"Free range" Chameleon Idea.

[Gourami Swami]

Hey all. Ive been thinking a lot about chameleons, and Ive got an idea. Instead of traditional housing, how about if I kept one semi "free range"? My plan is this- Get some sort of small branchy tree or bush, and put it in a flowerpot. Then, Put the flowerpot in a glass box about 12" tall, so that there is about 7" from the edge of the flowerpot to the wall of the box from every side of the plot. The chameleon will not be able to jump or climb the box, so they will stay in the tree. I was thinking about a Rhampholeon Brevicaudatus pair because they stay small and dont need any heat other than ambient room temperature. There is a humidifier in the room, and I have a 72 gallon in there with no top, so the humidity hovers around 60. I would mist the plant very often so that it is almost always damp, and keep the soil the plant is in damp. If needed I could probably rig an automatic mister and hang it over the plant, but i think if i mist like 4x a day it would be fine. I will put a small water dish at the base of the plant and I will also put a tallish clear glass dish to put crickets in so the cham can eat from there.I drew a diagram to illustrate the idea-


What do you guys think?

 

[Ophiuchus]

Actually, many people employ this idea. It works pretty well as long as there are no other pets that can get to the lizard.

 

[Gourami Swami]

My cat is very fat, and the tree will be kept on a side of my computer desk not visible from the ground. Im glad many others use this idea, that will give me confidence

Is there a good way to heat the area? I would LOVE to get a veiled.

 

[Death Pony]

Cool idea!!!! I've seen similar ideas used before that are very similar to this. I'd go for it.

 

[Ophiuchus]

Just situated a good basking lamp above the tree. Of course, you'll need UV lighting, too.

 

[Gourami Swami]

would having the tree in front of a window be a good UV source?

 

[Vicious_Fish]

Not really because glass filters out the UV rays.

 

[Gr8KarmaSF]

Sounds like a sweet idea! Another fun thing about the basking light near the tree would be that it would attract insects that the lizard could snatch up!

Anybody got pics of this setup?

 

[Gourami Swami]

Not really because glass filters out the UV rays.

Ah, I forgot about that.

I will post some pics when its setup... probably in the next month or so. I may still go with the dwarfs because doing a veiled is more complicated, but the V's are real pretty

 

[Vicious_Fish]

Just be careful that the tree/plant doesn't stick out too far beyond the cube holding it. If the Cham desides to bail you might not find him. My friend tried your approach with a Jackson and the damn thing always found a way off the tree. He use to find him up on the top of his curtains.