Tips for a move???

[Amadeus_peasant]

Hi everyone,
I got accepted into an amazing college and will be transferring there to finish my bachelor’s degree. I will not be living in a dorm since I will be coming in as a junior. The problem is that this school is halfway across the country and I need to drive there; it is a 22-23 hour drive so I will need to get a hotel for at least one night. So my question is…

How can I keep my 1.5-2 year old panther chameleon warm and safe during the trip???

I've moved once in my life and only had a dog at the time so that was not a problem.
I should probably set up a ceramic heater for the overnight stay at the hotel.

I have no idea what to do
Please help

 

[Beman]

Hey there congrats first of all! So with a long distance move like this it is totally doable. The trick is you need to pack up the entire enclosure and all of the items with it to go with you so you can set up immediately when you get there. Being warm is not what you want. You do not want hot temps when you are driving in the car as they will over heat. Really needs to stay cooler in the car when you are transporting them. If moving in summer this can be challenging.

I did a 3 day move with my boy. Essentially he was in his carrier for a little over 48 hours total. He was totally fine. Trick is you want a dark carrier with air holes. You place a stick about an inch from the bottom and hook this into your carrier so it can not rotate. Then he has a grip surface to fall asleep on. I cut pothos vines and put them in as well. This lowers the stress of the move for him because they sleep. At night when we stopped at hotels I would open it up and mist the inside for him. Let him wake up and move around a bit and drink. Do not feed on this trip as he will not have access to his heat lamps to digest. He will be perfectly fine not eating for a few days.

I have attached a few pics of my carrier I made for mine. So I prefer this method over doing a bin that they can see out of. My guy stresses pretty easily so him being able to see everything being in a bin was not something I was willing to do. But in those cases they take a plastic tub does not have to be huge. Same method of drilling holes into the plastic and then you put in branches through holes in the plastic. Adding a small pothos plant that you can secure to the bin and then vine around in it. Then the top you want to cut out a section that you can hook screen to for more air. Heck I have seen people do this with small cat carriers as well. Same thing of hooking in branches and securing a plant so it does not slide around.

You could test how well he will respond to something like this. If he just sits and chills in it then great but if he is actively trying to get out then he could hurt himself and need to be in something more like what I set up for my boy.

 

[Amadeus_peasant]

Hey there congrats first of all! So with a long distance move like this it is totally doable. The trick is you need to pack up the entire enclosure and all of the items with it to go with you so you can set up immediately when you get there. Being warm is not what you want. You do not want hot temps when you are driving in the car as they will over heat. Really needs to stay cooler in the car when you are transporting them. If moving in summer this can be challenging.

I did a 3 day move with my boy. Essentially he was in his carrier for a little over 48 hours total. He was totally fine. Trick is you want a dark carrier with air holes. You place a stick about an inch from the bottom and hook this into your carrier so it can not rotate. Then he has a grip surface to fall asleep on. I cut pothos vines and put them in as well. This lowers the stress of the move for him because they sleep. At night when we stopped at hotels I would open it up and mist the inside for him. Let him wake up and move around a bit and drink. Do not feed on this trip as he will not have access to his heat lamps to digest. He will be perfectly fine not eating for a few days.

I have attached a few pics of my carrier I made for mine. So I prefer this method over doing a bin that they can see out of. My guy stresses pretty easily so him being able to see everything being in a bin was not something I was willing to do. But in those cases they take a plastic tub does not have to be huge. Same method of drilling holes into the plastic and then you put in branches through holes in the plastic. Adding a small pothos plant that you can secure to the bin and then vine around in it. Then the top you want to cut out a section that you can hook screen to for more air. Heck I have seen people do this with small cat carriers as well. Same thing of hooking in branches and securing a plant so it does not slide around.

You could test how well he will respond to something like this. If he just sits and chills in it then great but if he is actively trying to get out then he could hurt himself and need to be in something more like what I set up for my boy.

Oh my god you are an actual angel
Thank you so much

 

[elizaann2]

Oh my god you are an actual angel
Thank you so much

She really is!

Congrats on everything and let us know how the move goes!

 

[Beman]

Oh my god you are an actual angel
Thank you so much