Day three of owning a Cham!

[ToxiccKiwii]

Hi Guys! I'm new to the forum, also new to the life of owning a Cham!

My names Crystal, 25 from the Boston area; figured I'd come introduce myself, and my Chicken, a three month old male veiled Cham I got from our local reptile exposition.

I've done a bunch of research, probably read about half of this forum before I realized I should probably just join.

I'm loving it so far, it sounded like an overwhelmingly lot of work at first but minus being scared to death of escaping crickets, it's been so far so good!

So far, I have a medium repti-breeze screen tank, big dripper + the exo terra dripper plant; a string of fake vines, flexible climber vines & flexible "jungle tree" - keeping the humidity around 50-60%... the ambient temperature in that room is anywhere between 70-80 degrees without the heat on just due to the 6 other reptiles we keep, and his basking spot is usually around 85.

When he gets a little bigger I want to look into building my own tank, and finding a Cham/Cat safe plant to put in there with him so he can have a more natural feel, but since he's so little right now I didn't want to go gung-ho and over do it.

I've been feeding him a staple of 9-12 (live) crickets per day, and leaving a few (live) Dubia in overnight. I'm still getting the hang of the feeding thing, not sure if that's too much or not enough, but he doesn't seem overly eager when I put them in there, so I'm assuming he's not going hungry.

I am looking into more foods, and treats to give him, a lot of what's out there seems too big for this little guy right now, so any suggestions on that would be awesome!

That's all from me for now, just a general introduction to open myself up for some suggestions, constructive criticism, and to show my cute little Chicken off!

Thanks for having me guys! <3

-C

 

[nightanole]

Well you cant overfeed a growing cham, so you got that going for you.

As far as more feeders, you can get silkworms, hornworms, butter worms, if you can get them i small enough size. At 3 months you you could also just get a small tub of mealworms and have them crawl on the screen.

 

[andrearamirezo91]

Hiii welcome to the forum!

I'm very new here myself as well. There's some awesome and very helpful people here and you'll love being part of the community! I suggest filling in the form I'm gonna put below so others have an idea of how you've been caring for Chicken. This way they'll be able to point you in the right direction and make sure you're doing everything right He's very cute by the way

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
• 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?

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.

 

[ToxiccKiwii]

Most of it's already in there, but you're definitely right, this is way more organized lol

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - Veiled, ~3months old, I've had him for four days.
• 
  
• Handling - Minus the day I brought him home, it's been on his terms, but I've gone to adjust his plant / vine and he's crawled onto my hand and has fallen asleep on my shoulder.
• 
  
• Feeding - Current staple of crickets, and small Dubia. I'll turn his light on about half hour before I feed him, in the morning it's just crickets, I'll throw some dubia in in the afternoon when I get home. Today's count in particular was 20 crickets, but he ate them ALL before I left half an hour after.
• 
  
• Supplements - Exo-terra calcium + d3, and Multi-vitamin. I used the calcium and D-3 the first couple days, third day no supplement, and then today I used the multi-vitamin.
• 
  
• Watering - I have a big dripper, and a dripper plant going 24/7, I also use a sprayer in the morning before I feed, when I get home from work, and then once more after I shut the lights off. He drinks off of the dripper plant more than the climber vine leafs, and when I spray he likes to drink straight from the bottle drips, too.
• Fecal Description - Only thing I can really compare it to is it looks like typical poo that would come from my Leopard Geckos... not watery, I'm hoping this is normal? I haven't done much research about poo yet.
• 
  
• History - N/A - I got him from an exposition breeder who also had Jackson, and Panthers.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - 16x16x30 screen cage ; it's a Medium Repti-breeze. I have the bottom lined with papertowels currently, and a small bowl mixed with eco-earth and moss to catch the water from the drippers.
• 
  
• Lighting - Zoo-Med daylight blue in 60W and a basking spot lamp, 50W in a deep-set double dome. I turn the lights on when i get up, I have to be at work anywhere between 730-10, so I've been trying to turn his light on around 6:30-7:00am to keep the schedule somewhat intact, because depening on the day I get home anywhere between 5:00-7:30PM..
• 
  
• Temperature - Even with the heat completely off the ambient temperature in the room at all times is just under or at about 80 degrees, mainly because of the other reptiles we keep, cooler towards the floor at 75;; in his tank, the bottom is about 75-80, and basking is high 80's with the lights on. I keep a manual, and electronic temp gauge, electric for the floor and manual one for the basking area.
• 
  
• Humidity - Humidity in the cage is around 50-60% at any point in time, up towards 60 is after I spray the tank down. But, humidity in the room is pretty standard all around due to the wet Skink tank, didn't need to do much to get it there...
• 
  
• Plants - Using fake plants at the moment, putting research into ones that are safe for Chicken, as well as my cats; they're not allowed in the room but occasionally will make it in behind me, and I'd rather be safe than sorry.
• 
  
• Placement - Cage is currently located in the corner of the room, on top of a night table. The top of the cage comes up to about my height, 5'4"-5'5" range. (pictures of the room / placement attached)
• 
  
• Location - USA; East cost; South of Boston.

No really current problem, just posting, reading, and learning.

 

[Tucklander]

Hi Guys! I'm new to the forum, also new to the life of owning a Cham!

My names Crystal, 25 from the Boston area; figured I'd come introduce myself, and my Chicken, a three month old male veiled Cham I got from our local reptile exposition.

I've done a bunch of research, probably read about half of this forum before I realized I should probably just join.

I'm loving it so far, it sounded like an overwhelmingly lot of work at first but minus being scared to death of escaping crickets, it's been so far so good!

So far, I have a medium repti-breeze screen tank, big dripper + the exo terra dripper plant; a string of fake vines, flexible climber vines & flexible "jungle tree" - keeping the humidity around 50-60%... the ambient temperature in that room is anywhere between 70-80 degrees without the heat on just due to the 6 other reptiles we keep, and his basking spot is usually around 85.

When he gets a little bigger I want to look into building my own tank, and finding a Cham/Cat safe plant to put in there with him so he can have a more natural feel, but since he's so little right now I didn't want to go gung-ho and over do it.

I've been feeding him a staple of 9-12 (live) crickets per day, and leaving a few (live) Dubia in overnight. I'm still getting the hang of the feeding thing, not sure if that's too much or not enough, but he doesn't seem overly eager when I put them in there, so I'm assuming he's not going hungry.

I am looking into more foods, and treats to give him, a lot of what's out there seems too big for this little guy right now, so any suggestions on that would be awesome!

That's all from me for now, just a general introduction to open myself up for some suggestions, constructive criticism, and to show my cute little Chicken off!

Thanks for having me guys! <3

-C

Welcome...I’m new too and have a baby male Cham too. I just looked up the dripping plant very cool. The forums are great for lots of info

 

[ToxiccKiwii]

Welcome...I’m new too and have a baby male Cham too. I just looked up the dripping plant very cool. The forums are great for lots of info

HE'S SO CUTE!!!
I love when mine gets the green stripies, he usually does early in the morning before I turn the lights on <3

I was super iffy about the drip plant at first just due to the reviews on the pump giving out etc... but honestly so far so good, the set up was kind of wonky because either the plant, and the pump needed to be in the cage, or I had to run the water tube through, and have the pump in an external container and then have something to catch the water; I ended up doing the later, and it's been working pretty well so far. definitely recommended on my end!

 

[Tucklander]

Thanks for the compliment...yours is cool too...complicated to take care of but do much fun to watch...I love watching mine in the morning with my coffee...trooping around and slurping up his bugs ...I find it fun to watch...good luck