Nosy Be Panther Chameleon cage setup

[Chemleman97]

Hey guys, first time positing and I wanted to get some input. I am in the process of getting readyour to set up a Nosy Be Panther Chameleon cage.I am going to be using a Reptibreeze 24x24x48 cage. I was looking to get some advice on what all equipment I should get for the enclouser. everything from lighting and fixtures, misting machine, dripper ect.
One thing I might mention also, I would like to have plants in the cage as well. What are your suggestions for the best substrate to use for the plants and how I should go about getting it all set up. Thank you in advance guys! I look forward to your responses.

 

[rotadennis]

Misting - Mistking or climist (Both are pretty good and are roughly the same, though climist is like $10.00 cheaper)

Dripper - Any large dripper

Lighting - What I did was I went to home depot and bought a horizontal 24 inch T5 light fixture for $5.99 and a repti 5.0 UVB linear bulb $29.99 to go with it. Than I bought a 150watt ceramic worklight while at home depot and a 100watt halogen bulb for the basking light. (You don't need the big fancy light fixtures that the pet store sells (they're the same thing just priced higher so try and save money when you can), I actually personally bought 2 t5 light fixtures because I put live plants in my setup and I put the 6500k plant grow bulb in the other one which was $19.99.

Plants - A Golden Pothos for good filler and vineage and maybe have a good Spider plant, umbrella tree, or a ficus as your main. For your potting soil just buy some coconut husk and some natural play sand and mix it 50/50 in the pot. I do this because it's completely "natural" and no pesticides or fertilizers that could be harmful to your cham will be in the soil. Also I find that the coconut husk absorbs a lot of the excessive water from misting really well so it'll help with drainage. 50 pound bag of natural play sand was $3.99 and the coconut husk was $5.99. Also make sure you thoroughly wash all plants even fake ones with dawn dish soap also you can dip some alcohol onto a cotton ball or makeup pad and rub all the leaves on your live plants then let set for a day and rinse them. (This will ensure everything is completely toxic free and will actually completely clean all the leaves on your plants and make them extra shiny and get rid off all the water deposits that they usually come with from wherever you buy your plants from.) Do not use any substrate on the bottom of the cage.

For vines and what not you can go to your nearest craftstore and buy a bunch of fake vines and what not for pretty cheap, but I do recommend buying some of the large and small reptivines.

I hope this helps and hopefully saves you a few bucks especially on the light fixtures. (They're seriously overpriced.)

 

[Peachypink]

Misting - Mistking or climist (Both are pretty good and are roughly the same, though climist is like $10.00 cheaper)

Dripper - Any large dripper

Lighting - What I did was I went to home depot and bought a horizontal 24 inch T5 light fixture for $5.99 and a repti 5.0 UVB linear bulb $29.99 to go with it. Than I bought a 150watt ceramic worklight while at home depot and a 100watt halogen bulb for the basking light. (You don't need the big fancy light fixtures that the pet store sells (they're the same thing just priced higher so try and save money when you can), I actually personally bought 2 t5 light fixtures because I put live plants in my setup and I put the 6500k plant grow bulb in the other one which was $19.99.

Plants - A Golden Pothos for good filler and vineage and maybe have a good Spider plant, umbrella tree, or a ficus as your main. For your potting soil just buy some coconut husk and some natural play sand and mix it 50/50 in the pot. I do this because it's completely "natural" and no pesticides or fertilizers that could be harmful to your cham will be in the soil. Also I find that the coconut husk absorbs a lot of the excessive water from misting really well so it'll help with drainage. 50 pound bag of natural play sand was $3.99 and the coconut husk was $5.99. Also make sure you thoroughly wash all plants even fake ones with dawn dish soap also you can dip some alcohol onto a cotton ball or makeup pad and rub all the leaves on your live plants then let set for a day and rinse them. (This will ensure everything is completely toxic free and will actually completely clean all the leaves on your plants and make them extra shiny and get rid off all the water deposits that they usually come with from wherever you buy your plants from.) Do not use any substrate on the bottom of the cage.

For vines and what not you can go to your nearest craftstore and buy a bunch of fake vines and what not for pretty cheap, but I do recommend buying some of the large and small reptivines.

I hope this helps and hopefully saves you a few bucks especially on the light fixtures. (They're seriously overpriced.)

If you are going to go the route of a fixture from Home Depot or somewhere similar, make sure to get some sort of reflector material to place in the fixture behind the light so that the UVB is directed down into the cage. Otherwise you are loosing a great deal of the UVB as it just absorbs into the fixture. That is the only difference really between a reptile hood and a house hood.

 

[rotadennis]

If you are going to go the route of a fixture from Home Depot or somewhere similar, make sure to get some sort of reflector material to place in the fixture behind the light so that the UVB is directed down into the cage. Otherwise you are loosing a great deal of the UVB as it just absorbs into the fixture. That is the only difference really between a reptile hood and a house hood.

Eh just put some aluminum foil behind the bulb

 

[Peachypink]

Eh just put some aluminum foil behind the bulb

That would be considered reflective material, so yup, totally works.