New Chameleon Setup!

[Wowbango]

Hi Guys! After weeks of patiently piecing everything together...I think I'm almost done with my cage setup! The little guy comes in later this week and just wanted to get thoughts, tips and advice! He's a 5" Ambilobe Panther Chameleon. Not pictured is a little dripper on top as well...though I'm not sure if it's required even with the mistking setup? Thanks!

 

[carol5208]

Looks very nice. However, I have a couple of things to critique. You need to place a sturdy branch horizontally beneath your light at the top. About 8 inches down or a little higher for a chameleon of that size. He will need to be able to bask and stretch out under the light and have a branch or vine that is supportive of his weight. You can attach it by using a push pin on the outside of the cage. I know he is small now, but he will grow very quickly and will need something sturdy. Also, that plant to the left is almost touching the light. You never want anything they can climb on getting too close to the light source. They might sit under there and burn. They can get what is called a thermal burn, much like our sunburns. The uvs's really don't give off heat, but the uva's do so be careful. I have seen many burned chameleon's on here over the years unfortunately. Other than that, everything looks great!

 

[jcarlsen]

Hi Guys! After weeks of patiently piecing everything together...I think I'm almost done with my cage setup! The little guy comes in later this week and just wanted to get thoughts, tips and advice! He's a 5" Ambilobe Panther Chameleon. Not pictured is a little dripper on top as well...though I'm not sure if it's required even with the mistking setup? Thanks!

Hey there, congrats on the new chameleon and the setup looks good! I'm assuming once your guy grows you'll be moving him to a 2x2x4 cage in the future? The only thing you might want to experiment with is rigging up your mistaking as a rain dome, especially if your little guy doesn't react well to the mist. Pretty easy to do with just the pieces that come with mistking or you can get some wide tupperware and put the mister through it and rest it on top of the cage. Plus, that will reduce any overspray or spray outside the cage.

The only other thing I can think of is you might want to think about moving the cage away from the window in the winter time to avoid drafts and such. Not sure if you get a cold season where you're located, but just thought I'd mention.

 

[Wowbango]

Looks very nice. However, I have a couple of things to critique. You need to place a sturdy branch horizontally beneath your light at the top. About 8 inches down or a little higher for a chameleon of that size. He will need to be able to bask and stretch out under the light and have a branch or vine that is supportive of his weight. You can attach it by using a push pin on the outside of the cage. I know he is small now, but he will grow very quickly and will need something sturdy. Also, that plant to the left is almost touching the light. You never want anything they can climb on getting too close to the light source. They might sit under there and burn. They can get what is called a thermal burn, much like our sunburns. The uvs's really don't give off heat, but the uva's do so be careful. I have seen many burned chameleon's on here over the years unfortunately. Other than that, everything looks great!

I was thinking that vine was a tad too high, I'll definitely lower it. I'm not sure if the picture does it justice, but there's a large piece of wood that goes from the bottom left corner to the top right corner, and the Basking light is on the right, with the UVB on the left. I was thinking of putting another similar piece of wood/branch where he can lay and bask kind of going from the right side of the cage and it would curl to the back. I'll see if I can post another picture later to show what I mean.

 

[Wowbango]

Hey there, congrats on the new chameleon and the setup looks good! I'm assuming once your guy grows you'll be moving him to a 2x2x4 cage in the future? The only thing you might want to experiment with is rigging up your mistaking as a rain dome, especially if your little guy doesn't react well to the mist. Pretty easy to do with just the pieces that come with mistking or you can get some wide tupperware and put the mister through it and rest it on top of the cage. Plus, that will reduce any overspray or spray outside the cage.

The only other thing I can think of is you might want to think about moving the cage away from the window in the winter time to avoid drafts and such. Not sure if you get a cold season where you're located, but just thought I'd mention.

Yep! That's the plan, right now it's a 16x16x30. The breeder I'm getting my panther from said anything too big and he may have difficulties finding his food/water and stress him. Eventually will move to the big cage. As far as the mistking goes, I'm not having too much overspray at all actually. But I'll definitely look into the dome! Thanks for the tip!

I'm in San Diego, so our "Winters" are in the mid 60's. That being said, that window is always closed, blinds closed, and we have a covered patio that stretches out about 8 feet from that window, so we get no drafts or even sunlight through the window.

 

[jcarlsen]

Sweet! Can't wait to see pics of the new guy