Am I doing this right??

C

charliebear22

New Member
I know it's the same questions over and over, but I'm wondering if you would have a peek at my setup/issue and tell me what I can improve? (I know I need a screened enclosure. I'm working on that)

Current Problem - Male Chameleon won't open right eye, rubbing occasionally, and sleeping lots - even during the day!


Chameleon Info:

* Your Chameleon - Young veiled Chameleon, owned for less than 2 weeks
* Handling - Once a day, mostly because I want to check on his eye. Didn't handle him at all for first week
* Feeding - crickets right now. tried mealworms, but he wasn't interested ad they just ended up all over. crickets are fed commercial gut-load product and purchased weekly. Put 4-5 in every day. I have seen him hunt and eat. (soooo cool!)
* Supplements - Just found out I'm over supplementing. Dusting with T-rex bone aid calcium every morning, and was mixing with wardley reptile multivitamins.
* Watering - I have seen my chameleon drink once. I mist 2-3 times a day for approximately 1c worth of water (til the sprayer is empty). it makes the enclosure fairly wet (but dries between mistings). I also lightly mist him.
* Fecal Description - Never tested for parasites, seen several droppings, appear normal
* History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.


Cage Info:

* Cage Type - atasuki terrarium - 55" long
* Lighting - 36" reptiglo 5.0, 50w zilla day white spot, 100w exoterra sunglo daylight spot, red 65w spot
* Temperature - tank reads around 72 all the time according to exoterra analog therm. working on getting spot therm to measure basking spot/gradient
* Humidity - Humidity by fogger and hand misting around 50% (a little higher over night). I have a dripper. and I have a waterfall (which I take apart and scrub every other day)
* Plants - various fake plants, pothos, and this other one that the nursery told me was reptile safe(the label says "houseplant")
* Placement - top of tank is approximately 5.5 feet off floor, in low traffic laundry room (hubby says I never do laundry :rolleyes:)
* Location - Ontario Canada

I have attached pictures.
IMG_1162.jpg


IMG_1163.jpg


IMG_1164.jpg


IMG_1165.jpg


I will try to mist him a little more,
I have to find out about the Tears Naturale II that I have on hand - if I can use them on his closed eye.
And I Certainly welcome any further suggestions!
Thank you very much!
 
Whats that at the bottom of the enclosure? Is it a substrate? If it is i suggest removing it :)
It isnt needed, and during any exploring he does he may have got some in his eye causing the problem
 
You don't need a night light and you should be gutloading with fresh greens like kale, endive, collard greens, mustard greens, dandelion greens, and parsley. You also need other veggies and fruits like carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, apples, oranges, and papayas. In addition to these 'wet' items you need a dry gutload as well.

No substrate is usually best so you don't face problems down the road. You NEED a digital thermometer (home depot for 12 bucks) to measure temps. With all those bulbs it sounds like you are cooking him!

He also needs more cover and a dripper would be a good idea since you have soooo many lights on him.
 
First off you need to get a screen cage as you said. For now take out the substrate and add more vines/leaves/plants toward the top and all over. Chameleons like vertical space more than horizontal. Your cage is more long than tall.
As far as your information on the eye. Others will help you and vet maybe needed as well.

Any idea how old he is?

Mealworms shouldn't be fed mostly because they are fat. People do feed them mealworms but its not suppose to be a normal feed. Try using other healthy worms that are suggested.
Depending on his age..he should get 10 crickets a day if he is like 3-4months old. Mine is 4months and eats all his 10 crickets plus greens even phoenix worms. Also if you think he will eat greens you should hang a plastic lid in on his branches or something. add collard, mustard or kale. (thats what I do and he loves them)

Idk about your supplements but I use repcal calcuim with d3 and w/o d3. also multivitamins. No phos. Your age of chameleon depends on when and how many times you give him supplements.

Your misting should be fine but you need a dripper if you don't have one.

Thats alot of lights. You should use a normal soft white house bulb..as they will save you money.(choose the size watt that fits the temp) For your uvb..most people will say coil bulbs cause the eye problems.(if you have a coil) They recommened a reptisun 10.0 or something tube bulbs...thats if you need a uvb. don't need other bulbs I think. just bask and uvb.

Your temp seems to me that it would be higher since your using 4 lights.

The laundry room...hmm I'm sure they make noise and vibrate the cage. I'm not sure what they will say about that area.

Don't let crickets loose with substrate. just use newspaper so you can freerange the crickets.(alot easier to clean)
 
You dont necessarily need a screen cage. what is important is not the construction of the enclosure, but rather maintaining the correct environment within it. without good temp and humidity guages, without vertical height to allow a heat gradient, youre asking for trouble. You also need to light it properly. Feed the chameleon well (including feeding the prey properly). etc

In addition to the good advice from this forum, searching the forum for information etc You might like to review the raising kitty site to learn more about how to house and care for your chameleon. (Most of the good info is hidden under 2007 - Dec) And you might like this blog of mine too: https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/useful-info-by-subject-topic-area/
 
Not if it's cold and you can't keep the temps up. In the states it's usually better to have a screen cage. In Canada and the UK it is more accepted to have a partially or competely solid walled enclosure, you just have to be a bit more careful of the temps and it has to be made with ventilation and air flow for aboreal animals in mind.
 
skully23 said:
whys that?
Click to expand...

in short - humidity and temperature are not well retained by screen.

because I am off to make dinner and do not have time to write a detailed response, I hope you wont mind me suggesting you read this:
http://www.chameleonnews.com/?page=article&id=62

I came across this some years after trial and error taught me that screen and wire was not the way to go. I ended up with peg board enclosures, much like is discussed in the above article. I was happy and relieved to find I wasnt alone!
 
I have actually closed off three of the four sides of my cage with a cape like thing. That holds most humidty and heat in.
 
Thanks everyone. i do have a dripper, you can sort of see it in the top left of pic 1 and 4.
I don't leave the red light on at night as I don't get a temp drop at night (another purchase based on a useless suggestion). I have so many lights because for some reason, my tank wasn't warming up past 68 degrees. the therm is located in front upper rhs. with all those lights, it's still only ever a max of 72-74! :confused: I really thought it needed to be higher with a noticable drop at night, that's what's with all the lights. My basking spot is a little lower in the tank to make sure I don't "cook" him, although I've NEVER seen him sit and bask.
the substrate is a "plantation soil" that was recommended when we were setting things up. This will go.
At the probability of sounding like a complete idiot...for gutloading crickets, I regularly stock carrots and apples in my house. All those other veggies I rarely (if ever) have. Is there a lot of waste stocking all that? I'm not trying to be rude, I understand I need complete nutrition for my chameleon, it just seems like a lot of money on veggies for crickets. :eek: (maybe I need some new recipes? ;) )
My washer and dryer are newer "silent" models and as such make very little noise or vibration, and I limit my laundry to the little guy's daylight hours.
I will get more cover, and pssh, I would LOVE the link to the thermometer you are talking about as I'm unsure. I was gonna get an instant read gun-style one from an online pet store for 50.00.
More cover - check! I'll get on it.
Thank you all very much for your suggestions! I appreciate your patience as I know you've answered all these questions before :)
 
I can't seem to find a link online, but just go to a home depot or lowes and see where they have digital thermometers with probes. See if you can find one that has a hygrometer built in. If you want a temp gun go to tempgun.com way cheaper! (The international page http://www.tempgun.com/intl_resource.html)

You can one or two types of veggies for a week or two then switch it up. You dont need all of those at once.

It would be a good idea to buy/build a cage that is better suited to a chameleons needs. Search for ideas and what not.
 
charliebear22 said:
Thanks everyone. i do have a dripper, you can sort of see it in the top left of pic 1 and 4.
I don't leave the red light on at night as I don't get a temp drop at night (another purchase based on a useless suggestion). I have so many lights because for some reason, my tank wasn't warming up past 68 degrees. the therm is located in front upper rhs. with all those lights, it's still only ever a max of 72-74! :confused: I really thought it needed to be higher with a noticable drop at night, that's what's with all the lights. My basking spot is a little lower in the tank to make sure I don't "cook" him, although I've NEVER seen him sit and bask.
the substrate is a "plantation soil" that was recommended when we were setting things up. This will go.
At the probability of sounding like a complete idiot...for gutloading crickets, I regularly stock carrots and apples in my house. All those other veggies I rarely (if ever) have. Is there a lot of waste stocking all that? I'm not trying to be rude, I understand I need complete nutrition for my chameleon, it just seems like a lot of money on veggies for crickets. :eek: (maybe I need some new recipes? ;) )
My washer and dryer are newer "silent" models and as such make very little noise or vibration, and I limit my laundry to the little guy's daylight hours.
I will get more cover, and pssh, I would LOVE the link to the thermometer you are talking about as I'm unsure. I was gonna get an instant read gun-style one from an online pet store for 50.00.
More cover - check! I'll get on it.
Thank you all very much for your suggestions! I appreciate your patience as I know you've answered all these questions before :)
Click to expand...


You don't exactly need all those gutloads. Thats if you want to insure well gutload with nutrients. I use kale and mustard greens since im out of collard. I also use apples, oranges, and potatos for now. I buy the commerical gutload from the store which isn't the best but I will get a recipe. I use water pillows as a source for my crickets too.

You temp thing may be reading wrong.... I have one of these.
http://source-www.petco.com/Assets/product_images/0/091197341342B.jpg
For now anyway. You can go ahead and by that gun thing but if you want to save money you can use what i use or another suggested one.

Most of everything recommended by store people is not the best for a chameleon. For now on get your information from this site.
Because your lights looked raise, that may be the reason for the temp but I also think its your temp keeper thing.
 
What are you using for a thermometer? A regular 100Watt household bulb produces temps of over 100 degrees at 6-8"-and a spot even higher.
 
Ahhhhhh!!! ok so I really am an idiot :D
the veggies I can do. we are working on the cage thing, and I only need a thermometer with a probe?? Sweet. You guys are the best!!

pssh said:
I can't seem to find a link online, but just go to a home depot or lowes and see where they have digital thermometers with probes. See if you can find one that has a hygrometer built in. If you want a temp gun go to tempgun.com way cheaper! (The international page http://www.tempgun.com/intl_resource.html)

You can one or two types of veggies for a week or two then switch it up. You dont need all of those at once.

It would be a good idea to buy/build a cage that is better suited to a chameleons needs. Search for ideas and what not.
Click to expand...
 
Temp guns are better, but if you want to take care of other things like light bulb changes and a new cage first, a cheaper thermometer with a probe is fine.
 
I have a digital meat thermometer with a probe (don't laugh, now), and according to it, basking area temp is only 79, ground is 70, and his fav hiding spot is 75
Oh and as for his age, I'm really not sure... couple of months maybe?? he's about 2.5-3" without tail if that's any indication.
 
Howdy Amanda,

A couple of notes regarding temp measurements...

For basking temps, when in doubt, stick your hand out :). As a sanity check, put the back of your hand right at the basking spot and keep it there for at least a minute. It shouldn't feel much more than slightly warm. At that point, you'll know that you are not going to accidentally cause burns to your chameleon. As was mentioned by "pssh", infrared temp sensors (temps guns) will measure the chameleon's actual skin temp, which while basking, is likely to be very different from the ambient air temp. Basking under a flood light could easily produce skin/body temps 20F higher than ambient air temps. A typical digital probe-type temp sensor works well to measure ambient air temps at whatever point you locate the sensor. Never put absolute trust in any single measurement device. Remember the "back of the hand sanity test" :).
 
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