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One of the advantages of purchasing a Dragon Strand cage is that it is rust proof and the screen read more, Introduction to Chameleon Cage Drainage Trays There are four most important branch functions. This is what makes this all work! There are so many reasons why it is worth paying the money to get your chameleon from a reputable breeder. He has bred reptiles and amphibians at the hobbyist level and at the large-scale commercial level. I do this so that my chameleon will be front-lit giving me a nice view. You cannot directly transfer advice for heat lamps and misting schedules from screen cage strategies to solid side cages. Unless you have another drainage tactic planned out, get yourself a drainage tray. The Dragon Ledges from Dragon Strand are structural elements which allow weight to be borne by the frame instead of the screen. This pot is anchored in three places. I have a dedicated appliance timer driving the fluorescent fixture. T-5 bulbs give off much light in a small package. The cage shown here is what a chameleon cage should look like. Yes, you can spray the Great Stuff directly on the screen. In this demonstration I will be using the following products: 1) Dragon Strand Large Keeper Screen Cage. Rachel, Your regular maintenance will be keeping plants watered and trimmed. But, the Medium Atrium set-up is the way I prefer now. The Clearside material is a durable flexible PVC material which is pulled taut much like the screen is. Not good. Both humidity and exposure are created by pockets of something instead of distance away from a certain point. It can overlap with the heat basking bulb, but I suggest not making that the only place the chameleon can get the UVB. In this example, branching will be done using zip ties and hot glue. The more screen the more ventilation and the dispersion of heat and humidity. When you are using the Dragon Ledges you can easily anchor the branches either by zip ties or hot glue. But for you to create areas along the gradients that a chameleon can place their body requires a cage size whose dimensions are larger as the chameleons body gets larger. Vertical is fine for getting around, but chameleons generally like to rest horizontally. The simple answer is the bigger the better. Cheap solutions include thumb tacks through the screen or hanging from fishing line from the cage frame. A drainage tray removes as much of this risk as is possible. I am going to use live vining plants to accomplish this in my design. Consider approaching the cage from the perspective of creating a beautiful environment where the chameleon is just one element. If you have spent time browsing chameleon care sheets you will probably have run across the statement that chameleons need screen cages or they will get sick and die. Shy chameleons will go there to hide, sleep, and retreat when they just dont feel like dealing with your nonsense, or a stranger comes in the room. Chlorohexadine is a good cleaner. The first is imbedding a length of tubing and letting that be my drainage, or else I drill a hole through the pot and foam and let the water trickle out. The hiding branch. The lower level is usually just a branch-way for a traveling chameleon. the second and third are along a vertical branch that is firmly attached to two side Dragon Ledges. The screen can hold a little bit of weight, but the best design will have the screen be non weight bearing. Incredulously, some insist that the pair loves each other and cant be separated! Once it is ready, get yourself a knife and carve out a hole. If this happens you will have to just plant the plant directly in the mounted pot. This version is twice as much money, but it is black and fish safe. The middle layer would contain most of the plants and should provide cover for the chameleon. This give the humidity holding and visual benefits of glasswork without the weight. Chameleons are horizontally perching animals. In my plan I am putting the heat lamp in the back right corner and the daylight/UVB along the front. Note a thin layer of foam along the side under the main center Pothos pot. The other gradients are UVB, humidity, and exposure (can the chameleon choose from being in the open or hidden). Screen cages, hybrid cages, and glass cages are tools that have their place. Your lighting solution must provide both full spectrum daylight as well as UVB light. Dragon Ledges are strong enough to lash large branches for vertically oriented species such as Uroplatus leaf-tailed geckos. I use a combination of zip ties, galvanized steel wire, and hot glue to get the pot in place and facing the correct way. Once the entire cage is together you may have to adjust some placements to ensure maximum use of the water coming down. Droppers will allow the chameleon to drink, but will not give the chameleon the ability to clean out its eyes. Branches that are of an appropriate diameter may be placed into the holes in the Dragon Ledge. For a typical design with Pothos (AKA Devils Ivy), you will want to place the plant around the three quarters height of the cage. It does not help that pet store owners and reptile show vendors continue to sell pairs of chameleons with the instruction that they can be kept together. The more solid sides the more control you have over the environment. And we dont want the screen to be bearing the load anyways. They have been tested by hanging bricks in a screen cage so you know they will handle a substantial potted plant. He led the South Bay Chameleon Keepers group in Southern California and is the host of the Chameleon Breeder Podcast at www.chameleonbreeder.com. If you have a drainage tray then a network of drilled holes will encourage drainage. Give three points of anchor. In 2002 he established the successful Chameleons! Most cages come with a plastic floor. This way I can have as much water going into the system as I feel my chameleon needs. Some keepers that do not have a drainage tray will line the bottom of the cage floor with paper towels, puppy pee pads, or carpet. We will specifically place our branches and climbing surfaces so the chameleon can comfortably choose any point along that gradient depending on how much heat they desire. Note: Do not plan on the screen wall as a suitable climbing or perching surface. It also allows an area below the plant to create a visual hiding spot. If the chameleon does not have a convenient branch within 12 inches then you are running the risk of the chameleon not getting enough UVB even though you have fresh UVB bulbs. Apply quickly and confidently. Large sticks lashed to the Dragon Ledges are a convenient way to provide other anchor points in mid-air with the same strength as the Dragon Ledges. Suit up from the beginning. The clear side are like the screen sides in that they should not be weight bearing. Although a Great Stuff mound would be very difficult to disinfect so I suggest doing a simple quarantine cage until the chameleon is clean and then move him/her into a naturally done up cage. What you save up front will be paid on the back end in the form of your time, replacement costs, and even vet bills. I have used two methods with success. The highest quality solution is to install Dragon Strand Dragon Ledges as they will allow you to mount both branches and plants. Gravid females especially will appreciate easy access to the bottom of the cage. Learn from the mistakes of your predecessors! A gradient is a progression from a high value to a low value with every step in between. As drainage is a critical part to a successful system ensure your cage manufacturer offers a drainage solution or you must develop one yourself. In this case, I have plants as major elements of my design so I am going to install my plants in the locations I have determined. Also note that once you start a can you will not be able to use the remainder of the can because the nozzles will clog up after first use. It is all about how much ventilation you need considering your environment. Heat: A heat gradient would be the progression from the hottest point under the heat lamp to room temperature somewhere else in the cage. 5) Arcadia 24 T-5 Quad Bulb Fixture. A Brief Review of where we have been The first thing you need to know about chameleons is what their home should look like. The water that goes in the cage will come out of the cage. This gives the chameleon drinking surfaces at any level you choose and allows hiding spaces to be created. A pot, identical to the one with the plant, is used to drill holes for zip ties and, if necessary, be hot glued into place. Zip Ties provide an easy way to attach branches at most any angle. As we are using a screen cage int his example, the nozzles would have to be directed in a way that they do not spray towards the cage walls and moisten the walls or furniture around the cage. No matter what plants you use, their functions are 1) to provide a hiding space so your chameleon can feel safe. Brenda, This can be done for small accent plants. It ensures that water is available to your chameleon whether you are home or not. Chameleons need perching space and they like to perch horizontally. Keeping the bottom of the cage clear removes hiding spaces for feeder insects and allows foreasy floor removal and cleaning. We will go deeply into the plant kingdom to understand how to keep a living environment for our chameleons. A mist system is critical for your chameleons health. It has more than enough strength for this. These can be plants, feeding stations, nest boxes, or any other element appropriate to the species you are designing for. So now that our major interior elements are installed, lets get to the branching. In this cage design I will be using the Great Stuff foam so I do not have to be as careful how my mounting hardware looks as it will be covered. Drainage is not needed if I am careful how much I water. I have ordered the 24x24x48 clear side so I assume I can silicone cork bark on the back clear panel? If you are not using foam you just have to be a little neater, but, as you can see in this example done in a smaller 36 tall cage, this is not a problem. And any chameleon could decide to take a bite. The lower level towards the bottom of the cage will have the lowest heat and UVB. The important part of this process, though, is not necessarily that you use the same components I am using, but that you absorb how I am using them and what purpose they serve. Some are sun lovers and some hide in the shadow, but the important thing is to give them a choice. In this build I did not use four large vertical branches like I did in the Medium Atrium set-up. The heat bulb is in the back left side of the cage and branches allow access there and through the foliage and under the foliage. Foam directly on screen will seep through in some places, but mostly will expand away from the screen. Just apply the basics to your chosen equipment and remember these two guiding principles. The cage that I siliconed cork bark to was part of the Breeder series so it had two white PVC walls which can be load bearing and will not flex. This means that you can lay down a thin layer of Great Stuff, but the next day it will be a thick layer. This includes Jacksons Chameleons. In this particular build, I relied on the Great Stuff foam to provide structure. This is an area where I can take advantage of the plant cover to increase humidity and give some psychological cover. That choice should not be a 100% on or 100% off so youll want to provide a basking branch that leads away from the basking bulb. But outdoor keeping has so many benefits that it is worth making it happen! The right half shows the same branches with an artificial vine draped over the branch ends. This branch is usually six inches from the top under the UVB lamp appropriate for the species. That is worth it! Pothos is best as a trailing plant and can be mounted to the sides of the cage with equipment such as the Dragon Strand Dragon Ledges. One nature of tis material is that it has give and take so it isnt the best material to use as an anchor.The Dragon Ledges were specifically designed to be a structural element and so you would want to use a network of sticks anchored on the Dragon Ledges to provide the support for anything on the sides. Gradients and Levels. This cage size is commonly found among the different manufacturers. When the plants and dirt go in there will be much more weight. So the cage needs to be big enough that you can create a gradient that allows. Direct sunlight hitting a cage set up for our weak indoor lights will result in dead chameleons from overheating. This is the cage on its side as the foam is applied around all the pots and mounting hardware. But as a chameleon keeper grows in their skill they will more and more embrace the naturalistic approach and a soil substrate will be just one component in the keeping of an environment rather than just the keeping of a chameleon. This is just part of finding the right combination. This is a horizontal branch that allows your chameleon to hide behind leaves. This allows the unhygienic combination of moisture, poop, and escaped feeder insects. The bottom line is simple do not keep chameleons together. This is a misinterpretation of the dominance play and their perching close together is anything but love. Regulating exposure is challenging in an all screen cage where the chameleon is suspended in space with a 360 degree view. Looks Great! Alternatively, you can just shovel the dirt and plant in when you are finished. Then we can create the climbing infrastructure around them. Since this is a screen cage and I need to take mist overspray into account, I am going to install two nozzles in the front two corners and point them at the plant groupings once the plants are installed. 7) Great Stuff Pond & Stone Foam. They are constantly on display. You may want to include plants other than pothos. The network of branches is horizontally orientated. In dry climates you can just let evaporation take over. This requires that branches be placed horizontally in the cage. 2) Levels: Horizontal perching levels connected with diagonal and vertical climbing elements. 6) Heat Lamp. This is a PVC tray that fits under the cage to collect excess misting water. In chameleon caging equipment you truly do get what you pay for so I caution against going into your chameleon cage setup with the idea of getting the cheapest possible items. When she is done laying I take her cage off and put it back where it spends the year. Now, this doesnt have to be a separate branch, but there must be branch space that performs this function! This can be done in a surprisingly small space. Live plants give attractive drinking surfaces and can be used to create humidity pockets and hidden glens. Make a drainage hole, place soil inside, insert plant, and you are set! So you have a breeding ground for bacteria and a delivery mechanism to your chameleon. If you are using a dripper to provide drinking water you will have to consider a weekly drench in the shower to allow body cleaning. Live plants produce humidity which is beneficial for chameleons. Although the surface of the Great Stuff will start to harden pretty quickly, give your Great Stuff mound a couple days to set before carving out structures. But regardless of the species, your chameleon will have its own personality and you want to give it the feeling of security no matter its personal level of gregariousness. Here is what is important with the cage that you need to replicate. In a small or medium size cage, one main branch usually serves as the upper layer. Dragon Strand Investigative Report: Rack Abuse! Chameleons actually adjust quite well to a cage space if their needs are met. In this 2448 set up are you using two or four large vertical branches? Here is where the Dragon Ledges come into play. For example, the heat gradient starts at the basking branch under the heat lamp and extends to the farthest corner away from the heat lamp that the chameleon can access with a branch. Pots and containers for plants are firmly lashed to structurally strong branches using zip ties, hot glue, and galvanized steel wire. It does little good having a heat gradient that goes from the high value to the low value in the distance equal to the length of your chameleons body. In a Breeder series cage you can mist the entire cage and the plants will get watered every day, but in the more controlled environment of a screen cage you will have to supplement your plant watering on a regular basis. When I use it as a communal laying box it sits with a plant and just enough water to keep the plant healthy. This we want to avoid. The basking branch. Humidity: In practice, humidity is more of a pocket rather than a progression. Robin. I will be using the top of the line equipment to achieve the optimal screen cage environment allowed by the products available today. I always have a branch within the chameleons reach fromthe floor. To avoid the pooling of water, drill numerous small holes in the PVC floor and youll facilitate quick drainage. Most advice is based on screen cage experience. This is a huge topic. Expandable foam is a hardwareGreat Stuff is a certain brand of expanding foam. read more, Looking Forward to 2019 The basic design of read more, Introduction: Please do not perpetuate this habit. This is the branch that is close enough to the leaves that have water dripping down on them for drinking. Artificial vines are useful to hide mounting hardware. Plants will be able to provide the cover and leaf drinking that chameleons need. So screen cages are the type that has the most community experience and support. This is not necessary, but I consider the aesthetics of a chameleon cage as vital as the functionality. That said, once you understand the principles of a chameleon cage setup you may transfer them to your particular set of equipment. Take the plant out and replace with another type until you find the ones that work. We will be using these Dragon Ledges to mount a live vining plant on the wall. For the lower level I use horizontal branches and diagonals. This means that there is a drip or mist systems that produces water on leaves that are within easy reach of a perching branch. This works beautifully! Once the plant is in place, the black zip ties and Dragon Ledges fade into the background and are not distracting. I am using a standard reflector and incandescent light bulb from my local home improvement store. I have done it with and without drainage. With indoor husbandry we send so much time an effort figuring out how to get the correct UVB, heat spot, natural hydration cycle, and air flow. Thank you. Can you explain how you are able to clean the Great Stuff? In practice youll find that even typical extroverts such as Veiled and Panther Chameleons will use these hidden areas at times throughout the day. Bill Strand has been involved in captive breeding of chameleons for almost four decades. To start off with, we install our major cage interior elements. Zip ties are good for structural strength while hot glue holds items in place. Use disposable gloves and old clothes when working with Great Stuff. But with the Dragon Ledges embedded in the foam you have firmly anchored the entire foam structure to the frame. We will study deeply on each one of these concepts. 1) Gradients: Heat, UVB, Humidity, and Exposure. Just be sure, if you are using the Great Stuff to hold in pots, to have a solid anchor like the Dragon Ledges to bear the weight. So if it is just a little bit and decorative you dont have to worry too much about anchors. The critical key in all of this is to make sure you get foam in and around the Dragon Ledges. Explore different plants. Outdoors keeping, during the months where your environmental conditions are within the chameleons desired ranges, gives your chameleon these things in a natural way. It is especially challenging in a screen cage because of all the ventilation. There is no problem if you choose to start them in a smaller cage, but if the chameleon is so young that it needs a smaller cage then reconsider buying this chameleon. The glen is difficult to see from the outside of the cage and that is exactly the point! If you use the standard version of Great Stuff it will look artificial unless you slather it with black silicone and moss. If you are covering the bottoms of your pots with foam you will have to provide a method for drainage. This means that the foam can be peeled away from the screen. So I will use the space in the middle portion of the cage to create a glen, or retreat, of sorts at the middle level. It will stick to skin and clothes and good luck getting it out. This pot has three anchor points. We will go over how to carry them out effectively and, in this case, exceptionally. In this article we created a very effective cage to house a chameleon. Is there a leafy area where they can feel safe? It is not as simple as just bringing your inside cage outside. But having them in with Veiled Chameleons can get troublesome if the chameleon takes a bite and swallows the plastic. Especially when starting out there is no reason to work with a substrate (meaning dirt or wood chips or anything else). But to do this without the foam I need to rely on the vertical branches for the structure. Part of the training we will do here at the Academy is to teach you how to determine which cage material is right for you. Dont worry about the foam. Spider plants or Schefflera are other good candidates. This could easily kill your chameleon due to overheating. They are a retrofit kit for existing screen cages. 3) Dragon Strand Dragon Ledges. It is designed for fixing ponds, after all. So many Jacksons Chameleon have suffered for this. If the branch holes of the Dragon Ledges are used, hot glue can be used to ensure that the branch stays in place and the load stays on the Ledges. It is common for this to be overlooked in cage design because we are only thinking about how we want to see our chameleon. The branch may be held in place by a zip tie or by hot glue. That frees up my egg laying box for any other female that needs it. They are easy to use and easy to disinfect. You want to plan for the following: What kind of watering system will I use and where does it go? And, youll see how the foam will make this even more effective. A substrate refers to including a soil floor in your husbandry. This is sufficient for keeping your chameleon. They can survive for a time together, but this is a low grade stress situation for them. But for all the benefits of outdoor keeping, there come many dangers if it is not done correctly. It will be one we look into more in the future here, but a soil floor as limited value to no value to the standard chameleon. Expanding foam may misshapen the pot making it difficult to slide your plant pot in. There are two key elements to keep in mind when setting up a chameleon cage. As the load is downward, the hot glue only need hold the branch in against lateral forces. The first thing you want to do when setting up a cage is to make a plan for how it will look. This will keep most, if not all, of the spray inside the cage. I am going to be using zip ties and Ill use artificial vines to hide the ties that my foam does not. I have covered the entire side under the pot so that my hidden glen is enclosed on that side giving it a more hidden feel. The majority of the species of chameleon or other reptiles/amphibians will appreciate a chance to warm up in the morning. There are two uses for water which you much provide. In this design I have a horizontal branch across the top. With this cage we will make an upper level which will offer the perching area for the highest heat, UVB, and exposure with the lowest humidity. The left half of this picture shows branches mounted using zip ties. The key to creating an effective cage is understanding how to create gradients and microclimates so your chameleon and regulate temperature on its own. If you use the dual pot method I described before this is an easy process. Most cages come with a PVC floor that makes cleaning easy, but it also holds some water before it flows into the drainage tray. In fact, you will know when your chameleons needs, whether physical or psychological, are not being met when they start climbing the walls and ceiling and are trying to find a new areato sit or hunt. Some people create wood lattices across the side of the cage. The one thing you will have to plan for is where excess water will go. Thank you! Regardless of gender, there should always be a way for the chameleon to easily find its way back into the branches if, for whatever reason, it finds itself at the bottom of the cage. The gradients a chameleon requires are heat, UVB, humidity, and exposure. Great Stuff expands. Vertical structural support branches extend the anchor capacity of the Dragon Ledges across the entire wall space in an aesthetically pleasing way. Did you spray the Great Stuff directly onto the screen? It will go nowhere! This same principle is applicable in any size cage as shown below in the 36 cage with a typical photogenic Carpet Chameleon. In this cage example I am using a large pothos to provide drinking surfaces, a hidden glen, a humidity pocket, and enormous aesthetic appeal. This gives an area above the plant for a basking layer as well as space for the plant to have head room space to grow naturally. The accurate answer, that will have a module all its own, is that the cage needs to be big enough that the chameleon can comfortably fit its entire body length in the areas of the gradients you set up. With this set-up the chameleon can effectively regulate its own temperature. This made it easy to silicone on cork bark. Since this is a large cage we will use a five pack to maximize our landscape options. The chameleon can regulate their own temperature by the distance they sit from the bulb. First, the upper level basking area. There is a bit on top of the Ledge which will need to be cleaned up. In this example, I am using an automated misting system. Whatever the strategy used, the branches should be horizontally orientated and connected by vertical and diagonal branch pathways. Some people use branches they pick up in safe natural areas and some like to be extra carful and get branches that have been disinfected and baked. Chameleons should be kept individually. The water will quickly drain into the tray and you can remove it using a turkey baster or wet/dry vacuum. There are a number of ways to accomplish this in a screen cage. In order to get to the important part of this article chameleon cage setup concepts and philosophy I will list the products I am using with a brief reason and leave it to the reader to do whatever research is necessary for the products they are considering. When mounting plants consider them as drinking surfaces, climbing objects, aesthetic appeal, and the ability to create an exposure gradient. I will use the 4 large vertical branches. The second point is the back Ledge. Be careful to remove all excess strings of hot glue. I suggest creating at least two main levels and, even better, three. Other than that, periodic trimming will ensure your plants do not become too big for the cage. Screen has a certain diameter hole and is great for only a certain size chameleon. eZine (www.chameleonnews.com) with Ken Kalisch and Don Wells. Lets step back and take a look at the exposure gradient. Gradients are critical for the chameleon to take care of its own needs within the relatively small confines of a cage. I suggest angling your trailing vine forward to get a better effect from the vines and produce the makings of a pocket for the retreat. The drinking spot. Thus, the standard cage design today does not incorporate a place for the chameleon to get away from it all.