I Finally Filled Out The Form!

[zjuckett]

Chameleon Info:
• Your Chameleon - Graceful Chameleon, female,approximately 6 moths old. She's been in my care for exactly a week.
• Handling - I have handled her once or twice and try to avoid it.
• Feeding - I'm feeding her medium/large crickets. She will eat anywhere from 2-5 per day. I feed her about an hour after turning her lights on so she can warm up I gut load the crickets with carrots, kale, and calcium powder.
• Supplements -I use the RepCal with VitD. I sprinkle it on the food for the crickets and then I dust them before I feed her.
• Watering - I hand mist her 3-4 times per day. The mists are usually 2-3 minutes long. I also heat the water up so it doesn't come out cold. Yes, I see her drinking. She drinks a lot when I put her and her plant in the shower.
• Fecal Description - I have not seen any fecal matter yet and I haven't gotten a fecal analysis yet. I'm waiting on finding some poop and I already have a vet lined up to get the test done at.
• History - I know she is wild caught and I was really worried about her the first few days I was home. She's calmed down quite a bit and she's eating and drinking like a pro.

Cage Info:
• Cage Type - Screen reptibreeze. 16x16x20
• Lighting - I have a heat bulb that keeps her basking area in the low 80s and I have a 10.0 UVB coil bulb.
• Temperature - The ambient temp in the room is 70, with her basking spot in the low 80s. The temps don't go below 68 on any given night. So far I've been improvising and using a regular thermometer, but I do have a temp gun on the way.
• Humidity - I don't have a hygrometer yet so I'm doing my best with what I can. I have placed Saran wrap around 60% of the cage to keep the humidity in. I spray as much as I can, but I let her dry out between mistings. Her cage is not constantly moist. I also live in a dry place so she does dry out rather quickly which is why I spray so much.
• Plants -Yes, I am using live plants. I have two schefflera and one pothos. I also have a few fake vines and some home made perches for her.
• Placement - The cage is located in my bedroom on top of a bookcase in a corner. Nope, she's not near anything noisy and it's not a high traffic area. She's probably just under 6 feet off the top of the ground at the top of the cage.
• Location - Burlington, VT.

There isn't any large problem, I just wanted to get the advice of all the experts here.

 

[kinyonga]

Here's some information I hope will help you with supplementing, etc.....
Appropriate cage temperatures aid in digestion and thus play a part indirectly in nutrient absorption.

Exposure to UVB from either direct sunlight or a proper UVB light allows the chameleon to produce D3 so that it can use the calcium in its system to make/keep the bones strong and be used in other systems in the chameleon as well. The UVB should not pass through glass or plastic no matter whether its from the sun or the UVB light. The most often recommended UVB light is the long linear fluorescent Repti-sun 5.0 tube light. Some of the compacts, spirals and tube lights have caused health issues, but so far there have been no bad reports against this one.

A wide variety of insects that have been well fed and gutloaded should be fed to it.

Since many of the feeder insects we use in captivity have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorus in them, its important to dust the insects just before you feed them to the chameleon at most feedings with a phos.-free calcium powder to help make up for it. (I use Rep-cal phosphorus-free calcium).

If you also dust twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder it will ensure that your chameleon gets some D3 without overdoing it. It leaves the chameleon to produce the rest of what it needs through its exposure to the UVB light. D3 from supplements can build up in the system but D3 produced from exposure to UVB shouldn't as long as the chameleon can move in and out of it. (I use Rep-cal phos.-free calcium/D3).

Dusting twice a month as well with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A will ensure that the chameleon gets some vitamins without the danger of overdosing the vitamin A. PrEformed sources of vitamin A can build up in the system and may prevent the D3 from doing its job and push the chameleon towards MBD. However, there is controversy as to whether all/any chameleons can convert the beta carotene and so some people give some prEformed vitamin A once in a while. (I use herptivite which has beta carotene.)

Gutloading/feeding the insects well helps to provide what the chameleon needs. I gutload crickets, roaches, locusts, superworms, etc. with an assortment of greens (dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, zucchini, etc.)

Calcium, phos., D3 and vitamin A are important players in bone health and other systems in the chameleon (muscles, etc.) and they need to be in balance. When trying to balance them, you need to look at the supplements, what you feed the insects and what you feed the chameleon.
Please note that various supplements have various amounts of D3 and vitamin A and so some can be given more often than others. The idea still is not to overdo the fat soluble vitamins like D3 and prEformed vitamin A.

Here are some good sites for you to read too...
http://chameleonnews.com/07FebWheelock.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200605020...Vitamin.A.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200406080...d.Calcium.html
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
http://web.archive.org/web/200601140...ww.adcham.com/
If you can't access the sites above that have the word "archive" in you can do it through the WayBackMachine.