A little long winded introduction 😁

[Mad Dog Murphy]

Hi, I’m new to the forum and excited about the thought of getter a veiled chameleon later this year, I currently live in rural Brittany,France after relocating from Hampshire, England 6 Years ago, I’ve keep many things over the years and pride myself on good husbandry and creating the best environment I can.I currently keep chickens,ducks,pigs, dogs, cats that I can’t seem to stop rescuing but never owned a reptile, recently I have become fascinated with the beauty of chameleons and since then it’s the only thing that rattles round in my head constantly, I lay awake at night coming up with thoughts and questions I need answers too, I have managed to bore my wife to bed early on several occasions! So it will be nice to be part of forum of like minded individuals. I’ve read a lot about there needs from different sources and now have a better understanding of what I’m letting myself in for, which is quite involved I must say. Living in rural Brittany there are very few reptile shops ,so little choice, most of my purchases will have to be via Amazon fr.

I’ve decided on a bio active terrarium that I will construct myself, I currently repurposing a wardrobe that I believe will serve the purpose well, will be in excess of 16sqf. Being that it will be In the lounge of a old stone cottage it is always a steady temperature of cool/cold' summer/winter it’s the same pretty much, so decided to have sides and back covered with foam board which I’ve currently wire wheeled and heat gunned into some form of effect, just need to apply some form of compound over it, can’t seem to find dry lock here and any latex paints are ridiculously expensive! I do however have an excess amount of tile grout left from a recent job and after testing on a small piece think it’s a great affect. The front will Be a full size aluminium fine mesh door, could only acquire silver mesh which I’m concerned may not sit well with regards to glare? Maybe I could spray it black?. Top will also be open mesh and serve for my lights, was going with Arcadia pro T5 uvb kit forest 24w 6% which will sit directly on mesh as well as a jungle dawn led kit, currently undecided on wattage, also the basking spot bulb which I’m also undecided, from what I can make out a 25wt exo terra intense basking spot will give me what I need , considering that I plan to set the basking/D3 branch at about 8 inches from the top mesh anticipating the adult males back should be 6in away, obliviously with a juvenile I may need to make amendments, was planning to get it all up and running for at least a few weeks just so I can set the temperature and get humidity right and let the plants settle in. I’m currently lining the bottom section with some butyl pond liner cut offs which I acquired for free and will cut a hole through for drain which will empty into Cupboard underneath, which I’m hoping will serve as storage for live bait and supplements, bought some clay balls from garden centre which I’ll put down first then cover with some weed blanket and the substrate, currently undecided but I have seen the coco blocks you soak fairly cheap here in the garden centre. Currently researching plants to put in which is all very exciting, will fix some random pots to the sides and back with expansion foam will do the job nicely. As for branches a oak limp broke out of one of my trees some time ago which I believe will serve me well, haven’t really done to much research on this but I thought it best to debark the sections and soak them, I know people use 4-1 bleach or bake in oven( how big are these people’s ovens) anyway that’s what I’m up too, off out now to play around with it some more, I know it’s a little long winded and I still have plenty more to say, just wanted to introduce myself and look forward to everyone’s assistance moving forward as being new to reptiles there’s going to be many times I need your help.

Kind regards,

Mad Dog Murphy

 

[MzLaurie11]

Welcome Murphy! Sounds like you are well underway with your build. a few tips. I used coco blocks as bedding for my tortoise. Then my tort got real sick with parasites. The parasites came from the coco blocks. the vet said coco blocks are notorious for paradites. I was told if i ever use coco blocks to toss them in the freezer for 4-5 days before soaking to ensure all parasites are killed off. The basking light. I prefer getting one with a dimmer switch and i usually use a 75 watt bulb. that way i can adjust the light instead of moving the basking branch. Also baby chams tend to climb on the screen on top and walk upside down so you may have to prop it a few inches off the screen so the baby doesnt get burned. They stop this once they get bigger at 6-12 months. Also make sure the plants you get are on the chameleon safe list as there are many plants that are toxic to chams. Vieleds especially like to eat plants. Branches that are too thick arent good for chams. If thier splayed hands/feet cant grasp around the branch they will use thier nails and if any get stuck in the wood they could lose nails which is very painful. I like the thinner rubber tree branches as they are curve and are not so hard once dried out. Fluker farms has good vines(no fake moss or leaves) that hold up well.not sure you can get it there. anyway keep us posted and again welcome to the forum.

 

[Mad Dog Murphy]

Great advice thank you, I will definitely freeze the blocks prior now you mentioned that and the dimmer switch suggestion is fantastic, will save me messing around with adjusting the basking branch, I have read about juveniles climbing the screen and anticipated that I may need to temporarily raise it but was worried about doing initially and depriving it of D3, guess I’ll just have to watch that, funnily enough I’ve just come back from the garden centre with so plants, I can always run them by you if you like, I have researched a lot about them and everything in fact, my minds a mess

 

[Mad Dog Murphy]

Slightly concerned now that the branches I have sourced and going to debark maybe slightly too big, so will I need to change them from juvenile to adult or just go with one size? any thoughts on diameter? It really is a case of case of sourcing my own as options here are limited or extremely expensive

 

[MzLaurie11]

Well you need to create a climbing jungle gym. My vieled doubled in size every two to three weeks. One inch might be ok. I got a dozen roses once and when the flowers died i cut off the tops the got rid of all thorns then made a perch. Itkind of looks like a raft with cross stems on both sides on the bOttom then used dental floss to tie each of the long stems. then zip tied it in and its his fav perch. He can lean sideways so more of his body gets the heat. Also if you use a plank of wood, like pine, make sure you seal it with a clear coat as it gives off something under the lights. Above my boy is his perch. On the plank is his feeding dish. He is asleep. His name is hunter!

 

[MissSkittles]

I replied to your posts, but didn’t properly welcome you. So, welcome to the forum Mad dog. I’m so happy that you’ve found your way to us and are asking questions. I’m even happier that you have done your research and are getting everything set up and ready before getting your chameleon. That is the best way to do it, although many of us just jumped in and paid the price for it later.
Since you say there aren’t many reptile resources near where you live, have you looked into finding an exotics vet? It’s always best to know where one is well before you may need them.
I’m looking forward to seeing more of your posts.

 

[Mad Dog Murphy]

Hi, thank You for introducing yourself, and the kind words, I’ve kept a lot of things over the years and always researched things to the max and bore my good lady to tears half the time, so nice to be able to chat with like minded people, I like to try and make the best environment I can for all my animals and spent the last few years keeping a number of different breeds of chickens and ducks which Ive breed, which has been alot of fun, pigs too which are great, ferrets to date have been the most fun to watch play and make different things to entertain them, but now something new and my first chameleon and probably the most excited I’ve been, had know idea initially how involved it is to do it correctly, anyway I better wrap up, I have french homework to do now with regards to the vets, there very Good here and with 3 dogs and 5 cats I see them a lot and they’ve assured me they have somebody

 

[Mad Dog Murphy]

Well you need to create a climbing jungle gym. My vieled doubled in size every two to three weeks. One inch might be ok. I got a dozen roses once and when the flowers died i cut off the tops the got rid of all thorns then made a perch. Itkind of looks like a raft with cross stems on both sides on the bOttom then used dental floss to tie each of the long stems. then zip tied it in and its his fav perch. He can lean sideways so more of his body gets the heat. Also if you use a plank of wood, like pine, make sure you seal it with a clear coat as it gives off something under the lights. Above my boy is his perch. On the plank is his feeding dish. He is asleep. His name is hunter!

He’s a handsome fella and looks very comfortable, my plan was to go With a branch and plant overload and utilise all the available space I have, apart from the top 8 “ I plan to keep free, I love the idea with the perch and may have to borrow it, I like making things that I feel will enrich my animals well being , I find it very rewarding especially when it’s received as well as your rose stem perch/raft clearly was.

 

[Herp_Lover26]

I may have just missed this in another post, but the bleach is not necessary. It may in fact damage the integrity of the structure of your branch. No bleach for me, no oven either. Good ole soap and water and then dry them in the sun. remove anything that looks like it might be in the way. No branches with a lot of sap. I tend to follow the “rules” of what is most natural. As your chammy grows the diameter should be that so the mitten can wrap all the way around.
Your dedication is admirable and I am looking forward to pictures.

ARAV.org
You might want to know where the closest vet is in case of emergency just like Miss Skittles said.

 

[Mad Dog Murphy]

Hi, yea I scraped the idea of bleach and went with soap and water and stiff brush, I’ve used Sticks ranging from small to one inch max and funnily enough was doing some pot and plant placement only yesterday to see how everything sits before foaming in.