Weather in Woodland Hills can be brutally hot, windy and dry. In the fall, the dry gusty winds cause fires in the surrounding hills and canyons. It is sad to say we actually have a fire season here in the San Fernando Valley. We used to shuffle our chameleon cages indoors when the weather was bad then shuffle them back outside when the weather was good. Sometimes it was hard to say from day to day what the weather would bring.

So in 2008 we decided to build a greenhouse for the chameleons. It is about 20 feet long, by 14 feet wide and about 12-1/2 feet tall. With misters, fans, roof vents and a swamp cooler, it is very easy to create a warm and humid environment for the chameleons.

The south half of the greenhouse roof has Solacryl panels.  This is the material used in tanning beds.  Solacryl is currently the best product on the market for this application because it allows 90% UV transfer.  The other sides of the greenhouse are covered with twin-walled polycarbonate which is great for insulating and provides a little privacy.

We are using a portable swamp cooler which sits entirely inside the greenhouse.  One of the benefits of this is that the air is constantly filtered inside the greenhouse.  But the downside to this unit is that when the humidity is really high, it reduces its cooling effectiveness.

Each chameleon has its own fully screened cage with a live tree and many supporting branches and often other plants. On occasion we may allow a chameleon to climb on a tree outside their cage while being supervised, but everyone is returned to their cages.

This little contraption to the right is my lifesaver!  It is the La Crosse Technology Weatherstation.  It sits on my nightstand so when I wake up at night and worry about what temps and humidity readings are in the greenhouse, all I have to do is push a button to see.  There are three remote sensors in the greenhouse and this weather station is one of the few that can display up to three sensor readings. 

What you're reading on the display was reported at 9:55 p.m. on April 13th.  The barometer is falling.  The indoor temp inside my house is 77.9 degrees and the smiley face in the middle indicates that this is an optimal comfort zone.  The humidity level indoors is 55% RH.  Then below that on the bottom line is the reading from sensor #1 saying the temperature in the greenhouse is 64.4 degrees Fahrenheit with 77% RH. By pushing a button, the display shows readings from each of the sensors.

Reverse Osmosis

There can be a lot of issues brought up when installing RO so before you decide on going with RO, you should research all of the pros and cons and decide what would work best for you.  You can find other water filtering options at the local Home Depot or other hardware store that are less expensive than an RO unit.

Installing and using RO can be expensive so the more research you do the less money wasted.

We have anywhere from 20 to 100 chameleons at a given time and a lot of cages to water. We decided on the R-90 Ultra Reverse Osmosis System and installed it into a garden table with a sink.

Zero Waste Retrofit Kit

No more wasted water!  If you have your RO brine line plumbed right into your drain, you won't see how much water the RO really wastes.  They say about 1:4 which means that 1 gallon of RO will produce 4 gallons of brine (waste water).  But I think ours created more brine than that.

This kit stops the waste.  It connects to your existing RO system and pumps the brine back into your water supply.

We installed the "brine" line (in the foreground) up and over the door to push the water back into the household water supply.

Then on the far wall, you can see two lines going up and over to the right.  These are the misting lines.  The left/top line leads up to the apex (roof) to supply water to 5 double misting nozzles.  The right/bottom line wraps around the greenhouse 8 feet and this line will have approximately 20 fully adjustable misting nozzles (www.MistKing.com).

Misting System

We decided to go with Mist King because it was affordable and they have a great reputation among many hobbyists.

Here we have installed the PVC with Ts and "quick connect" 1/4" tube adapters for the misting nozzles.  Here are the misters in action. It doesn't take long to create a lot of humidity in the greenhouse.  This means less water is used for cooling.