Newbie question RE: glass habitat for graceful

bpayne97

New Member
My daughter purchased a graceful from her aunt back in November. She sent him with a 17x17x24 glass enclosure with a screen lid and it appears to have vents. Is this a good choice for him/her? "Pascal" appears to be happy although it took a while to get him adjusted. He readily eats 4-5 crickets every other day and actually seems to enjoy getting out of the "box" and hanging out. We try to get him out in a screen enclosure in the backyard once a week for some fresh air. In regards to the glass habitat, the water collects in the bottom and must be mopped up regularly. I was thinking of either switching to the screen cage and adding a bottom with possibly a way to drain the water or even getting a new primary habitat. It seems screen is very popular but I didn't know about keeping the humidity up. At this time we have a dripper and we mist him by hand two to three times a day. I am about to spring for a Mistking since we travel on weekends occasionally and I want to make it as painless as possible on our petsitter.

I have been reading on here but the choices are OVERWHELMING! LOL!
 
Hi and wellcome to the forum!

It'll depend heavily on your geographical location and your home, but keeping up humidity in a screen cage is not that difficult, especially if you plan on getting a Mistking as well. If you happen to live in a really dry area typically covering 2-3 sides of the cage with something like plastic sheeting will keep it high for longer after a misting. That, plus live plants will always help.

It's not necessary for the humidity to stay very high all day long, it's totally fine if it fluctuates during the day. You want the cage to dry between mistings so you don't brew respiratory infections and that kind of thing in the long run.

If you provide us with a photo we can definitively sex your chameleon, if you'd like :)
 
Great, thank you for the prompt response! Emily and I would love to know what sex Pascal is. Do you need a close up of him or a particular view?

So are the glass cages frowned down upon since they tend to accumulate water? He doesn't like change so I am assuming he would need an adjustment period in a new enclosure. The screen cage we use outside does not have a bottom either so I would have to figure out what kind it is so we could get a new bottom for it. I will search on here for info on that and ways to drain the cage into a bucket. Thanks again!

Oh and we live in a pretty warm and sometimes humid area...the Rio Grande Valley, Texas. His plants and the sides dry between mistings (manually for now) but the floor seems to stay pretty damp. I definitely don't want to foster RI's. I come from more of a snake background and that is obviously a concern with them as well but the snakes I have kept in the past do not require near this level of humidity so that part is all new to me!
 
Back
Top Bottom