Debating on a Cham

[Radix]

Hey all,

I'm debating on a cham, my choices have been panther, veiled, and my last choice, Jackson's.
I really love the look of all natural vivariums, and want to make mine like that, and not a couple plants in a tank.

Could someone get me a checklist of what to buy? Thanks. And what misting, fogging, etc

 

[camimom]

what exactly do you mean by all natural?

for those species, we use a 24x24x48 mesh cage.
misting,you can hand mist, or buy a misting system.
we just use plants. fake vines, etc.

no substrate, stuff on the bottom of the cage.

not sure what youare looking for here.

 

[Beachbabies]

I have all 3 and out of the three i love the panthers the best, by far! Jacksons would be second, just make sure theyre CB. the veiled would be the cheapest, unless you got a trans. I recommend them all, but if you have to pick one, go for the panther!

set up for all 3 would be the same. it depends on what kind of cage you want. I have a semi planted 4x3 custom cage, but like i said, custom, i havent really seen a good cage for chams that can be planted. mine has a 4inch (i wish it was more like 6-8) lip at the bottom to hold soil. in the soil i realeased about 100 earthworms to help loosen it. i have all my plants in their own pots, but the pots are stuck in the soil, i was thinking about adding some moss that i found at home depot, there are also a handful od superworms that ive allowed to turn into whatever they turn into, they just hang out in there doing their thing. they help to decompose the poop, making it a bit more of an ecosystem. this cage has it's own dedicated misting. i use a feed cup, so we dont have dubia breeding all over the place, although it would be cool. this cage has a 30watt ceramic heat emitter, and is my guinnea pig for LED only lighting. it is the most self sufficient caging system that we have set up.

 

[Radix]

Ok few questions here.

Would the mist/ rainfall from a system stay completely in the enclousure? This would be going by my computer/gaming desk and I mean right next to it. I can't have water going all over the electronics.

Also, for food, I read 20-30 a day for Juvis an 50 ish a day for adults. Does it all have to be live? Where can I get this big of a supply? Won't a lot of them just stay on the floor?

As for plants, can I use soil for the bottom? And plant heavier? What light would I need to grow it? Or does the reptisun do that for it? What fake plants are suitable?

 

[Solid Snake]

Ok few questions here.

Would the mist/ rainfall from a system stay completely in the enclousure? This would be going by my computer/gaming desk and I mean right next to it. I can't have water going all over the electronics.
Plan on there being at least a little water outside of the cage from time to time.
Also, for food, I read 20-30 a day for Juvis an 50 ish a day for adults. Does it all have to be live? Where can I get this big of a supply? Won't a lot of them just stay on the floor?
Try 15 for juvi and under 5 for an adult most of us wind up keeping colonies of roaches and crickets, you can order them in mass on the internet.
As for plants, can I use soil for the bottom? And plant heavier? What light would I need to grow it? Or does the reptisun do that for it? What fake plants are suitable?
All fakes are acceptable. Real shefflera, hibiscus, pothos, and ficus are the most common used safe plants. Yes you can build a planter box with a cage on top. You have to account for all the water going in somehow though.

You should search around more in the enclosures section to get ideas on everything. Look at as much care info as you can, its alot all in all and its much better to know exactly what your getting into because, its alot. Have fun...

 

[Radix]

Is there any way to stop the water? At least on one side?

Really only around 5 crickets a day for adults?
I get 1000 at a time for my bearded dragons but after I heard 50 I don't think that a 1000 supply could hold a leopard gecko, 2 bearded dragons and a Cham, ha.

What light for the live plants? Are the crickets allowed to hop around the ground?

And I know about the research, I've got a couple nano reefs and I'm starting a 40 breeder mixed reef

 

[Radix]

Also what about Eco terra or acrylic cages? My room has to be somewhat low in humidity for my beardies and the chameleon is the opposite

 

[Radix]

Anyone? Still hoping for some answers

 

[mychamtini112012]

If you put like a shower curtain on the outside of two sides it helps keep in water and the humidity up. You'd have to let it air out though so the smell doesn't get to your cham.

My eight month old veiled only gets eight crickets every other day, but that'll go down just a bit when she gets older.

Put the crickets in a plastic cup connected to the side. Then they won't crawl around everywhere.

Hope some of this helped

 

[Midnighthwk]

what kind of cage do u have your beardies in?

i think the dryest way to keep the humidity up in just the cham area would be to put a towl or shower curtin on the side u dont want over sprey and use a lot of live plants

if u dont have anything on the bottom of ur cham cage and its cricket proof u can let them "free roam" the cage letting the cham "hunt" them. or put them ina cup or cut a galon milk jug up and listen to the THUMP THUMP THUMP at feeding time.
i have my beardie next to my cham cage but they cant see each other anymore and have had no prob with the the humidity. in my room in cali i had around 300 galons of water in my room with my cham and beardie and the humidity in my beardies cage never got above 40%. if u think that would be an issue u can always get a dehumidifyer for ur beardie cage.

it could be that i have has years of practice with making many micro climates in small rooms that i dont have a hard time.

in socal i had turtles, frogs, fish, cham, beardi, crickets, mealworms, superworms, "other" lizards, my comp, bed, and what not and they all needed dif climates.

sorry for the randomness
some pics, i have added to the cages since i took the pics. cham has about 50 feet of new vines since that pic in the new cage and raised the plants till they get bigger
https://www.chameleonforums.com/cage-2-a-74020/

 

[Solid Snake]

Is there any way to stop the water? At least on one side?
I have two mistking nozzles in a 2x2x4 cage, and they dont put any water outside of the cage. I also hand mist though and that does spray some water through the cage. It all drains through the bottom of the cage. Its not hard to contain the water. Theres alot of wet with chameleons, was just trying to be on the safe side. If it is a problem, you could cover one side, or use a well ventilated terrarium instead.
Really only around 5 crickets a day for adults?
I get 1000 at a time for my bearded dragons but after I heard 50 I don't think that a 1000 supply could hold a leopard gecko, 2 bearded dragons and a Cham, ha.
A chameleon could eat 50 flies maybe. You will be feeding small feeders if you start with a baby. You will be feeding 10-15 of these small feeders a day. My 6month old panther now just eats 4-8 med to large feeders a day.
What light for the live plants? Are the crickets allowed to hop around the ground?
Some plants can be tricky to keep alive without extra light, like hibiscus and ficus. Pothos and shefflers seem to do just fine under regular cage lighting. Many of us do use a plant grow light on our cages. I use four lights on a cage: Basking(regular house bulb appr. 60-75watts; linear uvb 5.0;linear plant grow light(from wallmart);regular linear white bulb(for mor light)
I hand feed, now, but I free range. You will want to release a babies food and let them hunt it. Many people continue with this method. I hand feed because mine arent interested in a feeding cup. Witch is also an option. Hand feeding increases trust with the animal, but hunting is good for there psyche. You dont want loose crickets running all over the cage, just enough for a daily feeding at a time. Crickets can and will attack a chameleon, and eat it.
And I know about the research, I've got a couple nano reefs and I'm starting a 40 breeder mixed reef

Im sure youll be able to figure out whats going to work for you. Just keep searching these forums and asking questions. Hope that was helpfull

 

[Robyrango]

Is there any way to stop the water? At least on one side?

Really only around 5 crickets a day for adults?
I get 1000 at a time for my bearded dragons but after I heard 50 I don't think that a 1000 supply could hold a leopard gecko, 2 bearded dragons and a Cham, ha.

What light for the live plants? Are the crickets allowed to hop around the ground?

And I know about the research, I've got a couple nano reefs and I'm starting a 40 breeder mixed reef

If you put plastic sheets around 3 sides of your enclosure, leaving just the front it should be ok, that's what I'm doing, great and cheep way to fix the problem of "flooding", and perfect for keeping the humidity up!
I have a grill on the bottom so if any crickets fall it will just go on the bucket I have underneath to collect the water, and sadly drown.. I'm using a Ficus plant and a Camellia Japonica.

 

[Olimpia]

Hey, welcome!

I recommend panthers as well, out of personal preference, I've had several of them and they are great chameleons. I got two of mine (for $150) from the Chameleon Company and I highly recommend them, they are beautiful animals and Jim is a great guy to do business with.

Here is a blog with anything and (almost) everything you could ever need for a chameleon: https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/olimpia/522-average-cost-owning-chameleon.html You may have to tweak some things to fit a glass terrarium, but all the important stuff is there, as in lights, supplements, etc.

 

[Radix]

Won't the crickets jump out of the cup?

 

[Midnighthwk]

depending on the cup. for small crickets u can use one of the tube that a 20count of superworms come in. and when ur cham gets bigger u can use a "red party" cup.

of what i did was cut a corner f a milk jug out and taped a screen on the inside so the crickets can climb up and be a perfact target for my cham.
after he learns he can get food in it he will check it from time to time when he is hungry. but the crickets that climb up right away get picked off within a min.

when the sun comes up i can get a pic of my feeder for u

and for humidity i use 14 umbrella plants, 4 ficus, and 4 pothos.
working cloning more pothos to put in. the umbrella plants are being a pain for me to clone right now

 

[Beachbabies]

ive never tried it, but maybe an extra tall exoterra, the one i have is 3x3x18" it's definately big enouge, i just worry about air circulation. maybe if you put a mini clip on fan blowing across the surface of the cage, or straight at the closed doors. if you did that you could have a planted cage! i'm sure not many members will agree, but i have a semiplanted cage, and i LOVE it! it has soil (i used a mix of potting soil. coco husk, perlite and sand) w/ earthworms and beatles, the plants are still in their pots , but the pots sit in the soil. I think it's great! But it does have screen doors and a screen top, so theres lots of ventilation, i use the exoterras for my cresteds, which i spray 2-3x a day. it doesnt dry out as well as i would like, we're still trying to figure out how to fix that.