Does free roaming work?

[herpluva]

Most of you know what a pain in the tookus my juvi veiled Tarzan has been. Well I have been force feeding him water (with a little calcium) the past couple days because his eyes have started to really sink in and showers were of no help. I know it is because of stress. My best friend brought her dad by yesterday. He is a long time herper for over 30 years- he was one of the first people to own and import rhino iguanas. He has owned bred and cared for almost everything. I showed him Tarzan and described everything I have done and how he has been acting.
He said to me that some herps were just not meant to be in captivity. If he is stressed with cage life there was nothing I could do, it is what it is. He said to stop stressing make sure he is misted, has good basking temps and put his food in and let it be. He said no reptiles should be in captivity and chams were the number one. Some tolerate and adapt to cage life and every now and then you get one that refuses too.
After thinking all night long about Tarzan I came to terms with the fact that he is just one of those that is going to do or die. So I came to terms with just letting whatever happens happen and not to stress over him anymore.
This morning I put a little acidopholus in the water and squirted that in his mouth with his morning hiss and bite. I put a couple silkworms in his cage that he hissed at and paced all over.
I left the front of his cage open while I filled everyones bowl and fed (He is only one of 8 lizards I own). When I walked in the room he was headed to the top of his cage and I got scared because his heat lamps are hot. I quickly grabbed him and held him for a second and never do that because I am scared of stressing him. He calmed down and walked up my arm and perched on my shoulder - WTF- is what was going through my head. He started to show bright green dots.
I wondered if I put a plant on my desk if he would rather chill there. Well throughout the day I added more and more stuff. I took his old reptarium and zipped his basking lights in it it and put it on his bigger reptarium so he could roam freely and not get burned. As the day went on I added more stuff for him to climb on. Well against all odds I walked in the room and the damn cham was green
Having only seen yellow coloring twice during misting this was a very happy moment for me and a shock. As stupid as it sounds it made me want to cry
Now my question is- Is it ok to just let him roam around? I am going to price a very big ficus tree to set on my desk for him to climb in. I am also going to try and think of a way to set a basking spot up high for him that he can not touch. He has let me handle him almost with no fussing today. Is this normal? I have never in his life seen this lizard green and bright green with brown, orange, white and olive green stripes. The pictures I took did not show how bright he was because I stood there staring at him in amazement before I decided to get the camera. By the time I took them he was getting dark but take my word for it... The guy is green

 

[Justin Carl]

wow my chameleon is just like that im in the middle of making him a huge cage. i have vines that go from the gace and go up to the top of my window sill. about 8 feet. he crawls up there for about an hour then goes back down when he feels like it. the cage he is in now is about 18x24x36. his new one in about 6 feet tall but 8 feet when on the stand. i got 60 dollars onto it. it should be done in the morning. his color did change when he was up high.

 

[BigTex]

i had my veiled free roaming for a while and had no adverse effects

 

[Cally95]

I dont post much, but I lurk a lot here. I have seen a few posts on the dos and don'ts of free range. Do a search for free range and there is some really good info.

Dell

 

[herpluva]

Here are some pics. I wish you could see how green his is when the camera is not around.

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

Our male veiled, Guido, is free range by his own choice. He lives on a set of wide wooden mini blinds, in a bay window in our study, with plants on the wide window sill, and his lamps mounted on the bay window ceiling. His basking lamp is set in a recessed can. He still has scars on the front of his face where he rubbed and rubbed himself bloody on his cage mesh until we finally gave in and (after trying everything else) allowed him to live the free life. He is latrine oriented (only going to the bathroom in one convenient place) and rarely leaves the window area. Believe it or not, he sometimes climbs down and crosses the room to be with me while I am working in the study. He sits on my feet or hangs on my skirt or blouse. He is like a big teddy bear. We regulate his temps just like in the cage, and mist him twice a day, and give him long warm showers a couple of times a week to keep him hydrated. The bay window sill is formica so it can take all the wetness from the mistings.

We have a beagle, but we don't let the two anywhere near each other. They see each other through the window sometimes when the beagle is outside, and you can tell by their body language that they are arch enemies.

The only drawbacks to free roaming for us are keeping him hydrated, and keeping him safe (a little like toddler-proofing a room). And, of course, I have to hand feed him his cockroaches. It's not like I'm going to have those things running around my house! Oh, also, we had to move the UVB bulb when he changed his resting spot. His basking lamp in the recessed can fixture swivels, so that was not a problem, but he developed a slight eye problem and we realized he was not spending enough time near his UVB lamp. We moved it about 8 inches to the left, nearer his new daily perch spot, and now he is fine. So you do have to keep up with that sort of thing. Once he got his routine down, we were able to adjust his light positions to match his routine. They are still dependent on proper lighting and hydration.

 

[herpluva]

It will have to work with him free roaming because he is going to die of stress in his cage. He is already dehydrated from stressing so much but I make him drink about 3cc a day a water and have been for 3 days. I am hoping if I make him drink water by syringe he will not dehydrate.
He fell asleep on the bush outside of his cage so I will let him sleep out tonight. I am going to keep him outside once summer rolls around.
If I get him at least 30 minutes of outdoor sunlight a day just till winter is over then will he be cool or does he need to sit under his UVB all day. I am sure I can figure a way to hook up a MVB so he can bask and get UV at the same time.
Here are some pics I just took and you can see his natural coloring.

 

[christyo2o2]

from thos epics he does look alot more green. Im glad you found a way to keep him happy.

Looking at his cage it is really small and the plant is really big. That also may contribute to why he is stressed he may feel he cant stretch his legs.

I know alot of people on this forum are all about live plants and I tried it but Scooter ended up killing the plant by climbing on it so we said screw it he likes the plastic vines better any wase.

Here is Scooter's Set up....

When he was a baby we had him in a much smaller cage. We knew it was time for a bigger one because we would open his cage and he would immediately climb out like it was squishing him alive. He is in his new cage and we can leave his door open without worries because he is comfy. I look at it and think that it is still a bit small be he seems to not mind. He has a hammock that he enjoys being on and plenty of vines going up and down his cage. No live plants and plenty of "dead air" space.

Your cage looks extremely congested and small.

 

[herpluva]

It is a thought but if you look in the cage from the door he has a lot of open space. He just crawls non stop on the cage itself. I think he is just stressed period when he is closed up in a cage. I will be building him a 5x6x3 screen enclosure for outside. That way when summer rolls around he can keep his happy tush outside. I am glad to he has found some happiness and hopefully I can get him hydrated. He has been a pain in the butt to care for and I thank my other chameleons daily for being so easy
I am glad to see Scooter is back in business. Good job with him.

 

[dodolah]

heyyyy!!! Herpluva! CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Finally you manage to tame Tarzan!
So it was the cage after all that make him pissy..
I'm so glad that you did not give him up.
Congrats! Congrats!

 

[herpluva]

christyo2o2-- I am taking your advice on taking his plant out and replacing it with a much smaller one.
I hit a snag today with the free roaming thing
I came back from going to a movie to find him across the room on top of my baby veileds cage. It is lifted 6.2 feet off the ground too. He was sitting on her UVB light to keep warm.
I decided to cut back on his foliage to see how that helps when he can not be observed with free roam. He will be allowed to roam when I am at home but at night and while I am gone he has to handle a cage.
I am home 90% of the time so it wont be to often. I will let you know how he does.
Here are some pics I took of him this morning while spraying down my panther. He saw him for the first time and was flattening out and acting tough. It was funny.

 

[Nimamo]

This is my first time letting Athena free roam...I had to start getting her in the shower for watering because I noticed she was getting dehydrated. She seems to like it..in the shower she willingly, but slowly, climbed on my hand. Otherwise she hesitantly climbs on my hand. I just bought her this ficus tree to climb in..hope she loves it!