Chameleon cage.....

[Tom P]

I want to build a pentagon shaped cage for my cham. I have an idea of the dimensions I want. 6' high, 2' wide. The questions I have for everyone is:

What sort of mesh do I use for the walls?

The same as used for screen doors or windows?

Will that material melt if heated to much?

Can it be harmful to the animal?


Any answers, and/or other ideas are VERY welcome. Thanks guys.


Tom P

[Linds]

How about hardware cloth? At least that's what I think it's called...lol. You may need to build up the sides or reinforce the bottom with insect-resistant screening to prevent and escaped crickets. Screen door material is not safe to be heated (it will offgas and I don't think its could stuctually tolerate heat either), and insects will be able to eat through it. Good luck with your cage! :D

[Laurier]

hey,

yes it is hardware cloth. It is plastic and i have only seen it for sale at the home depot by chinnok center. also the best way to feed the cham is dish feeding, you can monitor how much your cham is eating plus u don't have to worry about crickets running around everywhere. well unless you accidently hit over the cricket bin, now thats not fun and you can't sleep for weeks.

What type of cham u plan on putting then the enclosure?

LAurier

[Linds]

I must be thinking of something different as the "hardware cloth" I was thinking of is metal, not plastic. I wouldnt suggest using plastic in fear of it being melted by the heat lamp........

[Tom P]

Thanks for the tips.

I am going to put a Male V. Cham in the new cage.

I already have a female, and she is in my large display case. I want to make an enclosure large enough to put both of them in together.
So it is going to be quite large. But it will be a fun project.


Female (http://www.printroom.com/_vti_bin/ViewImage.dll?userid=tjprince&album_id=64066&image_id=9&courtesy=1)

Tom P

[Laurier]

hey,

do not put teh pair together. The sight of the male will stress out the female and i have heard of situations of the female to stop eating and than die. This is why you see beariers between males and females in pictures. Ussually you just have the the male and female in together when mating, and thats just for 20 mins, tops.

As for the the mesh, don't use metal because the chameleons can cut up there feet on it. As for the plastic melting, i use a 50 watt basking bulb and its about 8 inches from the mesh. also when buying mesh make sure the holes are around 1 cm square so that the cham can not loos nails in the mesh.

Laurier

[Jaylyn]

I personally diagree on the dish feeding. There is mounting evidence that prolonged dish feeding causes tongue problems (specifically by not extending their tongues to full length).

Chams hunt in the wild - let them hunt in captivity.

Jaylyn

[Laurier]

hey,

the problem with having free roaming crickets in your tank is that you enclosure walls would have to be glass so that the crickets can't escape. with glass it stresses the chameleon out because they can't climb it. another problem is that it causes problems with there lungs i believe because not enought air cerculation is moving through the tank.

i know now your thinking, but what about fine screen mesh. well this causes the chameleons nails/claws to be puleed out and without those nails its hard for chameleons to grip on large surfaces.

now, without a chameleon being unable to climb on large surfaces this is a problem. chameleons need to be able to have a variety of sticks/ chameleon highways so that they do not produce joint problems.

many people dish feed, and have been dish feeding for years. I know a chameleon that dish fed for 8 years and than it had to be put down, because of an earlier problem envolving mbd. Dish feeding is not that much of a problem, plus everyone should have a nice amount of meal worms or super worms so that you can have your chameleon shoot out its tongue to full length.

well hope this helps

Laurier

[Jaylyn]

Laurier,

I still disagree with you about the dish feeding. Hand and dish feeding have been directly linked to atrophy of the tongue and once this has occurred - it can be difficult to regain that strength back.

In this day and age - let's hope that anyone considering buying a cham knows that aquariums are unacceptable for housing (with the exception of brevs). But, unless your cham is as large as an Oustalet's - 1/8" PCV coated harware cloth will work just fine. If you aren't able to find PCV coated - you can paint it with latex (wash it down well with TSP first, let it air well and watch for any chips - you will have to maintain it periodically).

Just curious - why would you offer mealworms? They are almost impossible to gutload well and aren't particulaly digestible. Zophobias (superworms) are naturally higher in calcium and contain less chitin. Cup feeding does not allow for the provision of a varied (and nutritionally sound) diet. Moth, flies, grasshoppers, etc can easily be offered in a well-made screen cage.

The stimulation and exercise free-roaming insects provides greatly outweighs any convenience of dish feeding in my opinion.
Of course, situations with weak or sick chams warrants the short term use of feeding dishes.

Jaylyn

[Laurier]

hey,

well i offer super worms to my chameleon because i like to give my animal a variety of food items. There is nothing wrong with giving a chameleon 5 super worms a week. I haven't seen any odd behavior in my chameleon and i plan on keeping on feeding him some super worms.

for your information on this tongue problem it is good to know but in 2 years i have never heard of this problem in effect. I think that chameleons should be feed with dishs because you can monitor how much they are eating, while with free roaming crickets you can not see how much the chameleon is eating unless you enclosure is extremely simple.

I know that alot of chameleon breeders and experienced breeders dish feed and i personally think its the best way.

just my thoughts and opinions

Laurier

[Cornelsworld]

If you are looking for the PVC Coated wire mesh I can supply it to you. I will let you know it is a bit more expensive than wire mesh, but let me know if you are interested.

Greg

[Jaylyn]

Laurier,

Zophobias are superworms - they are fine. Not as nutritious as silkworms or crickets gutloaded with a good recipe (like the AdCHam one). I feed them regularily.

There has been threads on the bowl feeding through out the CJ's and AdCham archives - many expert/experienced keepers discourage the practice. Just something to consider!!

Hey,
Do you have a contact number for Arboreal Exotics?

Take Care,
Jaylyn

[Laurier]

hey,

sorry i am not on adcham so i wouldn't know what they talk about there. But I know that alot of the breeders that i know up here dish feed and there chams are fine.

sorry i used to have there e-mail but i lost it once i decided that i should focus more on dart frogs.

Laurier

[Jaylyn]

You have to be sponsored to participate in the AdCham forum (years of experience of working with alot of difficult species). But, you can go through the archives - alot of it is taxonomy - but the information is there because these are the researchers on the forefront. The information they have is a lot more current than any of the literature published to date. There members include experts such as Susan James, Petr Necas, etc. Just do a search for them on Yahoo Groups.

AdCham also has a website that is excellent: www.adcham.com .

Take Care,
Jaylyn

[Cornelsworld]

I have their phone number and e-mail address at work from their business card.

I will post it on Monday.

Greg

[backdraft1320]

Check this out I dont do chams but thought it was cool.
http://www.chameleoncondo.net/

[Jeff_Favelle]

Hasn't anyone read the stuff that Frank Retes has been saying for years? Trust me, its a good read. It'll totally change your way of thinking about how active lizards eat and breed.

[Jaylyn]

Jeff,

Well, that was a tease!! I've never heard of him - do you have a link or point me in the right direction??

Thanks,
Jaylyn

[Jeff_Favelle]

He owns the Goanna Ranch and is pretty much the formost authority on breeding monitors. I'll scan the article from Reptiles. But for now, here's a few links:


Ok, I can't find any links to him talking about food, so I'll have to grab the Reptiles and scan it in.