Chameleon Cage suggestions?

Ta-Da! They are finished, misters are running, hibiscus is green, drain is functional, baby chameleons are inside. Took a while but it is done now

I still have some vines and taller hibiscus to put in but the Babies are still small (4 and 6 inches) so I am waiting on the other plants...

They need to be able to get up by the UVB light. What kind are they?

Try to raise the plants and section off the bottom so that they dont have such a large enclosure. 5x3x3 is HUGE for a baby.

Yes, it is big for a baby. That is why there is only one plant, they cant get down off of it so that is their home, not the whole enclosure. The UVB is a reptisun 10 and I have a curved reflector on it which amplifies the UVB by 100%. A 10 can be used adequately with a cage that size outside of the mesh as long as a reflector is utilized. As outlined here:

http://www.uvguide.co.uk/fluorescenttubemeshtests.htm

If I raise the plants any higher the basking spot will be touching the top of the enclosure. There are a series of branches with horizontal basking spots underneath the basking lamp. They move down into the foliage as needed to thermoregulate.

They are a pair of Sambava's, one is sired by Torch from ChameleonsNorthwest and one is sired by El Lobo from Kammerflage. They have already eaten twice today and have been drinking water when the misters run.

So far it all seems to be working out.... I am keeping a very close eye on them and making sure that they can navigate and feed properly just in case

Much more thorough testing is available here:

http://www.martinsreptiles.co.uk/ukc...ting_tests.pdf

I'm not seeing the 100% thing? maybe I'm just lame, but I definitely dont see what you are saying. What are you comparing it to? I would add more horizontal branches at the top so that they can get out of the heat with the UVB still on them. They need coverage up high so that they can hide in the plants while still being above you. I would be scared out of my mind if I was a cham and only could hide in a plant that was eye level or below your eyes.

Is the female a torch baby?

Look at columns 1 vs columns 4 in the second link, that shows the difference the reflector makes. Not literally 100% but very close.

What would you recommend I use to cover the plants up high? If I hang a planter they can climb the lines and get on the screen...

Also, I am almost 6.5 feet tall, lol, so getting above eye level is no easy matter. My cage would have to be A foot higher than it is now, and then there would be nowhere to put the lights...

No edit button. Yes, the female was a torch baby. Small chams cant eat fake plants can they? I cant imagine their mouths are strong enough to tear silk at that age....

Howdy Jim,

A couple of thoughts...

If you were looking to raise the plants up higher in your enclosures, you could use an upside-down plastic plant pot and set the plant on top of that.

Be sure that you've positioned plants and lighting so as to not go too high (or low) with the UVB uW levels. Many keepers suggest a target range of 25-50uW/cm2 at the basking spot. What you are looking to avoid is levels working their way towards 100uW/cm2 and above since there is some evidence that health issues can occur. I'm about the same height as you . The tops of my screened enclosures are at 6' 9" and they seem to be ok with it.

It gets trickier feeding juvenile chameleons in large enclosures. I usuallly start my 0-3 month-old chameleons in a 16x16x20 and then move them up to 29" tall ones when they are around 3 months old. When they get to ~6 months then I look at moving them to my 24x24x48 enclosures.

Did you happen to go to the Pomona Reptile Show? We had the South Bay Chameleon Keepers booth representing our club. We were there, not selling anything, but there to promote good chameleon husbandry practices .

Oh, and if the hibiscus don't end-up doing well, try Dwarf Schefflera .

Thanks a lot Dave. I was reading over the charts and the uW/cm2 rating for the distance my lights are at with the wire mesh and the curved reflector should be falling around 50 (that is 5 to 6 inches, or the top of the enclosure).

Yeah, my cage is just under a foot over my head at the very top, that was as high as I could build the table while still getting my lights on there.

I have been toying with the idea of moving the little boy (4 inches) into a 20 gallon aquarium with a screen on top, at least until he gets a little larger. I have low watt bulbs that I can run in one corner and plenty of tiny crickets that I could free roam.

I have only had him for less than 48 hours and I have already gotten him successfully feeding out of the cup and drinking water off of the branches, as well as when I mist him manually.

I just placed the feeder cup low on the branches so he could see all of the movement while basking, he does not seem to have any issue finding it right now. I am still toying with the idea of moving him out of there though. If his health or eating/drinking habits seem to decline at all I will make the transfer.

Unfortunately I did not make the show, have been running around non stop the last few weeks. That is awesome that you guys just went to help educate people though, very admirable thing to do.

So far the hibiscus is doing great, I actually transplanted it and cleaned off the entire rootball 3 days ago. I figured I would kill it from the shock but I gave it a go anyways. I transplanted it into a 1/3rd vermiculite, 1/3rd perilite and 1/3rd peat moss soil, then used fish about a tablespoon of fish emulsion per plant with liberal warm watering. Once the smell of the fish emulsion went down I moved it into the terrarium and turned on the lighting and misting cycle. To my surprise some of the flower buds that were on there have actually started to open, as opposed to shocking and falling off. I have two 4' braided hibiscus trees and some star jasmine vines as well.

Question, since I imagine you know tons about husbandry, do you elevate your basking light off of the screen cage? I am worried that my female will climb on the cage to the light and burn herself. Has this ever been an issue with you? I feel like if I elevate it enough so that the screen underneath it sin't too hot, then it wont be warm enough for basking on the branch...