Outdoor question

Brandonmh

Member
How long should it be til you can start taking young chams outside? I do realize that I should get him used to my hand more and ability to get him out without freaking out, but I was wondering if there is a certain time, say like 4-5 months or so to take them out for natural sun. I still have to rebuild/redo the old beardie cage, am going to replace the metal screening with plastic stuff I got from a guy at work for my wooden cage upgrade for my veiled, but the mesh is too wide and feeders will escape it.
 
Ive been handling my chams since 2 months. As for taking them outside anytime past 3 months i'd say. Ive been keeping My oustie outside 24/7 now. :D It just depends on where you live, there personallity, weather.
 
you can take them outside at whatever age so long as you keep an eye on them and its hot enough. if you live in an area where many birds flock above.. be careful ! they will swoop your cham up. Its hard for me to take mine outside because i live in the middle of a field in washington where mass quantities of hawks and eagles live in the trees around my area and they swoop down to pick up field mice all the time in the blink of an eye.
so what I've done is purchase a mesh laundry bag with a closed top, put a hanging plant inside and i let it hang from a tree so they can get natural sunlight and are safe, otherwise i will be holding them when they are outside

here is a great hamper to use
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/pro...g&matchtype=&gclid=COSk9PX59bgCFeZxQgod2GMARA
 
I started a bit with the old enclosure, the wire mesh is about 1/2 inch and is smooth on the inside. I ran my fingers over it to see how rough it was. I cut a new piece of plywood for the bottom and tried to hose off some of the dirt but need to scrub it more now. I also have to replace the hinges since they were rusted closed. I also want to put a latch on it so they can't figure how to get out. The beardies would normally just sit there or hang near the top...I have a feeling a cham would figure out how to get out. About hawks, I would have to watch especially since I had a fly by today while hosing the outdoor cage off, I dropped the hose to see how big and it may have been another red tail...they would probably be able to work at that mesh and get in if I don't keep an eye on them. I would probably sit in the yard with them. In the future I might screen in the bottom and make it more vertical as opposed to the 4ft by like 2ft, but then again, they will be just outside for the sun mostly.
 
I started taking my 6 month old panther out in a zippered pop up laundry hamper I got from Amazon (for under $15.00) with a vine and some fake leaves - I put in about 20 blue bottle flies- he was a little nervous at first but soon loved it-the fly hunt was very entertaining for me also. I have a plant hanger that I hang it from and made a dripper out of a 1/2 gallon jug. He's not a friendly boy and normally hides or gives me dirty looks if I even look at him but I think it worked to wonders on "taming him" He now hasn't run in the other direction when i put his cricket cup all week and his cage got a good cleaning.
 
Any age really. I take out my neonates tank sometimes. Keep a close eye though. Cats, dogs, birds, bad neighbors, and more are always out to assault chameleons.
 
Around our house it's bears - Which leads me to another question ? I think my guy would rather I move his hanging cage inside than have me transfer him to his cage if I have to bring him in for an hour - I have a place inside that I can hang it but it doesn't have a UVB light - I'm thinking that an hour of sunlight is probably better than an hour of tube lighting for him but are there actual facts on how much of one equals the other ?
 
I would say as soon as you can! There is nothing better than natural sunlight for our Chams. At a young age you may want to take him out in a cage only to reduce stress. But as a juveniel you should be able to walk them out on your hand twice a week.

As soon as I started doing this with my panther, he became very docile. When I walk up to his enclosure now he cruises up to the front and is like "Pops, is it time to go outside today!!!"
 
Age isn't really an issue here. Temps should be a concern along with animals. use a heat gun to see if there is any spots that are too hot. 75-78 being the hottest, and provide a ton of foliage and plenty of water. Just keep a close eye On him and the temps.
 
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