Open Air enclosure build thread

You'll be fine.. I keep one of my chams in a large ficus tree in the sun room. The pots are so large that he is unable to climb out and down to the floor..
 
Wow that turned out really nice, really great design idea, im sure your chameleon will be very happy
 
What material sheeting did you use for the bottom of the enclosure?
I used the plastic covered plywood called melamine. Sorry for the delay in posting new pics. I have not yet received the glass for the perimeter wall so I'm on hold for now. I've added some more plants but nothing else.
I'm speaking with a new friend in Germany who is looking for some captive bred parsonii for me, so I'm also on hold with my chameleon purchase as well.
I'm completing the necessary CITES permit paperwork and may actually fly over to pick some up. Assuming everything with the paperwork checks out and all.
I'll post some more pics when the glass is installed and the enclosure is finally complete.
Wow that turned out really nice, really great design idea, im sure your chameleon will be very happy
Thank you Moe. It will look even better once it completed. Now I just need to get off my butt and buy some chameleons ;)
 
Wow!!! I Havent Been Here In A While And Wow!!! The First Thing I See Is This Man Arent U Lucky To Be Able To Have That For Your Cham. Wow!! Honestly. Congrats On The Work And Time Put In It. I Bet Your Chameleon Is Happy In His/her New Home.
 
Awsome design. Looks so easy to maintain. Def dont loose the tank. Looks to well established and easy maintained as well. I kept reef for 10 years and will again when I have my own house. I must say that was a very creative idea. Reef is expensive hobby. I have thought about just a tank for Tridacnas. I still have fantasys about tridacnas and acroporas.:rolleyes: I love the stonys and growing frags. I am a reef junkie at heart. I love clams...but now I am getting into insects. Maybe your just bored with soft corals..lol. Your dedication to your cham shows that you would miss your reef. I miss mine:( I think your chams are going to be chillin;) Great idea
 
Wow!!! I Havent Been Here In A While And Wow!!! The First Thing I See Is This Man Arent U Lucky To Be Able To Have That For Your Cham. Wow!! Honestly. Congrats On The Work And Time Put In It. I Bet Your Chameleon Is Happy In His/her New Home.

Thank you very much for the kind words. Unfortunately, I don't even have any chameleons yet :eek: The hobbyist with the quadricornis wanted to wait a while before sending and I'm still debating about getting the parsonii.
At least the enclosure will be ready and waiting for them. All parameters are perfect for montane or high altitude species.

Awsome design. Looks so easy to maintain. Def dont loose the tank. Looks to well established and easy maintained as well. I kept reef for 10 years and will again when I have my own house. I must say that was a very creative idea. Reef is expensive hobby. I have thought about just a tank for Tridacnas. I still have fantasys about tridacnas and acroporas.:rolleyes: I love the stonys and growing frags. I am a reef junkie at heart. I love clams...but now I am getting into insects. Maybe your just bored with soft corals..lol. Your dedication to your cham shows that you would miss your reef. I miss mine:( I think your chams are going to be chillin;) Great idea
Thank you! I do love my reef tank, but after 10 years, I've kind of reached an empass. I did stonies for about 2 years and had a full tank crash and lost almost everything, so I just went back to easy softies but addes some rare fish. I've got black tang, some rare angels, and some picasso clowns. These guys keep my interest a bit, but honestly, I'm thinking of selling all off to purchase a colony of parsonii. I don't know..... the reef will stay put for a while anyway.
Thanks again all for the compliments.
I'll post some new pics when its a little further along.
 
Now that's imspiring.
I want to live there too. lol
Hey... Imagine if you will.....................Chameleon Mansion. Only chameleon keepers living there. Inside and outside "chambers" for chams mmmmmmmmm
 
wwwwwwwwwwwwwow! awesome!! soo the water goes directly to the bottom? or some drop end in your wall?
 
Well, I couldn't resist taking a few more pics of the unfinished enclosure :eek:
I added some tropical vines, some spanish moss, and some orchids (okay, they're fake but they look real :))
I think these little touches really helps make this look more natural. I hope to be able to add the glass and substrate (large size bark mulch) soon. I hate looking at that white melamine! :(
What do you think?
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Where did you get that plastic sheet bottom and how much did it cost? All I could find at home depot was clear plexiglass sheets.
 
They have it at Home Depot. Its called melamine. It is over by the other plywoods. It was $30 for a 4x8 sheet.
 
I can't wait to see the end result. That thing is awesome, people would pay big bucks for setups like that. In a perfect world, all chameleons in captivity would have a home like this..! Good call on the halide lighting, those 2 spots + all that natural light coming from all those windows is sure to make some happy chameleons. Only thing I'd worry about is crickets diving out of the trees and into the rest of the house lol, but something tells me you've already got that covered!
 
I can't wait to see the end result. That thing is awesome, people would pay big bucks for setups like that. In a perfect world, all chameleons in captivity would have a home like this..! Good call on the halide lighting, those 2 spots + all that natural light coming from all those windows is sure to make some happy chameleons. Only thing I'd worry about is crickets diving out of the trees and into the rest of the house lol, but something tells me you've already got that covered!

Judging by all the work he's already done, I bet he has a robot that patrols the floor. The robot is probably equipped with a high tech laser gun that can blast crickets into tiny little pieces. Or maybe some transporter technology activates when they hit the floor! :D
 
Hey man, that is going to be a nice setup! I have used "open air" cages for years and they worked well with some of my chams. I will post a couple of pics soon of one of mine. The only problems that I have come across was that some chams will lunge from the plant and either land outside the enclosure or on the surrounding plexiglass (what I used as my perimeter). It all depended on the personality of the chameleon. I have found that the tame, or more easily handilable chams did better as opposed to wild caughts who had more of an instinct to jump or lunge. Intrestingly enough, the species that you are planning on putting in there is the one that I had the most problem with jumping. I had all w/c though. They would even lunge out of my hand when I would pick them up. The also tend to drop as a defense mechanism to get away from predators. Since the females are c/b you may not have an issue with this but I would keep an eye on that male. The females being there might keep the male interested and destracted from trying to escape. I had a female panther that also liked to jump out of the eclosure, but most of the time I didn't have any problems. I agree with you on giving them as much room as possible, cup feeding or station feeding is definately the way to go with a big enclosure. I always build oversize cages and pack them full of plants. Good luck and I am intrested to see the finished product with animals included. Also, nice reef tank. I also have a reef tank, a freshwater tank, and an indoor fishpond in my chameleon room which works great for humidity.

Jeremy
 
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