shedding question

[Jordan]

Miranda going by the picture in your avator I am guess your female is younger. With age veileds tend to get extremely aggressive toward other chameleons and at times toward their owners. They can and will kill each other if they fight. A reflection could be mistaken for another chameleon and cause undue stress to your girl. I would suggest something different for her done the line. There are alot of Canadian owners on this site that have the same problems that you are talking about in regards to low humidity and temperatures. These are also two good reasons why I will never go to Canada. If you look through some past threads you can get some ideas on how to combat the two. Three solid sided enclosures, humidifiers, misting systems...etc...

Why not glass?
When housing a chameleon you want to achieve a convection air flow effect. Hot air rises escape from the top portion of the cage and this in turn draws in cooler air in the lower portions of the cage. Why is this so important? The water is the main reason. Your chameleon may have access to some fresh air at the top of the cage but without the fresh air being draw in through the lower parts the air is in essence stagnant. The water vapors in the air can increase to a point to where other water can not be evaporated. This leads to two problem areas. One is occuring on the ground. The abundance of water and favorable temperatures due to the long dry time is giving things like bacteria and fungus time to become more developed. The second thing is that these things are also become air borne. Now even in the air things of this nature can still keep developing. Now it is kind of a matter of luck in some cases whether or not anything bad comes of this. Keep in mind some of the same things would be occuring in a fresh air cage. By allowing air movement in such a manner you are decreasing the amount of bacteria and fungus themselves. The air is also pushing them around in different ways. If you chameleon was to contract something like this the concentration differance would make it easier to fight off through the immune system. The immune system itself can also be lowered due to stress. A chameleon seeing it's own reflection can cause varing levels of stress. Some will show outward signs of stress, some will not. All of these together can lead to sickness and given chameleon's low body mass they can be very hard to treat even by a vet.

 

[Jewel]

An open enclosure wouldnt work for me because of my room temp. Im in Oklahoma and its really cold out, so the heater stays on and it pulls alot of the moisture from the air. (Which is why I keep two humidifiers on most of the day). It has a wire top on it, so shes getting circulation, esp staying as close to the top as she does.

Miranda at first I thought the glass cage was not as bad as others on here thought but I was soooo wrong. My chameleon was always stressed so my son build him a screen cage with two of the sides screen and two sides a solid wall and I can't believe the difference in his health. He is so much happier. I live in Canada and it is real cold and dry here in the winter and we manage with screen cages. There is always a way to make it work and there are so many very knowledgeable people on here that will help you figure it out.

These are also two good reasons why I will never go to Canada. If you look through some past threads you can get some ideas on how to combat the two. Three solid sided enclosures, humidifiers, misting systems...etc...

Aww, but it is so nice up here. Just think of the challenges you will face up here. It makes for a interesting life. We just love freezing our butts off and having our skin crack because it is so dry. Actually Canada is the best place I know of for me at least. Let us know when you plan on moving up here lol.

 

[Miranda]

Yeah, I do kinda stress out about it. I figure the humidity is just as important as the temp, feeding, and everything else that you have to do for
'em or they wouldn't put it on the sites. I just can't see a screen cage working for me.

I still plan on looking into the aquarium toppers that I mentioned earlier..that will give her a little more room to climb up and she can get more circulation when she wants it but still have her humid warm bottom. I think it'll work out. (Maybe not forever, but def. for now)