Help!! im new to keeping chameleons!!
- Thread starter Robbo
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Chameleoco
New Member
How old is the chameleon?
Chameleoco
New Member
You can keep him/her in a glass tank until about 4-5 months. A lot of people use glass tanks in the uk for the whole of the chameleons life because its cold here and temps are hard to keep consistent in flaxariums. So, as long as your glass tank is an adequate size for each stage of the chameleons life and set up appropriately you can use a glass tank if you wish.
I use flexariums or alluminium/screen vivs for my veiled chameleons, but use glass tanks in the early months. As long as your glass tank has one side or more that is properly ventilated(screened) and you have thermometers/hygrometers to monitor temps and humidity, you should be fine. Glass tanks can get hot inside, which can be dangerous to a small chameleon(or an adult), so just make sure that you check temps and use the correct watt heat/basking bulb and a linear uvb bulb.
I use flexariums or alluminium/screen vivs for my veiled chameleons, but use glass tanks in the early months. As long as your glass tank has one side or more that is properly ventilated(screened) and you have thermometers/hygrometers to monitor temps and humidity, you should be fine. Glass tanks can get hot inside, which can be dangerous to a small chameleon(or an adult), so just make sure that you check temps and use the correct watt heat/basking bulb and a linear uvb bulb.
Chameleoco
New Member
As long as you keep the foliage low, i use small potted ficus plants from b and q in babies enclosures, the tiny branches are good for babies, and they are not too tall, so if the baby falls, he wont fall to far. Think about how far he will fall when you are setting up your enclosure. If he hasnt got acces, ie vines or branches to the top of his enclosure, he wont be able to get up that high to fall, plus with a glass tank he wont be able to climb the walls and fall.
As the chameleon gets bigger, he will need a bigger enclosure. An adult male will like a 4ft or higher ideally, and placed as high up from the ground as possible. I have a male in a 4 ft enclosure which is on a table so he is about 7.5 ft in the air.
Obviously babies will not need, or shoudnt be placed this high!
As the chameleon gets bigger, he will need a bigger enclosure. An adult male will like a 4ft or higher ideally, and placed as high up from the ground as possible. I have a male in a 4 ft enclosure which is on a table so he is about 7.5 ft in the air.
Obviously babies will not need, or shoudnt be placed this high!
xanthoman
Avid Member
you are best off with aluminum frame screen cham cage, reptariums save some money for the size but are not as durable, aluminum cages are more durable and offer other advantages as well, and generally speaking, aquairiums do not make good cham cages, (except for some of the pymies) and a veiled especially would be one of the worst candidates for an aquarium, even a large aquairium . veileds can grow quickly so i would recomend a large cage from the start like ebay item # 260449978546 from sandfire dragon ranch ,/ lll reptile or lds cages are also good places to look (there are literally dozens of places to get them ), but please be aware, there are many more aspects to cham keeping , that are far more important than the type of cage you put it in. anyone considering getting a veiled or new to cham keeping in generall , would be strongly advised to read ; http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/ as a good starting point. one of the most common mistakes among new keepers is not doing enough research BEFORE they get their cham, and more speciffically, using cfl's (compact fluorescents)for their lighting source, you are still a week a way and you would be suprised at what you can learn in a week ,one of the best places to do that is on the health clinic pages of this forum , there you can get a sense of the things that can go wrong , it is just as important to learn what NOT to do, as it is to learn what to do. there you can see the common problems that people (even experienced keepers) have , and a broad range of responses to them. good luck and welcome to the cham community , chams truly are fascinating creatures
Chameleoco
New Member
By tank, its not an aquarium, i mean an exo terra glass enclosure, which although i dont use them myself, are very commonly used in the uk.
xanthoman
Avid Member
sorry,whenever somebody says tank , i assume that they are refferring to an aquarium , i realize that they are more commonly used across the pond,(had i noticed your location i might have made the connection) but i still feel they are a poor choice , especially for a veiled , veileds get too large for even the largest of glass exo terra, plus veileds are one of the more arid species, and require less humidity than many , and in general chams dont understand the concept of glass, they will often paw at the glass for hrs, not realizing that they cant climb or get through , and then there is the whole reflection thing (in general chams dont like other chams around and dont usually under stand that a reflection is just a reflection, it can still stress them out) ,(there are strategies for dealing with those issues, but i feel they are best left to those who are familiar with them) i realize many have had success with glass exo terra but i personally feel they are not a good choice for most species, especially when first starting out , there is nothing wrong with a screen exoterra, but they are expensive for their size and not as durable or covenient as a conventional cham cage
Chameleoco
New Member
I agree about the glass enclosures, they are adequate for hatchlings, but a large adult would not do well in a glass enclosure, in england, the problem is, we only have the exo terra flexariums in 3 sizes, they did do a massive 6 ft one which I have, but they discontinued it. the exo terra screen ones that you can get in the USA are not available in england.
There are some alluminium cages by a guy called terry thatcher available, which are BRILLIANT but they are quite expensive and only available through a website so most keepers dont happen upon them. Zoo med has just brought out screen enclosures l;ike the american exo terra ones but they have only released the small ones as of the present time. Hopefully they will release the rest of the sizes soon, because for new keeprs on the UK there is not alot of choice, and the pet shops really only sell glass ones. The exo terra fleaxariums are not durable for the price, I totally agree, I have had to get the sewing kit out many times to repair the zip! the flexi trays are hard to find in the right sizes aswel without ordering straight from the wholesaler which most people cant do.
We need more practical enclosures in england!!!!!
There are some alluminium cages by a guy called terry thatcher available, which are BRILLIANT but they are quite expensive and only available through a website so most keepers dont happen upon them. Zoo med has just brought out screen enclosures l;ike the american exo terra ones but they have only released the small ones as of the present time. Hopefully they will release the rest of the sizes soon, because for new keeprs on the UK there is not alot of choice, and the pet shops really only sell glass ones. The exo terra fleaxariums are not durable for the price, I totally agree, I have had to get the sewing kit out many times to repair the zip! the flexi trays are hard to find in the right sizes aswel without ordering straight from the wholesaler which most people cant do.
We need more practical enclosures in england!!!!!
xanthoman said..."veileds are one of the more arid species, and require less humidity than many"....the veiled chameleon occupies the wadis and agricultural lands of an otherwise arid region...that means that they are not an arid species. They do, however tolerate more dryness than some will as long as they are well-watered.
In defense of glass cages...I have kept veileds since the mid 90's and I have raised them in cages that have only screen lids and the rest is glass and in cages that have screen doors and lids with the rest being glass...and the females regularly live to be 6+ years old with the males living even longer. I have not had them develop respiratory infections in these cages either.
As far as reflections and pawing at the glass...I have rarely had a veiled chameleon be bothered by its reflection. If the cage is laid out properly, I have not found them to paw at the glass any more than they would paw at the screen.
If the basking lights are placed in one corner, and the UVB light placed along the back, then most of the lid of the cage is open and the air flows just like it does in the experiments kids do with chimneys in school. You do need to ensure that the water doesn't lay stagnant on the floor of the cage though.
Here are some good sites for you to look at that should give you an understanding of supplements, lighting, etc....
http://adcham.com/
http://chameleonnews.com/
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
http://web.archive.org/web/20060502...als.com/vet/index.php?show=8.Gout.Basics.html
In defense of glass cages...I have kept veileds since the mid 90's and I have raised them in cages that have only screen lids and the rest is glass and in cages that have screen doors and lids with the rest being glass...and the females regularly live to be 6+ years old with the males living even longer. I have not had them develop respiratory infections in these cages either.
As far as reflections and pawing at the glass...I have rarely had a veiled chameleon be bothered by its reflection. If the cage is laid out properly, I have not found them to paw at the glass any more than they would paw at the screen.
If the basking lights are placed in one corner, and the UVB light placed along the back, then most of the lid of the cage is open and the air flows just like it does in the experiments kids do with chimneys in school. You do need to ensure that the water doesn't lay stagnant on the floor of the cage though.
Here are some good sites for you to look at that should give you an understanding of supplements, lighting, etc....
http://adcham.com/
http://chameleonnews.com/
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
http://web.archive.org/web/20060502...als.com/vet/index.php?show=8.Gout.Basics.html
xanthoman
Avid Member
correct, actually what i should have said (and actually what i meant) was more arid tolerant. the only truly arid species i know of would be Chamaeleo namaquensis. i stand by my assertion that veileds are more tolerant of lower humidity than most,and what i should have said was that veileds (because of their hardiness) are more tolerant of being kept in conditions drier than their humidity requirements, but that doesnt mean that they should be kept out of their humidity range
When I first got my cham, I bought one of those small plastic cages for temporary transportation and for him to live in until I got my next paycheck for a medium sized screen cage.
I used to hate watching him claw at the plastic sides trying to climb up. Made me feel sorry for him. He would even push his front horn against it where it ended up bending it upwards and causing a small sore at the base. I cleaned it with a cotton swab and shortly after moved him to the screen cage. His horns are growing out straight now but the very tips are still bent weird from his baby stage.
Gah....poor guy.
Just wanted to comment and share.
I used to hate watching him claw at the plastic sides trying to climb up. Made me feel sorry for him. He would even push his front horn against it where it ended up bending it upwards and causing a small sore at the base. I cleaned it with a cotton swab and shortly after moved him to the screen cage. His horns are growing out straight now but the very tips are still bent weird from his baby stage.
Gah....poor guy.
Just wanted to comment and share.
