Othello's Enclosure - girliest cage ever?

[Olimpia]

Figured I would post photos of Othello's cage. We just moved a couple days ago so I reorganized his plants when we brought his cage over. Also, I was at Joann getting paper when I saw that they were selling all flower stems buy-one-get-one-free, so I went a little mad with the fake orchid stems! The end result is a cage that is MUCH too girly for the poor fellow, but frankly, I don't care lol I love it. I've always had it just plain green up until this week, and I find it much brighter and happier to look at now. And he stands out more when he's near the colored flowers.

The real plants are the umbrella tree, a pothos, and a bougainvillea. No worries, I clipped as many of the thorns as I saw with my dog's nail clippers! The cage typically goes on a table with a drainage system but we still haven't brought that over from the old apartment.

So yep, enjoy the girliness of it!

He's a little shy this week, with all the changes, but I'll try to get a photo of him. His colors have been extra bright lately since he just shed.

 

[Elizadolots]

That's pretty girlie alright....I think the cage justjumpit put together for Molly might give it a run for the money on "girliest" though....

 

[laurie]

The cage looks great, I would love to do something like that but i just worry about the fake plants hurting one of my chams.

 

[chamelisa]

Don't get me wrong, the bougainvillea is very pretty but in the end it won't be suitable for a chameleon cage. The bougainvillea will loose all of the purple foliage and the plant won't do well at all indoors.

Were you able to clean it and replace the soil prior to putting it inside your cage? The problem with many plants purchased in nurseries is that they always are sprayed with pesticides. I was told this by a wholesale nursery that supplies chains with their indoor and outdoor plants. Washing something like a bougainvillea would be very damaging.

Choose plants carefully and make sure they can handle the type of environment that a chameleon needs. These tend to be tropical plants that prefer high humidity and plenty of water through well drained soil.

 

[bridgofaith]

Bougainvillea have very long, very sharp thorns. I found this out the hard way with my own hand. I would not use that in my chams cage.

EDIT: Just saw where you clipped most of the thorns.

 

[Olimpia]

Thanks for the compliments!

Yes, I changed the soil completely and I washed the plant itself. It took a while, to be gentle with the flowers, but it was done! If it starts to do poorly I'll just put it outside in the yard, but I think it can do well. I've had lots of high-light plants in the cage that I've managed to get to do well, so we'll see. It's kind of an experiment, I suppose. But they do extremely well here in Florida, so they must love the humidity and water!

Mine doesn't eat any of the flowers I put in, so I don't feel there is a risk putting fake flowers in there, but I imagine that with a veiled or such that might be riskier. It's a cheap way to bring some color into a cage without spending $20-40 on the real plant

 

[Brad Ramsey]

I use bougainvillea.
With the lighting I have, I have had no problems keeping it healthy indoors.
Elisa is right, it will probably, initially lose all of it's flowers and leaves, but the leaves will come back.
Thorns are of little concern to chameloens
My concern is with all the fake flowers.
Male chameleons (particularly panthers and veileds) are very sensitive to color and some colors can be very threatening to them, putting them in a constant state of stress.
I think you have created a very hostile environment for a male panther.

-Brad

 

[Olimpia]

Well, the chameleon in question is my Jackson's. His color hasn't changed from his typical bright green, so I imagine that he's fine?

Honestly, I'd completely forgotten that I'd read that about colors somewhere. Thanks for reminding me!

 

[jannb]

I agree with Brad. I know my guys hate red and I've read on here where other members chams dislike red and other very bright colors. I would get rid of the deep pink/purple/red color.

 

[Brad Ramsey]

Well, the chameleon in question is my Jackson's. His color hasn't changed from his typical bright green, so I imagine that he's fine?

Honestly, I'd completely forgotten that I'd read that about colors somewhere. Thanks for reminding me!

For some reason I had decided during the reading of this thread that you had a Panther in there.

I have not had a Jackson's obviously or outwardly be stressed by exposure to color ... I would certainly keep it in the back of your head when observing him in there though.

-Brad

 

[Olimpia]

Haha that's fine. Probably because I have "panther" in my signature.

I'll defnately keep an eye on him. Because he is always bright green unless he's under his heat spot, it should be easy to tell if anthing is bothering him suddenly.

 

[jannb]

I have two veileds and I do believe the other threads I read were about panthers. I've never had or even been around a Jackson so I'm not sure about that species.

 

[Olimpia]

I took some picures of him the other day when he was out on his hot spot. I think he's doing great in the new cage, since the vegitation is much "tighter" he can hide better. He likes hanging out under the pothos on the plant stand it's on, and with the new bouganvillea infront of it, I think he feels better hidden and safer.

 

[Elizadolots]

He doesn't look overly mortified to be in amongst the girly stuff....he's very handsome!

 

[jacobsend]

Wow, thats looking really nice!

 

[Olimpia]

Thank you! I think that, secretly, he loves the pink flowers

 

[justjumpit621]

That's pretty girlie alright....I think the cage justjumpit put together for Molly might give it a run for the money on "girliest" though....

Yeah LOL well now my snake's cage since Molly has since passed but here is a picture.

 

[Olimpia]

Yeah LOL well now my snake's cage since Molly has since passed but here is a picture.

Haha yea, that's very girly indeed. But it was for a female cham, so it's definately better! Poor Othello must be feeling a little confused lol

Sorry to hear about Molly though!

 

[Elizadolots]

He doesn't look confused to me...he looks very confident in his manliness among the pink flowers....