# I got my Chameleons



## ZEROPILOT (Nov 26, 2019)

I've been getting around very CHAMELEON-like since my back surgery. But I got my indoors cages that I bought used, repaired, cleaned and set up with misters, drippers, lighting and CHE on timers. And Pothos.
Finally yesterday, I got two male, 2.5 month old Veiled Chameleons. One for each enclosure.
They are eating crickets right now as I expand my insect foods menu.
Soon, I hope, I'll be able to assemble the two bird aviaries that are in my garage and place them out on my back patio for some outdoors time.
They are wooden framed with wire mesh and although they are not very heavy, they are currently more than I can manage. And MUCH heavier than these screen enclosured.
For now, this is the progress.
They are both eating. Though one is hiding. And they've both discovered their water dripper and have had a drink.
So far, so good.
I'm still dialing in the basking spots.


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## Yvonne G (Nov 26, 2019)

Aw. I've always loved the look of chameleons.


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## ZEROPILOT (Nov 26, 2019)

These are the outside aviaries.
They're large enough for an adult to stand inside.
Manufactured by PAW HUT.
I've found PAW HUT products to be well made and very cost effective. And with free shipping.
They make all sorts of animal enclosures.
(None for tortoises)n


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## method89 (Nov 26, 2019)

Looks great! Good luck with them.


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## Blackdog1714 (Nov 26, 2019)

Wow. Looks good!


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## Toddrickfl1 (Nov 26, 2019)

Not going to lie..... Your making me want to get a chameleon lol.


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## Tom (Nov 26, 2019)

Congrats. This was the first chameleon species I kept. I love them. Super easy. Keep us posted as they grow.


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## ZEROPILOT (Nov 26, 2019)

Tom said:


> Congrats. This was the first chameleon species I kept. I love them. Super easy. Keep us posted as they grow.


One of the contributing factors was price.
$40 each.
That's very inexpensive when you figure that each enclosure costs easily 10 times that much.
I'm looking forward to watching them grow


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## KarenSoCal (Nov 27, 2019)

Oh my gosh, Ed! He's so cute! They always look to me like they are pondering some profound philosophy. Very deep thinkers!


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## Tom (Nov 27, 2019)

ZEROPILOT said:


> One of the contributing factors was price.
> $40 each.
> That's very inexpensive when you figure that each enclosure costs easily 10 times that much.
> I'm looking forward to watching them grow


Yeah. You need a roach colony...


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## TammyJ (Nov 27, 2019)

They are wonderful animals, congrats! Love them.


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## wellington (Nov 27, 2019)

Toddrickfl1 said:


> Not going to lie..... Your making me want to get a chameleon lol.


I got rid of the cage I made for mine when my last one died for the very reason of they are so tempting when you see them. 
I always had veiled and would like a Panther. So tempting, ugh.


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## ZEROPILOT (Nov 27, 2019)

They've been set up now for a few days and this evening I learned that the heat source must be a light because Chameleons only recognize light as heat and wont seek it otherwise.
So the CHE come out tomorrow to be replaced with the actinic daylight incandescent 75 watt bulbs that I bought on clearance over 10 years ago.
I knew I'd use them for something one day.
They were $1 each.


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## Tom (Nov 27, 2019)

ZEROPILOT said:


> They've been set up now for a few days and this evening I learned that the heat source must be a light because Chameleons only recognize light as heat and wont seek it otherwise.
> So the CHE come out tomorrow to be replaced with the actinic daylight incandescent 75 watt bulbs that I bought on clearance over 10 years ago.
> I knew I'd use them for something one day.
> They were $1 each.


Actinic lights are for plant growth. I only remember them for reef tanks. I wouldn't use that over a Cham. They need daylight. Regular white light. I just used flood bulbs from the hardware store for mine. Back in those days we didn't have HO type UV bulbs, but I used "Vita-Lites" over them. along with their low wattage heat lamps.


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## ZEROPILOT (Nov 28, 2019)

I was mistaken.
The bulbs say NEODYMIUM or some thing like that .
"Daytime reptile bulbs".


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## ZEROPILOT (Nov 29, 2019)

So....The lights....
I have two strip 5.0 18" florescent tubes. Two 60 watt CHEs and two 60 watt daylight incandescents.
Seems like a lot going on up there on top.
So...
I'm trying out TWO of these.
I've never used them before.
They are 80 watt UVB,UVA, and heat lamps.
Too harsh for my Redfoot tortoises.
But how about these Chameleons?
We'll see.
Also, I'm going to make a 1" hole in the center of the bottom of the screen cages. Another 1" hole directly below them into the table that they're on. Then I'm going to clear silicone the cage to the table and place two buckets directly under the table. One under each hole. Under each cage.
This is because with the misting and the overhead drip system, the plant and saucer in the cages are overflowing and puddling inside the cage.
This way, the water can just drain away and I can use that dripper for as many hours as I wish.
I'll probably place some mesh in the area of the hole to keep crickets from falling into the bucket.
Maybe make a cabinet to hide the buckets.
It's a work in progress.


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## ZEROPILOT (Nov 30, 2019)

These are the two new cages I got yesterday.
They're not the ones in the garage that I need to assemble. They are more used spares.
The Chams are currently out there soaking up some Ray's and eating crickets and Superworms like they're starving to death.
So I now have seven cages.
Two huge. (Un assembled) Two very large and three pretty large.
I have an easy way to move the chams around according to the weather.
A BIG PLUS is that I can let the drippers just drip outside.


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## ZEROPILOT (Dec 3, 2019)

The indoors cages are back up and running.
I've made the drainage holes in the cages. Mounted the cages to the table. Made holes in the table and have hid 2, two gallon buckets underneath so I can most and drip water for a big part of the day and it will continuously drain and not flood.
Ive also suspended a 4' LED strip light above both cages and have installed 1 EXO TERRA 80W UVA, UVB and heat bulb above each cage, simplifying things.
Then I made two feeding cups out of cut down 2 liter clear soda bottles.
The chams are inside for a few days while it's in the lower 50s at night.


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## ZEROPILOT (Dec 3, 2019)

This is the basic feeding cup design.
A clear bowl large enough and so tall that insects stay inside.
A stick in the middle that crickets climb up and get picked off one by one. Attached to the cage with a zip tie


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## ZEROPILOT (Dec 11, 2019)

I finally got one of the two outdoor cages assembled. (I guess I had a good BACK day)
They arrived damaged. I had to do a lot of repairs with wood glue and clamps and I used some of my own hardware just to make it stronger.
I'll get the other one built either tomorrow or Friday.
I like them. It's a good enough value: Crappy quality. But cheap and easy to improve on. But they are marketed as OUTDOORS aviaries. And they are held together with staples.....That arrived rusty. And the top is 3 pieces that are just sitting there, unattached.
I've mounted it all permanently.
Time will tell.
I'm going to lag bolt them to the exterior cement wall of my house. Under the roof of my back patio by the patio fish pond. This way they're going to be storm proof. We get a lot of wind here.


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