1st time chameleon owner (open to suggestions).

726cham

New Member
I have wanted a chameleon for a while but when I started researching I realized it is a ton of work. I have been lurking around these forums for a while and I have been doing tons of research. I’ve been listening to most episodes of Chameleon academy. I ended up deciding to build a hybrid enclosure out of a Reptibreeze 2’x2’x4’. The video that inspired my build was @Bradsbioactivebuilds chameleon enclosure on YouTube. I used foam insulation board on 3 sides. Duralocked it, installed foam planters, plexiglass bottom, cut out a ventilation window (5”x24”) along the front that can be covered up at night to lock in the humidity. The branches were sourced locally and heat treated and measured out the basking branch to be in compliance with the uvb and basking bulb clearance. I also ended up using window insulator sheet for the front screen cage to creat a more humid environment. I also have a digital hygrometer that is ran with temp probe near basking spot and humidity probe near the center of enclosure. I also have a hand held digital temp probe. All of this is sitting on a table that is 2.5” tall. There is also a pvc ball valve at the bottom just in case there is some water build up. All of this is in an office room with low to no traffic.

I ended up doing a bioactive substate. 2.5” of leca balls, substrate barrier, 6 bags of joshes frogs ABG mix. A good amount of cork bark, seed pods and leaf litter for my clean up crew which consists of 60 powdered orange isopods and 2 colonies of springtails. All the plants I have in the enclosure are real. To include some bromeliad, pothos, Arica palm, spider plant, dracaena, parlour palm, and pink nerve plant. I HAD Exo terra jungle vines but removed them once I read up on it, and ended up putting in sand blasted manzanita branches instead.

For lighting I currently run a 75w basking bulb (Zilla) out of a Fluker’s delux clamp lamp 8.5”. A zoo med reprising terrarium hood (24”) with 24w, 22” t5 HO 5.0 uvb bulb. An Arcadia jungle dawn LED bar 22w 18.5” for my plant growth.

I’m also running a petspioneer digital timing fogger. All of these are on timers. Lights are 12 on 12 off (7am to 7pm). Fogger turns on at night around midnight fogging for 15 min every other hour (12, 2, 4, 6am) and last fogger is on for 25min. Misting is done by hand about 30min after lights off and 30 min before lights on. These times work best in my situation and in my climate. I ended up building my set up about a month and a half before purchasing my little guy.

I purchased my little guy last Thursday from west coast chameleon bros. A beautiful Ambilobe panther that is 3 months old. I’m not going to lie, I’ve peeked my head kinda often and I know I just gotta let em be and get adjusted to the new set up. I have seen him eat a couple dubia roaches and small crickets. I have also caught him getting up on the top screen. I try not to handle him, but when he gets up there I try and use my hand to guide him down the sides. It’s happened a total of 3 times so far. I am currently trying so switch up his meals. So far small crickets, dubia, and some small horn worms that I have for my beardie.

So it hasn’t even been a week, is it normal for the feeding to be kinda hit and miss the with the first couple days? I’m just hoping I do it all right. I’m planning on purchasing a feeder run from full throttle feeders because the roaches and crickets kinda just chill there and don’t move after a while. I’m pretty sure I’m just being impatient, Any recommendations for the enclosure or the way to feed would be greatly appreciated.

Below are pictures of the father, the enclosure and the baby.
 

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Hi and welcome. Sounds good ,you have done plenty of research. I would add a lot more branches to optimise the space your cham has , and space not utilised is a waste , are your plantsyoung , I would add a good feature tree / plant in there like a ficus/shfeleria, dracena, will add more cover to help your boy feel safe and more climbing options
 

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Yes I actually have a ficus tree in quarantine right now (about 2.5 feet tall) and plan on plan on putting in another bushy mature pothos on the far left top of my enclosure. As to my plants being young, only the ones that are in the foam planters are young. The others on the ground are pretty mature. I was also planning on putting in at least one more manzanita branch to make more highways for the little guy.
 
Hey there and welcome to the forum... I hate to tell you this but you are going to want to get a fecal sample run on the baby... I have worked within a few threads with babies purchased from them that had parasites. Hopefully yours will not. But better to be safe than sorry with a baby.

For babies you want to lift your fixtures up off the top. They will screen climb no matter what so you end up having to lift them up. So with your T5HO fixture and the 5.0 bulb you will lift the fixture up off the top 4 inches. So 4 inch distance from bottom of fixture to the screen. Then you will make sure you have vines or branches 5 inches down from the screen top. So this ensures baby is not in over exposure UVB levels on the screen and then at the branch 5 inches down they are still getting UVI levels they need.

You also want to lift the LED and the heat fixture. Check temps on screen. Nothing hotter than about 78 at the screen. Most of us will lift a heat fixture up off the top about 4 inches as well. Then use a low wattage 60 watt regular incandescent white bulb.

The jungle dawn will put out some heat so lift if your temps are too hot at the screen.

Make sure you have airflow with fogging. Blocking everything will create a stagnant environment which is not recommended with high humidity. You need the air movement within the cage. Also your looking to only fog with cooler temps. If you can get night time temps down to 65 that is great. Most aim for at least 67-68 when fogging.

Where are your humidity levels sitting for daytime?
 
Hey there and welcome to the forum... I hate to tell you this but you are going to want to get a fecal sample run on the baby... I have worked within a few threads with babies purchased from them that had parasites. Hopefully yours will not. But better to be safe than sorry with a baby.

For babies you want to lift your fixtures up off the top. They will screen climb no matter what so you end up having to lift them up. So with your T5HO fixture and the 5.0 bulb you will lift the fixture up off the top 4 inches. So 4 inch distance from bottom of fixture to the screen. Then you will make sure you have vines or branches 5 inches down from the screen top. So this ensures baby is not in over exposure UVB levels on the screen and then at the branch 5 inches down they are still getting UVI levels they need.

You also want to lift the LED and the heat fixture. Check temps on screen. Nothing hotter than about 78 at the screen. Most of us will lift a heat fixture up off the top about 4 inches as well. Then use a low wattage 60 watt regular incandescent white bulb.

The jungle dawn will put out some heat so lift if your temps are too hot at the screen.

Make sure you have airflow with fogging. Blocking everything will create a stagnant environment which is not recommended with high humidity. You need the air movement within the cage. Also your looking to only fog with cooler temps. If you can get night time temps down to 65 that is great. Most aim for at least 67-68 when fogging.

Where are your humidity levels sitting for daytime?
Anyone got a recommendation for an exotic animal vet in socal? inland Empire area preferably?

Lights will be lifted up today. Was already thinking about it sense he kept climbing.

Airflow at night: will the top of the enclosure not be enough? I’ve noticed that when fogging at night without the closure (5”x24”) just let’s out all the fog. Which would leave me to keep fogging and keeping the humidity at 70-75% at the most. Usually just 60-70%.
Daytime humidity levels vary from 45 on the low end to 65 at the high end. Typically low 50s.
 
Hey there and welcome to the forum... I hate to tell you this but you are going to want to get a fecal sample run on the baby... I have worked within a few threads with babies purchased from them that had parasites. Hopefully yours will not. But better to be safe than sorry with a baby.

For babies you want to lift your fixtures up off the top. They will screen climb no matter what so you end up having to lift them up. So with your T5HO fixture and the 5.0 bulb you will lift the fixture up off the top 4 inches. So 4 inch distance from bottom of fixture to the screen. Then you will make sure you have vines or branches 5 inches down from the screen top. So this ensures baby is not in over exposure UVB levels on the screen and then at the branch 5 inches down they are still getting UVI levels they need.

You also want to lift the LED and the heat fixture. Check temps on screen. Nothing hotter than about 78 at the screen. Most of us will lift a heat fixture up off the top about 4 inches as well. Then use a low wattage 60 watt regular incandescent white bulb.

The jungle dawn will put out some heat so lift if your temps are too hot at the screen.

Make sure you have airflow with fogging. Blocking everything will create a stagnant environment which is not recommended with high humidity. You need the air movement within the cage. Also your looking to only fog with cooler temps. If you can get night time temps down to 65 that is great. Most aim for at least 67-68 when fogging.

Where are your humidity levels sitting for
 
One more thing. Night time temps are around 66-68, But temps will only stay like that for the season.
 
Anyone got a recommendation for an exotic animal vet in socal? inland Empire area preferably?

Lights will be lifted up today. Was already thinking about it sense he kept climbing.

Airflow at night: will the top of the enclosure not be enough? I’ve noticed that when fogging at night without the closure (5”x24”) just let’s out all the fog. Which would leave me to keep fogging and keeping the humidity at 70-75% at the most. Usually just 60-70%.
Daytime humidity levels vary from 45 on the low end to 65 at the high end. Typically low 50s.
So you have to leave a bar on the bottom open otherwise they are breathing in stagnant air. This creates the chimney effect where it pulls air in from the bottom and pulls it up out of the top. I know it is counter intuitive. Your thinking of trapping the fog and if you leave the bar the fog is going to flow out. But really that is what is needed. You do not need to continuously fog. Remember that fogging at night is another form of hydration. It is not an all inclusive method you still need to mist as well in the day. And sometimes provide a dripper.

Daytime levels your looking at a max of 60% Most keep them middle of the road at 50%. But again you still want airflow.

As your plants establish and grow in this will increase humidity as well.
 
One more thing. Night time temps are around 66-68, But temps will only stay like that for the season.
Consider a window air conditioner then for summer. This is what most of us do to get night time temp drops that they need.
 
Consider a window air conditioner then for summer. This is what most of us do to get night time temp drops that they need.
I got a 3 speed room fan in the room. With that cause too much stress on the little guy if ran on low? House stays at around 74-76 during the summer.
 
I got a 3 speed room fan in the room. With that cause too much stress on the little guy if ran on low? House stays at around 74-76 during the summer.
As long as it is not blowing directly into the cage your fine to use it. It will help circulate the room air.
 
I got a 3 speed room fan in the room. With that cause too much stress on the little guy if ran on low? House stays at around 74-76 during the summer.
You could also watch petr necas on fb with Bill strand into there studies on fog in the madagascar environment.
 
You could also watch petr necas on fb with Bill strand into there studies on fog in the madagascar environment.
That’s actually a really good one. That’s why I was thinking of trying to lock in humidity. But I will stop closing it up and let ventilation do it’s thing.
 
Vet List

Dr. Greek and Dr. Molnár are both very good with chameleons.


CalabassasAll Animals Veterinary Hospital (Dr. Molnar)

CoronaAnimal Medical Center of Corona (Dr. Huber)

Del Rey OaksAvian and Exotic Clinic of Monterey (Dr. Thomas)

El CajonRancho San Diego Animal Hospital (Dr. Brown)

EncintasAll Pets Animal Hospital (Dr. Loudis)

FresnoSan Joaquin Veterinary Hospital (Dr. Alfaro)

La MesaPet Emergency & Specialty Center (Dr. Cecil)

LivermoreOhana Animal Hospital (Dr. Steffes)

PasadenaExotic Animal Veterinary Center (Dr. Labrecque, Dr. Richards, Dr. Silpa)

SalemAll Creatures Veterinary Hospital

Santa ClaritaCinema Veterinary Centre (Dr. Wheelbarger)

San DiegoThe Pet Hospital of Penasquitos (Dr. Boyer)

San DiegoAvian & Exotic Animal Hospital (Dr. Jenkins & Dr. Gillette)

San JoseWildwood Veterinary Hospital (Dr. Welsh & Dr. Sanders)

San MarcosDiscovery Valley Animal Hospital (Dr. Young)

Yorba LindaGreek and Associates Veterinary Hospital (Dr. Greek)
 
Vet List

Dr. Greek and Dr. Molnár are both very good with chameleons.


CalabassasAll Animals Veterinary Hospital (Dr. Molnar)

CoronaAnimal Medical Center of Corona (Dr. Huber)

Del Rey OaksAvian and Exotic Clinic of Monterey (Dr. Thomas)

El CajonRancho San Diego Animal Hospital (Dr. Brown)

EncintasAll Pets Animal Hospital (Dr. Loudis)

FresnoSan Joaquin Veterinary Hospital (Dr. Alfaro)

La MesaPet Emergency & Specialty Center (Dr. Cecil)

LivermoreOhana Animal Hospital (Dr. Steffes)

PasadenaExotic Animal Veterinary Center (Dr. Labrecque, Dr. Richards, Dr. Silpa)

SalemAll Creatures Veterinary Hospital

Santa ClaritaCinema Veterinary Centre (Dr. Wheelbarger)

San DiegoThe Pet Hospital of Penasquitos (Dr. Boyer)

San DiegoAvian & Exotic Animal Hospital (Dr. Jenkins & Dr. Gillette)

San JoseWildwood Veterinary Hospital (Dr. Welsh & Dr. Sanders)

San MarcosDiscovery Valley Animal Hospital (Dr. Young)

Yorba LindaGreek and Associates Veterinary Hospital (Dr. Greek)
Thank you guys so much for the info. I’m glad there’s a community!
 
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