Northern climate keepers

Scottsquatch

Scottsquatch

Chameleon Enthusiast
Just wondering how many of you northern climate cham keepers keep your chams in glass terrarium or dragon strand breeders series/atrium, or just cover the sides in plastic during the winter. I'd love to hear people stories about humidity.
 
I don't live in the North but where I live has some seriously cold winters (snow, ice, wind gusts getting up to 50mph, etc). This will be my first winter with the dragonstrand breeder series, I'm hoping it'll help keep the humidity up. Especially with the gas logs going.
 
I live in Maine, our lowest temp last year was right around -20. We run a woodstove pretty much from October to April, I tried screen for about 2 weeks with shower curtains and still the humidity was impossible. I switched to the Exo Terra 36"x18"x36" and have loved it! The humidity has been pretty much spot one and my guys have been thriving:) I did not feel comfortable drilling the bottom for drainage so I just wipe the bottom out. We also run a big house humidifier in the next room over, but it did nothing for the humidity in their screen enclosures. Here is my setup, Barnaby is posing in the middle(y)
image.jpeg
 
Scottsquatch said:
Just wondering how many of you northern climate cham keepers keep your chams in glass terrarium or dragon strand breeders series/atrium, or just cover the sides in plastic during the winter. I'd love to hear people stories about humidity.
Click to expand...
Mine were fine in large screen cages with Plexiglas panels over all the screen...basically a DIY dragon strand type cage. My issue was humidity more than temp stability due to wood stoves and forced air furnace heating. I also used an auto misting system and an ultrasonic humidifier cycling between misting sessions, plus some hand watering with a syringe.
 
For years I kept chameleons in glass cages (aquariums) with screen lids back in the dark ages" and they lived long healthy lives...but I paid a lot of attention to where the lights were placed to create a chimney effect (good air flow) and to the drainage so no stagnant water was left in the cages, etc. I then switched to all screen cages and found that here in Ontario the chameleon's sat up under the basking lights most of the year because the rest of the cage was too cold. I found it was difficult to keep the humidity up, etc so I switched to glass cages with screen doors and lids....same issues with these. I did the best I could to compensate for these problems but it wasn't easy here but the chameleons still had good long healthy lives. Then I switched to glass cages with screen lids and vents in the front of the cages and found this to be the best of all for where I live. Just one example of why some caging works better in some conditions...there is no simple answer for many things when it comes to chameleons!
 
Here in Alberta I cover sides of my screen cages and have a humidifier going in the winter. Although I do however keep my smaller species in glass.
 
Well, for my first cage, I was still under the "Anything other than screen cages for chams is wrong!" Belief, so I got a screen cage. Since then, I purchased 1mm thick PVC sheeting to close in three sides. Basically turning the cage into a DYI dragon strand cage. Since then all my cage purchases have been dragon strand. If humidity is still a problem, I will find some very thin plexi glass and close off the front door leaving only the top and the bottom maintainence door open. I am not too sure what to expect with these darn dry Minnesota winters.
 
Well I do love coffee. But I doubt I will come up again before spring. We will most likely visit Saskatoon again soon but that will be it.
 
Scottsquatch said:
Well, for my first cage, I was still under the "Anything other than screen cages for chams is wrong!" Belief, so I got a screen cage. Since then, I purchased 1mm thick PVC sheeting to close in three sides. Basically turning the cage into a DYI dragon strand cage. Since then all my cage purchases have been dragon strand. If humidity is still a problem, I will find some very thin plexi glass and close off the front door leaving only the top and the bottom maintainence door open. I am not too sure what to expect with these darn dry Minnesota winters.
Click to expand...

Could you post a pic of your DIY? I'm staying on top of the humidity but I can already tell that in the middle of winter it is going to be a bearcat!
 
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