Posted by:
ankinc
at Fri Dec 16 21:02:32 2005 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by ankinc ]
Hey,
We make our cages with a hard plastic bottom. If you make it out of screen, not only will either supporting plants in the cage or escaping crickets be abundant, but cleaning the cage will be fairly difficult as well. However, with a plastic bottom, just wipe it with chlorhexadine. I used to try to have screen bottoms too, and tryed many different types. They won't work(easily). But, the problem with a hard floor is that the water has no place to drain, right? Wrong. Simply elevate the back of the cage up, tilting the front of it forward. Then just drill a hole in the front (or several) for the water to drain out of. Then, if you have a bunch of cages, make some sort of gutter system to catch the water, and irrigate it into buckets. This idea works rather good, adn is what we use.
As for the misting system, there are many different types and nozzle styles you can get. My female cages are 18"x24"x24", and we use a Pro-product misting system. But this is the best one on the market, and is very expensive as well. You will probably be better off going with the Mr. Moisture misting system, by WetWorks. They cost about $100 bucks, and will mist up to 8 nozzles I believe(or something like that). Most misting system nozzles will not spray over a 12" diameter, including the Mr. Moisture.
Be sure to take all aspects of a chameleons habitat into account when creating a habitat for them. I believe that you can over water a chameleon. If there is too much water, more bacteria is going to form, ect. Also, if you leave the misting system on too much, even if you have a drainage system, would about the plants? They have special care requirements as well, and over watering is definetly a possibility.
I attached a pic of some of our cages. The white thing running along in front in the top pic is the gutter which catches the water(hard to see). If you choose to use pvc pipes cut in half like we did, you are going to have quite a bit of hack sawing to do! I was lucky enough to get my shop teacher to cut them perfectly for me. Since this probably isn't easy for you to do, you might want to buy a gutter, or something similar that is easy to clean on a daily basis. The next two pics are just closer pics of the cages. Have a good day!
Ank-Inc.
Adam.
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RE: Thanks very much for your info!! - ankinc, Fri Dec 16 21:02:32 2005