Reptile & Amphibian Forums

These next three photos are my all screen setup for my future jacksons chameleon. It measures 20"x20"x24". Not quite as tall as I would like, but I have a large tree in my living room, and I plan on having him in that tree whenever I or my roomate is home. It has a live ficus, 2 60W normal bulbs, and a reptisun 8.0. Vines, foliage, dripper system. Gotta build the feeding dishes and change the top half of the potting soil (right now it still has some perlite in it). I'm confident in my ability to care for one of these fascinating little critters, just wanna throw my line in and see if I can catch some good advice or tips. Any and all are greatly appreciated. Also, I am pretty sure I know who I am getting my jax from, but could you guys still point me to some other reputable breeders? More options are always better.

-----
-Bill

1.0.0 Albino California Kingsnake
0.1.0 Colombian Red Tail Boa
0.1.0 Leucistic Patternless Leopard Gecko
0.0.1 Red Flame Crested Gecko
0.1.0 Orange Crested Gecko
0.0.1 Argentine Black and White Tegu

My Home Page

BoidsNTegus@insightbb.com

.

-----
-Bill

1.0.0 Albino California Kingsnake
0.1.0 Colombian Red Tail Boa
0.1.0 Leucistic Patternless Leopard Gecko
0.0.1 Red Flame Crested Gecko
0.1.0 Orange Crested Gecko
0.0.1 Argentine Black and White Tegu

My Home Page

BoidsNTegus@insightbb.com

.

-----
-Bill

1.0.0 Albino California Kingsnake
0.1.0 Colombian Red Tail Boa
0.1.0 Leucistic Patternless Leopard Gecko
0.0.1 Red Flame Crested Gecko
0.1.0 Orange Crested Gecko
0.0.1 Argentine Black and White Tegu

My Home Page

BoidsNTegus@insightbb.com

Like your ficus its very varigated..more than mine. I would get a misting system instead of a dripper tho. Otherwise you will have to empty the catch bowl/container frequently. Besides misters can be set on a timer. Otherwise set up looks good. Bigger than the one I have for my jacksons except the new one I made.
-----

Looks nice! I suspect you will find you need more live plants to keep your humidity level up, but that will have to wait once the system is operating. Why not run it (lights, timers, spraying etc) just as if the cham was there, and see what your climate settles out to be? It might give you a preview of needed adjustments or problems beforehand. As for the potting soil you could just cover the existing surface with perlite free peat moss or soil, or cut a disk of fiberglass window screen for the pot hold the edges down with decorative flat river stones, and tuck it around the base of the plant. It will let in air and moisture but keep tongues from picking anything up.

Thanks! I love having naturalistic enclosures. I have had it running for a week and a half now. Humidity is fine, I live in KY, in the Ohio valley. Even in winter, humidity is always high here. When I mist, it hits near 100% then dries to about 50-70% until the next misting. Mistings 2-3 times per day has kept it great so far. I think I'll just go get some additive-free potting soil from home depot. The other guy was right thought, I need to get 40W instead of 60W. The heatzone is near to 100F!!! This is exactly why people should definately test all setups first (not just chams, but anything)! Thanks for the replies everybody, hope to hear some more, especially more breeder recommendations!
-----
-Bill

1.0.0 Albino California Kingsnake
0.1.0 Colombian Red Tail Boa
0.1.0 Leucistic Patternless Leopard Gecko
0.0.1 Red Flame Crested Gecko
0.1.0 Orange Crested Gecko
0.0.1 Argentine Black and White Tegu

My Home Page

BoidsNTegus@insightbb.com

It looks good. You might want to see if 40w will work for you as they put out a little less heat than 60w and Jacksons like it cooler than most. If you can try to aim your lights so they don't hit the ficus or the pothos as they will dry out the leaves (another good case for the 40 watters) If you find some live english ivy (Hedera sp...the fake plant on the bottom) you will find it is not much harder than the pothos and easier than the ficus to grow and will help you further with your humidity which is imortant with this species.