Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This is my cage I built using the shell of an old dresser. I pretty much went all out, it's even got crown moulding on the inside, haha. I work in constuction so some of the materials were free scraps, saved me a little dough.Tell me what you guys think. -Matt

Your wood working skills are obviously up to par, but I am a little concerned about the chams requirements being met. I can see from the pic that there is a panel of glass for the front door of the enclosure. Keep in mind that even though it is clear glass, there is a reflection that is casted on it that may and possibly will confuse and stress out your cham to extreme measures. Also, UVB lighting? Where is it? I see a heat lamp on top but do not see a fluorescent tube or mercury bulb that will give off the required UV. I only said mercury bulb as an example, I would not recommend using one for this type of setup at all. Ventilation? Are the sides of that cage made up of screening? Chams require an exchange of air and ventilation. Enclosures made of solid walls, whether it is from glass or wood, can not meet that requirement. Heat build up is also another common problem with this type of set up. Check into the requirements of the animal and compare to your set up.

I agree - it is lovely! But I too wondered about ventilation. You may want to replace the sides with screen - and I assume the top is screen? A 5.0 reptisun UVB bulb that goes at least the length of the top (fluorescent bulbs lose strength at each end) along with your basking bulb would suffice. Be sure to monitor those temps as with so little ventilation they will heat up quite a bit. Personally I recommend a temp gum.

The drawer is cute Are you using it for storage? You might consider drilling a few holes in the floor and then placing an appropriate size tub in the drawer for your drain - just be sure to dump and wipe out daily. Just a thought as finding a place for water to go is one of the biggest issues of indoor cages :-/
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Chameleon Help & Resource Info
1.0 Nosy Be Panther Chameleon - Cyrus
0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
1.1.1 Side-blotched lizards - Ana and Stan
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skippy
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh, Died 4/21/06
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha, donated to science 4/4/06
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet

Yeah, I have a reptisun uvb, its hard to see in the pic because it's in a slimline fixture, you can kinda see it in the second pic. I do have a temp gun, the basking spot is 82-84 (50 watt bulb), the bottom of the cage is 70. It houses my jacksons, so the humidity is between 60 and 80 depending on how recently I've misted (usually 3 times a day). I do agree screen sides would be good, when I designed it, I was worried about crickets escaping, I used 1/4" hardware mesh on the top for it's durability, which a large cricket can get through. I did'nt want to use the smaller stuff on the side because I was afraid it would look cheap. This is the first one I've built, so next time I can correct my mistakes.

FYI

Slimline fixtures have a plastic cover over the bulb. Remove this or consider that bulb useless.
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CANADIAN SILKWORMS

lele, yeah I use the drawer for storage, plus I can't really justify drilling drainage holes because of the porcelain tile floor ,plus the durock and the 1/2" plywood underneath. Don't worry, the tile was free leftover from a job.

aha! I thought it was linoleum - I hear ya on not drilling porcelain! There are plenty of other ways to catch water. I just use a big tub and when I run the humidifier I bunch up a couple towels on the bottom of the cage and remove to dry daily. Works fine.

Maybe for your screening, you could just cut 1/2 way up on each side to place screen. The regular window screen looks fine. That's what most of us with bought cages have. There is always tweaking along the way.
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Chameleon Help & Resource Info
1.0 Nosy Be Panther Chameleon - Cyrus
0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
1.1.1 Side-blotched lizards - Ana and Stan
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skippy
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh, Died 4/21/06
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha, donated to science 4/4/06
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet