Your thoughts on desert move..

So I'm currently in Georgia and I have my chameleon in a screen cage. About 4 month old vielled in a reptibreeze. I'll be moving to El Paso, TX in june, which is the desert. I was wondering since I'm going to have to get a bigger one anyway, should I go with a glass terrarium to help keep humidity up? Just to give you an idea, here in GA, the average humidity is close to about 50%, in El Paso, it's about 5%. Anyway got some time to think about it, so I thought I'd throw the idea out there.

Big NO to the glass. In that heat you will cook your cham. Rather than spend big bucks on a big glass terrarium for your cham, youd be better off getting a larger screen cage, covering 2, maybe 3 sides with plastic (look on other threads specifying what to use) in order to keep the humidity up. Something you should definitely get is the MistKing. That'll help you a great deal in keep up the humidity if you cannot mist your cham a lot

So you saying a cham would cook in a glass terrarium, regardless of location? Cause I mean, room tempature here in GA and in El Paso will be the same, central air and all. I'm worried about the humidity being too low and my cham dehydrating. I'll look up the plastic wrapping stuff. I just didnt want to end up over misting and breeding bacteria if i got another screen cage to keep the humidity up. Also, what's a good size to have for adult veiled? I have quite a bit of funds to work with thanx to tax return, so I'm trying to get endstate equipment, while I can afford it.

I'm in central Texas where temps get over 100 easily for months at a time (welcome to Texas!) and I can keep my glass vivs in the 70's for my pygs and carpet since they're indoors. If you have the A/C on (which you would melt without) then you will be fine if that's something you want to try. If you ever put the cage outside then yes, it would be an oven, but in room temps where the cage isn't in sunlight from a window it will be about the same temp as the room if you use a low wattage bulb. The biggest limitation with glass cages are the size. Unless you go with a custom glass cage design you probably won't find one big enough for an adult veiled because it should be at least 18"x18"x36" tall, and even bigger is better. I wrapped 3 sides of my jackson's screen cage with clear shower liners and it helps his humidity stay up. Also led a human humidifier through PVC pipe to his and my panther's cage. The mistking is highly recommended by many on here, and that may be a great asset in such a dry area. So you have some options to work with, you just have to figure out what works best for you!

It is possable to keep them in glass terrarium plenty of people do it successfully. They typically dont commercially make them large enough for an adult veild chameleon.

I would ask other members from dry areas what they do. Heck you can wrap a screen cage with a shower curtain,

Have you looked at the eco sun?
They are a sponsor, state of the art lighting, timers, dimmers. Even the lights fad, like sunrise and sunset.
I don't know what your current setup is, but I like the efficiency of the Eco Sun, and a larger cage

Not much as far as Cham advice (Id use a fogger or humidifier for screen cage, and when outdoors plenty of shade coverage, and misting)If you think it is hot in GA then wait till you meet BIG TX!!! I lived in Warner Robins for 8 years and lived in TX for 1 my drivers license melted with in an hour in TX (left on dash board ) good luck, and hope all works out well. IT is HOTTTTTT lol.

Grim Crow said:

So you saying a cham would cook in a glass terrarium, regardless of location? Cause I mean, room tempature here in GA and in El Paso will be the same, central air and all. I'm worried about the humidity being too low and my cham dehydrating. I'll look up the plastic wrapping stuff. I just didnt want to end up over misting and breeding bacteria if i got another screen cage to keep the humidity up. Also, what's a good size to have for adult veiled? I have quite a bit of funds to work with thanx to tax return, so I'm trying to get endstate equipment, while I can afford it.

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I have a fully grown male veiled and keep him in a 2X2X4' screen cage. Thats a good size for a chameleon his size. I dont mean that they'll cook regardless of location, but it does mean that you have to be more vigilant and aware of your chams cage. In a glass terrarium, temperature builds up really quickly. (like in your car if you leave it outside in the sun). In a cage you get good airflow and its a bit easier to control the temperature. Most people will tell you that in hotter climates, screen cages are the way to go. As for the bacteria building up, you will have to program the mister (if you get the misting) to mist at a time interval where the water has dried from the bottom of the enclosure. I clean my cages 2-3 times a week (except if I see some poo on the floor, I will clean that right away), and do a complete cage cleaning once a month. Doing that I avoid any possibility of bacteria building up. In a glass terrarium you'd be more prone to having bacteria since you have no way for the water to exit the enclosure. In a screen one, you have many options on how to build a drainage system.

Personally, I would opt for the screen cage.

Yeah i'm originally from el paso, I'm in the army and stationed at fort benning, 3rd ID. I'm getting out soon and going back to el paso to start school as I have a house there. So far sounds like Mist King is a must. I also have a human humidifier back in el paso that I used when I was younger, use to get bloody noses real bad. So I guess if I went glass I'd have to prob get a custom one. I'm curious, what kind of drainage systems do you use with the screen cage and shower curtain thing, don't want to have a lot of water buildup. I was thinking of setting up a glass one kinda like Chris Andersons setups with live plants, and the layer of pebbles bellow soil to help with the drainage. If I could do the same, and it is just as effective I would probably go for a large screen cage, anyone have any experience with that? Also I'll google that eco sun right now. Thanx for replies.

On my screen cage I use plexiglass cut to size. It lays flat, easy to clean, can see right thru it, zip ties on. IMO, it looks a little cleaner than plastic.
Definitely a mister is a must. And I don't think the Sr. Members here are going to agree about using substrate, but that's really not for me to say!

Grim Crow said:

Yeah i'm originally from el paso, I'm in the army and stationed at fort benning, 3rd ID. I'm getting out soon and going back to el paso to start school as I have a house there. So far sounds like Mist King is a must. I also have a human humidifier back in el paso that I used when I was younger, use to get bloody noses real bad. So I guess if I went glass I'd have to prob get a custom one. I'm curious, what kind of drainage systems do you use with the screen cage and shower curtain thing, don't want to have a lot of water buildup. I was thinking of setting up a glass one kinda like Chris Andersons setups with live plants, and the layer of pebbles bellow soil to help with the drainage. If I could do the same, and it is just as effective I would probably go for a large screen cage, anyone have any experience with that? Also I'll google that eco sun right now. Thanx for replies.

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This what I did for drainage:
Drain

As for the humidifier, I used a walgreens one that cost like 30 bucks. Bought some plastic hose from home depot and attached it to it. Now I have a direct fogger inside the cages. I'll get some pictures so you can get an idea

I'd go with screen then maybe get some thin plexiglas sheeting to cover the sides as needed.

Oh btw not all of texas is desert, summers in east texas is normally > 80% humidity, it's still HOT tho

The problem with substrate is there are a lot of problems with accidental (or intentional) ingestion and impaction - which can be fatal. And regardless of if you have substrate or not your cage will need to dry out completely at least once daily to prevent mold and bacterial growth. Even with drainage layers in substrate you can still overload the system and get mold growth within the layers (trust me) and you'll have to tear it all out and start over. If you want a planted cage you can cover the surface with window screen so it's not obvious that it's covered but your cham can't eat it. To be honest though, substrate layers may be more work than it's worth, especially with a screen cage because you'll have dirt/sand dribbling out of the mesh all the time. I have two planted glass vivs - one for my pygs (who have to have a planted cage) and my little carpet, but all my others are screen and all fake plants with almost nothing on the bottom and they look very nice too (and are much easier to keep clean). You'll have to do some more research and see what will be best for your situation. Just be aware of the risks of substrate ingestion as it happens very frequently and can be very bad. My veiled tries to eat the dirt in his potted plant all the time - I had to cover it up with rocks and eventually just took it out (well I killed it first...no green thumb).

I live in arizona and i understand what you mean by the dry climate. Honestly, like was mentioned before, you best bet is to cover two sides with plastic or plastic screens. I am able to keep the humdity up to 60% in there terrarium with plants and moss and plastic!

depending on if you a boy or girl chameleon
an adult male would really like 5 to 6 foot tall terrarium
and an adult female would prefer a 4 to 5 foot tall terrarium.
Good luck with your move

That's what I did for a fogger using a humidifier. It helps me keep the humidity up since I keep the AC on all day.

do you hose the humidifier to the top or bottom part of the cage? Also from the looks and sounds of it large screen cage is prob what I'm going for now. I like the drainage systems I saw on your link to that thread. Now, does anyone have any pics on the shower curtain thing on a screen cage? Also I wont go with substrate, because I have seen my cham shoot at some of the leftover calcium powder on the bottom of my cage. I dont have substrate in it right now, i did at first but took it out after advice. I had read about organic compounds being safe, but it seems veileds are bad about eating substrate so yeah... btw i did clean up the calcium powder, it was a little leftover from shaking crickets out of a tube i had just dusted them in.

Grim Crow said:

do you hose the humidifier to the top or bottom part of the cage? Also from the looks and sounds of it large screen cage is prob what I'm going for now. I like the drainage systems I saw on your link to that thread. Now, does anyone have any pics on the shower curtain thing on a screen cage? Also I wont go with substrate, because I have seen my cham shoot at some of the leftover calcium powder on the bottom of my cage. I dont have substrate in it right now, i did at first but took it out after advice. I had read about organic compounds being safe, but it seems veileds are bad about eating substrate so yeah... btw i did clean up the calcium powder, it was a little leftover from shaking crickets out of a tube i had just dusted them in.

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Yeah, I take it all the way to the top. it's split into 2 because I have 2 cages. Some of the vapor condenses and creates water droplets. I've seen my cham drink from it. It's purified water, so its ok. If you have questions on either the humidifier or drainage (made both myself), ask. I'll be happy to help.

And about the curtains, its just to cover the sides. Any way you can place them is okay. I've read some people use some masking tape to hold them onto the cage. It's not a bad idea. Being in south florida, i dont need them. But in El Paso, it would help you plenty.

Just get a 2x2x4 SCREEN cage and a mistking and all will be fine. Thats all that is needed for our TX weather.

heh you're from granbury, it's humid there. I have cousins there. El Paso is really dry, sandstorms often even. Plus I never see my chameleon drinking so she is probably use to the GA humidity and don't want her to be too shocked with the move and not know what to do about being dehydrated. I'm sure instincts would kick in, but don't want to take any chances. I was thinking i could probably have something made with solid sides and screen doors. Maybe like glass with rock wall coverings on sides and back with screen doors up front. Reason for that thought is because I'd like to have water tight seals on sides and back, i'm worried about just taping/stapling/nailing shower curtains on the side for the small crevices to be a breeding spot for trapped water and spread bacteria outwards from there, in which case I'd prob have to tear it apart, clean and dry and then redo. Then again with how dry El Paso is that might not be an issue.

Wow its a small world. In the summer I just bump up the mistings and do like 2 3 min. mistings and 1-5 min. misting it works for me