Cage Review

[morganeoreilly]

Good Morning Everyone,
So I made the leap and purchased what I understand to be a translucent veiled chameleon(potentially a male?). I’ve learned more to understand that I need to get the T5 light bar, but that makes me feel like I need a larger set up to have real estate for that, plus basking lamp, water source, misting/fog device, etc. I would appreciate any comments/suggestions you all have.
Also, house is centrally headed to 72ish degrees usually, but inside the cage is 85-90 during the day and probably between 76-81 at night. Humidity seems to rest between 30-40 during the day.

thanks,
Morgan

P.S I totally welcome all jokes and judgment/trolling on the use of a stand up lamp for the basking light

 

[nightanole]

if that is a reptibreeze XL, a 22" T5HO will fit perfectly. Else those CFL units are worthless after 6", they are more meant for "fish tanks" with anoles and geckos where the tank is only a foot tall or so.

Those cage temps are way too high, even 75 is a bit high for an air temp in my opinion. You could add a small fan to bring it down to room temp.

Day time humidity levels look great. Now you just need to up the night time humidity levels. The dry day will keep mold down, and the wet night will keep him hydrated and shedding good along with good respiratory health.

As for it being a boy or a girl, we need rear feets pics.

 

[Tkrd69]

What size is that enclosure? 2x2x4 is the minimum for chams. The fake plants also have to go veiled love to eat plants. It is all a learning experience, and this is a great place to learn from all the great cham moms and dads here. Welcome to the family

 

[GrannyK]

Hi there! Welcome to the forum. You may want to fill this out to make sure everything is good overall everyone here is great and the experts give us great advice to keep out babies healthy and happy!
Your baby is so cute!



Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. long has it been in your care?How
Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
Location - Where are you geographically located?

 

[morganeoreilly]

What size is that enclosure? 2x2x4 is the minimum for chams. The fake plants also have to go veiled love to eat plants. It is all a learning experience, and this is a great place to learn from all the great cham moms and dads here. Welcome to the family

i will measure when I get home
and thank you for your comments. I’m working on the live plants. I added a variegated pothos which is on the ground and I saw he/she ate some of the leaves so that was encouraging to see. I will work on getting some more new live plants too

 

[Tkrd69]

i will measure when I get home
and thank you for your comments. I’m working on the live plants. I added a variegated pothos which is on the ground and I saw he/she ate some of the leaves so that was encouraging to see. I will work on getting some more new live plants too

If a fake plant gets eaten it can cause impaction. Make sure to remove the fake plants, a lot of us put the fake plants outside the enclosure. On the door to provide more privacy. Pothos is a great plant to use I have 5 of them in my enclosure

 

[morganeoreilly]

If a fake plant gets eaten it can cause impaction. Make sure to remove the fake plants, a lot of us put the fake plants outside the enclosure. On the door to provide more privacy. Pothos is a great plant to use I have 5 of them in my enclosure

Thank you for the info and now I get to buy more plants… Yay! Would you take a stab at how old you’d guesstimate this one is?

 

[MissSkittles]

Hi and welcome! Your chameleon to my eyes looks to be a little girl that is maybe around 4-5 months old. The best way to tell for sure is to look for pronounced nubs (tarsal spurs) on the back feet which only males have. Some females will have teeny tiny ones that are barely there. Males also have a larger casque and vertical color bars. Attaching a pic of my boy when he was about 4 months old to better demonstrate.
If you do have a little lady, it’s more important than ever to make sure all of your care is as perfect as possible as she will lay eggs even if she’s never even seen a male. Since the whole egg production and laying shortens the lives of our sweet girls, there are some special things we do differently for them to help reduce their egg production. Once you fill out all of the husbandry questions, we can help get you and your beautiful little cham on track. Btw, I love translucents.

 

[morganeoreilly]

Hi there! Welcome to the forum. You may want to fill this out to make sure everything is good overall everyone here is great and the experts give us great advice to keep out babies healthy and happy!
Your baby is so cute!



Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. long has it been in your care?How
Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
Location - Where are you geographically located?

Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. long has it been in your care?
Veiled Chameleon(piebald/translucent) sex
potentially female will post back foot photos short, age unknown (potentially 4-5 months) had it 3 weeks purchased at petco

Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
once or twice per week

Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? medium crickets What amount?
10
What is the schedule?
every other day How are you gut-loading your feeders? flukers Hi Cal cricket diet (not at home right now but I believe it’s this brand)

Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
I have been dusting the crickets with calcium w/o d3 during week, calcium with d3 once one weekend and I got reptivive with d3 and was planning to dust with that once per month,depending on your comments (for the reptivive with D3)

Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use?
I have one of those pump mist sprayers with the white body and black handle. I also have one of the litter dripper drip systems
How often and how long to you mist?
2x per day(maybe 3) and 2x per night for ~30 seconds
Do you see your chameleon drinking?
yes I do. I saw my cham drinking from the droplets on the dripper sustem
today.

Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings.
Will update after I see next poop
Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
not that I am aware of

History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.
*** I noticed the cham standing on the bottom of the cage for the first time today.



Cage Info:

Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?)
Screen
What are the dimensions?
16x16x30 zoomed reptibreeze chameleon kit

Lighting - What brand, model, and types of with lighting are you using?
Zoomed tropical UVB and heat lighting kit and a separate Zoo med 100w basking bulb at night use a red heating bulb (I forget the wattage maybe 65w)
What is your daily lighting schedule?
lights on around 6am including basking light and switch to red heating bulb around 6pm

Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Basking Spot is around 85. Have not measured the temp at the floor. Will
update if needed

Lowest overnight temp?
maybe 71-72
How do you measure these temps?
using the temperature gauge in the cage i usually wake up a coupes times a night so i go check when i’m up.

Humidity - What are your humidity levels? 30-40 during the day
How are you creating and maintaining these levels?
misting during the day and night, humidity base level during the day is 30-40 naturally What do you use to measure humidity? zoo med humidity gauge

Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
Yea, 1 pothos variegated, looking to add more. ***how do you all secure the pots to the inside of the cage if you put them higher up inside the cage?

Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas?
In the main living room was on a large table in front of windows with blinds. The room does have a large ceiling fan but it is off most of the time. At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? The cage is about 4 feet off the ground

Location - Where are you geographically located? Los Banos, California

 

[morganeoreilly]

Hi and welcome! Your chameleon to my eyes looks to be a little girl that is maybe around 4-5 months old. The best way to tell for sure is to look for pronounced nubs (tarsal spurs) on the back feet which only males have. Some females will have teeny tiny ones that are barely there. Males also have a larger casque and vertical color bars. Attaching a pic of my boy when he was about 4 months old to better demonstrate.
If you do have a little lady, it’s more important than ever to make sure all of your care is as perfect as possible as she will lay eggs even if she’s never even seen a male. Since the whole egg production and laying shortens the lives of our sweet girls, there are some special things we do differently for them to help reduce their egg production. Once you fill out all of the husbandry questions, we can help get you and your beautiful little cham on track. Btw, I love translucents.
View attachment 332876

 

[morganeoreilly]

Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. long has it been in your care?
Veiled Chameleon(piebald/translucent) sex
potentially female will post back foot photos short, age unknown (potentially 4-5 months) had it 3 weeks purchased at petco

Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
once or twice per week

Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? medium crickets What amount?
10
What is the schedule?
every other day How are you gut-loading your feeders? flukers Hi Cal cricket diet (not at home right now but I believe it’s this brand)

Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
I have been dusting the crickets with calcium w/o d3 during week, calcium with d3 once one weekend and I got reptivive with d3 and was planning to dust with that once per month,depending on your comments (for the reptivive with D3)

Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use?
I have one of those pump mist sprayers with the white body and black handle. I also have one of the litter dripper drip systems
How often and how long to you mist?
2x per day(maybe 3) and 2x per night for ~30 seconds
Do you see your chameleon drinking?
yes I do. I saw my cham drinking from the droplets on the dripper sustem
today.

Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings.
Will update after I see next poop
Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
not that I am aware of

History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.
*** I noticed the cham standing on the bottom of the cage for the first time today.



Cage Info:

Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?)
Screen
What are the dimensions?
16x16x30 zoomed reptibreeze chameleon kit

Lighting - What brand, model, and types of with lighting are you using?
Zoomed tropical UVB and heat lighting kit and a separate Zoo med 100w basking bulb at night use a red heating bulb (I forget the wattage maybe 65w)
What is your daily lighting schedule?
lights on around 6am including basking light and switch to red heating bulb around 6pm

Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Basking Spot is around 85. Have not measured the temp at the floor. Will
update if needed

Lowest overnight temp?
maybe 71-72
How do you measure these temps?
using the temperature gauge in the cage i usually wake up a coupes times a night so i go check when i’m up.

Humidity - What are your humidity levels? 30-40 during the day
How are you creating and maintaining these levels?
misting during the day and night, humidity base level during the day is 30-40 naturally What do you use to measure humidity? zoo med humidity gauge

Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
Yea, 1 pothos variegated, looking to add more. ***how do you all secure the pots to the inside of the cage if you put them higher up inside the cage?

Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas?
In the main living room was on a large table in front of windows with blinds. The room does have a large ceiling fan but it is off most of the time. At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? The cage is about 4 feet off the ground

Location - Where are you geographically located? Los Banos, California

actually top of the cage is probably about 6 feet off the ground

 

[MissSkittles]

The first two pics I see nice little tarsal spurs, but in the other two pics I don’t. I’m terrible at determining if chams have a hemipenal bulge, so not even going to try. Let’s see what everyone else thinks about gender. Provided my job doesn’t call me away (I’m on the clock now) I’ll go thru your husbandry.

 

[morganeoreilly]

The first two pics I see nice little tarsal spurs, but in the other two pics I don’t. I’m terrible at determining if chams have a hemipenal bulge, so not even going to try. Let’s see what everyone else thinks about gender. Provided my job doesn’t call me away (I’m on the clock now) I’ll go thru your husbandry.

right… like i was taking the photos and I was like cool there are the spurs but then I moved to a new angle and they went poof and I couldn’t see em. head scratching. can’t wait to hear other peoples thoughts. Thank you for your help

 

[MissSkittles]

Is easiest to just split this into two halves since I tend to talk a lot.
Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. long has it been in your care?
Veiled Chameleon(piebald/translucent) sex
potentially female will post back foot photos short, age unknown (potentially 4-5 months) had it 3 weeks purchased at petco Since I‘m not sure about the spurs, I’m going to go by coloring and err on the side of caution and assume you have a girl. I love those little pink mitten feet btw.

Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
once or twice per week Building trust is important and here’s a great blog on how to do that. https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/building-trust-with-your-chameleon.2396/

Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? medium crickets What amount?
10
What is the schedule?
every other day I would be giving her daily feedings. It’s tricky with girls as we want to give them enough nutrition to grow fully, but don’t want to trigger them to mature too fast and produce a lot of eggs. They can mature and start laying as young as 5-6 months. By around 6 months old, she should be getting around 6-8 feeders every other day. By the time she either develops her colors or reaches about 8 months old, you’ll want to be feeding her 4-5 feeders, 3 days a week and by either 10 months old or after her first egg laying, you’ll be feeding her 3-4 feeders, 3 days a week (Plus treats). Also, giving a variety of feeders is best. How are you gut-loading your feeders? flukers Hi Cal cricket diet (not at home right now but I believe it’s this brand) Generally the Fluker’s bug diets aren’t good for more than keeping the bugs alive. You want to keep your bugs healthy too by giving them a variety of fresh produce. Healthy bugs pass on more nutrition to your cham. Attaching graphics for you.

Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
I have been dusting the crickets with calcium w/o d3 during week, calcium with d3 once one weekend and I got reptivive with d3 and was planning to dust with that once per month,depending on your comments (for the reptivive with D3) Very close to correct. Yes to lightly dusting every feeding with calcium without D3 except once every other week. Since you have Reptivite with D3, you don’t need to use the calcium with D3 at all. You’ll use the ReptiVite with D3 for that one feeding every other week. Too much D3 can be just as dangerous as not enough.

Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use?
I have one of those pump mist sprayers with the white body and black handle. I also have one of the litter dripper drip systems
How often and how long to you mist?
2x per day(maybe 3) and 2x per night for ~30 seconds It would be best to increase misting time to about 2 minutes, 2-3 times a day - before lights on and off and mid day if you don’t use a dripper. If you do use a dripper, I always think about 20 minutes is long enough for it.
Do you see your chameleon drinking?
yes I do. I saw my cham drinking from the droplets on the dripper sustem
today. Many chams are a part of the world wide conspiracy to deny hooman’s the cuteness of them drinking. Yours obviously hasn’t joined it yet.

Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings.
Will update after I see next poop
Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
not that I am aware of It’s always a good idea to have a fecal check done.

History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.
*** I noticed the cham standing on the bottom of the cage for the first time today.
To be continued….

 

[MissSkittles]

Cage Info:

Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?)
Screen
What are the dimensions?
16x16x30 zoomed reptibreeze chameleon kit Regardless of gender, your cham will need at least a 2x2x4’ enclosure the soonest you can get and by adulthood. If you have the space and funds, consider providing more space. I have my males in two ReptiBreeze XL’s connected so they each have double wides and they use every inch. My girls would have the same if I had the space.

Lighting - What brand, model, and types of with lighting are you using?
Zoomed tropical UVB and heat lighting kit and a separate Zoo med 100w basking bulb at night use a red heating bulb (I forget the wattage maybe 65w) You need a linear T5HO fixture that is as long as your enclosure is wide and with either a ReptiSun 5.0 or Arcadia 6% uvb bulb. Screw in uvb bulbs provide nothing beyond 2-3” away and other types of lighting haven’t the range. With the ideal uvb, you’ll then want your basking branch to be about 8-9” below the lights. No red bulbs ever and no lights at night. Unless your temps are dropping below around 50F, no heat at night is needed. You want a cool dark night and if your temps are below 68-70, you want them humid as well.
What is your daily lighting schedule?
lights on around 6am including basking light and switch to red heating bulb around 6pm Lights on/off on a 12 hour schedule. Again, no lights at night and never colored bulbs. They hurt sensitive cham eyes.

Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Basking Spot is around 85. This is a bit high for a young cham and a girl. 80 would be much better and no higher. Since smaller chams like to occasionally walk upside down on the screen top and are at risk for burning their bellies, try raising your lights a couple of inches. That will bring down basking temps a bit. Have not measured the temp at the floor. Will
update if needed

Lowest overnight temp?
maybe 71-72
How do you measure these temps?
using the temperature gauge in the cage i usually wake up a coupes times a night so i go check when i’m up. If you had gotten the chameleon kit and are using that gauge, you’ll want to invest in one that is more reliable. Usually digital gauges with probe ends are pretty accurate for temps and humidity.

Humidity - What are your humidity levels? 30-40 during the day Perfect! During the day you don’t want anything above 50%.
How are you creating and maintaining these levels?
misting during the day and night, humidity base level during the day is 30-40 naturally What do you use to measure humidity? zoo med humidity gauge

Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
Yea, 1 pothos variegated, looking to add more. ***how do you all secure the pots to the inside of the cage if you put them higher up inside the cage? This may help. https://chameleonacademy.com/plants/ Dragon Ledges are awesome for hanging branches and plants and I had really put mine to the test and they supported a lot of weight. https://dragonstrand.com/dragon-ledges/ Some have crafted their own versions of them with sheet metal I think. Some use garden lattice or make their own little scaffold supports. However you do it, you want the enclosure frame to bear the weight and not the screen. Veileds like to nibble their plants, so it’s important that they are all live and safe. Some plants may need a special grow light. I like Sansi lights for that. Either their 70w unit or 36w bulb. https://www.sansiled.com/collections/led-grow-lights?ref=PCmenu (available on Amazon too)

Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas?
In the main living room was on a large table in front of windows with blinds. The room does have a large ceiling fan but it is off most of the time. At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? The cage is about 4 feet off the ground Is it the top that is 4’ high or the base? For chams, height = safety. They are most secure when they have lots of plants to hide in as they are looking down at their world.

Location - Where are you geographically located? Los Banos, California
You’re off to a decent start and while it may seem like a lot that needs to be changed, it all doesn’t need to be done at once. The most important things to correct asap is lighting, diet and supplements.
More to follow on care of females.

 

[Beman]

This one is a hard one for gender. All of my males have always had very pronounced tarsal spurs at a younger age than yours. I wanna say male but some females have been known to have a tiny spur. So I am bringing in the big guns for this one. @DeremensisBlue what do you think about this babies gender? 4 good pics but the spur is so tiny for the chams size it has me puzzled.

 

[GoggletheVeiled]

Hey, I was wondering if you guys know the gender of my cham. I was told that the cham was a "He" but now that I'm looking at him I think it might be female, but I just want to make sure.

 

[crosscutts]

Hey, I was wondering if you guys know the gender of my cham. I was told that the cham was a "He" but now that I'm looking at him I think it might be female, but I just want to make sure. View attachment 333844

A better shot of the back foot will help, but it looks like a female to me ..

 

[GoggletheVeiled]

A better shot of the back foot will help, but it looks like a female to me ..

 

[GoggletheVeiled]

So I'm assuming he is a she then correct. I've never had a female veiled cham before and am a little nervous when she might lay eggs...Thanks for your help!