Plans for a Dream First Enclosure

KingLove

KingLove

Member
Hello all- been perusing this site for years, especially the last year and finally feel like I am in a spot where I can bring a cham into my life! I am fairly set on a panther and am designing my enclosure as such but before I reveal any plans I have a question. My RH is around 60% day and night and I am worried that a hybrid enclosure (thinking dragonstrand) may cause problems during the day. What are your thoughts? Would a fan on top help? I don't really want an all screen enclosure if at all possible
 
While I decide on the right enclosure, I started buying some plants. I got a blue star fern, a button fern, two philodendron varieties and a madagascar jasmine. Want to get a few madagascar native orchids too
 
KingLove said:
Hello all- been perusing this site for years, especially the last year and finally feel like I am in a spot where I can bring a cham into my life! I am fairly set on a panther and am designing my enclosure as such but before I reveal any plans I have a question. My RH is around 60% day and night and I am worried that a hybrid enclosure (thinking dragonstrand) may cause problems during the day. What are your thoughts? Would a fan on top help? I don't really want an all screen enclosure if at all possible
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I have an enclosure that has an acrylic door, solid planted back wall and screened sides and top. Some use all glass enclosures and are very successful. You may need to experiment with your levels a bit, but should be fine. If you are going to use any type of fan, I would put it lower and have vents that would circulate fresh air in, but you may not need it. 60% RH is in the range for panthers.
 
The humidity in my room is already pretty high (50-60%) and I use both a screen and a hybrid Dragon Strand. The hybrid has a higher humidity and will get above 60% inside of the enclosure during the day with the addition of live plants. So I run an overhead ceiling fan and keep the room door open to try and keep it closer to 50-60% during the day. You could also use a dehumidifier in the room as well.
 
Gingero said:
The humidity in my room is already pretty high (50-60%) and I use both a screen and a hybrid Dragon Strand. The hybrid has a higher humidity and will get above 60% inside of the enclosure during the day with the addition of live plants. So I run an overhead ceiling fan and keep the room door open to try and keep it closer to 50-60% during the day. You could also use a dehumidifier in the room as well.
Click to expand...
I can definitely run the ceiling fan or a smaller one specifically for the enclosure. Opening the door wouldn't change much where I am this time of year haha
 
I had hybrids done by dragon strand in CA on the northern coast where humidity was extremely high. I did have to run a dehumidifier but honestly my enclosures were only running about 5-8% higher than the room humidity. I also was keeping Veileds which do not tolerate higher humidity. I would recommend using a small pc fan in a back corner of the cage sitting on top pulling air up and out of it though. I found this helpful with continuous cycling of the air and high humidity.
 
Beman said:
I had hybrids done by dragon strand in CA on the northern coast where humidity was extremely high. I did have to run a dehumidifier but honestly my enclosures were only running about 5-8% higher than the room humidity. I also was keeping Veileds which do not tolerate higher humidity. I would recommend using a small pc fan in a back corner of the cage sitting on top pulling air up and out of it though. I found this helpful with continuous cycling of the air and high humidity.
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Not disagreeing, but there are those who believe that veiled chameleons can thrive in humid or semi-arid conditions (perhaps not ideal) and there are definitely invasive chameleons in Florida that I have seen as far north as Tampa, which I can attest is very humid 🤪. The real benefit of the fan is air circulation. Fresh air will be good so the enclosure doesn’t get that “stale” smell it can get from the soil of plants, etc.
 
So I will go ahead and order my dragonstrand (and pc fan)- but here is the plan: a bioactive setup below (probably a mesh planter bag) with a central tree/plant, cork islands foamed onto the walls that also act as planters and helps cover where the branches are attached to the ledges. Want to draw eyes away from the PVC and make it feel more natural as much as possible
 
KingLove said:
So I will go ahead and order my dragonstrand (and pc fan)- but here is the plan: a bioactive setup below (probably a mesh planter bag) with a central tree/plant, cork islands foamed onto the walls that also act as planters and helps cover where the branches are attached to the ledges. Want to draw eyes away from the PVC and make it feel more natural as much as possible
Click to expand...

Showoff… 😆
 
Decadancin said:
Not disagreeing, but there are those who believe that veiled chameleons can thrive in humid or semi-arid conditions (perhaps not ideal) and there are definitely invasive chameleons in Florida that I have seen as far north as Tampa, which I can attest is very humid 🤪. The real benefit of the fan is air circulation. Fresh air will be good so the enclosure doesn’t get that “stale” smell it can get from the soil of plants, etc.
Click to expand...
My humidity ran 80 percent ambient in the room. If the dehumidifier was not on to bring it back down to the 40's two of my veileds would gape non stop during the day. Maybe there is a difference for those that are hatched in an environment of high humidity.
 
I have just finished setting up a hybrid with screen top and mostly screen sides. My ambient humidity in the room is 60-70 percent. With the basking light, the UV and the plant light on in the enclosure my humidity is, at the moment- 2pm- in my bioactive- 92% on the very bottom in the shade of the plants down by the leaf litter, 77% on the opposite side about 6" above the substrate, 56% by the basking lamp 6" from the top screen, and 61 % on the opposite wall in the top third of the tank. The gradient provides lots of choices- cool and moist, warm and dry, and lots in between. I just mist twice a day - the bedtime misting of 1 min keeps the night time humidity at 99% all night. In the morning I mist again and then turn on the computer fan for about an hour to dry things out.
I haven't added the chameleon yet. He is coming soon ! I think the hybrid will give you lots of options. :)
 
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