New Cham new enclosure

summerseeking

Avid Member
I’m so excited to be getting my third cham soon. A male Nosy Faly…meet Ambrose (named after my great great grandfather who was an enslaved person).

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He is the brother to my current boy Blythe. So grateful for @Matt Vanilla Gorilla

I’m building a new enclosure for him and I’m so stoked on how it is coming out. It’s double sided like my first. We will breed Falys in the future which I’m stoked about. They are so beautiful but not super easy to find. I’m hoping to get a second unrelated girl at some point. The second side will be the babies first home. I’m in love with the wood grain so I have something special planned for the backgrounds. I want to maintain the visibility of the grain while making sure it feels and looks like a natural environment.

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Trying something new for the background. Excited about how it’s coming out. Instead of making a whole “rock” wall, I’m making rock islands. I really wanted to keep the wood grain visible. Loving it so far.

Hoping to get more cork rounds at the Vallejo expo tomorrow to make more planters

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On another note, our cat LOVES hanging out with my beardie Luno. Only with supervision of course. I’m hoping they will like each other. We will see. He shows no signs of stress when Remy (our cat) is near.

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So stoked on how the enclosure turned out. My improved design works so well. I also upgraded my misting system design. It’s simplistic with 10 gallon reserves. I’ll post more photos tomorrow, but here is a little bit for now.

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I still have to add the sliding doors for the bottom compartment. In other news I found the last addition to our Cham family for now. A girl Nosy Faly and she is 😍😍😍

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First time I've seen anything like those rock islands. How are they done?

Cat seems awfully interested in the beardie! :oops:

What are those white squares on the acrylic?

Very impressed! 🤓

He is so interested in Luno. It definitely makes me nervous. I keep a close eye on him.

So the doors and sides are plexi I had custom cut with cutout openings. The white squares are plastic canvas mesh. Folks use it for embroidery I believe, I’m using it for ventilation lol.

For the rock islands I cut plywood shapes, hot glued them to 2 inch foam insulation, cut them out, then carved them until they looked natural, next I hit them with a heat gun to harden and strengthen the foam, the last step is to paint it with dry lock colored with cement pigment. It was tedious but I really wanted to keep the wood grain visible. I love how they came out.
 
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Here is the finished enclosure. The uvb and temps are perfect. I’m working on getting the humidity levels “right” this week. I also included photos of my misting system. I built it myself and it cost about $50. The enclosure is bioactive. The lights, mister and fogger are on timers. The whole setup cost about $450 to setup. I know this hobby is expensive, I’m interested in ways that make it more accessible for passionate and caring folks.

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Do you have a build thread ? Curious about the waterproofing/ sealing on the wood as well as the Plexi I want nothing more than a clear solid side enclosure but cannot afford the d.s. atrium. Thanks for sharing
 
I want nothing more than a clear solid side enclosure but cannot afford the d.s. atrium. Thanks for sharing
Have you considered a Zen? https://www.zenhabitats.com/collect...losures/products/4x2x4-pvc-reptile-enclosures

If that's still too much, there are sources for the framing they use that will cut pieces to size.
You can probably source PVC panels locally.
The commercial enclosures are using acrylic fronts/doors to reduce breakage during shipping, but IME building a beardie enclosure, plate glass can be gotten for about half the price of acrylic.
 
Trying something new for the background. Excited about how it’s coming out. Instead of making a whole “rock” wall, I’m making rock islands. I really wanted to keep the wood grain visible. Loving it so far.

Hoping to get more cork rounds at the Vallejo expo tomorrow to make more planters

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On another note, our cat LOVES hanging out with my beardie Luno. Only with supervision of course. I’m hoping they will like each other. We will see. He shows no signs of stress when Remy (our cat) is near.

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View attachment 305656
So effin cool. Wanna build me one too? Hahaha I'm so jealous. Reptile people are so cool lol
 
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