Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I thought I would share some advice about mesh cages. You know - the kind with wire spacing that is around 1/8"
and looks like window screen.

Don't use them. Here's why: One day I noticed that my Jackson's was missing a toenail. There was a scab on the nub. I was really concerned as to how this happened. I then noticed the actual TOENAIL stuck in the cage mesh! I thought this was a freak acciddent, and moved on. About a week later, I noticed about four of his other toenails were either falling out or gone! And yep, some were stuck in the mesh, pulled right out again.

So, I know they're popular, but I suggest staying away from mesh cages with small spacing. Chameleon's toenails DO NOT GROW BACK. I switched to a coated wire cage with 1/2" spacing and that eliminated the problem.

I'm sure someone else has seen this happen. Any thoughts?

i'm going on a site right now to buy a new cage for my jacksons!!!

I highly recommend Martin's Cages:

http://www.martinscages.com/products/cages/reptile

These are excellent quality, and they even built a custom cage for me to my specs. These cages are perfect for Chameleons.

sweet!...thanks a bunch

No problem, glad to help.

These cages don't provide quite as good visibility as the mesh cages, and will take some getting used to, but are worth it in my opinion. They are much more safe. Make SURE you get the coated PVC wire. The raw wire may cause foott abrasions. At first I thought it was hard to see into the cage, but now that I've gotten used to it, I hardly notice the decreased visibility at all.

Plus, the cages are far more sturdy than the mesh cages.
Although they are a little more expensive, I think they're a sound investment. I'll probably never need to upgrade to a better cage.

Do you have insect escapies? How are you feeding in this cage? thanks-Maggie

I use a cup. Or every now and then I hand feed.

Unfortunatley i know exactly what you mean.My female tamatave has lost just about all of her nails.She cant even climb on the screen now.I have my male in one also,but am putting him in a reptaruim tomorow.I have heard these will snag the nials too. i want to make some cages with the pvc coated mesh with the 1/4" spacing.But money is an issue right now and this will be some time.if you have to use a screen cage, i suggets putting ALOT of vines and branches in there, as weel as plants(live).

Some chams don't climb their screen and some do. It is a dilemma for those of us who like to feed free roaming flying insects. If the cham has always had lots of climbing perches and plant structure they don't tend to start using the screen. If you really have a climber and want to use screen, you can attach a light weight larger opening plastic mesh on the inside of the cage for the cham to use. I've found fruit orchard Bird-X netting works pretty well.

Thats a good suggestion! I was just pissing and moaning about yet another item I thought I was ready with for my new cham just to have to go out and get something else. How do you attach the bird netting and where do you usually purchase it? Thanks-Maggie

I knew of this problem when I builtOrion's cage. So, I used 1/4" plastic mesh that looks like hardware cloth for the inside layer, and screen for the outside (my dad made me. I still live at home and all I hear about is "what if the crickets get lose". Well, I didn't do the roof with the plastic, just the screen. She lost two toenails and so I had to put some plastic in the top part of her cage.