how do i post pics of my new creation (massive cage)

please tell me, you guys will love this.

go to a site like www.imageshack.us, and upload one of ur photos. then click [Direct link to image] copy it and add it to ur post. then add to back and front of site address.

[img[(http://img114.exs.cx/img114/1180/dog8jq.jpg)[/img] and take out the ---> )(

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[URL=http://www.imageshack.us]]

[img=http://img211.exs.cx/img211/3586/cfpics0127tj.jpg]

PS that new baby is not in that big cage, he is in my small one until he is ready to be super sized.
Currently I have the nose be and the new baby is a sambava. I have a vield that is about 4 yrs old and he is in a wall less cage simialr to the set up pictured but with no cage.


So what do you think of the cage?

The set up is 150 watt halogen day bulbs, 100 watt night glow bulbs, 36 inch mystic uv bulbs, wetworks pro mister system, ficus. pothos, exo-terra vines, and manzanita branches. The day lights run from 6-9 pm then the timer kicks those off and turns the night lights on from 9-6 am. The uv lights are very powerful and go up to 3 ft. They are set for 1 hr cycles 4 times a day from 9-10, 12-1, 3-4, 6-7. The mister has its own timer set for 8 one min cycles each day.
It is quite a sight to watch and pretty much is its own eco system minus the food I feed them daily. Other than that I fill the water weekly for the mister and let it go.
DONT ASK HOW MUCH IT ALL COST! LOL. I made the cage for thousands less by hand. My friend and I built the entire cage from scratch with all our own plans and ideas.

Those pics are good, but HUGE (just like the cage)!! it's hard to see them b/c they don't fit on a screen all at once. I would suggest reducing the scale of your images before you post them, to about 500 pixels in either length or width, and then they will fit on a page better.

BTW, those are nice chams!

Amanda

Not many replies, oh well.

Howdy,

I just got a look at your setup. Looks great!

You may find the chams happier to run the light timers to match daylight hours rather than to 9pm. If your nighttime temps are staying above 65F you'll be able to skip the night lights if they were for a heat source. Your UVB source specs out with a very high level of 100-200uW/cm2 at 30cm verses the 5-15uW/cm2 for 12 hours that panther researchers like. I'm just not sure if cycling the UVB lamps is best for the chams. I've never heard of that method for chams. Might be great for beardies or iguanas... Keep a very close eye on the misting. If you don't see your chams drinking lots of water daily, then you'll need to extend the watering time. Mine runs for 20 minutes twice a day. Most chams need the long stretch of rain to trigger their drinking process. Mild deyhdration is a constant threat to their kidneys - I'm learning that the hard way. Sorry if I sound lika a preachy know-it-all. I guess my worrying about my panther problems is flowing into this reply... Have fun tuning your systems!

You are exactly correct. I have recently cut the lights back to 8pm since its not dark here in Cali until then and I turned the misters up to 9 times a day with 5 of those being 2 min misting sessions. I carefuly watch his head to be sure the 2 sides of the crown are puffy and nut sunken down. I have noticed that he is not grasping the whole idea yet and have to force him to drink with a mister bottle that I spray on his head. It stimulates him to start licking his lips and then i just keep pumping little dropplets in for a bit until he stops. I quickly notice with in hours that his head puffs back up.

So you run the mister for 20 min straight? That would damn near take 1 gallon of water out of the 5 gallon bucket. The reason I have so many misting times is that it is so very dry this time of year and I want to keep the humidity levels up. The 2 min cycles drench the leaves and keep them wet for up to 15 min before they start to dry up. This leaves him time to drink but like you said I am watching him very very closely and am starting to let him figure out the whole timing of it all.
The UV lights are very powerful and need not be on for longer then 2 hours a day all at one time for the chams. For such a large cage I have therfore cycled them 4 times for 1 hour each so that he will be in that area at least 1-2 of those times. He goes out side about 2-3 times a week for natural sunlight as well. I have all my chams on vitamins and calcium with and with out D3. They get vitamins 2 times a week, minerals 2 times a week, and calcium with D3 2 times a week. My crickets are feed a home made super nutrious formula with 80 bucks worth of organic health food products that I mixed up per a web sites recpie from "kammer flages" suggestion. They get sillkies and crickets as staple diet. The lights are so strong that they will cause burns if left on him for any longer than this so this is why per suggestion of the manufacture I time them this way. They are really nice lights by the way. As soon as they come on he immediately reacts to them and turns sideways to absorb the light for about 10-15 min then moves on. You can immediatley notice color changes in them under this light to where as the Zoo med 5.0 had no visual effects.
The down fall to the lights is that they are so strong that they kill my silk worms that are 4 feet below the light on randomn branches. I come home to dead silkies on the floor all the time. I have to hide the silkies under the hanging pot or under leaf cover so they dont die before he can eat them.

Trust me I take very very good care of these guys but I am still tinkering with this massive cage to get it set up just right. The cham has been in it for just over a week now so it will stake him some time to get it all down. He often crawls at the bottom trying to get out and explore the living room, lol.

My current task is getting him to cup feed the crickets. He tends to do it but it takes him some time to figure it out. I end up placing a branch in the cup so that they can occasionally crawl up where they are then murdered by him, lol. He wastes no time once one is out of the cup, he watches it so closely.

Howdy,

I had to regulate the misting nozzle pressure from 50psi down to 20psi to create a rainy/drippy condition for 20 minutes while only using up about a quart of water. I have a drain system that collects the run-off.

It sounds like you've got a handle on things though the UVB setup scares me a bit. At one time, I thought the goal was to duplicate natural sunlight UVB levels. But after reading "The Panther Chameleon" by Gary Ferguson (and the rest of the book's authors), I found out that due to the characteristics of artificial UVB sources, it may be a problem for chams to properly regulate their UVB intake. Also, he goes on to say: "While daily short-exposure (0.5hr) to high UVB-emitting sunlamps (maximum 90 uW/cm2) also promotes successful reproduction in the adult chameleon, use of sunlamps over extended periods (1-2 years) shortens the reproductive longevity of the adult chameleon. Such use also can promote skin tumors and shorten the lifespan of the chameleon. Furthermore, sunlamp exposure is potentially dangerous to the keeper. For these reason, we do not recommend high UV-B-emitting sunlamps for general use." So I backed-off and use the Reptisun 5.0 such that at his perch site, he gets about 15uW/cm2 all day. I'm not sure what to say about short high level exposure... Although it's not a fair comparison: Is 12 hours of 85F basking the same as 1 minute at 300F? I wouldn't have thought much about it if you were housing turtles or iguanas that need the higher UVB levels. The one good thing about the Reptisun 5.0 tubes is that your chams can site under there at 12" all day without getting UVB over-exposure.

You have a good point but this is what the folks at Big Apple Herp reccomended to me. The breaders at Kammerflage creations also said that the new zoo med screw in socket style is good and those are the same intesity as what I have but in a smaller bulb.
I mainly wanted the bulb since it will emitt more usable UV rays deeper in the cage since it is so big. The Zoo med bulbs are good but onyl go max 12 inches or so.
I will see how these bulbs turn out then go from there. Whey they wear out I might stick with the Zoo meds but for now these are what are reccomended by many as being the new better bulbs.
I'll tell you what, all specualtions aside when he is under that bulb about 8 inches from it he turns very nice colors and reacts to it instantly. With the zoo med bulbs it had no effect visually on him at all. Not sure if that proves anything but its an observation I had with these particular bulbs.

Read the "Care and Breeing of Chameleons " book by Gray ferguson and Vosjoli and they actually say that 1 hour a day of higer levels of UVB from a fluorescent sun lamp of fs-40 or equivalent is adequate if the cham is not more than 12 inches from the bulb. They go on to say that there are preliminary indications that lower levels from bulbs like you are describing are better since they wont cause UV damage. They say that there in nothing out yet that can solidify this claim. I talked with BIG APPLE and they said that the animal is gettimg equal amounts of UV just at differnt times during the day. All I can say to these studies that from my own personl observation is that the Panther Nose Be cham I have reacted only to this new mystic bulb and not in the least to the ZOO MED 5.0. Yes it is a powerful bulb and since the cham loves this new bulb and it is so powerful it therefore needs to be cycled on and off to prevent over exposure. So I guess there are proven studies showing that short exposure at higher levels according to this book are more adequate as to the CLAIMS about lower levels of UV for longer duarations.
Bottom line is do what works for you but as I said technology is changing and there are new comapct 8 inch screw socket bulbs by Zoo Med that they themsleves advertise as being superior than the 5.0. Many are catching on to this new wave of lighting tech and trying it so be open to the new stuff out there. I wont know until the long haul how it affects my chams but for the time being I am confident that it VISUALLY proves immediatly its effectiveness in the animals with use as to noting with lower level bulbs.

welp... I would have to say ultimately I would have to agree with Dave with respect to the longer and lower light answer. For what its worth I am new to panther care but have had some success with Jacksons for a time
I do however get the same "instant" reaction with natural sunlight when its warm enough outdoors for some outdoor time. Seems like you are relegating your chams to indoors only? Do the sunlight thing if you can. The setup is wicked though and I personaly think its great to see keepers go all out for their chams and their health. I digress... You are LESS likely to ever produce burn with your zoo meds replacing your current UV setup though. I could see wanting to get UV effectiveness into a deep enclosure perhaps smaller lights like the zoo meds in stages say at 3 then 6 ft... (this is a big cage eh?)
Unless I am wrong in which case disregard everything I said.
your pal-
looseyfur

You are very correct, burns are a possibility. This is my reason for cycling the lights on and of during the day so that over exposure is not possible. Even if I were to levae the lights on all day there is still a huge amount of the cage they could retreat to inorder to escape the UV. I just like the effects these lights have and feel something more than a 5.o bulb in my set up is necessary.
I do use the 5.0 in my baby chams cage since it is so much shorter than the new set up. These lights would cook him in such a small cage and I agree a 5.0 is better in some situations but I do fear he does not get the UV I would like him to as coulb be achieved from the mystic bulbs.