# Yemen viv



## patrickking04 (Oct 22, 2007)

Hi all,

I have a 3ft tallx18"widex18"deep wooden viv. which im going to house 1 7week old yemen(probly 10-11 weeks old when i get her) in for 6-7months till its larger then it will go in to a 4ftx2ftx2ft viv. 

Got to be a wooden viv as a mesh one would'nt work in my house, no radiators :gasp: only electric storage heater. Current wooden vivs for the rankins and roayl temps stay perfect.

The viv i have at the moment is this.








It has 4 vents at the moment 2 at the bottom and 2 at top.

What the best way to change this to house the yemen in.
Cheers for inputs : victory:

Patrick


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## morelia spilota (Mar 21, 2009)

i would put a mesh strip in the top, and two vents on either side, 4 vents in total, should do the job mate:2thumb:


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## TEENY (Jan 4, 2008)

Maybe one of these in top at back ??? they slide open and shut if you are worried about temps overnight
MPK SIDE WALL VENT | Interior And Exterior Vents And Fans | Frontier Leisure


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## Miss Lily (Oct 3, 2008)

My male lives in the same viv. I cut a section of the top out and covered it with wire mesh so his lights could sit on top out of his reach. I also leave the sliding doors open a little each side and wedge them with a wedge to stop him nudging them open. You also have plenty of room to put her a laying tub in there too so that's good!


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## patrickking04 (Oct 22, 2007)

Thanks for the reply so far. For the top what one should i do?









Also are Grape branches ok for the yemen? as i got to cut back by grape vine. going to b&q for some live plants tonight.

cheers


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## Miss Lily (Oct 3, 2008)

I think option 3 will be best. I allowed a small gap around the light. I was going to replace most of the top with mesh, but someone pointed out that all the heat will just escape out of the top so defeating the object. You would need to wash the grape vine before putting it in the viv. I have two large schefflera in my viv and different thicknesses of dowelling at different angles across the viv. Here's a pic although the plants have since filled out somewhat!










This pic shows the roof cut-out section


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## patrickking04 (Oct 22, 2007)

is that a megaray? or is your uvb mounted else where?


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## Miss Lily (Oct 3, 2008)

It's a Lucky Reptile Bright Sun UV 50W Jungle - it's a metal halide bulb / all-in-one. I only have that on Tommy's viv as he came with all the fittings, etc. My female has separate UV and heat bulbs as I can keep her temps cooler this way. She is housed in an Exo Terra. She only has a 40W desk lamp along with her UV so her temps stay in the very low 80's. By keeping females cooler and feeding them less food it is possible to reduce clutch sizes or prevent them altogether. So far it's working - Amy is 20 months old and hasn't laid her first clutch yet. Drop me PM if you want to know more. Oh, and make sure you get the linear UV tubes rather than the compact (spiral) ones - they can cause eye problems in chams.


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## patrickking04 (Oct 22, 2007)

im going to be using a standard tube 10% UVB as i already have the power unit from a while ago : victory:

Just been out in the shed and sort the lid for the viv.


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## Miss Lily (Oct 3, 2008)

That looks good. My viv was already built so I borrowed bro in law and a jigsaw and he did mine for me.


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## patrickking04 (Oct 22, 2007)

my viv was already built also, i just removed the top to rout out the hole.

I got the viv and all you can see in the picture for £20 :gasp:









Right what type of mesh to use?


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## Miss Lily (Oct 3, 2008)

Blimey! That's a bargain you got there! I think I paid £180 for my viv and Tommy. A bit pricey, but I had to have him - I fell in love with him as soon as I saw him, lol! :flrt:


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## patrickking04 (Oct 22, 2007)

indeed it was, What typ of mesh to you have to cover the holes?


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## Miss Lily (Oct 3, 2008)

I got some 1cm square cage wire - it's sold in sheets in my local ironmongers. I cut it to size with wire cutters (very carefully, lol!) and borrowed my mum's upholstery stapler to fix it on the top.


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## patrickking04 (Oct 22, 2007)

Got some of that from when i built the rabbit stacks & got the stapler also, sorted. :2thumb:


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## Miss Lily (Oct 3, 2008)

Just looked again at your bargains - you won't need the waterfall for a cham. They generally don't drink from a standing water source, preferring a driper or droplets on the leaves. It'll also be a total nightmare to keep clean - crix will drown in it and the cham will most likely poop in the water too, lol!


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## patrickking04 (Oct 22, 2007)

Yeah i been reading about the waterfalls, i will probly sell or swap for a big dipper and i will spray 1-2 times a day. 
What should i put on the floor, i want it to look as natural as possible but i dont want the little girl getting impacted.


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## Miss Lily (Oct 3, 2008)

I have sealed stone effect offcuts on vinyl flooring into the bottom of both my vivs - it looks better than a bare floor and is easy to clean too! You might want to seal all the joins in your viv with aquarium sealant too - otherwise the water from misting will get in and rot the wood.


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## patrickking04 (Oct 22, 2007)

Once I have put the mesh on the top and drilled the extra vent holes. I will be sealing the viv from top to bottom. Is the tub really needed further up the tank that people say they feed in. As hopper and crickets and roaches would not stay in there that long. 

Howabout if i attach a pc fan to one of the vents to increase the air movement or would cause I'll effects.


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## ch4dg (Jul 24, 2008)

hey, heres my cham viv.....

http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/habitat-pictures/571738-veiled-yeman-chameleon-viv-fake.html

just to give you some idea's, 

and i agree with the previous poster/s about the water fall.... get rid and just get a dripper, a sprinkler or just a cheap spray bottle :2thumb:

substrate: i use eco-earth

feeding: my male tends to prefer hunting for his food so i throw them in loose, but i do use a cricket tub part way up (just in case)


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## patrickking04 (Oct 22, 2007)

cheers for the pictures and idea.

Dam B&Q in my area doesnt have any plants which are safe for the yemens :censor:

But i got a leaflet through the door today from Lidl they are selling "Exotic indoor plants" the types they say are Ficus, Schefflera, Yucca and more.
They are also selling Orchids "Chose from Phalaenopsis, Oncidium, Cambria or Dendrobium"

any ideas if any of these would be any good? 

LIDL (dont know if it will work for you as i had to put my postcode in)


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## patrickking04 (Oct 22, 2007)

So after moving my viv into my new reptile only room : victory: I then started on the chemeleon viv.

I meshed the holes in the top of the viv that i cut out for the lights etc.
I then stuck the wooden dowls in then the off cuts from the grape vine. Which i washed in tiny bit of bleach and loads of water, then sticking them in the oven at 240'c for 5 mins. I then put the Eco Earth in to a bucket, once it had finished growing. i rang out the water as much as i could, then i baked that in the oven in small amounts. Once all the soil was cooked i placed plastic in the bottom of the viv then some weed supresent material on that. I then placed all the eco earth in.

Going to look for a live plant or 2 tomorrow, as i havnt been lucky at finding any yet.

heres a picture of it so far. i still need the live plants, fake leaf cover & UVB Tube.


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## morelia spilota (Mar 21, 2009)

The dendrobium, fiscus and the yucca with all be fine


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## Bradley (Aug 26, 2009)

yep as above should be fine but take the substrate out yu don't need any and a cham can get impacted by eating it


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