Will- Here are some more pics of the misting system manifold. I'm going to re plumb the pump at its end because I am adding a larger water resevoir so I'll take some pics of that connection when re-fabricated.
The misting manifold is a fairly simple 4 nozzle design made from 1/2" PVC, attached to the floating canopy. The manifold is attached to 1/2" flex tubing that I was able to hide almost completely by running through wall and ceiling back to the pump which is located in my furnace/storage room. Putting the pump there allows me a much larger water resevoir and puts the pump next to a drain in case of any leaks at that end.
Here are some pics for you:
Tubing and power cord feeding the canopy:
Shot of nozzle placement:
Manifold as it sits inside the canopy:
Another shot of the nozzle placement:
Hi Sean,
The plan looks gorgeous. How many chams are you ordering? Wat are they?
I am just wondering if the enclosure is too big for the chams? Coz I hav read it somewhere here (there are too many threads) that if the enclosure is too big then it is difficult for the chams to get their prey. Isnt it? I am just a beginner. If it is not, then I will go for a bigger cage too then.
tx
Kristi
Hello Kristi.
Thank you for the compliment. I am still up in the air in terms of my choice of chameleons. My passion is for parsonii but their current price causes me to think hard about that investment. I'm very partial to the montane species in general and my second favorite is the quadricornis. Unless $4500 drops in my lap this week, I'll most likely be getting a harem of quads from another hobbyist I found on a different forum. It will be 4 young adult females (all captive born) and one young wild caught male.
I am a firm believer that chameleons deserve the largest, most naturalistic, enclosure you can provide for them, as long as that enclosure can still meet all of their husbandry needs in terms of proper temps, humidity, access to food and water, and of course foliage for cover. The exception of course being for babies. They do need to be in smaller enclosures so you can keep a better 'eye' on them as they need daily monitoring.
I believe that you can properly feed any juvenile to adult chameleon in a large cage if you take the time to do it right. I plan on feeding my chameleons from a feeding station, that I will change the location of each feeding. I did this with all my many chameleons back in the 90's and it worked well. Keeping the food source in the feeding station (ie a low plastic bucket) keeps them from getting loose, away from fecal matter, and you can record/monitor how many food items your chams are eating, ect.. The chameleons quickly realize what that feeding station represents and they will come to it to feed. This is made easier and more reliable by placing the feeding station below the cham's eye level so they see the food inside from up above. By moving it around the enclosure, you assure that the chams have to move to eat. Of course I'll have fun hand feeding as well at times.
Wow, sorry for the long winded reply!
My opinion is get the largest enclosure you can but make sure all of it fits the cham's needs.
That cage is turning out beautiful. What type of lighting did you end up going with? Do the halides and the flourescents produce UVB?
Hello Heika.
Thank you! I can't wait until I get the glass and can finally put all the plants in place. As far as lighting, I went with the planned dual 48" flourescent fixtures with a repti sun 5.0 and a 10.0 bulb each. I cut back from the planned 3 halides to only 2 due to space restrictions in the canopy as well as the fact that 2 cover the entire area well enough. The metal halides are 70 watt 6K bulbs on electronic ballasts on track systems, so I can move them and tilt them any way I prefer. This is a nice plus and helps me create just the right light angle and placement.
Here are some pics I just took showing one of the halides on along with the lighting coming in from the North windows. I think this will be perfect lighting for the montanes. The halides will only be on for 2 hours each, one from 2 to 4 and the other 4 to 6.
The bottom will be covered with tropicals so you won't be able to see any of the white board.
