My pygmy enclosure

[meow_mix450]

Hey

Im hopefully getting 6 bearded pygmy chameleons this week. So I got my enclosure setup; still adding though. Let me know what you think. Also any tips you wanna give is always a bonus.




Meow

[RDexotics]

you should add a few more branches of smaller diameter, mine never seem to climb much on the bigger ones but are constantly cruising around on the smaller ones. Other than that it looks good.

[roocat71]

The coco fiber is fine but be careful not to over water it. You really need some more stuff on the ground covering up that fiber. Go outside and find some dead leaves and pull some bark off a dead tree. Clean the sticks with soap and water and stick them in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes or so (along with the leaves and bark). As mentioned you need more sticks with smaller diameters. You can find some moss outside too – I got some off my roof. A large rock always look nice as well (again, outside – near a creek). If you got money to spend, look for a plant nursery that sells “air plants” they add a nice touch, see if they got some cork bark too. I can’t tell from the pictures, but is there anything under the fiber bedding? How big of a tank is that too – looks like a 10G. If so, that’s pretty tight for 6 pygmies – especially if you have more then one male.

-roo

[vipervenom]

Yeah; never thought of it until it was mentioned. Some drainage should have been added.

Some simple sticks can be found on dead trees which is where I got all of mine.

A trick I was told about moss is; gather some moss, put it in a bleender with some yogourt, and blend it up to a paste. Then proceed to 'paint' it onto logs, rocks, anything, and apparently it will start growing very rapidly, and cover whatever you paint it on.

Other than that, it doesn't look half bad.

Hey roo, you have any pics of your setup?

[roocat71]

Here are some pics I took of a 30g I just finished not long ago. It's not as "dense" as my others, but I am hoping the plants grow into it.

-roo

[vipervenom]

Not bad!

Those mini umbrella plants work awesome for these cages. I am going to also purchase a bonsai'd ficus tree and possibly some Baby Angels tears for cover.

Here is a pic of my 29 gal long tank.

[meow_mix450]

Things Im adding tomorrow
- moss
- more branchs
- drift wood
- rocks(maybe..if theres room lol)
- leaves from my ficus tree and outside

Theres a 2cm layer of fish gravel, but its covered by the bed a beast. Also its a 10 gallon. This is for 3 pygmys only, and another 3 is going into another 10 gallon. haha it would have been way to small for all 6 to fit. I forgot to mention Im getting 2 males and 4 females

Meow

[vipervenom]

Sorry, tank info.

29 gallon long tank. For drainage I have 1-2 cm river pebbles with two under gravel filter plates (for fish tanks) on top to seperate the soil from the pebbles. I then have 4" or coconut fibre covered with a 1-2" layer of dead leaves (mostly from my ficus tree in my Veileds cage). In the far right hand corner I have also some exo-terra dead moss, which will be replaced with living moss once spring rolls around.

The plants: on the far left I have a huge pothos taking over my cage which is great; on the far rigth I have a small umbrella plant; and throughout the floor I have a few planted creeping charlies, a few spider plants, and I, just for fun, planted some grapefruit seeds which are just starting to sprout and grow nicely.

The sticks I collected about a month ago from various dead maple and birch trees. I made sure they were dead. I tied them together with green twist ties. The lid is screened. I have two thermometers placed at opposite ends, and a hygrometer inthe middle. And the lighting I have a small incandescent fish light for a little bit of heating, should the chams feel liks basking, and a fluorescent light, mostly for the plants but probably benefits the chameleons as well.

Lol, roo, your setups rock! I really am not licking mine, I want to add some cork bark on the walls for additional climbing areas. What type of glue did you use?

[Collide]

Roo i must say your cages are sexy lmao... i might steal some of your ideas and modify them i want to get some mantellas mabey this summer. If i was into the pigmys those cages are like lavish hotels lol.

Oh and i HATE those stupid umbrella trees i cant keep them alive errrr i have one now that is hanging on but i cant seem to get them to thrive drives me nuts specially since i have a fairly green thumb. Just me though everyone else i know keeps them fine ahhh.

Oh and about Bonsi's in alot more chemicals are used to grow them then normal plants, because the amount of soil they live in is mimimal they suck all the nutrients out of it and firtalsers are added basically every watering, id just be much more carfull with using a bonsi then any other plant. because i have some and i know how much crap is in them. Id just get some small ficus plants, instead of the bonsi virsion they will grow into better bushes for the little guys any way

ok enough of my ramble ...

[roocat71]

Roo i must say your cages are sexy lmao...

Well that’s fitting since there are three sexy ladies in there right now.

-roo

[kinyonga]

Just one thing that nobody's mentioned...
make sure that your rocks are sitting on the floor of the aquarium in case the little chameleons dig under one and it "collapses" onto them. They are quite the diggers!

[vipervenom]

I never thought about bonsais doing that. They sell some at a petstore near me, so I just assumed they were alright, but I'll look into it more.

Lol, I used to have horrible luck with umbrellas, until I saw this small one and bought it, and ever since it's been doing awesome! And I am a very good 'brown' thumb, hehe.

Lol, roo, just curious, you seem to have 3 layers of substrate, is one of them charcoal?

kinyonga, good suggestion!

[meow_mix450]

I got some updated photos. I believe thats it for adding in this 10 gallon? Gonna have to start on the next one soon haha



Meow

[labomb]

looks awesome, I'm soo jealous. I am starting to gather ideas to build my veiled a permanent home and want to go HUGE. but trying to be reasonable.

[vipervenom]

An awesome improvement!