Outdoor Cage for Mellers

WinstonChrchll

WinstonChrchll

New Member
Hey Guys!

With my new Mellers and its large space requirment, I was starting to consider maintaining it in an outdoor setup. This wouldn't be difficult for me for a variety of reasons: Living in south Florida has its perks with beautiful weather most for the year and I have easy access to cage building materials. The cage would be 4 deep 6 wide and 6 tall and It would be covered. I would setup an irrigation system to it off of one of our water lines. The chameleon would of course have a cage inside (smaller though) in order to escape bad weather.
What are the downsides of having a setup like this? If anybody has something like this or any outdoor setup I'd love to see a picture or two so I can get a better Idea.
 
Unfortunately it is way too hot in Florida to keep Mellers outside. They won't be able to stand the heat. I keep a handful of panthers, veileds, and ousties outside, but the mellers live in the a.c.
 
I keep mine outside all summer (some time around mid may to beginning of october) at temps higher than that- but they have both shade (I keep most of the top of the cage covered and sun comes in through the south side) and patio cooling misters that cover about 30% of the enclosures with cool mist running and available for several hours per day (hottest part of the summer they cut on about 12:30 pm when temps have climbed into the 80s and cut off about 6:00 pm). Our temps here are mid to upper 80s most of the summer with a handful of days each summer climbing into the 90s. At 83 degrees outdoors, the lizards will look very uncomfortable if they do not have access to the mist and the shade. It is important that the lizards be able to move in and out of the misters when they want and dry off if they want- and be able to do this in both the shade or sun when they want.

It "feels" much hotter in florida and gets hot sooner than it does here where I live. I've never lived there (I've visited) so I'm not sure how well a setup like mine would work in that environment with that many hours of heat. Here things begin to heat up for mellers around 12 or 1pm and begin cooling down around 6 pm. So I can dry things out the rest of the time, and the first month and the last month of the summer I run the misters far less because it isn't as hot- some weeks I end up running only from 1-3 or 1-4 pm. We also have many days here that are in the low 80s throughout the summer and in the month at the beginning and end many days only in the 70s. And we have rainy days or overcast days every week or so and these days are also cooler- low 80s usually. On all of these days I run the misters less or in the case of rainy days, not at all.

Misters would probably have to be on most of the day there in Florida. I remember it heating up much earlier in the day (what maybe 10am?) and cooling down much later (after dark?) Plenty of shade would also need to be available... Because of the constant dampness, not sure how it would work out...

You might try contacting FL chams and asking them about keeping outdoors. They might have experience good or bad with it there in Florida...

Interestingly I have kept more montaine species like jacksons and fuelliborni and hoehneli under a row of pine trees where they get direct sun only in the morning and evening and are shaded by the trees the rest of the day. The mellers don't do well there where it has constant shade and cooler temps most of the day- they need to be able to move in and out of the cool and shade and heat up a little in the sun when they want throughout the day or they don't do so well...
 
Hello! I am in Florida! LOL
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Yes, so have you ever tried manipulating the environment with shade or misters to attempt to bring the temp down outdoors?

What about fall or spring in Florida, is outdoor housing possible then? Or part of winter? Are your day temps hotter than mine in the hottest part of my summer or just hotter for longer.

I think miami is mostly upper 80s most of the year days is that correct? That isn't too different from my days hottest part of summer, but like I said, heat in miami lasts many more hours per day...
 
I am sure one could try to house them outside in the cooler months, but in the summer it sits in the mid to high 90's for months. There is always a risk of respiratory infection keeping them outside here-yes I have experienced it. My WC animals always seem to do better then my CBoutside-makes sense.

So-since optimal temps for Mellers are 65-75 ambient, with a basking spot low to mid 80's-it does not work here for much of the year.

You yourself see your animals "looking uncomfortable", so why risk it?
 
You yourself see your animals "looking uncomfortable", so why risk it?
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I do not see my animals looking uncomfortable now, but I have seen them looking uncomfortable in the past when I was figuring out how do do things outdoors so they would be comfortable.

There is a difference thanks kindly for the negative insinuation.
:mad:

There is a big difference between reading someones opinion and experience on a web site and stopping there or then moving on from that point and applying that opinion in the real world to get experience and opinion for oneself. Learning not only from what others have written, but also getting experience myself by trying to manipulate the environment so my chams are healthiest and happiest is what I have done. I don't have to quote a website because I have walked the walk and know what I am talking about as a result.

Why risk it? Because mellers thrive on real sunlight, fresh air, moving breeze, the smell of rain. The temperature swings day and night as in their homeland.

You can't get that indoors. I would counter with if it is possible to provide why would you not want to provide it?

And "risk" is an entirely inappropriate expression for what I am doing anway. It isn't risky at all. I have no idea why yours get respiratory infections outdoors, but it certainly isn't the fact that they are outdoors or they would have been wiped out in nature millennia ago...

I gave my environmental parameters, and what I did to overcome those parameters (misters, shade) specifically so the OP could determine for himself if there are times of the year where his environment is similar and he might be able to try something similar if that was the case. Or he could consider other options if his environment was dis-similar, or he could conclude that his environment was dissimilar and come to the same conclusion you have. I also referred him to FL Chams because they have bred melleri, and are a fairly sizable operation, and I would bet they may keep some or all of their chams outdoors, and I would bet that if it is possible for mellers to be outdoors they may have tried it and have experience (positive or negative) that would be applicable.

I meant no disrespect for your experience or contribution to the thread or disrespect for your opinion- until it put negative inference on me for mine.

I was only trying to contribute to the thread and give more to think about for the original OP so he could form his own opinion or develop his own strategy rather than "it is impossible" and for my part I was trying to give more information than "just put misters on them and cover them with shade" so he could determine for himself if what I am doing here would be appropriate for himself there in whole or in part.
 
Ahhhh fluxlizard-I did not read as well as I should, and I was never meaning to be negative! I am sure it is entirely possible to make it work where you live(?) and you apparently have. I however would not suggest even trying it to someone who has taken on their first chameleon, a WC Mellers that needs to be acclimated to captivity. I would also never keep Mellers outside in Miami in the sweltering heat, nor here in the Tampa area 3 hours North. My Oustalets thrive outside here as this area is very comparable to the coastal regions they come from. I am lucky to live in Florida, where my Mellers are housed just inside of a screened and covered lanai where I can simply slide open the doors on a temperate day and expose the whole house to fresh air and breeze, as well as natural sunlight at the right times of day. I guess it also important to note that I have only kept CH Mellers, straight from the egg to me from FL Chams.
 
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