When is big to big for an enclosure????

melble68

melble68

Established Member
I'm getting all my ducks in a row prior to purchasing a new panther. I'm preparing for an outdoor enclosure using 1/4" PVC covered hardware cloth in a 36" width.

Is 6' wide x 6' high x 3' deep to big for a juvenile, or even an adult panther? Can an enclosure get to big? I've got the room, and actually have the room for multiple set ups eventually. :confused:
 
There are a couple of schools of thought on this. The first is that in the wild they have entire trees to occupy, so finding their food, and not falling out of that tree isn't an issue. The second side of the coin is that you want to be able to easily monitor their food intake (and then output). If you get a juvenile, I personally would have them in a smaller cage, until they get used to you, and cup feeding and even hand feeding. Then, as you learn their habits, you can move them into the larger cage. Remember this - if you need to ever move them (vet visit, etc), and they don't want to come to you willingly, you will have a terrible time trying to catch them in such a large enclosure. Your enclosure sounds incredible for the cham, and we can all see that your future panther will have a great life with you. :D
 
The SunnyD method has already caught my attention. Not permanently mounting it, but moving it around from location to location ever other day or so just to mix it up. I'm also planning on having dual doors. Actually the entire 6'x6' face of the enclosure would be two 3' wide x 6' high (ish) active doors.

DIY Cage is also in the "idea" mix already for the cooler months here in Tampa when I'll bring um inside.

Bill, you are still a bit south of me, do you keep your's outside?
 
Sounds like it would be awesome! I dont see anything wrong with the extra space.

But as absolutbill pointed out, I have a RL friend who free ranges chameleons in his high ceilings. They NEVER come down..even with vines that let them come down to your level. you have to get a latter to reach them.. I'll have to take pictures next time im there.

Anyways, if you want to handle you cham and he's a runner be prepared to have a hard time getting them.. although six feet dosen't seem nearly as intense.

-Even though my friends chameleons free ranging have all this space, they don't even use it. They like one spot in the corner under a MVB, and then their sleepy spot in another corner with lots of foilage.

Hope this helps at all when your designing your cage. Your chameleon will love it no matter what.
 
rotate

I am a huge believer in letting your cham grow with the cage. As babies, no matter how much effort you put into sealing a cage, the food for babies and juveniles will escape. They need to be able to hunt it down quickly and several times daily, as opposed to adults. Also if the sunnyd cup is to big or obtrusive, you can hang the plastic cups that nightcrawlers or earthworms come in. I hang the small diamond condiment cups from branches. Make two holes about an inch apart, use two ties, that will keep it from rotating or twisting. Your cham will probably poop in the cup also, so be prepared. It happens.
 
I use one of those 1 gallon distilled water jugs that is not clear. Use aluminum mesh from home depot(in the screen section). I seal the edges with hot glue or the bugs burrow underneath the mesh, and use duct tape around the edges of the jug that I cut, here is quick picture I just took, its actually taped to the door of my enclosure. The crickets don't escape as I break their legs off first haha.

 
tks to all for the feedback. it helps to know that i'm on the right track. i'm very handy and super tool savvy, so i'm always up for another project. i catch myself falling asleep at night thinking about my enclosure's design.

Rick you "photo bombed" yourself.
 
While I am a bit south of you, I'm Michelle, not Bill :rolleyes: My husband signed me up for the forum, and used his name for whatever reason. I always thought I'd be a lurker and never a poster, so never bothered to change it. At any rate, I have 3 chams, but only my male panther is friendly enough to come onto my hand. For him, I take him out to the completely screened in lanai for a few hours every morning that I'm home. The other 2 I'm still working on to become friendlier. I would never keep them outside permanently because I live outside of town and while we have a screen, that's no match for the panthers, bears, and bobcats that are around here :D
 
melble68 said:
I'm getting all my ducks in a row prior to purchasing a new panther. I'm preparing for an outdoor enclosure using 1/4" PVC covered hardware cloth in a 36" width.

Is 6' wide x 6' high x 3' deep to big for a juvenile, or even an adult panther? Can an enclosure get to big? I've got the room, and actually have the room for multiple set ups eventually. :confused:
Click to expand...

Young chams eat small worms, fruit flies, and pinhead/small crickets. These are all teeeeeny tiny little bugs that love to crawl right through the 1/4 " holes. Waking up with crickets crawling up your leg is a lot scarier than it sounds. alluminum screen cages are the most common and honestly star in nearly every single enclosure in the picture thread. hardware cloth is more for special cases that wont stop ripping their nails out on the screen. Or sometimes for larger chameleons in out door free range cages. which makes a whole lot of sense right...

Tighter knit screen that is designed to keep the small bugs out are great if you have to use fruit flies. (are chameleons hands all feet or are their feet all hands?)

This all depends on the age of chameleon you wish to get really. If you make a huge enclosure, you should let a fully grown chameleon that would love to stretch out in it for a while. If you get a smaller enclosure, you have room for different species. Which would enable your new found addiction to spiral out of control. think crazy old chameleon lady...

If you get a baby then you are going to spend and awful lot more money, but it is so much fun watching them grow!!!!

Cup feeding is a method that works very well in large areas when smaller enclosures are not available. A forum search will produce a wholebuncha info on that stuff

A Reptibreeze 16x16x30 is like 50$ on amazon and is great for most species up to for up to 5 months. Spending 10 bucks a month on a cage that keeps the bugs out of my bed was totally worth it.
 
Hey Mark, I did say this was an outdoor enclosure and not inside. I'm also not planning on getting a hatching panther, so no fruit flies or pin heads at this time. I'm planning on using some sort of a cup feeding method to keep an eye on their intake. Something like a Sunny D style. I will also have a DIY cage for the cooler months here in Tampa. I'm fully aware of the "addition" that we all obviously have. In my 20's I used to have iguanas, white's tree frogs, turtles, king snakes, pac man frogs, anoles, house geckos, and the list goes on. I'm definitely holding myself back. I'm not trying to do this as cheep as I can, just the best that I can. Think of my "outdoor enclosure" as an "enclosed" free range outdoor cage if you want.
 
melble68 said:
Hey Mark, I did say this was an outdoor enclosure and not inside. I'm also not planning on getting a hatching panther, so no fruit flies or pin heads at this time. I'm planning on using some sort of a cup feeding method to keep an eye on their intake. Something like a Sunny D style. I will also have a DIY cage for the cooler months here in Tampa. I'm fully aware of the "addition" that we all obviously have. In my 20's I used to have iguanas, white's tree frogs, turtles, king snakes, pac man frogs, anoles, house geckos, and the list goes on. I'm definitely holding myself back. I'm not trying to do this as cheep as I can, just the best that I can. Think of my "outdoor enclosure" as an "enclosed" free range outdoor cage if you want.
Click to expand...

I am afraid that I am too late :(
is there a rock bottom for chameleon addiction?
perhaps we should have a 12 step category in the forums...
I wish I could have an outdoor set up, there is a few very great build guides for a wood/hardware cloth outdoor enclosure.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/diy-outdoor-enclosure-pictures-108835/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/my-outdoor-enclosure-94249/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/huge-outdoor-enclosure-102567/index3.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/lar...t-help-imagination-welcome-111539/index3.html

These users may have a similar sized dream to yourself :)
 
Rock bottom for our addiction, yeah right. LOL!!!!! I've had this "problem" since I was like 5, and that was 40 years ago at this point. I guess I'm in denial. Thanks for adding the links. My idea seems small compared to some of those. WOW.
 
I had to limit myself to one room in my house, otherwise this would get out of control very quickly! Even so, I'm planning for the day that my beardies pass away, and then I'll have space for probably 3 more cham cages. :eek:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Steve A
UVB Lighting on new enclosure
Replies
9
Views
826
Beman
Beman
Steve A
Climbing material for inside of DIY enclosure
Replies
14
Views
722
Steve A
Steve A
naterowley
First Impressions Arcadia LumenIZE LED Bar & ProT5
2 3
Replies
41
Views
2K
elizaann2
elizaann2
N
Help a newbie setting up a 18'' enclosure for a Panther Chameleon
Replies
2
Views
650
Beman
Beman
Shauna_T
Pictures of large enclosures for inspiration 💞💜
Replies
5
Views
715
Beman
Beman
Back
Top Bottom