Making the switch!! No more Jail house blues.

[Obama the cham]

OK, so ever since i got my chameleon a while ago i have HATED that every time hes in his cage for about 5 minutes, his bright oranges fade to a dull brown (with bright colors of blue and green still, but dullish other colorings tho) then i noticed wen i have him out roming right outside the cage he brightens up and acts to him normal self.

could be due to a small cage but watever it was, i fixed it. didnt want to post this till a full days of testing with extensive attention payed to him (from a distance, not to make him nervous) but not ONCE did he go a dull coloring at all today with this new set-up. i call the dulling the jail house blues. LoL!

I DO know i MUST get a decent sized plant in there ASAP, and i AM, trust me, i want it in there probably worse than him....i love plants....BUT lemme kno wat the cham world thinks, from wat i could see by the way he was acting, all colorfull all day, drinking, hunting, basking, and adventuring through out it (its about 3 ft wide, 1 1/2 ft deep and 2 1/2 tall, but height WILL grow to ceiling eventually!)

 

[carol5208]

You definitely need more foilage! Along with more vines and places to climb! But you said you are aware of that. Make sure that the UVB is close enough like it would be in the cage set up for him to absorb. It looks awfully high up. What kind of UVB bulb are you using?Also have you checked your basking temp with the new set up? Has he tried to leave the free range area cause it doesn't seem like that would satisfy his curiosity enough! Mine is always trying to explore new areas when I let him out!!!

 

[Obama the cham]

i have adjusted the vines since the pik to get him a spot thats about 8 inches from the UVB (5.0 15-watt 18") he went str8 up there and soaked up some rays wen i made the adjustment, and to be honest he didnt leave the new living area at all, he went on to the sunglassess u see in right of the pik, but right back over to the vine less than a minute after. ill get a decent bush in there ASAP, just cut some other bushes down, so it will be soon.

Oh! i figure due to the light loss of going throo the screen in a cage, the distance i would need would be a bit further back, am i mistakin??

 

[carol5208]

ok cool on the UVB! Just checking!!

 

[carol5208]

One other thing, I would get a branch to lay horizontal under the basking light so if he wants to lay that way instead of vertical. Atleast he will have a choice!

 

[Obama the cham]

its much appriceated bro. i want to get this right! by the way he was acting today, i think im on te right path.

Oh and there are actually, 2 basking areas in a way, theres a 5000k (for the lil plants i do got in there, LoL) bulb in the lamp on the left and a basking bulb in the lamp on the right

 

[carol5208]

How does he get his water?

 

[Obama the cham]

find him in the pik, and look like an inch to the left, thats the nozzle to the dripper i made him, he already located it and got aquianted with it well. and i mist him every so often, he enjoys the misting free range, in the cage he would kinda start to trip so i would stop spraying him, but he digs it now.

 

[carol5208]

ok, so you have all your bases covered. just get yourself a couple of big plants for him to crawl around in. By the way I liked the name of your post about the jail. lmao!

 

[Olimpia]

You already know my suggestions A good plant that I've started using in my set ups has been cat palms. They've been selling at home depot for $9, and for a small panther they offer enough support. Mine like the cover it provides, so I don't need to invest in big plants for the cover AND branches - I can get branches from outside, and use the palms to create hiding spots. Along with other plants, like ficus and umbrella plants.

Also, places like Michaels sometimes sell fake 6' ficus trees for $15 instead of $30, so I'd keep an eye on those because they are great to incorporate with real plants. Michaels also sells bushels of bamboo sticks for very little, so you can zip tie 2-3 together and make great pathways and frames for your guy to climb on.

Oh, plastic chicken fencing (the type with the biggest holes you can find) is great, I find, and I use it on some of my walls. That way your walls become a climbable surface.

And those are the only tips I think I have left to give you. Try to make as many improvements to it as you can in the next day or two, so he has somewhere comfortable to be while you keep adding on to it slowly. He will probably wander around your room but once you get something really big and awesome for him he'll hopefully be happy up there most of the time.