Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I live 40 minutes north of Toronto Ontario. Im getting a male Nosy be in november and i plan to build my own cage. I plan to do it like this:

It will be a square cage 3'Wx2.5'Lx5'H

3 side (Back, left and right) will be glass... *Shock*, im doin this because up here in kanada it gets dry cold winters and my house is OLD so it gets like 13C inside, so this is the only way i can mantain Humidity Temperature

the front if it will be:

TheLeft side and right side will have 1 foot wide mesh going up and down, the middle will also be a glass door,

in order to minimize reflections on the 3 glass sides im using backgrounds, and the front glass door will be half a foot away from all climbing branches so he wont get close enough to see a reflection, there will be a small fan inside on the left side facing the back so air flow ciculates, my basking lights are gonna be connected to a regulator to keep the basking area 31C and the bottom 25C

also im using a fog system to keep humidity up (Along with spraying and such)

this will also be connected to a regulator to keep overaqll levels 65% at night and 86% during day

i just wanted to hear ur thoughts on this

hopefully my cam will like it...

I live in St.catharines, 45 minute drive from toronto. I have a veiled chameleon and am getting a panther. Right now the veiled is only 3 months old and the panther is going to be a baby so I got my friend to build me some all screen enclosures. I live in an apartment and it doesnt really get that cold, but if it ever does or to keep humidity up I will probably wrap something around the sides and back of the cage or something. But when my chameleons are full grown am going to get my friend to build me 2 cages that would have glass sliding front doors, the sides made of all screen, and the top back and bottom of wood.

this is my new disgn idea, which i will be using:

the circles are 10, 10watt bulbs

the green is the trees/vines/anything hell be climbing on

the red lines show the general basking area, the other bulbs are mainly to keep temperatue (since it will be 5 feet high)

the blue is a small pool of water for humidity and the fog machin (black square with H)
G is Glass sides
Mesh is the mesh sides

there is no climbing ares near the door because the door will be glass so he doesnt se his reflection, the other glass sides will be painted so no reflection will happen

I was curious to where you are getting your panther? I went to the reptile expo in missisuaga on sunday. I was planning to get a panther from arboreal exotics but my cage wasnt ready yet.

I would use one fixture for the lights. Getting them all plugged in is not going to be a productive use of time. Also, you want to have a nice gradient for your cham. With one bulb facing down or on a slight angle it gives a lot of variations outside of his basking spot and he can climb around and thermo regulate.

I really like the look of your design. I already touched on all of the bulbs. I really do think one (or two) 100W would be much better. Actually, 2 would look really nice. You also want some dark areas in the cage, and having 2 bulbs on an angle to eachother (slightly crossed or meeting in the middle) helps with this a lot, while giving a lot of light at the same time.
Again I really think you should consider wood for the sides. To paint the glass properly you'll need to sand it first so the paint sticks and doesn't peel, and you'll probably want to use spray paint or it will streak and look aweful from the outside. And with spray paint you need to let it air for at least a few weeks. It will be a huge pain. If done properly, wood can look just as nice. I really like the front of your cage with the mesh sides and glass door. Honestly, you might as well do a mesh door also. Then you don't worry about your cham seeing it and arranging the inside just so. I think it would also make a great enclosure for water dragons, but with the glass as you had it, but not painted.

Another way to close the cage in without creating reflections is to wrap the cage (sides and back) with clear plastic when it gets really cold/dry. You could add a flannel sheet or towel also if you need to for insulation. If you use glass panels you will need to put the "background" or any paint on the inside of the glass to break up the reflective surface.

The painted glass will be paint inside the cage so he cant see his reflection

Another idea I've thought of that might help is to use sticky backed translucent vinyl window coverings...that contact paper type stuff you put over bathroom windows for privacy. It lets in light, but the textures in the sheet break up images.

I live in Canada also. I had an all screen cage for the last two winters, and this year I built a cage that has 3 solid sides and the front is plastic 1/4" grid. I would suggest getting thin plywood sheets for the back and sides, it will cost A LOT less (between the glass and the background you are looking at spending TONS of cash), will be easier to move, and much easier to work with. You can paint it with acrylic paint. I sealed the inside of mine with varnish after the paint was dry. If you do it this way, don't use a really dark colour for the inside. It will absorb a lot of light in the cage. Try and use screen or mesh (my cham climbs around on screen and pulled a toenail out a long time ago, I use mesh now) to help with circulation. With a solid enclosure you REALLY need to keep an eye on airflow. URIs are not fun to deal with. And mold is toxic to chams... I'm going to have a tiny fan on in front of the door to help with circulation. In the winter I use a coolmist humdidifier. It has a fan and will also work for airflow. Also, foggers can be a pain in the butt. They need to be de-limed a lot or they stop working. If it gets REALLY dry even with a coolmist and 2x a day misting you can also run a hot humdifier on a timer. I use this with the other methods every January. January is a bad bad month. lol

I missed most of the bottom of you post... sorry, i guess i'm impatient. I wouldn't use the regulators. Unless you are going to work with a species of cham that is EXTREEMLY difficult to raise in captivity, you won't need them. Get a digital thermometer that shows humidity also. You might also want a temp gun, I don't have one yet but they look useful. Tie the therm at the basking spot and record the temps and humid over a few days (the digital ones have a memory for highs and lows, very useful). Then leave it in the middle and do the same, then the bottom. In the basking spot your humdidity will be very low. The middle should range from 80-100% at mistings, and should dry a bit in between. with constant high humdidity you run the risk or URI and mold problems. During the day in between mistings the humidity can drop to 50-60%, as long as it is rising above this 2-3x a day. If it constantly stays low you can run into eye problems. With the coolmist humdidfier i mentioned you can have it so it runs when the room drops below 50%. This will take the edge off winter, and allow your misting to raise the humidity. For heating I find that for your size of cage (it is the same as the cage i was working with) a 150W bulb should be lots. If the temps are getting too high (basking above 100F) use a 100W. I was using a 100W bulb during the summer, and adding a 60W bulb in a small reflector dome for winter. This worked perfectly. the temps at night can fall to 55F so you shouldn't have to worry about night time heat. Just keep an eye on your thermometer. (again, recorded highs and lows - so great!)

I live about 1 hour west of Toronto. If you have any more temp/humid problems or ?s let me know... i've been through it all!!! (at least i hope that's all there is...)

Maybe u could tell me a good reptile breeder in my (Richmond hill) an dur general areas, preferably one where u can go and see the cham ur buying, id like either a Ambanja Panther, Nosy be panther or tamtava panther from the 100 to 200 dollar rage

thanx

Also i decided to use plywood,

Your best bet is to go to a reptile show. There is one coming up in Oct. in St Jacobs. You can find out the dates by looking at the canadian classifieds on this site.
Also, if you want something right away you can call around to the different pet smarts in your area. I got my panther from one in scarbourough. Just make sure what sex you are getting.. they won't know for you. (they told me mine was a male).