Chameleon help; I'm a little worried

[benizzy]

My 11 year old sister decided to buy a chameleon with her birthday money, and of course, I'm the one that got stuck with actually taking care of it. Not to say he's a curse, I love the little guy, but I'm not sure if I'm taking care of him right. I've read some stuff on these forums and have also gone from what the people at petco have told me. These are my supplies

UVB:
http://www.petco.com/product/115856/Zilla-Tropical-UV-T8-Terrarium-Strip-Light-Fixture.aspx

50W version of this basking light:
http://www.petco.com/product/4969/Zoo-Med-Repti-Basking-Spot-Lamps.aspx

I'm using the Reptibreeze screen cage 16x16x20.
I keep the humidity at 50, mist the cage around 3-5 times a day.

The diet is what I'm most worried about. (I know it needs to be more diversified). I don't know much about "gutloading"
I feed him 4 small crickets and around 10 mealworms every day. I feed the crickets Fluker's Orange Cube Complete Cricket Diet.
I dust the crickets in calcium w/o D3 everyday, in calcium w/ D3 twice a month, and in multivitamin twice a month. I use Exo Terra Calcium multivitamin, Exo Terra Calcium, and Zoo Med Repti Calcium with D3.

Lately I've noticed a line beneath his spine and two bumps on the top of his ribs he didn't used to have. His ribs have also been showing lately.

I really don't want him to be malnourished and possible develop MBD. Any and all advice/information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

-Ben

 

[benizzy]

Some basic information I forgot to add:
He's a male veiled chameleon. I would say he's somewhere around 2-4 months old, I have no way to tell. He's around 4 inches long, not including his tail.

 

[zanethan]

Your husbandry is pretty spot on. You may want to look into dubia roaches for some extra variety. I don't see anything cosmetically to be worried about. Also you'll need to upgrade his enclosure to something bigger as he gets older.

 

[laurie]

Welcome. Did you already buy those lights? Petco ripped you off really well. I hate it when they do that to people. But for now we will use what you have. I am going to add a link to a care sheet. It will tell you all you need to know.
Your supplements look excellent. The things we need to know more about are the temps and your water delivery methods and amounts.

If you fill this out it will help us a lot.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

And here is the link.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/chameleons/

 

[christineacero]

I'd get rid of the Flukers orange cubes for gutloading...it's pretty terrible. The 2 best commercial gutloaders out there are Repashy Bug Burger, or Cricket Crack. You should also supplement the commercial gutload with assorted fruits and veggies. I've never used the Cricket Crack before (because I can't find it anywhere) but Bug Burger is fantastic! You can make it in bulk and freeze it for later use, which is super convenient!

 

[Sir Francis 222]

I agree what Christine has said you can look at sandrachameleon's blogs for recepies at gut loading ! But feed veggies and fruit are a good way to start also I wouldn't feed him that many meal worms , those should only be once a week since it can cause constipation

 

[benizzy]

Ok so I wasn't really paying attention to the temperatures, which I should've been. I went and bought a thermometer and recorded his basking spot where he spends most of the time to be around 96 degrees F. And the spot by the UVB and where I mist the cage to be around 81 degrees F. Are these good temps?

As far as misting and water goes, I have a little water bowl in one corner which he rarely drinks from, and on the other corner I have a plastic plant that I mist heavily around 3-5 times daily. By mist heavily I mean get almost all the leaves covered in a decent amount of water droplets. That has been working to stabilize the humidity.

I found a reptile store near my home where I'll be buying the bug burger tomorrow and different insects to feed him.

Also, his poo and pee have always have always been solid, dark brown and white respectively. But his last two droppings haven't been. His poo has been kind of mushy and his pee has been liquid. Could this have any association with his ribs showing and those two bumps producing? :/

 

[laurie]

Ok so I wasn't really paying attention to the temperatures, which I should've been. I went and bought a thermometer and recorded his basking spot where he spends most of the time to be around 96 degrees F. And the spot by the UVB and where I mist the cage to be around 81 degrees F. Are these good temps?

As far as misting and water goes, I have a little water bowl in one corner which he rarely drinks from, and on the other corner I have a plastic plant that I mist heavily around 3-5 times daily. By mist heavily I mean get almost all the leaves covered in a decent amount of water droplets. That has been working to stabilize the humidity.

I found a reptile store near my home where I'll be buying the bug burger tomorrow and different insects to feed him.

Also, his poo and pee have always have always been solid, dark brown and white respectively. But his last two droppings haven't been. His poo has been kind of mushy and his pee has been liquid. Could this have any association with his ribs showing and those two bumps producing? :/

First get rig of the water dish, they can get bacteria in them and chams don't usually drink from them. Your misting is much better for him.

Your temp is to hot for a baby. I would drop it down to around 80 to 83 at the hottest location.

 

[dacrazycanadian]

I'd personally cut down on the amount of mealworms you give and increase the number of crickets instead. Mealworms are hard to digest and probably shouldn't be given over 20% of the diet. I'd recommend silkworms or hornworms instead.

 

[benizzy]

So there will be no difference in temperature between his basking spot and any other part of the cage?