Best place in the house, and feeders?

I had a couple musing lately, and I wanted to ask... I have two questions.


QUESTION 1. I realize when I got my veiled chameleon the book I bought for information had an inaccurate piece of advice, to "put the enclosure in a high traffic area" so the chameleon would get used to people. I've learned that this is not a good idea. Luckily, the place I chose to place Ridley is in the living room, but my roommates and I are so busy with school it's empty 70% of the day.

My question is, what is the most ideal place in the house for a chameleon enclosure? Where do you keep yours?

When I move I was thinking I'd keep Ridley in the computer room/study. Good idea?



QUESTION 2. I feed Ridley from a cup attached to the screen, and it works great. But while watching him last week I noticed that he more readily eats the free-roamers, the ones that escape the cup.(as if they're more interesting)

Do chameleons prefer free-roaming food to cup-fed ones? I know that loose feeders can stress out the chameleon, so I ere on the side of containers...

Free roaming crickets have the chance of hiding in plants and you not seeing them and nibbling on your cham if I'm correct. Better safe than sorry with the crickets.

zelink14 said:

I had a couple musing lately, and I wanted to ask... I have two questions.


QUESTION 1. I realize when I got my veiled chameleon the book I bought for information had an inaccurate piece of advice, to "put the enclosure in a high traffic area" so the chameleon would get used to people. I've learned that this is not a good idea. Luckily, the place I chose to place Ridley is in the living room, but my roommates and I are so busy with school it's empty 70% of the day.

My question is, what is the most ideal place in the house for a chameleon enclosure? Where do you keep yours?

When I move I was thinking I'd keep Ridley in the computer room/study. Good idea?



QUESTION 2. I feed Ridley from a cup attached to the screen, and it works great. But while watching him last week I noticed that he more readily eats the free-roamers, the ones that escape the cup.(as if they're more interesting)

Do chameleons prefer free-roaming food to cup-fed ones? I know that loose feeders can stress out the chameleon, so I ere on the side of containers...

Click to expand...

ANSWER 1: I keep mine in my bedroom not that much traffic in there except when I go to bed. I've seen people keep them in closets, in their own little room. It's all up to you.

ANSWER 2: It all depends on the cham. I have two and they both eat different if your cham prefers free roaming crickets I would suggest putting in acouple and watch to make sure it eats them and then let acouple more go depending on how much you feed your cham.

my cham wont eat out of a cup, he catches loose crickets on his own, i guess he likes it better

I do both Cup and free range. most of them go in the cup, 3-5 get free range. That way he has fun catching them all day. Give him some activity

I started cup feeding but have moved on to more free ranging. I use the LLLreptile 4 foot tall screen cage and the crickets seem to immidiately run up the screen and my cham just picks them off while they climb. They don't even get a chance to try and tunnel their way through my plants.

Putting crickets in "free range" is the best way for the cham to get a workout and a meal, however if they are not eatten and left in the cage over a long period of time they will become hungry too and look for food. The gut load will wear off and they may decide to gut load on your cham while they sleep. This could become a huge issue, especially if you have a baby cham and or a Juvi cham, there little digits are so small. I am very careful when I feed my chams as to be sure they comsume all thier food during a feeding to prevent that from happening. I both cup feed and free range as both have thier place in general cham care. My little one (baby female ambilobe) gets cup fed since shes still a bit small to cover that big cage shes in. as for my big female vieled, shes half cup fed. She has a feeder cup on her vine which the feeders are put into, however half jump out of the cup before she makes it up to the cup and therefor shes 50% cup fed and 50% free range! If I am feeding silkies and or hornworms, I like to place them on various vines for her to search for them, it makes for a fun game and I like to watch her get excited when she stumbles apon a tasty treat. As for feeding the feeders, I use a comercial gut-load along with kale and orange slices to make sure they are nice and fat when they get comsumed. Not gut-loading is kinda like raising a monkey on banana peels, its whats inside that counts too.

I keep all my chameleons in their own "bed"room. This allows me to keep their own microclimate, and it means next to zero traffic unless I'm feeding,cleaning or watering.

I Cup feed in the morning because I cant be there to ensure everything gets eaten (i go to work). I ensure that the cup is sufficient to keep the feeders in - no escapees allowed!

When I am home (lunches, weekends) I let a feeder or two loose in the cage, while I watch. This way I can ensure the prey is eaten (or I remove it) and it also give the chameleons the hunting stimulation.

I keep my Cham in my bedroom. It seems to work out great. I also have a skink in my bedroom. They both don't like high traffic areas. Its nice because I can still enjoy them and feed them easily at night, but they aren't distrubed often. Hope this helps!

I keep my cham in my bedroom. I moved him to the sunroom which is high traffic and noticed a quick change in behavior and diet, so I moved him back. I do cup feed as well but the larger roaches I let them free roam and Leo prefer the thrill of the chase with them. The crickets can also eat through the mesh if you use a reptarium.

PS, Glad that you realized that info you were given was wrong.

For free ranging, I always keep kale or mustard greens in the cage hanging.

THis morning before I fed him, he picked off a couple free range that he missed yesterday that were munching on the kale.

I'm in the same boat as BunnyGirl I love watching my cham so I keep him in the bedroom away from the rest of the chaos I call my house. I totally agree letting a few crickets run around the cage for food is a good thing. I only use a feeding cup when it's worms, or hand feed them.