So I'm going to use this as a build/ question thead.
- Thread starter dshuld
- Start date
dshuld
Chameleon Enthusiast
Another update. My vine supplies have arrived!! Not so sure on the grapevine garland now that I have it in hand. It is tied pretty loosely so I will probably tie it together a little tighter before hanging any up in his enclosure. The jute rope is thicker then I expect for a 4 mm rope. The wire core looks like maybe aluminum or an alloy of some kind. Pretty malleable but holds the desired angle. @Longhorn1234 here's a better look at the grapevine garland though.
Longhorn1234
Established Member
Those look nice! Really like them
CJ's Exotics
Chameleon Enthusiast
I agree, they look easy to climb, and you can set up a network of highways!
dshuld
Chameleon Enthusiast
@Katacara I've been thinking about our talks on the pothos planters and may have come up with an idea finally lol. I assume, we all know what happens when we assume, that stainless steel is cham safe. If it's not someone please feel free to speak up before I do this. My thoughts are use stainless steel threaded rod to suspend a piece of aluminum flat bar with the planters attached from the 2x4 structure of the roof similar to my drawing. This would give me the ability to raise or lower the planters as needed and should be stable enough to hold the weight of the plants and what not I think. Anyone have any thoughts on this?
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dshuld
Chameleon Enthusiast
So another weekend update, didn't get as far along as I wanted to but got a lot done. Finished the roof, built the stand and married the stand, base and top part together finally. Made the gutter "rain head" which functions pretty well and keeps the mist from going anywhere but down lol. Still to do, plant pothos in the hanging green planters, replant all the plants in the base, connect the two drainage points together and hook the pump into a fresh bucket with lid. Hang the grapevine garland in there and use the jute rope for making some diy vines.
dshuld
Chameleon Enthusiast
@Extensionofgreen Do you know if schefflera morototoni is safe? I'm pretty sure that is what is at the corner of my garage and it needs trimmed lol. Was thinking if it's safe I may use the "trunks" that I cut down in there too. The darker green one in this pic.
Extensionofgreen
Chameleon Enthusiast
Some say it is toxic, but I would and have use it. If I had a veiled that was eating large amounts of plant material, I’d proceed with caution. It doesn’t have any more toxic potential than stomach irritation, in my opinion .
Extensionofgreen
Chameleon Enthusiast
It does. It may be easier to do via air layering and you can google air layering or check out YouTube for videos. It’s fairly simple.
dshuld
Chameleon Enthusiast
Early week update for a change lol. Got my plants in finally. Still waiting on my leaf litter to arrive. Temp controller should be here tomorrow, grab my uvb bulbs tomorrow, Thursday my heat emitters and dome arrive, silkies arrive and also the big day finally for blue lightning to arrive!!!
Tomorrow also got to hang the grapevine garland to give some other stuff to move around on. I also still need to make the diy vines out of the jute rope. The pothos goes about half way down the back side of the umbrellas for now to give them more access to light. I'll try to figure out some accent lighting so I can pull them back forward to drape over the umbrellas.
Tomorrow also got to hang the grapevine garland to give some other stuff to move around on. I also still need to make the diy vines out of the jute rope. The pothos goes about half way down the back side of the umbrellas for now to give them more access to light. I'll try to figure out some accent lighting so I can pull them back forward to drape over the umbrellas.
dshuld
Chameleon Enthusiast
Well, now that @Krissy83 got to post his first arrival pics here like she asked. Heres another update to this thread. I still have to get more vines hung up for him. He currently has 1 of the 25 foot sections of grapevine garlands in there. I'm also going to be splitting the ballasts in my 46 to multiple switches and power cords so he can have a sunrise (30min), midday(9 hours), sunset(30 min) effect.
He ate 2 butter worms and a horn worm while he waited the day out at work with me. Since being home we got to watch him hunt down 4 crickets in the mass of pothos up top lol. Didn't take him long to pick out a nice spot for bed about 30 minutes before lights out tonight. He's been here in this spot since about 9:30 tonight lol. He is so awesome to watch move around now that he is in his new home.
He ate 2 butter worms and a horn worm while he waited the day out at work with me. Since being home we got to watch him hunt down 4 crickets in the mass of pothos up top lol. Didn't take him long to pick out a nice spot for bed about 30 minutes before lights out tonight. He's been here in this spot since about 9:30 tonight lol. He is so awesome to watch move around now that he is in his new home.
dshuld
Chameleon Enthusiast
A tiny update for this weekend. Secured all 50 ft of the grapevine garland in, drilled the hole for my temp controllers probe and have that in place hidden in the pothos below his basking area, hung his feeder box on the door panel at an intersection in the vines. Still need to split my 46 for the sunrise, midday, sunset effects and turn the 150 ft of wired jute rope and 900 ft of non wired jute rope into diy vines.
dshuld
Chameleon Enthusiast
Update time again though only typed this time...hopefully I'll have some pics coming this weekend of the finished product. Even though I was advised it cannot be done, I'm going ahead with my drip line idea from the beginning of my rough drawings. Though I did do the rough layout slightly different with more tubing then originally planned. I'm waiting on my cross connectors to arrive, tomorrow if I'm lucky.
It has been painfully obvious that the poor little guy absolutely hates the mist heads in there with direct spray inside the cage. Blue had down my mist schedule in just a few days time along with where in the enclosure he can move to so he's not in the sprays direct path. He knows he can move to the upper left and right and beneath the pothos planter to still get water when it's on and wash his eyes and what not. The only time I've seen him actually want to be in the direct spray is during his current shed. Which I was glad to see he knew it would help him get the dead skin off. Though I've only had him, or any cham for that matter, 12 days now, I think they are more intelligent then they are given credit for. That's a debate for another time and place though I suppose lol.
Anyways, back to the drip line, I ordered 100 ft of 1/4 soaker hose and ran to home depot and got 90's and tee's. As I looked at his cage and started my "mental drawing" (don't ask lol) I decided I wanted to do a cross hatch with the cross lines spaced roughly 4 inches apart. So I made it up minus the cross connections since I couldn't find those locally. I disconnected my current sprayers and hooked up the soaker hose and set it up top on the pothos between the grapevines. I swear that little blue man looked at me smiled and started licking his chops at the little raindrop sized droplets now coming down inside his home. So, now my plan is to have the soaker hose suspended from the ceiling instead of the dual mist head currently in there. I am still going to leave the "rain heads" I made where they are so he has the collected water on the screen beneath them as well. After it is all put back together I'm going to watch how my lower plants are getting watered and may split the dual into two singles down towards the bottom to help water some of the plants but I doubt that will be needed.
I do have ball valves involved both near my pump to relieve pressure back into my water supply already being used with the 4 mist heads already. I also grabbed 2 micro ball valves to fine tune the soaker hose with as well. So, I've gone from not possible to a functioning setup similar my original design with both mist heads (aka my diy rain heads) and a soaker hose both on the same pump
.
It has been painfully obvious that the poor little guy absolutely hates the mist heads in there with direct spray inside the cage. Blue had down my mist schedule in just a few days time along with where in the enclosure he can move to so he's not in the sprays direct path. He knows he can move to the upper left and right and beneath the pothos planter to still get water when it's on and wash his eyes and what not. The only time I've seen him actually want to be in the direct spray is during his current shed. Which I was glad to see he knew it would help him get the dead skin off. Though I've only had him, or any cham for that matter, 12 days now, I think they are more intelligent then they are given credit for. That's a debate for another time and place though I suppose lol.
Anyways, back to the drip line, I ordered 100 ft of 1/4 soaker hose and ran to home depot and got 90's and tee's. As I looked at his cage and started my "mental drawing" (don't ask lol) I decided I wanted to do a cross hatch with the cross lines spaced roughly 4 inches apart. So I made it up minus the cross connections since I couldn't find those locally. I disconnected my current sprayers and hooked up the soaker hose and set it up top on the pothos between the grapevines. I swear that little blue man looked at me smiled and started licking his chops at the little raindrop sized droplets now coming down inside his home. So, now my plan is to have the soaker hose suspended from the ceiling instead of the dual mist head currently in there. I am still going to leave the "rain heads" I made where they are so he has the collected water on the screen beneath them as well. After it is all put back together I'm going to watch how my lower plants are getting watered and may split the dual into two singles down towards the bottom to help water some of the plants but I doubt that will be needed.
I do have ball valves involved both near my pump to relieve pressure back into my water supply already being used with the 4 mist heads already. I also grabbed 2 micro ball valves to fine tune the soaker hose with as well. So, I've gone from not possible to a functioning setup similar my original design with both mist heads (aka my diy rain heads) and a soaker hose both on the same pump
.
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Matt Vanilla Gorilla
Chameleon Enthusiast
Such a cool idea!
dshuld
Chameleon Enthusiast
Thanks!!! I'm going to pm @Extensionofgreen soon on the other idea I tossed at you yesterday to see if he has any ideas on how to do that on a larger scale with more lights involved lol.
Matt Vanilla Gorilla
Chameleon Enthusiast
Sorry that I am not much help with that!
dshuld
Chameleon Enthusiast
No worries . Like I said it is kind of just spit balling atm. But, now that I've gotten my water source closer to a real rain I'm interested in trying to sort out something feasible on the other part of it lol. I'm not sure if it's possible or if it'd end up costing more then it's worth really. I do seem to remember someone having a thunder recording being triggered with that hack I was talking about. If I can't find a not excessively priced storm solution maybe I can just loop a thunder clap noise some how lol.
. Like I said it is kind of just spit balling atm. But, now that I've gotten my water source closer to a real rain I'm interested in trying to sort out something feasible on the other part of it lol. I'm not sure if it's possible or if it'd end up costing more then it's worth really. I do seem to remember someone having a thunder recording being triggered with that hack I was talking about. If I can't find a not excessively priced storm solution maybe I can just loop a thunder clap noise some how lol.
