I just draped them over everything.

I've never had a chameleon fall from it. Well mine is densely planted.

I'm not sure if this answers your question though.

That does help, as that was my big concern if I just draped the vines over things as it grew that Joyce might fall. I can't hang it, as the schefflera tree is too big and needs the light, but I can put more branches and things lower down in the cage and start draping it over them as it grows. I know they grow like crazy, I have one in the vivarium with my red eye tree frogs, and I constantly have to cut it back to keep it from growing right out through the top.

 

[mika]

Here's one of my enclosures. See the green ties holding the cups, I use those to tie the pots of pothos to the screens. You can see one of the pots hanging I think. If you notice that cage on the right, it has a hibiscus with not too many leaves so I draped the pothos to make it look fuller.. haha.. I was gonna put a camellia in there but i haven't repotted it yet.

 

[wendysjungle]

Nice enclosures! How many chams do you have?

I think I could use those types of ties to fix the pothos to the screen as it grows upwards from the floor.