am i doing it right?

Midnighthwk

New Member
cant think of a name for him yet but .. he wont eat the size food thats "recomended " for his size/age so i got him bigger ones. full size crickets and superworms. and he seems to love them.
i forgot what i was going to ask other than if i should paint the new cage i am making or just waterproof it. oh and if i am doing it right so far.


Chameleon Info:

Veiled, male, born Nov 2010. been in my care since Jan 2011

Handling - forced : shower time 2x a week to get him on his showering plant : 1 min to plant and back to cage 15 mins in shower backspray. non forced 2-3 times a week, time verrys ( sits there i hold him, he wants to run off i put him back or let him go to his free range area i am working on for an hour or so- if he doesnt walk on my hand i let him be. by forced i mean put 1 hand behind him till he gets on my other hand. once out he doesnt want back in.

Feeding - crickets, superworms, greens ( collared, mustard ) he mostly likes his ficus, fruits i am still working on finding one he will eat. amount: at least 2 cricks left alive at all times but i put 10 in the morning and 10 when the sun go's down ( 1/2 - full size ), 2-3 superworms a day, he wont eat any of the other typs of worms.
How are you gut-loading your feeders? Wardley reptile sticks, fluker's high calc cricket food, tetrafin goldfish flakes, fluker's river shrimp, fluker's meal worms, zoo med juvenile bearded dragon frrod all blended together in a blender. collared greens, bananas + peels, apples, honeydew mellon + rine, ornges + peels

Supplements -zoo med's reptivite reptile vitamins without d3 75% of crickets per feeding daily, tetrafauna reptocal +d3 2x a month till he is older, zilla food spray vitamin supplement 1x a week till he gets older

Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? heavey hand mist 3 times daily till everything is dripping, dripper 24/7 Do you see your chameleon drinking? in shower yes, out of shower a few times

Fecal Description - 1 part white, 1 part dark, just gets bigger the bigger he gets. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? yes

Cage Info:
Cage Type - screen 2'x2'x3', building a 3'x3'x6' right now
Lighting - zilla tropical 25 series t8 uvb, zilla full spectrum, 75w house light to bask, 9am- between 10-11pm also direct sunlight about 2 hours a day
Temperature - (cage floor 72 to basking spot 85 )? Lowest overnight temp 65 How do you measure these temps? petco pos ones in random spots and 3 digital, 1 hooked up to a heater in my room for at night ( its winter and 20 outside at night and my window sucks)"
Humidity - 40 % at the lowest right under the basking spot ( 3 inches from light ) he basks lower than that though around 60% -65% about the rest. 85% when misting
How are you creating and maintaining these levels? 10 live plants in the curent cage and many around my room, dripper and misting. What do you use to measure humidity? 2 cheap ones from petco and a digi one for my room
Plants - 5 ficus, 1 umbrella, 4 jade in the cage, more about my room. growing a pampus to see how it is before letting him check it out
Placement - farthest cornor away from the house heating vent.
At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? this cage 5 feet, new cage 7 1/2 feet
Location - Where are you geographically located? nw oregon

Trafic: verry low, 80% just me, he doesnt care anymore, anyone else he hides if they get within 8 feet of his cage

Flooring: paper towls to collect xtra water and cleaned every 2 days
 

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from the pics hes obviously relaxed IMHO..i think you should keep what you are dooing..but always take suggestions ( i never really give them only give an opinion, you make what you can from it)..good luck..he looks good from what i can see , bright eyes, alert(from pics) and comfy chillen on you..
 
cant think of a name for him yet but .. he wont eat the size food thats "recomended " for his size/age so i got him bigger ones. full size crickets and superworms. and he seems to love them.
i forgot what i was going to ask other than if i should paint the new cage i am making or just waterproof it. oh and if i am doing it right so far.


Chameleon Info:

Veiled, male, born Nov 2010. been in my care since Jan 2011

Handling - forced : shower time 2x a week to get him on his showering plant : 1 min to plant and back to cage 15 mins in shower backspray. non forced 2-3 times a week, time verrys ( sits there i hold him, he wants to run off i put him back or let him go to his free range area i am working on for an hour or so- if he doesnt walk on my hand i let him be. by forced i mean put 1 hand behind him till he gets on my other hand. once out he doesnt want back in.


Feeding - crickets, superworms, greens ( collared, mustard ) he mostly likes his ficus, fruits i am still working on finding one he will eat. amount: at least 2 cricks left alive at all times but i put 10 in the morning and 10 when the sun go's down ( 1/2 - full size ), 2-3 superworms a day, he wont eat any of the other typs of worms.

Why when the sun goes down? It wont hurt but its less likely to be actively looking for food later in the day, they will mostly be there the following morning when you put more in.
Edit: ignore this, I see your lights are on till late.


How are you gut-loading your feeders? Wardley reptile sticks, fluker's high calc cricket food, tetrafin goldfish flakes, fluker's river shrimp, fluker's meal worms, zoo med juvenile bearded dragon frrod all blended together in a blender. collared greens, bananas + peels, apples, honeydew mellon + rine, ornges + peels

Supplements -zoo med's reptivite reptile vitamins without d3 75% of crickets per feeding daily, tetrafauna reptocal +d3 2x a month till he is older, zilla food spray vitamin supplement 1x a week till he gets older

Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? heavey hand mist 3 times daily till everything is dripping, dripper 24/7 Do you see your chameleon drinking? in shower yes, out of shower a few times

Fecal Description - 1 part white, 1 part dark, just gets bigger the bigger he gets. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? yes

Cage Info:
Cage Type - screen 2'x2'x3', building a 3'x3'x6' right now
Lighting - zilla tropical 25 series t8 uvb, zilla full spectrum, 75w house light to bask, 9am- between 10-11pm also direct sunlight about 2 hours a day
Temperature - (cage floor 72 to basking spot 85 )? Lowest overnight temp 65 How do you measure these temps? petco pos ones in random spots and 3 digital, 1 hooked up to a heater in my room for at night ( its winter and 20 outside at night and my window sucks)"
Humidity - 40 % at the lowest right under the basking spot ( 3 inches from light )

be sure to adjust that as it grows. :)

he basks lower than that though around 60% -65% about the rest. 85% when misting
How are you creating and maintaining these levels? 10 live plants in the curent cage and many around my room, dripper and misting. What do you use to measure humidity? 2 cheap ones from petco and a digi one for my room
Plants - 5 ficus, 1 umbrella, 4 jade in the cage, more about my room. growing a pampus to see how it is before letting him check it out
Placement - farthest cornor away from the house heating vent.
At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? this cage 5 feet, new cage 7 1/2 feet
Location - Where are you geographically located? nw oregon

You might consider using a timer for consistent photoperiods

Trafic: verry low, 80% just me, he doesnt care anymore, anyone else he hides if they get within 8 feet of his cage

Flooring: paper towls to collect xtra water and cleaned every 2 days

consider a drainage system for your new enclosure , paper towels are messy and rather a chore
Good stuff, nice lizard! :)
 
"zilla lights" cuz they were out of reptisun 5.0 and the 24" cage right now is way too small for the 48" reptisun i already have.

"Humidity - 40 % at the lowest right under the basking spot ( 3 inches from light )"

i wanted to make sure that the humidity doesnt get too low when basking.
and his backing spot is lower than the meter to check the humidity but he can alway climb the screen.
i got like 4 dif climets in my room. tropical for my cham, desert for my bearded dragon, pond type for my lame frog and my 6 res turtles, and the "norm" for myself
there will be a drainage system for the new cage that will be 40''x29 1/2''x 84''

when i first got him i fell for the petstore advise and paid 80$ for a 12x12x18 that they said was big enough to last his whole life. i use that as qurenteen now.
i dont go by the recomended size pet stores say anymore.. like my res hatching is in a 40g breeder, frog is in a 20gal, crickets for in a 20g long, other 5 res turtles are in a 125 gal in the winter and 300 gal pond for the sumer, dragon is in a 80g for now.
tonight i am getting a larger tank for dragon, 68"x24"x24"

i always feel bad about putting them in cages but till they get large enough to not get stuck under something thats where they will be.
 
I found this when I did a zilla search. Check out post #10 and the link. Hope it helps. https://www.chameleonforums.com/zilla-hood-no-good-52490/

Wow, good find. Muchy needed information. I was just looking at these lights online the other day, Wanted to find a longer bulb and fixture since mine doesnt even reach across the cage unless its laying on the corners of the enclosure. Thank you.

Love your Cham btw. Can't wait for mine to reach that age. Im doing my best to leave him alone, only checking in on him from time to time, no handling yet (hes fragile and easily stressed). But when my Waldo develops colors like that and doesnt mind a little attention or free roaming out of his enclosure, I'll be so excited
 
Wow, good find. Muchy needed information. I was just looking at these lights online the other day, Wanted to find a longer bulb and fixture since mine doesnt even reach across the cage unless its laying on the corners of the enclosure. Thank you.

Love your Cham btw. Can't wait for mine to reach that age. Im doing my best to leave him alone, only checking in on him from time to time, no handling yet (hes fragile and easily stressed). But when my Waldo develops colors like that and doesnt mind a little attention or free roaming out of his enclosure, I'll be so excited

unless he is basking i still play wheres waldo everytime i go to check up on him, a few times i gave up looking.
thx for the link
 
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