Outdoor Cage Dressing

Natural outdoor basking is important for your chameleon's physical and psychological health. If you live in a climate that will allow your chameleon to live outdoors for several weeks of the year, take advantage of the free UV and rain.

It is easy to acquire the items used in this tutorial. Reptarium cages can be purchased from many dealers online, including eBay stores. The 30" aluminum screen cages (only safe for juvenile melleri, or smaller species) are also found online. Reptile shows often have good deals on these items. The natural perches can be collected from friends' yards or anywhere else you get permission to collect them, and where you know that no pesticides have been used. Natural perches are preferable because they spring and rebound, reducing strain on the chams' joints. Real branches also have textures for grip, come in perfect lengths for full-cage coverage, and have variable diameters (important for grip exercise). Real branches can be easily cleaned with dish soap, a coarse scrub brush, rinsed, sprayed with bleach, and rinsed again. The hose Y splitter, digital hose timer (not shown, at water source spigot), and sprinkler wand fittings are available at local hardware stores and nurseries. Do not use a regular garden hose from these retailers. Regular garden hoses are not safe for drinking water, as they are made of recycled materials (recycled PVC with lead stabilizer). As the hose sits in the sun, lead leaches into the water. People may get cancer from this source, and a melleri watered with such hoses died of a rare cancer in 2005. We now know recycled hoses are a health risk, so please use only hoses described as the following:

boat/camper hose for drinking water
potable water hose
motorhome hookup drinking water hose
drinking water safe hose
100% virgin materials drinking water hose

A search for these on Amazon or Google will provide you with specialty retailers, or you can call local campgrounds and boat docks for suppliers. The safe hoses are NOT available at WalMart or regular hardware stores. Read the card of the hose carefully; the only warning some hoses give is, "this product is not labeled for sale in California". Some garden hoses only have a "not for drinking water" message molded (without ink) on the plastic cuff.

The heavy duty steel industrial warehouse shelving is sometimes sold scratch-and-dent very reasonably, or used and free if you haul it (no small feat). Be sure to get the metal grid shelves for them, to support your cages and potted plants, and allow drainage. Check local newspaper ads and online.

Select a temperate location for your outdoor enclosure. If using a 30-48" tall enclosure, it should be placed on a 3' or higher table for sanitary drainage and visual security for the chameleon. Ideally, a tree will provide midday and afternoon shade. Morning sun is the most desirable for chameleons. If you can set up near a wood, the more trees, the better; the area holds its microclimate and protects your cages from wind. The set up shown has an excellent microclimate. Drainage goes down the hill, away from the cages. Water is supplied 3x a day via digital timer at the exterior spigot/hydrant on the house, through a Y splitter for the two hoses, and pressurized by spray nozzle wands, into a fine mist or rain. In-line garden hose filters can be found online, for homes with less-than-ideal municipal water.

Test fit the entire length of the perch into the enclosure. If you place live potted plants in the cage first, they can help support the perches, without need for drilling narrow ends. Remove perch. Decide which side is "up" for the perch. Turn it on its side and drill a hole in the thickest end. This will be the anchoring end.

Thread a plastic ziptie through it.

Secure to the PVC pipe of the Reptarium interior.

Similarly, narrow branches can be lashed to the PVC with zipties, without needing holes drilled. To help support branches or secure them to living branches of potted trees, lash them with zip ties. Living trees will need a tie re-fit every couple months to allow for growth and circulation. When you use zip ties, be sure to hide the square locks on the underside of perches. Melleri are known for attacking and chewing these, only if they face "up".

Allow room at the top of the enclosure for normal passage and basking. For a giant species, the further the ceiling, the better, but you must have plenty of vertical cage foliage. In this set up, the ceiling height is 7". If your melleri hangs from the ceiling or noses into it, you need to lower the perches so it cannot reach from them.

View of enclosure in process of dressing, not quite finished. This is a 260-gallon Reptarium, horizontally oriented for maximum "canopy" space. I arrange cage interiors and use tall stands or tables to give the chameleons a sense of height and dense foliage. Melleri in particular are active chameleons, so they like to stroll along their perches throughout the day; the more high strolling room, the happier the melleri. The perches are all in place, and I am starting to create visual privacy areas with plants. Note the many horizontal pathways, the varying heights, and how they track parallel with the cage walls and intersect around spaces. The spaces between perches are to be filled with foliage. The floor of this cage will be planted with non-toxic plants, for a springy, impact-safe bottom.

These are several methods for securing the enclosure from wind lift. You can use bungee cords (US$10), mold straps ($10), or truck ratcheting straps (20' for $6 at discount hardware stores). I prefer to leave the ratchet off and make a tight safety slip knot, for several reasons, but it is up to you to decide how to secure your cage. It only takes one unexpected storm to blow a cage over and harm your chameleon.

Drainage is important for the success of your chams and their live plants. If you do not use a metal grid shelf, you can use PVC pegboard as an alternative draining shelf. As you can see, this Hyla avivoca came down from the trees to give its moist stamp of approval.

The final step of dressing is adding more live plants and visual cover. Some chameleons may be skittish if you do not obscure their cage view with a breathable mesh. Garden shadecloth (do not buy ground or weed cloth by mistake) is available at some home improvement stores and online.

http://www.greenhousemegastore.com/prodinfo.asp?number=SC-ST60G

Another option is non-adhesive "rubber" mesh household shelf liner, found at various grocery and hardware stores. The 20" x 6' size is ideal for running along the backside of your horizontal 260-gallon Reptarium. I try to use greens, pale blue, or white, when I can find these colors. I put the lightest colors along the upper canopy, and the dark greens along the bottom.

I like the option of removing the additional cover, so I use fine aluminum wire to attach it to the cage. I make sure the wire twists are outside the cage, where animals can't reach them.

After the potted plants are in place, a 1-2" deep layer of organic potting soil is spread over the entire bottom of the cage. Because the Reptarium mesh is so fine, and there is a drainage shelf below it, water drains through but the soil remains in place. Plant groundcover plants that are both non-toxic and have shallow root systems. Between the plants, cover the soil with live moss. Finally, throw some curled mustard seeds in, and let them fall where they may. The mustard plants grow taller than most groundcover, offering more middle-height greenery, and melleri like to eat the leaves. I do not recommend using artificial plants in with melleri. One has to be constantly watching for nibbles, and take it from me, it is nerve-wracking. It is OK to use them where melleri do not reach; it's helpful to drape long artificial vines over the exterior and roof of the cage, for more cover and deep shade. After 30 days, the cage bottom will be lush and brilliant, rivaling the upper canopy foliage.

These same techniques apply for vertically oriented cages. Be sure to add middle-height perches for active hunters.

If you shop around for a good price on a 260-gallon Reptarium, and the garden items, one cage set up will cost you about US$175 (2006), not including the shelf/table and live plants. These latter items can be free or homegrown, so they are not included in the estimate. The correct length of drinking water safe outdoor hose will cost between $40-70 of that amount. The point is, it doesn't take hundreds of dollars to create an outdoor set up that will benefit your chameleon. This is a very simple, functional outdoor set up. You could create one that is larger, more complex, and aesthetically pleasing, but don't forget you are building it to please the chameleon, most of all!