stupid question about huge cage and more then one cham...

[Auntbee86]

oky so my cham is around 5-6 months old now and his cage is 5ft off the ground, inside of cage..actual cage is 3ft tall by 2ft by 2ft. Its fine but I'm thinking of making a larger one soon....I have alot of space for example.... 12ft ceilings and the space is around 12ft wide and about 10ft out (yes its like a family room size and I was thinking of screening it all in and turning it into a cage but...thats alotta space for just one cham. here comes the stupid question...can i put more then one cham in there? I hear of people free roaming many chams but I cant afford to fre roam with a cat around and chancing the cat getting close to my cham isnt an option. yes i knoe it could be trouble with stress between two chams running into each other but its more of like a what if i put more then one in there. I just dont want to build such a big cage for just one cham...whats an ideal size for if you did have more then one cham? and how many is to many to have togehther? Please dont post on here lots of angry things I'm just thinking outloud and I'm curious how people can free roam like 4 and why not have a huge room sized cage for them? thanks.

 

[pssh]

Well, with that amount of space if you planted it very thickly and had many basking areas you could indeed house multiple animals of certain species. That being said, it can be very difficult to see subtle stress signs that could cause a chameleon to become ill. So should two animals not get along and the submissive one put out very subtle stress signals and you were not able to see them in time, the animal can die/get ill/etc. You also may not have enough time to evaluate and get to know some of the animals and their normal behaviors. That only adds to the likelihood of failure.

While it is doable, I do not recommend that anyone without many years of experience should attempt this. That's how I feel about it anyways.

 

[Ryanlilb]

I have a few friends who have done that and have had plenty of success with it. I think like pssh wrote if you have plenty of cover and enough basking and feeding spots for each chameleon you should do fine... but they are very stressful animals so the more stress you have with them, and more chameleons around them does stress them all out to a certain degree, the more chances you have of them getting sick.

On a lighter note....when there is a few in one free range area it makes it very colorful! All of their colors seem to pop more

 

[Auntbee86]

Okay, thanks for the helpful info im not planning on doing that ive read up more and decided that it would be more of a problem expecially me being new to chams it would most likely end very bad. I love my cham Spartacus and as much as we want our chams to have buddies its just not possible. I think ill just see how it goes and i just feel that there will be many more chams in my future just not housed together. I appreciate your help like i said i was just curious but it shouldnt be done without alot of yeaes knowledhe with chams.

 

[Olimpia]

Yea, without at least some experience I don't recommend trying it.

Why not just build 2-3 large cages in that space (or how many chameleons you'd like to have) and give each of them a great, big, beautiful enclosure?

 

[Maurer3D]

Yea, without at least some experience I don't recommend trying it.

Why not just build 2-3 large cages in that space (or how many chameleons you'd like to have) and give each of them a great, big, beautiful enclosure?

I totally agree (was just about to type the same thing,lol). You could with graet ease have 6 huge cages (4ftx4ftx8ft) which would be awesome for almost any of the midsized chameleons. Heck most people keep them in 2ftx2ftx4ft.I don't think it would be a good idea to put cages much taller than you can reach (while standing on he ground), it would complicate alot of things.

Which kinds of chameleons are you looking at buying, I'm sure alot of us could help you out with designs and tips.

 

[Auntbee86]

Well i just love mine but i just feel an addiction comming across :-/ lol i agree about building multiple cages im not even interested in any kind of breeding thats just not crossing my mind i bow down to those that have and still breed chams i dont have the time and heart to have then sell or give away babies. I was thinking of maybe another panther or maybe a jacksons im not exactually sure right now i just need some sort of an idea of how to plan out a cage build lets say i wanted like a unit type or maybe like just 3-4 cages side by side...seporated so they cant see each other of coarse. I just dont know where to start on cage plans i was thinking of just doing 2 and i ccould always add more any ideas i was thinking cheaper materials or maybe using old furnature or i dont even know plz throw me some ideas thabks alot

 

[laurie]

What you are looking at sounds like a modified free range, based on the size. It seems Melleri free range together. maybe send pm to summnoer12 or fluxlizard. They both have melleri. Just another idea.

 

[Auntbee86]

thanks, Ill look into it.

 

[Maurer3D]

If you place a sheet of plastic (like shower wall lining) that should be plenty. Or if you are building them you could just design it that way. You could do some amazing things with that space (well if you have the budget), I am so jealous.