Chameleon with bad thermal burns... questions

No we are suggesting that the uvb you currently have is very ineffective. The coil bulb is better than nothing for now, but you really need to get the correct uvb light suggested.

Some vets are good with treating chameleons but aren't always 100% on advising husbandry.
 
KittyB said:
The bulb is a foot above his enclosure.
So you are suggesting I remove all lights from his cage and just allow him his ceramic heat element?

Are you a vet?
Click to expand...
No, I am not a vet, nor do I ever make any claim to know everything. I am however a successful keeper of two female veiled chameleons and other reptiles. I am with polite and respectful intent attempting to educate you that it has been found that the coil uvb lights do not provide adequate uvb levels for chameleons. It is recommended to use linear T5 with 5% uvb for chameleons as this has been proven to be a superior method than the coil. I use this along with both a basking light and plant lighting for my chams. It is unfortunate that you misinterpreted my intentions and I wish you the best.
 
There are quite a few seasoned chameleon keepers on this forum who have had immense success with a broad variety of species.
From experience, I can tell you, not all vets are accurate in the assessment of chameleons.

You came here for help and we are trying to help you from our years of experience
 
Alright guys, I am not being snippy and I am not being rude... I'm not as uneducated as I may seem... Can we please remember we are in the middle of a Pandemic.. everything is closed where I live, including pet stores and supplies are available online only.
I realize most vets are clueless, fortunately the vet I'm fortunate to have access too while not cheap is the best in the city and does deal with a lot of reptiles. That said.

My questions again.

My house can be chilly at night, this is why he has the coil currently... I didnt use to use this for him.

He does not have a basking bulb on currently and only the fluorescent on for a few hours a day.

I will ask again are you suggesting I leave him with NO artificial light source or basking bulb or coil.

(My vet has NOT given this advice (and they've been right about everything else so far .. he's doing much better since I have been doing the daily care regimen they prescribed)

I understand what you are telling me to use for lights and that is not an issue .. but RIGHT NOW .. while he is HEALING ..
please so that I can understand what you are suggesting just answer those questions for me.. lol

This has been stressful and I also have 4 teenagers in this house and 4 other animals ;) I'm a busy busy gal
 
My suggestion is to turn off the UV coil bulb for several days and see if he begins to open his eyes. Leave the heat light on during the day. Some of those coil bulbs are too strong. The link above has lots of information about lights.
 
Okay so you will want to raise the bulb off the screen a bit. That uvb is quite strong in a singular fixture so you will want it to be 18-20 inches away from the highest branch. So you could make the branch about 10 inches away from the top of the screen, and then raise the light 8-10 inches off the screen. You don't want your UVI to be any more than 3, though the goal UVI is around 2. A 10.0 single is equivalent to a 12% single, by the way.
UVI levels.jpg
 
Ares05 said:
Nice! How powerful is it ( 5.0, 10.0? ) and is it a T5HO?
Click to expand...

I should add he went back to the vet today for his followup and she said his color is looking better and she suspects he may have some stuck shed in his eyes, she irrigated them as best as she can and said to really focus on keeping his humidity levels up in the enclosure, I usually hand mist but this house is pretty dry usually. I know Y'all hate them here but I grabbed a Monsoon as well at the store because it's all they had in stock (we aren't getting good shipments here because our border is currently closed to the USA aside from "essentials" I figure it can't hurt and I managed to locate a Dracena to replace his wilted ficus (I hate Benjaminas SO MUCH they are THE most temperamental Ficus varietal) I found the damn Dracana at a grocery store of all places (all our nurseries are closed here) even Home Depot has no plants (and don't allow people inside the store) It's wild.
 
Ares05 said:
Okay so you will want to raise the bulb off the screen a bit. That uvb is quite strong in a singular fixture so you will want it to be 18-20 inches away from the highest branch. So you could make the branch about 10 inches away from the top of the screen, and then raise the light 8-10 inches off the screen. You don't want your UVI to be any more than 3, though the goal UVI is around 2. A 10.0 single is equivalent to a 12% single, by the way. View attachment 265221
Click to expand...
 
I'm going to exchange it tomorrow, they gave me the wrong length metal bulb housing for the enclosure I didn't even notice as I was fed up standing in a disorganized line of 10 people. I'm going to swap out the bulb as well for the weaker strength tomorrow.
 
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I cant comment on the vet visit and what they did with the eye cleaning as I am not experienced with that. Though I will say you dont want your humidity to get too much higher than 50, though the ideal is 30-40 during the day. 80-100 at night. But again I am not a vet.

Dracena isnt the best plant as it doesn't allow for good climbing, but should be fine for now if you have plenty of perches and branches.

Sounds good for swap out. Just follow the chart for the gap between the highest branch to the light. As I said, the goal UVI is around 2. Its based on Arcadia. What they mean my single, double and quad is the fixtures.. focus on the single as that is what you've got. 12% = 10.0, 6% = 5.0.
 
Ares05 said:
I cant comment on the vet visit and what they did with the eye cleaning as I am not experienced with that. Though I will say you dont want your humidity to get too much higher than 50, though the ideal is 30-40 during the day. 80-100 at night. But again I am not a vet.

Dracena isnt the best plant as it doesn't allow for good climbing, but should be fine for now if you have plenty of perches and branches.

Sounds good for swap out. Just follow the chart for the gap between the highest branch to the light. As I said, the goal UVI is around 2. Its based on Arcadia. What they mean my single, double and quad is the fixtures.. focus on the single as that is what you've got. 12% = 10.0, 6% = 5.0.
Click to expand...


Hey it's a live plant lol .. thats better than NO live plant ( I just prefer real plants and it's to add foliage) he's got tons of actual tree branches in there and other climbing stuff already. I also got a digital thermometer and hygrometer combination because the one that came with his set up is crap and I'm over guessing games with his enclosure, I've got fish tanks that need attention LOL they've been getting neglected because of the Chameleon drama.
 
Small update.... So despite the fact the linear bulb and housing is too short I gave it a test run at the suggested distance and have been observing the new digital Hygrometer/Thermometer humidity is averaging 50% and temps minus basking bulb are 74 (in fairness I have it maybe a bit more than 10 inches above due to our situation.

I've read countless threads on the Monsoon, Mist king... etc. I've read the main complaint is the timer malfunctioning on the Monsoon units and it running "non stop" and the reservoir being too "small"

K I dunno I'm no expert but uh... There's no way this thing needs to run for 8 minutes and no way I could "empty" the reservoir in "one session"

I'm confused lol... Prior to this I used a pressure sprayer on fine mist 2-3 times a day manually. I get this thing has a timer and you can set it to turn on and run every few hours but why? I don't spray at night, and cant see leaving this thing on.. it does a lovely job with about 4 mins run time. In fact it does a nicer job than me standing there with some big heavy white pressure spray bottle.

I've decided to use this as needed and turn it off when its done.

I like it. I can stand back and watch, and angled correctly it mists a nice even spray on the whole enclosure with way less overspray than the manual spray bottle and its not awkward or heavy because I don't have to hold it.


I'm short.. I dig this! My walls and paint dig this! please tell me I'm allowed to like this and can continue to use it LOL
 
The monsoon is fine but people don't like it because it tends to break and malfunction.
 
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