Finally got the 'how to ask for help' questions sorted...

[Jimmy Filth]

Cage Info:

Cage Type - It is an exo terra glass/wire 24x24x18 sitting on my desk.
Lighting - The UV is a repti glo 10. 15w. The basking i do not know the brand, but it is controlled with a thermostat that has a probe in the viv.
Temperature - Basking sot is 82, with the lowest level in the cage around 65-70 depending on the outside temp. At night, the lowest temp stays at around 65-70, with the basking spot controlled at 70
Humidity - Sparying 4 times a day, and using almost a complete 450ml spray bottle each time
Plants - Only have fake plants in there, leaves covering both sides of the viv and a 'plant in a pot' at the bottom.
Placement - My cage is on a desk in my room, kept in direct sunlight. It's around 30" from the floor of my room, with the top of the viv 54" from the floor. The window it is near is open throughout the summer. There is no traffic near us as we live in a rural area.
Location - I'm in a small village just outside Southend, Essex, England.

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - She is a female Vailed chameleon, around 3 months old and been in my care for 2 weeks.
Handling - Sporadically so far. She has come out of her cage maybe 6 times, each time for about 5-10 minutes. When she is out, she has free roam of my shoulders/head/arms, and will sometimes venture down my arm and onto my desk. She also seems to enjoy climbing up the curtains if she can get away with it.
Feeding - So far she is on mealworms and little crickets. I give her 6 or 7 mealworms in a bowl, and replace whenever she has eaten them, plus i give her 4 or 5 crickets a day, some hand fed, some free in her viv.
Supplements - I have a nutrobal calcium balancer and multivitamin supplement that I dust her food with.
Watering - I had a waterfall, but that has gone to a better place. I now mist 4 times a day, using a 450ml sprayer.
Fecal Description - She seems to do two types, a white one and a brown one. They both seem like you'd expect a feces to be. Hold together and imressive in size considering she's only 5 or 6 inches long...
History - None that i'm aware of.
Current Problem - I had put a former link regarding basking with her mouth open, but i adjusted the temperature and now she has closed her mouth.

I really just want pointers to see if anyone can suggest how better the look after her.

 

[Jimmy Filth]

Another thing I'm slightly concerned about. She seems really unsteady on her feet. Is this just normal for a cham of her age??? I'm worried she will fall and hurt herself.

 

[WelshOneEmma]

I would stop giving her the mealworms as the chitinous shell isn't that great for them. If you wanted to add some variety I would feed her small locusts.

I may be a bit thick here, but when you say "nutrobal calcium balancer and multivitamin supplement" do you mean just the nutrobal, or you are using a multivitamin as well (Nutrobal has vitamins in that's all). How often do you dust with this? Also, what are you feeding your feeders?

 

[Jimmy Filth]

sorry, i just meant the nutrobal, but that's what it says on the pot. I wasn't sure how many different types of supplement nutrobal make. I dust the mealworms and crickets when i first get them. I feed the feeders with carrot shreds and cabbage leaves.

 

[CleaTheChameleon]

Yes when i started feeding my chameleon i fed mealworms but now that im on here mealworms are rarely used as treats for me and my chameleon. You said its a glass cage try getting a screen cage for better ventilation at www.lllreptile.com I see you went down by the basking so=pot in temperature and are now at 82. Some people feel 82 is to high but i think someone else will explain that better sorry Also try to get rid of the fake plants for a sec and put in a ice ficus or hibiscus in the screen cage and maybe the fake plants around. They love real plants

 

[WelshOneEmma]

Yes when i started feeding my chameleon i fed mealworms but now that im on here mealworms are rarely used as treats for me and my chameleon. You said its a glass cage try getting a screen cage for better ventilation at www.lllreptile.com I see you went down by the basking so=pot in temperature and are now at 82. Some people feel 82 is to high but i think someone else will explain that better sorry Also try to get rid of the fake plants for a sec and put in a ice ficus or hibiscus in the screen cage and maybe the fake plants around. They love real plants

He also staed that he is in the UK where the glass cages with screen lids are used quite successfully. My cage is in the living rom and we struggle to keep the temps up when th edoor is open, so I dread to think what it would be like if we had a screen cage. As long as there is good airflow and you keep an eye on your temps you should be ok. My veiled is 8 months old and we don't go above 30C for his basking so you should probably decrease your temps. You may want to have at least 6 inches between your cham and the basking light. YOu may also want to alternate bewteen the nutrobal and just plain calcium dust on your feeders so that you don't oversupplement. Are you able to attach pictures of your set up? That way we can critique you properly!

 

[CleaTheChameleon]

He also staed that he is in the UK where the glass cages with screen lids are used quite successfully. My cage is in the living rom and we struggle to keep the temps up when th edoor is open, so I dread to think what it would be like if we had a screen cage. As long as there is good airflow and you keep an eye on your temps you should be ok. My veiled is 8 months old and we don't go above 30C for his basking so you should probably decrease your temps. You may want to have at least 6 inches between your cham and the basking light. YOu may also want to alternate bewteen the nutrobal and just plain calcium dust on your feeders so that you don't oversupplement. Are you able to attach pictures of your set up? That way we can critique you properly!

I completely forgot that he was in the UK never mind about the screen cage

 

[Jimmy Filth]

I'm a little concerned about the glass cage, as I have read somewhere she may see her reflection and react badly to it, hence me covering the sides in fake plants.

My plan is to get some real plants in the bottom and also to add a misting system.


I have literally just seen her attempt to eat the fake plants that I have on the side of the cage, is this normal?? If so, if I get a couple of hibiscus and ice fiscus, will she eat those?? If so, is that ok??

Sorry about all the questions, but it seems everything I was told by the shop was incorrect.

 

[Jimmy Filth]

I forgot to add, I'm having real trouble with my internet connection and it won't allow me to upload photos'

Also, I'm embaressed by how wrong I got the enclosure wrong, just from what I've been told on here. haha. I'm losing all the substrate, the waterfall and the cork/bark climbing thing. I'll upload pics as soon as possible.

 

[pssh]

Eating plant is normal and eating the hibiscus and ficus (I believe she meant 'nice ficus' not 'ice ficus') would be fine.

 

[WelshOneEmma]

Everyone has different dealings with glass cages. Mine is wood, with vents on both sides, with a glass front. I personally don't have any problems with the glass. Tiff (Miss Lily) also has a glass cage and doesn't have any problems. My dealings with Hugo (so these are only my experiences with this one cham) have been that with enough plants in the cage, he doesn't try to get out of the glass, and will quite happily sit on his branch not far from the glass.

He is also a HUGE plant muncher. I would never have fake plants in his enclosure as he regularly eats his plants. He currently has a hibiscus (which he loves to eat), 3 x ficus and a passionflower in there. The plant bases are covered in large stones so he can't access the soil. You can search the forums for pictures of peoples enclosures to give you ideas.

 

[Miss Lily]

Lily was in the glass cage before Amy. Lily spent her whole life in there and she was very healthy (she produced two very large clutches of infertiles). Both her, and now Amy, like to sit in exactly the same spot and look out the front watching the world go by. Amy never tries to come through the glass front, plus the cage is situated in an alcove so both sides are 'enclosed' by walls. Her climbing branch and plants are situated so that she has a walkway in the middle plus several places to bask and hide without going near the glass sides.

Lily wasn't a leaf muncher, but Amy is - she ate a few 'umbrellas' on her first umbrella plant! These are probably safer than Ficus. The ficus exude white sap when the leaf stalks are damaged. This sap may cause irritation to the cham's eyes. Amy currently has a shefflera and two hibiscus, one of which has the dripper running into it. One problem with a glass cage is the drainage with all the water - with a dripper and misting system you will need to figure out some kind of drainage, or you'll end up with a lake in the bottom of the cage!

 

[laurie]

Don't be too concerned that the pet shop gave you bad information. That is normal as very few petshop know chameleons. Just stay with the forum and you will get ever thing going as it should.

 

[laurie]

Don't be too concerned that the pet shop gave you bad information. That is normal as very few petshop know chameleons. Just stay with the forum and you will get ever thing going as it should.

 

[kinyonga]

You said..."She seems really unsteady on her feet."...does she show any signs of MBD? Are you referring to swaying back and forth as she steps along the branch?

Fake plants...its recommended not to use them with veileds especially as there is a danger of them ingesting parts of them.

As for the glass cage...I have used them (mine either have screen doors or screen doors and lids with the rest of the cage glass). If my chameleons were having problems with their reflections I don't think they would live such long lives.

 

[Jimmy Filth]

I sorted out the new stuff in the enclosure. I added a hygrometer, which i thought was for the best, removed all substrate.

I've got newspaper on the bottom, to make it easier to clean, with two large hibiscus, one small hibiscus and a ficus plant in there. These are in pots with large pebbles covering all the potting soil. I cleaned the plants thoroughly before putting them in the cage. I got another fake vine which I have wrapped around to be a basking spot, about 6 inches below the lamp.

When I said she seems unsteady on her feet, I mean, she walks like a baby that's just learnt to walk. I know she is a baby, but not sure whether to worry. looked up MBD and I don't think it would be that, but I have only been a keeper for 2 weeks....

 

[Vic]

Hi Jimmy instead of mealworms maybe try the odd wax worm when i say odd maybe once a week as some chams start to refuse to eat anything else. I mainly use locust as i cant stand the look or the smell of crickets.

 

[Jimmy Filth]

so, i spend all this bloody money on plants for her, and where does she choose to sleep??? On the wire for the temperature probe.... haha.

I've got rid of the mealworms, they were dying, and have crickets and locusts now, which I have given cabbage leaves and carrot shavings. Should I sprinkle them with the nutrobal now, or just the ones I take out to give her???

 

[Miss Lily]

You mentioned walking like a baby that had just learnt to walk. Amy was a bit like that when I first got her (she was between 12 - 14 wks old). She would walk around and lift her feet up really high when taking a step. I thought it was quite funny and I said on here at the time that it looked like she was walking around wearing wellies that were a few sizes too big, lol! I love the way they 'feel' with their feet before putting them down and taking their next step - always makes me smile! Why don't they just look where they are going?! Lol!

 

[Jimmy Filth]

haha, yeah. A few times I swear she's going to fall off a leaf. She's so delicate with the way she walks, but clumsy at the same time.

I'm a little concerned with how she's going to find her food.

I swear, I'm like an overprotective father. I even had a 'quiet word' with my brother for coming in drunk and talking to her with the door open.