Newbie here with a few questions about habitat and enclosures!

[Calebrez]

Hello everyone!
So my brother and I are looking to get a couple baby Panther chameleons. I have kept dart frogs for the past 4+ years and various frogs before that. My dart enclosure is completely live planted with a mistaking. My first question is how many of you have a complete planted viv? What are the pros and cons? And what plant lists do you use? Sorry for all the questions but I want to make sure I am well educated before hand! I included a pic of my dart enclosure to show what I already have.

 

[carol5208]

I don't have planted plants, just potted. That set up there looks very nice, but would not be suitable for a chameleon. You need many branches and vines for walkways. It looks like it is very humid in there which might be great for dart frogs.. Constant high humidity in a small glass enclosure is not good for chameleons. Also, chameleons need to misted many times a day,and/ or a dripper has to be run. This can cause excess water in the bottom which can pose a problem. Alot of people drillholes in the bottom for drainage, but that is not in glass. Most of us use screen cages. They can get respiratory infections easily if conditions are not right. Also, I am not sure you are aware but you cannot house chameleons together. After about 2 months they really need seperate enclosures.

 

[reptileguy112]

They need a cage that has at least a screen front and top, both of my cages are completely screen except for the floor. Also the minimum cage size for an adult is 2' x 2' x 4' (24" x 24" x 48"), pretty huge compared to dart cages. I also wanted to let you know because lots of people get misinformed, you need to dust their food with calcium every feeding, calcium with added vitamin D3 once every two weeks, and a reptile multivitamin like reptivite once every two weeks. Also you should never use substrate unless it is ALL covered by moss, grass, or rocks bigger than the chameleons torso.

 

[Calebrez]

Thank you very much for the feedback! I have to dust the fruit flies for my darts as well and I know that a chameleon cage will be much much different than a dart frog tank. That tank has a false bottom with a hole drilled for drainage. My next question is I have read a lot about screened cages and glass and there seems to be some discrepancies between the two. Like the exo terra tanks have screen tops with the screen slot under the doors for air flow. Is this enough? Just trying to get a good idea lol

 

[Carlton]

Thank you very much for the feedback! I have to dust the fruit flies for my darts as well and I know that a chameleon cage will be much much different than a dart frog tank. That tank has a false bottom with a hole drilled for drainage. My next question is I have read a lot about screened cages and glass and there seems to be some discrepancies between the two. Like the exo terra tanks have screen tops with the screen slot under the doors for air flow. Is this enough? Just trying to get a good idea lol

Part of the "discrepancies" have to do with keeper preferences. Some like Exo terras and others prefer using their own designed cages. You can always modify a screen cage so it holds in more moisture, but its a lot harder to ventilate a solid glass tank. What will work best for you in your particular room situation can also play in to it (temps and humidity levels in your area year round). I know this doesn't make the decision easier, sorry! I happen to like home-designed all screen cages partly because I like to give my chams larger living spaces than most commercial cages provide. When I need to keep the humidity levels higher I either attach clear shower curtains on the screen or attach clear plexiglas panels (sort of like storm windows). This keeps them pretty adjustable from season to season.

 

[reptileguy112]

If I had to use an exo terra like the picture, I would knock out the whole front glass panel because you need at least 2 FULL screen sides. Also like I said it needs to be a lot bigger

 

[Carlton]

If I had to use an exo terra like the picture, I would knock out the whole front glass panel because you need at least 2 FULL screen sides. Also like I said it needs to be a lot bigger

Or, if this particular model has the lower screen vent, make sure its not blocked by substrate. That might provide better airflow. In a dry room situation it might be enough.

 

[jajeanpierre]

If I had to use an exo terra like the picture, I would knock out the whole front glass panel because you need at least 2 FULL screen sides. Also like I said it needs to be a lot bigger

Really? Why do you need two screen sides?

 

[jajeanpierre]

Thank you very much for the feedback! I have to dust the fruit flies for my darts as well and I know that a chameleon cage will be much much different than a dart frog tank. That tank has a false bottom with a hole drilled for drainage. My next question is I have read a lot about screened cages and glass and there seems to be some discrepancies between the two. Like the exo terra tanks have screen tops with the screen slot under the doors for air flow. Is this enough? Just trying to get a good idea lol

Personally I absolutely hate screen cages. They do a lot of damage to their feet on them. They don't keep the over spray in and are difficult to keep humidity up both in the winter if you use heat and in the summer if you use a/c. A big glass Exo-Terra is really heavy and difficult to deal with. Plus there is always the worry of too much heat building up and not enough vertical height to let the chameleon thermoregulate. They also like to choose how much UVB they want although lights are a pretty poor excuse for sunlight, even the best.

I like the DragonStrand breeder cages. They give three solid sides. Bill is introducing a new door/front that that is made of a film. I just ordered some to try out. I hope they are tough enough. I'm going to replace all the service doors with solid doors to keep the splash in.

 

[Carlton]

Personally I absolutely hate screen cages. They do a lot of damage to their feet on them. They don't keep the over spray in and are difficult to keep humidity up both in the winter if you use heat and in the summer if you use a/c. A big glass Exo-Terra is really heavy and difficult to deal with. Plus there is always the worry of too much heat building up and not enough vertical height to let the chameleon thermoregulate. They also like to choose how much UVB they want although lights are a pretty poor excuse for sunlight, even the best.

I like the DragonStrand breeder cages. They give three solid sides. Bill is introducing a new door/front that that is made of a film. I just ordered some to try out. I hope they are tough enough. I'm going to replace all the service doors with solid doors to keep the splash in.

Yes, we should all thank Bill for designing and offering cages that actually SUIT chams! I still use my fairly vintage screen cages but they've been heavily modified over the years so I know they work for my situation. The next new cage I buy would be a DragonStrand.

 

[leedragon]

exo terra do have good airflow, you would have no problem with them, especially if you have a drainage, I would do recommend to not use subtract but some have use it with success