Deremensis Tips?

[canzoman]

Hi All,

I was wondering if anyone with Deremensis experience can give me some pointers or best practices when it comes to general care of humindity/lighting/heat.

Thank you.

Let me give you some more info.

Chameleon Info:

* Your Chameleon - 2 Deremensis. Male and Female aprox 6-7 inches long for male and 8-9 inches for Female. How long has it been in your care? 4 days
* Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? Never at moment still acclimating.
* Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? Gut loaded Crickets. What amount? 15 each every other day but will bump that up. What is the schedule? Every other day. How are you gut-loading your feeders? Gut load and fruit.
* Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? Reptical with and with D3
* Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? Drippers and misting. How often and how long to you mist? 30 sec for 4 times a day. Do you see your chameleon drinking? Yes.
* Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? Firm nothing odd.
* History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. I believe they are WC but have been in captivity from what I was told for about a year now.


Cage Info:

* Cage Type - 2 screen cages. 1 for male and 1 for female What are the dimensions? Male is in 18x18x36 and female is in 24x24x48 (she is bigger)
* Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? I use Reptisun 5.0's and 60 watt light bulbs. What is your daily lighting schedule? I light it from 7am to 7pm.
* Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? basking spot is 80-82. At bottom of cage its about 70-72. Lowest overnight temp? At night with no heat at all gets to about 60-63. How do you measure these temps? digital thermometers.
* Humidity - What are your humidity levels? humidity is roughly 60-70%. How are you creating and maintaining these levels? Misting,Dripping, and have a humidifier with tubes right into the cages. What do you use to measure humidity? Hydrometers.
* Plants - Are you using live plants? Mix of fake and real. If so, what kind? The real are ficus.
* Placement - Where is your cage located? In my basement with baseboard heat. Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? No At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? about 4-5 feet off ground.
* Location - Where are you geographically located? Northern NJ


Current Problem - Not really concerned right now just wanted some general tips that I should look out for in the Deremensis.

History-I have successfully bred Veiled Chams and Leopard Geckos.

 

[luevelvet]

First off, congratulations on working with a great species! Deremensis can be tricky at first but once you get them properly acclimated you may find them to be a rather easy and low maintenance species to work with.

Here's how we keep our group.

They don't move too much so all of our animals (1.3) are in well planted 2x2x2' screen enclosures. There have been weeks that go by where some of them haven't budged an inch.

They require lots of water. Well, within reason of course. Ours are misted 3 times during the day for 10-15 minutes each misting. We don't do anything outside of the misting to provide more humidity. as long as they're drinking throughout the day and their stools look good, I wouldn't worry about the RH too too much.

They are voracious eaters. Our male is a good 10-12" head to tail (7" or so STV) and only eats 3-5 crickets a day, if that. The females are worse and will eat you out of your house if you let them. Because of this you must watch how much you feed them as obesity can become an issue with overfed deremensis.

Lighting is provided by a dual 48" fluorescent light fixture, one with a Reptisun 5.0 the other with a plant grow bulb. I provide no extra heat sources since the room hovers around 75-78 at all times anyway.

They do like a night time drop. Ours get down to around 68-70ish at night but during the winter I tend to allow the cooler fresh air in at night getting down to near 55 sometimes. They really seem to perk up the next day after a nice cool evening.

Well, that pretty much how we maintain ours. Good luck and let me know if you have any more specific questions.

Luis

 

[canzoman]

First off, congratulations on working with a great species! Deremensis can be tricky at first but once you get them properly acclimated you may find them to be a rather easy and low maintenance species to work with.

Here's how we keep our group.

They don't move too much so all of our animals (1.3) are in well planted 2x2x2' screen enclosures. There have been weeks that go by where some of them haven't budged an inch.

They require lots of water. Well, within reason of course. Ours are misted 3 times during the day for 10-15 minutes each misting. We don't do anything outside of the misting to provide more humidity. as long as they're drinking throughout the day and their stools look good, I wouldn't worry about the RH too too much.

They are voracious eaters. Our male is a good 10-12" head to tail (7" or so STV) and only eats 3-5 crickets a day, if that. The females are worse and will eat you out of your house if you let them. Because of this you must watch how much you feed them as obesity can become an issue with overfed deremensis.

Lighting is provided by a dual 48" fluorescent light fixture, one with a Reptisun 5.0 the other with a plant grow bulb. I provide no extra heat sources since the room hovers around 75-78 at all times anyway.

They do like a night time drop. Ours get down to around 68-70ish at night but during the winter I tend to allow the cooler fresh air in at night getting down to near 55 sometimes. They really seem to perk up the next day after a nice cool evening.

Well, that pretty much how we maintain ours. Good luck and let me know if you have any more specific questions.

Luis

Awesome! Thanks for the info. Seems so far so good. Thank you.

 

[Chuck G]

I have a group of 8 and I can't add much to what lue posted.
I think the night drop in temp and hydration is key to keeping these guys happy.

 

[canzoman]

I have a group of 8 and I can't add much to what lue posted.
I think the night drop in temp and hydration is key to keeping these guys happy.

Yeah the night drop and humid is def happening.

 

[canzoman]

Does anyone sell these captive bred on this forum?

 

[luevelvet]

As of right now, I don't know of anyone who has hatched any in a while now. I can't speak for Chuck but I know I have three gravid females.

One thing I forgot to mention, I would refrain from heavily supplementing these guys. I don't add any additional supplements to the already well gutloaded feeders we provide. In fact, I have to use RO water for them as the water from the tap gives them major gular edema. One began looking a little puffy this week and when I tested the mist water, sure enough the RO membrane is spent and it's time for a new one. Both my melleri and deremensis react the same when it comes to over supplementation.

Luis

 

[canzoman]

As of right now, I don't know of anyone who has hatched any in a while now. I can't speak for Chuck but I know I have three gravid females.

One thing I forgot to mention, I would refrain from heavily supplementing these guys. I don't add any additional supplements to the already well gutloaded feeders we provide. In fact, I have to use RO water for them as the water from the tap gives them major gular edema. One began looking a little puffy this week and when I tested the mist water, sure enough the RO membrane is spent and it's time for a new one. Both my melleri and deremensis react the same when it comes to over supplementation.

Luis

Good to know thanks.