CelestialGarden
New Member
Hi all. I’m a long time reptile keeper but new to chameleons. I’m frankly terrified to post. I’ve been through the Facebook groups and the incredibly intimidating and kind of mean cham subreddit and hope I don’t get torn apart or anything. I researched a ton and kind of just did the best I could with the conflicting info I found as well as breeder guidance.
I’ve had my chameleon for about 5 days now. He is screen climbing and I am stressed. I raised the lights to avoid burns and I did reach out to his breeder (FramsChams) for a review of my enclosure and he said it looked great, but I’d also like to ask here.
My guy is a bit more than 5 months old and on a diet of silkworms. He has a healthy appetite and is readily taking them either from the branches or my hand (his screen feeder got held up in USPS). I attached a photo of him and I believe he’s beginning his first shed since I’ve had him home.
Custom Enclosure: 45” tall, 43” wide, 22” deep. Screened on all sides with removable plexiglass on the two ends because my home gets super dry in the winter with the heater on. Lots of vines and plant cover, lots of horizontal branches and walkways, although if I need to add more branches or adjust vines I’d absolutely be willing.
Humidity during the day: currently between 50-65%
Humidity at night: 65-75%
Mist King set up currently on one side (adding a second nozzle soon to the other side).
Misting schedule is 1.5 min just before lights on at 7am, 1.5 min at 12pm, 1.5 min at 3:30pm, 1.5 min at 3:30pm, 1.5 min at 7pm lights off, 1.5 min at midnight. I know they need it higher at night. I have it running a lot right now because again, my house is super dry. I have a clear glass of water in there I change and clean every day because according to Reddit, they’ll drink out of these too. I just want to be sure he’s hydrated.
Lights:
Basking spot is 85° with a 100 watt incandescent bulb in a clamp light set at an angle to be raised a little so he doesn’t burn himself since he’s been climbing the top. I’ll attach a photo, I don’t know if it’s still too close, but any further away makes the basking spot too cool. I used a 75 watt originally but the basking location wasn’t getting warm enough. He is still light seeking though, climbing near the heat lamp. I’ve used 2 temp guns to test the spots and they’re both accurate so I don’t understand why he’s still climbing toward the light. It’s like he wants to boil himself.
UVB is a T8 5.0 set diagonally. It’s 8” above the screen currently because of screen climbing. I originally had it on the screen with the basking spot lower, but had to adjust because of his behavior. I didn’t use a T5 because I don’t have room to lift a T5 up that many inches above my cage where it’s supposed to be safely placed.
I have 2 Barrina LED plant lights that put off very very little heat. One on the bottom back for my lower plants and one across the top horizontally.
I attached some photos of what I have going on. I just want to be sure the screen climbing is a phase like his breeder says. Any advice to discourage this would be helpful. I’m afraid he’s going to burn himself.
Thanks for your hopefully gentle feedback.
I’ve had my chameleon for about 5 days now. He is screen climbing and I am stressed. I raised the lights to avoid burns and I did reach out to his breeder (FramsChams) for a review of my enclosure and he said it looked great, but I’d also like to ask here.
My guy is a bit more than 5 months old and on a diet of silkworms. He has a healthy appetite and is readily taking them either from the branches or my hand (his screen feeder got held up in USPS). I attached a photo of him and I believe he’s beginning his first shed since I’ve had him home.
Custom Enclosure: 45” tall, 43” wide, 22” deep. Screened on all sides with removable plexiglass on the two ends because my home gets super dry in the winter with the heater on. Lots of vines and plant cover, lots of horizontal branches and walkways, although if I need to add more branches or adjust vines I’d absolutely be willing.
Humidity during the day: currently between 50-65%
Humidity at night: 65-75%
Mist King set up currently on one side (adding a second nozzle soon to the other side).
Misting schedule is 1.5 min just before lights on at 7am, 1.5 min at 12pm, 1.5 min at 3:30pm, 1.5 min at 3:30pm, 1.5 min at 7pm lights off, 1.5 min at midnight. I know they need it higher at night. I have it running a lot right now because again, my house is super dry. I have a clear glass of water in there I change and clean every day because according to Reddit, they’ll drink out of these too. I just want to be sure he’s hydrated.
Lights:
Basking spot is 85° with a 100 watt incandescent bulb in a clamp light set at an angle to be raised a little so he doesn’t burn himself since he’s been climbing the top. I’ll attach a photo, I don’t know if it’s still too close, but any further away makes the basking spot too cool. I used a 75 watt originally but the basking location wasn’t getting warm enough. He is still light seeking though, climbing near the heat lamp. I’ve used 2 temp guns to test the spots and they’re both accurate so I don’t understand why he’s still climbing toward the light. It’s like he wants to boil himself.
UVB is a T8 5.0 set diagonally. It’s 8” above the screen currently because of screen climbing. I originally had it on the screen with the basking spot lower, but had to adjust because of his behavior. I didn’t use a T5 because I don’t have room to lift a T5 up that many inches above my cage where it’s supposed to be safely placed.
I have 2 Barrina LED plant lights that put off very very little heat. One on the bottom back for my lower plants and one across the top horizontally.
I attached some photos of what I have going on. I just want to be sure the screen climbing is a phase like his breeder says. Any advice to discourage this would be helpful. I’m afraid he’s going to burn himself.
Thanks for your hopefully gentle feedback.
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