Enclosure advice for a newbie

RikkiL

Established Member
Hi I am very new my cham has not hatched yet. I know very controversial. I have been researching every thing and every avenue including this forum for months before I decided I can do this. I don't really have a problem more like have I set up my enclosure enough. I tend to over think things, I want it done properly to make sure he or she will have the best life. I have gone bio- active so far it's been active for about 3 weeks and everything is going strong. I have mistking set up and the t5 lighting. I am just wondering if you wonderful, knowledgeable people can tell me if I need to change any plant placement, add more or less branches or anything else you can see that might need done.
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Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - zen habitats hybrid 2x2x4
  • Lighting - I have 2 sun blaster 36 in reflectors, right now till my baby is born I am only using the t5 plant lights. I have a separate heat bulb also for when the baby is here. Plugged into a smart plug 12 hour cycle 7:30am - 7:30pm
  • Temperature - I have not really maintained a temp yet if it's 75 in the house it's 75in the cage. I have about 6 weeks still, to get all the things dialed in.
  • Humidity - levels are high at night and even higher early morning in the range of 65% and always 99% by 7 am. During the day they are about mid 50's, I think.i check them in the morning before work on my lunch and when I go to bed.
  • Plants - all plants are live. I have pathos, creaping fig, wondering jew,broomlaids, and air plants, and a baby parlor palm.
  • Placement - Where is your cage located? In the living room as we don't have many friends so it's just 4 of us on a daily basis and we have a very quiet home for the most part. We are all gone during the day and the 2 dogs stay out side till dinner.
  • Location - we live in the southern portion of Oregon.
 
Hi and welcome! You’ve come to the right place! What kind of Cham are you hatching? As for the cage, is it all glass, glass and screen? The uvb you mentioned, is it a T5HO? What type bulb, reptisun 5.0 or Arcadia 6%? Those are the two we recommend here. What wattage is your basking lamp? 60 watt halogen or incandescent is what we recommend. You probably won’t need basking temp to be more than 80. Your basking light and uvb should be located at least 8-9 inches above the basking branch. Humidity will probably need to be no more than 50% during the day and 75% or higher at night depending on the species of Cham you are hatching. Your plants are looking good. They’ll need to fill in some more before baby comes. I hope this info helps and be sure to show us baby when it hatches! Feel free to ask any other questions you may have. There are some really knowledgeable people here and we all love chameleons and are very helpful to everyone!
 
Thank you,Our little one is an ambilobe panther egg. Cage pvc sides and plexiglass door with screen in bottom front portion and top. I have air flow threw the front, chimney effect style. My lights right now are t5Ho 35k. I will replace one bulb with the Arcadia 6%. I just don't want to add the UVB till the baby is here. I have about 6 or 7 more pathos plants I can add if that is what is being recommended. I have the basking bulb 40 watt, that was recommended and sent with my little egg.
 
Hi and welcome I would add the uvb light now ( do you have a solarmeter 6.5, ) also add your heat light get your probes in and establish your basking temp and ambient temps, also how will you be providing water / humidity( do you have a drainage system?
 
Hi so just curious as I ve never hatched chameleon eggs only bearded dragons. Is your egg fertile how are you incubating and how long has it been
 
Hi and welcome I would add the uvb light now ( do you have a solarmeter 6.5, ) also add your heat light get your probes in and establish your basking temp and ambient temps, also how will you be providing water / humidity( do you have a drainage system?
I have the mistking set up currently to run for 1 min in the am before lights come on and 2 pm pm before lights go off. I do not have the solar Meter yet. I also plan on purchasing a temp gun soon. I do have the digital humidity gage set up as well. My drainage system is the hydro balls and I have a tray at the bottom to suck the water out as needed
 
Hi so just curious as I ve never hatched chameleon eggs only bearded dragons. Is your egg fertile how are you incubating and how long has it been
I bought my egg from chameleons 101. He was a wonderful help when deciding if that was the direction I wanted to go. Right now" the baby" is in the closet in the container he came in as directions say to do. I have had my egg for almost a month now. Due date is Oct 15th
 
I’m so excited for you! The question I have is what is the T5ho 35k? I’ve never heard of it. Flick boy is right about getting everything on and started now so you can get all the temps and humidity all worked out rather than waiting til baby hatches and then having to adjust everything. You also need to be very careful with temps with hatchlings as they are very sensitive.
 
Yeah so if you go with the above mentioned supplements I would add reptivite no d3 ( but getting a solarmeter which I know is expensive but well worth it ) when knowing how much uvb/uvi you are providing better helps with knowing the best supplements to provide . So your calcium phosphorus free no d3 6 days then on the 7th calcium +d3 then 6 days calcium no d3 then your multivitamin no d3 and repeat. When dusting you will want to do this lightly you don't want feeders looking like ghost's. Having your feeders fed well is also very important. I have added a feeder chart but obviously not all these feeders will be suitable for a baby . I believe fruit flys ,pin head crickets are amongst the chosen feeders. But you could look into other new born bettle species
 

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Hi so checked out chameleon 101 very interesting. Hopefully all go's well . Have you looked into supplements .
Yes, this is what we have so far
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I’m so excited for you! The question I have is what is the T5ho 35k? I’ve never heard of it. Flick boy is right about getting everything on and started now so you can get all the temps and humidity all worked out rather than waiting til baby hatches and then having to adjust everything. You also need to be very careful with temps with hatchlings as they are

Yeah so if you go with the above mentioned supplements I would add reptivite no d3 ( but getting a solarmeter which I know is expensive but well worth it ) when knowing how much uvb/uvi you are providing better helps with knowing the best supplements to provide . So your calcium phosphorus free no d3 6 days then on the 7th calcium +d3 then 6 days calcium no d3 then your multivitamin no d3 and repeat. When dusting you will want to do this lightly you don't want feeders looking like ghost's. Having your feeders fed well is also very important. I have added a feeder chart but obviously not all these feeders will be suitable for a baby . I believe fruit flys ,pin head crickets are amongst the chosen feeders. But you could look into other new born bettle species
When reading the feeding schedule I completely understand then in the same moment I get so lost lol I will definitely need a chart as I am a very visual person. Thank you I am looking at the multi vitamins now
 
Hi so checked out chameleon 101 very interesting. Hopefully all go's well . Have you looked into supplements .
They have sale no code backto2012 60 bucks an egg with code. I like the mad hatter one. I am really thinking of getting one
 
Yup keeping a chart is the best way imo poop, feeders, supplements, weight, gutload any notes whatever it keeps everything organised for you your cham and a vet if necessary
 

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