Am I taking Care of My Veiled Cham Alright?

[ReptileFreekShow]

Hi I am making sure I am taking care of my Veiled Chameleon Right, Let's get started

First, Habitat & cage
I have the Full Screen cage and I offered alot of vines an leaves for him to climb on.

Secound, Lighting & Heating
I have the 5.0 ReptiSun Tropical UVB( I am getting 10.0 when it's time for the bulb to change)
I have a 75 Watt Basking bulb

Third, Tempatures & Humdity
The tempature at the basking spot it around 80 degrees
The Humdity I really don't worry about

Fourth, Misting
I do not have a fogger or drip system, I mist my veiled Once a day

Fifth, Feeding and Diet
I feed my veiled crickets I do gutload my crickets with carrots. He usuallys eats 10 a day sometimes only 5.
I do not dust my crickets because PetSmart only sells one cricket dust an thats the Flucker's High-Calicum Cricket Diet and that has Vitiaum D3 in it. and he don't really need it because He get Vitiaum D3 from the UVB.
I do put my crickets in a bowl.

Here's my e-mail [email protected] e mail if i am doing something wrong thanks

 

[carol5208]

ok a couple of things. The 5.0 is great and there is no need to change to a 10.0 so if you are going to replace the bulb get another 5.0. Humidity is important! So you need to check it and try and keep it atleast 50% plus!. This can be achieved by using live plants and multiple mistings and also running a dripper of water in to the enclousure. Misting once a day is not enough! You should be misting like 3 times for about 3-5 minutes each to make sure your chameleon is getting enough water to drink and also to spike the humidity. You need to be gutloading your cricket with more variety than carrots. Fresh fruits and veggies, dark leafy green such as kale, collard greens, romaine, apples, oranges, melons etc. The supplementing is CRITICAL! You need three supplements and get them asap! You need Calcium WITHOUT d3 at every feeding or if he is an adult, every other. You need to supplement with a multivitamin twice a month and also the calcium w/0 d3 twice a month also.Dust your feeders lightly Your basking temp is good. What is the ambient temp of your whole enclousure? BTW how old is your chameleon?

 

[OOOst16]

Carol stated everything above....however....never listen to petsmsart....they don't know what they are doing. Do your own research before purchase. This goes for all.

 

[kinyonga]

How old is your chameleon?

Exposure to proper UVB, appropriate temperatures, supplements, a supply of well-fed/gutloaded insects, water and an appropriate cage set-up are all important for the well-being of your chameleon.

Appropriate cage temperatures aid in digestion and thus play a part indirectly in nutrient absorption. For baby veileds I keep the temperatures more even (8oish F) since their small bodies cool, warm, dehydrate more quickly than an adult's would. For adult males I keep the basking temperature in the high 80's and for female adult veileds I keep it in the low to mid 80's.

Exposure to UVB from either direct sunlight or a proper UVB light allows the chameleon to produce D3 so that it can use the calcium in its system to make/keep the bones strong and be used in other systems in the chameleon as well. The UVB should not pass through glass or plastic no matter whether its from the sun or the UVB light.

Since many of the feeder insects have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorus in them, its important to dust the insects before you feed them to the chameleon with a phos.-free calcium powder to help make up for it.

If you dust twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder it will ensure that your chameleon gets some D3 without overdoing it. It leaves the chameleon to produce the rest of what it needs through its exposure to the UVB light. (Some UVB lights have been known to cause health issues, so the most often recommended one is the long linear fluorescent Repti-sun 5.0 tube light.) D3 from supplements can build up in the system but D3 produced from exposure to UVB shouldn't as long as the chameleon can move in and out of it.

Dusting twice a month with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A will ensure that the chameleon gets some vitamins without the danger of overdosing the vitamin A. PrEformed sources of vitamin A can build up in the system and may prevent the D3 from doing its job and push the chameleon towards MBD. However, there is controversy as to whether all/any chameleons can convert the beta carotene and so some people give some prEformed vitamin A once in a while.

Gutloading/feeding the insects well helps to provide what the chameleon needs....so its important too. You can feed the crickets a wide assortment of greens (dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, zucchini, etc.).

Calcium, phos., D3 and vitamin A are important players in bone health and other systems in the chameleon (muscles, etc.) and they need to be in balance. When trying to balance them, you need to look at the supplements, what you feed the insects and what you feed the chameleon.

Here are some good sites for you to read...
http://chameleonnews.com/07FebWheelock.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200605020...Vitamin.A.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200604210...d.Calcium.html
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/
http://web.archive.org/web/20060114031124/http://www.adcham.com/