Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Howdy,
Does anyone keep their chams outdoors in the houston area (anywhere in texas would be nice but houston specifically if someone is out there).
wondering what you think of the weather, can they stay out year round or almost year round?
anyone keep them not in a "cage" outside?
Looking for tips from those with experience.
thanks,
mike

I live in the Fort Hood area and I have been keeping my panthers outside 24 hrs. I don't think I will be leaving them out all the time in the summer unless I have a really shady place to put them because it gets pretty warm here.
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1.0 Chameleo Chameleo Calyptratus
1.0 Leopard Gecko-Matilda
1.1 Furcifer Pardalis (Nosy Be)-Hooloovoo and Popsicle

First of all, which species? Montane species(like Jacksons) would not do well in the Texas heat, but veiled or panthers would do fine. I don't live in Texas, but I do keep my panthers outdoors year round in S. Florida and can give you some guidelines for outdoor keeping. Mine do ok in summer heat as long as the cage is densly planted and you provide full shade on the bottom half. Set up your auto mister to run longer in the hot months. The great thing about keeping them outdoors is you don't have to worry about drainage or lighting. I bring mine indoors only when the nighttime temperature is going to drop below 60(a few days a year), as long as the daytime temps get up into the 70's they do fine. This of course will vary depending on the species. That means you have to check the forecast on weather.com every day in the winter. Interestingly, veileds have become established and are breeding wild in Ft Myers, Florida, which is quite a bit further north than I am and it gets much cooler there in the winter. They are a very hardy and adaptable species. Sorry about the long post, I hope this helps.

wow,
both of these posts provided some great info. thanks! It does get cool here in the winter sometimes...there are usually 1-2 das a year where there is a freeze warning, so I'm sure they would need to come inside some.
I am thinking panthers or veileds (AWESOME panther in that pic)...two follow up ?'s
1. how do you handle bringing them inside? a totally different cage? or bring an outdoor cage in?
2. have you ever done a "free range" type setup outdoors?
the freerange outdoors is what I'm really thinking of, but I'm trying to get a better feel for how it works before I experiment on an animal (don't want them to suffer for my lack of knowledge)!
thanks again,
mike

I'm personally trying to design a cage for my chams to be outside in that I can also bring inside without a problem - most likely it will be 3'x2'x4'. I'm also going to have two smaller outside inclosers and one BIG permanently outside cage (8x4x6) that I can partition off so they can each be in part of it... I'm also in SW FL (a bit south of Tampa), so they will be loving the weather...

But a question: how does a person deal with the rain and the chams outside? Florida summers are rainy, and my veileds don't like getting wet... So what for the weather?

~Krystie

I would love to be able to do something like this as well. I have seen pictures of outdoor set ups that were single trees surrounded by a two foot high wall. Something they cant climb but you can easily step over. Things to consider though...birds, and making sure the branches of the tree do not extend past the wall.
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1.0 Chameleo Chameleo Calyptratus
1.0 Leopard Gecko-Matilda
1.1 Furcifer Pardalis (Nosy Be)-Hooloovoo and Popsicle

Wow, he is quite handsome, vibrant colors! Must be that florida sun, LOL
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PHEve / Eve

Contact PHEve

I live in Houston and would love to be able to keep my cham outdoors. I think the climate here would work for chams most of the year. (Barring 2 months or so in the winter and during heat waves.) I think the idea of an open enclosure would be cool, but IMO if involves alot of risks from outside factors, Birds/cats/predators, bugs with pesticides, and possibility of escape. Have you owned chams before?
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0.1 Veiled Chameleon (Lola)
0.1 Leopard Gecko (Cleo)
1.0 Great Dane (Hercules)

I keep mine in 2x2x4 ft screen enclosures. They are lightweight aluminum and pretty easy to move indoors for cold snaps. It rains here hard(thunderstorms)every day in the summer months, so I keep mine under the roof of my covered patio where they can still get direct sun through the side most of the day. The bottom half of the cage on the south(sunny)side has a solid panel in front of it so they can get full shade as well. I use a mister on an auto timer. Madagascar has a wet season with heavy showers as well, but wild chams have access to trees with large leaves and can seek shelter if they don't feel like getting wet.
I have seen photos of outdoor open air setups in madagascar holding facilities as well. I would never try it for all the reasons mentioned in the previous posts, especially cats and birds. Also there are poisonous insects like many butterflys that your cham will not recognize as toxic.

I'm moving mine outside in the next week and I'm in San Antonio. Just follow what everyone else said.