Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok, I know I'm a pain in the butt. But, this weekend I have to decide what kind of screen I am going to buy, and I haven't a clue. Anson suggested plastic hardware cloth. This sounds good. Can you get it small enough that crickets can't get out? I find that Orion eats a TON more if she can free roam. Because of her earlier not eating her diet is a concern for me. I can't get the plastic covered 1/4" hardware cloth that I REALLY want, because I have to buy a WHOLE ROLL, and that costs about $200. Soooo... I need lots and lots of more input guys. PLEASE help me out. I don't want to buy the wrong thing. THANKS A BUNCH!
~Lindsay

i have a chameleon condo screen cage, it seems to be built out of plain old metal window screen, but i think its coated with somthing. goto your local home depot and look acround at there screens, im sure non metal window screen would also work.

i plan on building a cage for my chameleons to stay outside in over the summer.
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2 month old veilded chamleon (heinekin)
2 juvie crested geckos (not named)
3 month old ambanja panther (not named yet)

Lindsay-

I too am in the process of building new cages, 8 of them for my chameleons to stay in during the summer outside. I have also been looking into the screen, but I cant find anything that will suit my needs other then the 1/4" hardware cloth. I have looked into special ordering black screen, but cant find any local stores that can. So I turned my search to the internet, and came across some companies that sell the plastic/pvc coated 1/4" stuff but they only sell in truck/pallet loads. During my search, I did come across an online store that sells the 1/4" hardware cloth with no coating for less then my local homedepot shop. But I need something like 160' of the stuff for all my cages. Can I ask where/who sells the single rolls of plastic/pvc coated 1/4" cloth you are talking about? I do have the black aluminum window screen on my indoor cages, and I have not yet had any problems with toes. My male panthers are very active but don't spend much time on the screen, my ambilobe jumps on my arm when ever I open his cage, he thinks he I will put him outside on his tree, but I cant always do that, so I am building outside cages so I don't have to worry about crows and hawks eating him. The hard part is telling him no and trying to get him off my arm! Well back to the point, if I can not find anything other then the 1/4" hardware cloth, then that is what I am going to use, but if your chameleon doesn't like to cup feed (mine don,t they like free roam too). I feed silkworms as there main diet and the 1/4" should keep some of the large adult crickets in the cage I hope! I use the widow screen on the inside cages because the cages are premade and that is what comes with them, and two the cages are inside, and the cages claim to be cricket proof so I don't have crickets running around all over the house. I have seen the plastic 1" hardware cloth, but that looks to big for my needs. I have also seen pvc coated rabbit fence that looks like bird cage screen, but the bars are to far apart for my needs. So I thinks it comes down to if your chameleon spends allot of time on the screen, and if so you will probably want the 1/4" stuff, if you chameleon doesn't spend allot of time on the screen then you should not have a problem with the aluminum window screen. One more thing you could always use two different size screens lager on the inside and smaller on the outside. One more possible way is to use the window screen and then make a larger diamond/square shape pattern on the inside of the screen using plastic coated electrical wire, similar to the shape of lattice, if the frames are wood, then use a staple gun to secure the wire down, On the side of each frame, mark the same distance apart, then use the wire to connect to each mark to make a diamond/square shape pattern over the inside of the screen. Then if you want you can cover the staples with thin 1/8"x2" wood (I cant recall the name of if maybe facing???) and screw it in over the wire/staples. I hope this makes since, just a thought! I can't think of any other ideas, I hope you can under stand what I am talking about! Hope this helps!

P.S.- Crickets can and will chew through fibreglass screen!
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John
1.1 Ambilobe Panthers
1.1 Nosy Be Panthers
1.1 Sambava Panthers

MUAH! for you! I think you solved my screen problem. I am going to use black aluminum window screen for the outside, and make a wire lattice on the inside. PERFECT! THankyou sooooo much!
~Lindsay
PS, I called the TSC shop in my city, and they can get the rolls ordered from their supplier. I think they are 100' rolls and are about $200 CDN each. I'm not sure if there is anything like that near you, but look through the yellow pages. There are lots of hardware stores and also suppliers and such that you should be able to find. I'm sure one will have what you need. Wouldn't it be so much easier if you could find the stuff anywhere? It's SO perfect!

Glad to help you out! I am in the USA, it looks like this stuff just is not popular enough for the stores to carry. The same guys I will be buying my screen from, said they have pvc coated 1/2" screen in 24"x5' rolls or 36"x5' rolls when I called them but each roll is like $10 and I need 160' of the stuff, so they are going to check and see if the same people who supply them with that stuff sells it in larger rolls like 100'. Cross my fingers they do, and it will be around the price I want to spend.

Thanks
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John
1.1 Ambilobe Panthers
1.1 Nosy Be Panthers
1.1 Sambava Panthers