ivythechammy
New Member
Hello friends,
I built my first bioactive enclosure based on my some research and people’s advise. I just want to get some feedback from you all, but first I have a few concerns.
The chameleons (female veiled) is doing well as far as I can tell. She eats and drinks normally, and I don’t see obvious signs of stress.
0. I think I may not have enough branches and plants
However, she seems content with it. She hangs out on the outer edge of the vegetation most of the time, and she hides in the inner most part of the vegetation when she doesn't want to be bothered. (When she does that, I have to look really hard to find her). I'm considering to add more plants for her, but I would like to keep it minimalistic if possible.
1. I realized afterwards that hibiscus is not a good indoor plant as they require a lot of direct sunlight
About 2-3 leaves turn yellow every day, and I remove them regularly. That said, there seems to be a very vigorous growth of new leaves, so I can’t tell if the tree is dying or it’s just adjusting to the new environment. Does anyone have any experience with growing hibiscus indoor? Any advise?
2. I have never ever seen the isopods that I put in
I lift the leaf litter daily to check what’s happening underneath, but I have never seen them around. Will I ever see them? or should I just assume that they are there?
3. I also introduced some red wigglers
Later I learned that they are horrible as CUCs because they break down the substrate extremely fast. People said that the substrate turned into mud balls. Can anyone comment on that based on personal experience?
4. My house is constantly at a temperature between 70-80F
Do I still need a heat source for basking? I am trying to slow her metabolism so she has a smaller clutch of eggs. I almost never see her basking under the ceramic heat emitter anyways.
5. I put some moss that I harvested from the outside
I don't know if there's enough lighting. I'm going to get a brighter light. Does anyone have experience working with moss? Is my setup compatible with the moss that I put in?
6. This is a general question regarding the cham’s health.
She shed her skin recently. The process seems a bit slow to me, it’s been 1.5-2 weeks, and she still has some skin on her back and tail. The thing that concerns me the most is the skin between her toes, they seem calloused and it is bothering her a bit. I successfully removed some using a tong, but there’s still some left. I don’t have a hygrometer, but the average humidity in my area is abut 50-60. I played with the misting schedule, but it didn’t seem to help either. What should I do at this point? FYI, she was egg bound 2 months ago, and this is her first shed since 6 months ago.
Thanks guys!