1 month old Carpet

Vegas Chad

Avid Member
I’m so excited!!! I have a 1 month old CB Carpet chameleon heading my way Monday… I have kept baby chameleons before, but none this small and young… What are some tips on how to keep the guy happy and stress free? I have a nice well planted screen cage ready for him, which has a 60w basking light and a UV light which should suffice his light requirements. He will be kept inside which is normal room temp around the mid to high 70’s with the temp dropping a little at night.
How humid should I keep its area?
What is the type of food is best for chameleons this small, and how should I attack supplementation?
Other than that, what else do I need to know and do?

Thanks for any help, tips and advice can you give me!!! Wish me luck!
 
i wouldn't buy a chameleon unless they are about 2 months old.... they are more stable for shipping. 1 month old is kinda in the grey zone of unsafe for shipping.....!!!
 
Welp, the deed has already been done… I have a DOA and health guarantee so hopefully things will pan out well and I will have a happy little cham waiting for me when I get home Tuesday. I am aware that it may be a little young to ship, but that is why I am asking for the community’s advice on how to keep him as healthy as possible once he arrives.

Feel free to ping me on a type AIM if you can help! Thanks :)
 
Howdy,

Hydei flightless fruit flies and pinhead crickets for food. These insects can be lightly dusted without a problem.

Lots of misting. My babies got 20 minutes twice a day.

My baby enclosures are about 20H x 18D x 12W aluminum frame/screened with a PVC bottom setup for good drainage. I use one Dwarf Schefflera. I've been very happy with those little (20" tall) plants.
 
I have a Carpet inbound! I guess you could call it a flying carpet at the moment :D
I have some small silk worms ready for eat’n as well as some flightless fruit flies; which look like they can fly just fine… I have never feed with these before, any advice on how to feed with them? Just open the culture at the bottom and let em run loose, or what’s the skimmy? And do they tend to escape and invade the room?
Here is a picture of its new home. Basking area is roughly 85 with areas varying temperatures all the way to 76. Dripper is set to run all day and I will also mist morning and night. Ummmmm ya, that’s about it. http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=5068585
Also, anybody have a line on a small automatic misting system?
 
VegasChad, if you want, you could get the big apple mister, or the mister moisture. Both can produce a 'mist,' but they can't run for very long.

EDIT: Very nice looking cage BTW, he will be very happy!
 
I made a sturdy frame for the bottom of the cage to support the plant. The water that is not absorbed into the plant or the plant tray will drip into a container inside the first shelf of the multi shelf thing that I have it sitting on. I drilled a matching pair of holes into the two to facilitate drainage of extra water. Don’t expect it to get THAT much use tho.

Any fruit fly info?

I will give them misters a look, thanks Brian!
 
..as well as some flightless fruit flies; which look like they can fly just fine… I have never feed with these before, any advice on how to feed with them? Just open the culture at the bottom and let em run loose, or what’s the skimmy? And do they tend to escape and invade the room?

The cultures are usually in a cup and all I do is tap it a few times on a hard surface before opening to get the flies to fall towards the bottom. Open it up and shake some flies in a sandwich baggie (I will have already put some supplement dust in the baggie). Once you have shaken enough out - tap the cup and put the lid back on. Yes you will have a couple of escapees.. just squish em. They can't fly but they can crawl.. and they will not invade your home.. any I don't squish I find dead near the baseboard when I vacuum..

I then shake the flies in the baggie to get them covered with supplement and then pour them into the tank.. keep in mind I am feeding these to dart frogs in an enclosed glass tank. If your cham is in a screen one then I would assume the flies can get through.. ??

And if you are gonna need loads of flies.. they are easy to culture on your own.. just make your new cultures and add flies from the culture you bought... and then so on..
 
The new dude maybe chick? Is home!!!! :D It was at my grandparents house wating for me when I got off work! I came home, let it out of the cup and put it into its cage with some fruit flies which it quickly zapped up 2 while I was watching with camera in hand. After it ate I gave it a good misting, Now its toodling around the cage getting to know its new home and resting a bit! :) I took a few pictures and put them here because the forum gallery keeps telling me invalid file… I dono… But ya.. Here is the link: http://www.teamwazio.com/ChamPics I can tell I will have to get more flys! This made my crappy day at work worth while… Thinking about Roo or Waldow for the name…
 
He looks like he's in mini-heaven. And Roo will be imortalized as a carpet chamleon, Muahahahahahahaha! Lol
 
That little guy is so small you might want to pull him/her out of the cage and put it in a seperate container for feeding. A cage that large for such a little chameleon will make it hard for it to find food.

Heika
 
Heika is right about that and I personally would do the same thing with a critter that small. The smaller enclosure would only be for around 6 weeks since those suckers grow really fast. My female was ready for 38g at 2 months.

All you need for a baby enclosure is a medium sized critter container, some paper towels or reptile carpet (my pref is carpet), some fake plastic (not silk) plants and some sticks from outside (cleaned first). I like to cut out the top of the critter container and hot glue in some aluminum screening to contain the fruit flies. Someone correct me if I’m wrong but the room temps will suffice and you wont need a basking light … just somehow hover the UV light fixture roughly 8” above the critter container.

An even quicker enclosure is a small storage bin/shoebox with the same contents mentioned above and straddling the UV fixture over it would be easy. It just won’t contain fruit flies too well.

I know it’s kind of disappointing to put a lot of work into the enclosure (very good job on it BTW) and not use it right away but it’s for the best IMO, and judging by your enthusiasm to do the right thing I think that’s what you want. You would really have to toss in a lot of feeders in that larger one for it to get a good/quick meal and a lot of uneaten feeders running around just isn’t wise.

A really good misting twice a day would be fine too …maybe add a humidifier in the room if it’s on the dry side.

Having it in a smaller enclosure also lets you keep tabs on its health. Trying to find that little thing in your larger enclosure will be quite the daily chore.

Here is a pic of what I am talking about (2 towards the back).
http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/tjr32/Images/PR/3.JPG

roo … an excellent name choice. If that’s the final decision (if its a boy) then just make sure you get him a girlfriend … or two :D . Even if its a girl that's fine ... I'm in touch with my feminine side.



-roo
 
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Ok soooooo how about this?
I already had the stuff down in my shop so I when and dremild out the top of the bug tub, added the few things and then moved Roo on over. It was nice and happy sleeping in the basking light so when I moved em’ which made it a little mad and it darkened up neat to see how much he changes even with how young it is. When I first took it out it was even more mad and darn near black… But now it is light and happy. :)

Is it normal for them to sleep in there basking spot right after shipping? I imagine he is rather tired, so I would assume it’s fine. . .

More pictures… http://www.teamwazio.com/ChamPics :eek:
 
Much better for his/her size. One thing left to do, and that is to add a UVB light and a realllllllllllly low wattage basking light. Neither needs to run at night.. just during the day.

Heika
 
You want the UV more around 8" away from the lid. If it’s a reptisun 5.0 then the distance that the UV can effectively reach is around 12" I believe so if the fixture is 12" away from the lid then the cham is falling out of that range - so more like 8" is better. You can try the 20-25W bulb - I use them on the occasion as well. Just be super careful not to get the critter container too hot, which will be easy considering the enclosure size – remember that the UV light will add heat as well.

Is it normal for them to sleep in there basking spot right after shipping? I imagine he is rather tired, so I would assume its fine. . .

Well I wouldn’t be too concerned – especially if it happened right after taking it out of the box - it may just be groggy - but I would definitely note it. Chams usually need a few days to settle in so give it lots of space and time on its own to settle in.

-roo
 
I got home today and found the lil dude hang’n out on what I would call his fave branch for now. I gave him a good misting after which I saw him (just going to call it him… I don’t like IT) lapping up some water drops. After he went back to the branch I then tossed in a few crickets and fruit flies which he then zapped after a little delay. The crickets might be a little large for him even though they are pin heads… So I think I might stick with silk worms and flies for a few weeks.
I am happy to see him doing well today, it is very encouraging to see him eating and drinking… Now the last think that I need to dial in is the supplementation of calcium, A, and minerall. I took some more pictures which I posted here: http://www.teamwazio.com/ChamPics/ their are multiple pages, look at the bottom for the page numbers.
 
Well if they are pin heads then it shouldn’t be a problem so it sounds like they are more like 1/8” sized crickets. Are the crickets larger then the width of its mouth or is it struggling a bit eating them? As mentioned it will grow fast and it’s important to give it nutritional feeders during this time. Fruit flies are a nice treat but I don’t think they will offer much when it comes to nutrition. Silk worms are much better but you can’t gutload them with “the good stuff” like WER gutload or the stuff from cricketfood.com. I have no idea how good the silk worm chow is but I’m sure it probably doesn’t compare to the 2 gutloads I just mentioned. So my point is get some pin head crickets which can be gutloaded properly with the stuff it needs to grow. You can get pins and 1/16” crickets from http://www.ghann.com/. Some vendors selling “pins” aren’t always on top of things and many times you don’t get what you want – in other words the crickets are much larger then what you ordered.

Pics look good too. I hope he/she works out well for you.

-roo
 
Well, I have had little Roo for a little over a week now. I have given him a birthday of Feb 28th so that makes him about 35-ish days old. He seems to be happy motoring around his cage. I finally got my order of pin head crickets that came today so now I can feed him something other than fruit flies. I have the gut load that coastal silk worms sells which the bugs will be fed along with some water cubes.
It’s hard to believe, but I think I can see some growth in the guy in only the week that I have had him! The only issue I have is that he seems to ‘nap’ a little, not very often but every once and a while when I walk by his eyes will be closed and once I take a peek at him they open back up. So, other than that all seems to be good. Now I just have to figure out a dusting schedule for the crickets. Anybody have a Mon-Sun suggestion? Here is what I have been thinking…
Mon – RepCal-D3
Tues – Sticky toung Miner-all
Wed – RepCal-D3
Thurs – RepCal-D3
Fri – RepCal-D3
Sat – Miner-all
Sun – RepCal-D3

Add a third item?
 
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