You said..."It's hard to bring up glass, as so many people will ridicule you for it"...I used to cringe every time someone asked me about my caging....but then I decided that they should know the truth. When I first started keeping chameleons, I kept them all in aquariums and they even had solid lids. I had many (all WC's) that lived for 5 or more years in those aquariums...with no respiratory problems, etc. It definitely takes some know-how to achieve it though...and I soon started using screen lids...and then progressed from there.



I still don't like all screen cages (for me for where I live) because all the heat is under the basking light and when the chameleon moves away from that area, most of the rest of the cage is not as warm as it should be so they tend to sit under the basking light for most of the day. It makes me think of how we would go to the cottage in the winter time (just to check that the snow wasn't going to cave the roof in, etc.) and just end up sitting huddled in blankets close to the fireplace there because the rest of the room was too cold.



IMHO airflow can still be created in an aquarium with a screen lid by placing the basking light at one end. (I almost always used aquariums that were longer than they were high.)



I can remember many years ago, my vet trying to get a male chameleon to open his mouth so we could look inside by showing him a mirror. He had no reaction to it.



Good story about the mirror on the back of the cage though! I wouldn't try it.

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