panther housing

im thinking of gettinga panther chameleon sometime in the next year or so. the pet store kid told me that best thing is a collapsible flexarium thats screened all around but i hate the look of them. also maintaining temps and humidity would be hard i think but he said they're stressed by their own reflection. suggestions or opinions would be appreciated.

I use all metal screen cages there easy to clean, move and much more visable than the others out there. Humidifiers can help if humidity is to low. Also you have to keep the ambient temp in the high 70's to 80's. Don't forget stale non circulated air is bad for chameleons?

Are you getting an adult or juvenile? There are several ways to adapt or build enclosures that are attractive with more space and cheaper than enclosures that are specifically made for chameleons.

As I mentioned in a previous post I have been very happy keeping my adult male veiled in a large bird cage. The bars are close enough to prevent escape and still allow ventilation. A cheap walmart humidifier adds enough humidity and the cage is built to be attractive and easy to clean, found it on ebay pretty cheap.

If you're getting a juvenile you could get a smaller bird cage and wrap some sort of screening (several varieties available at Lowe's or Home Depot) over the bars to prevent escape by the small animal or you could look in several chameleon books or websites for various plans that use screening and wood or plastic frames to build your own enclosure.

I agree with you about the flexariums. They're not very attractive and because they are commercially built for reptiles it costs way too much to get one that's big enough to give an adult chameleon enough climbing space. In general if something else will work as well, I think it's always better to adapt something that isn't made for reptiles. Just think of timers for lights and heaters. If you buy a reptile light timer at a petstore you spend 15-30 dollars depending on the complexity and how extensively it can be programmed. At wal-mart timers start at 3 dollars. The picture of a lizard on a product just isn't worth the extra expense sometimes.