Travel cage

[Stanly]

The field of work I'm in requires me to travel a good bit (most projects are 3-4 months in length).

I drive so I won't have to worry about shipping my chameleon but I don't want to haul him in his normal cage (for one thing it's to flimsy and may fall apart, also I was told it maybe less stressful for them in a dark container so hopefully he just sleeps through the trip)

I'll post some pics in a sec, seems I can't do that from my phone...

So here's the travel cage I've come up with.
It's a plastic trash can (new) 12x8x18, I drilled some holes in 2 side (about 26 small holes as in I didn't want to let in a lot of light) it has one top made of mesh and one of plastic (both velcro to the top and to each other, either used alone or together ) also drilled holes and ran ropes through for handles (knotted inside and out so they don't slip in and out and scare him)

Inside I hot glued some velcro"holders" for some fake vines and attached a small bio-vine w/ fake ivy so he has some perches.

I think it turned out pretty good but I'm still trying to improve it, any thoughts/suggestions?

 

[Stanly]

pics of the cage

 

[SS4Luck]

How long is your drive going to be? What species/age are your trying to transport?

I took a cham on a 2 day road trip and heres what i did.

Went down to the store and got what would have been like a 12 pack cooler. Pry 12Hx10wx6d. Put about 6 layers of pwper towel in the bottom and threw some fake vines and leaves in it. I drilled about 5 holes in the bottom of one side and 5 holes in the top side of the other to help with fresh airflow. I misted for maybe 30 seconds twice a day and just let him ride in the back seat. He was perfectly fine like that and when i got him home i put him back in his normal cage and life went on like nothing happened.

IMO what you have would work, if not might be a little big. Car rides vibrate, A LOT, and the extra size of your travel enclosure might be a bit extra. If its for a day or two "travel time" a go, you might wanna think of something smaller. (again depending on species). If your driving for multiple days at a time you might wanna think about rehoming your cham as it might not fit into your lifestyle?

 

[Stanly]

as I said I change locations on avrage every 3-4 months (any where in the US) some projects are longer some or shorter but I'd say most the time it works out to 3-5 moves a year.

I'm acually just getting my chameleon (today in fact), I am aware my life style is not "ideal" for keeping a chameleon,
but I'll be making every effort to accommodate his needs.
it will be longish rides (1-3 days) thats why I was thinking a "bigger" container for something closer to his cage size but I may have to reconsider now. as for vibration it will be seatbelted into my front seat and most my travel is freeway driving so homefully is won't be to bad.

if traveling and my life style prove to be to much for him, as much as I want a chameleon I'll rehome him.
on that note what are some sighs of strees, or symptoms I should be looking for ?