First Chameleon

[KathrynD]

Hello all,
I recently fell in love with a Senegal Chameleon at my local pet store, but as much as I wanted to buy him I went home without him and have been reading everything about Chams and especially Senegals for about 3 weeks now.

I have a few questions I'd like to get your opinion on:

I'm worried about how I will keep a screen enclosure at the humidity and temperature a chameleon needs. I'm thinking all the heat and moisture will be lost through the screen. Does anyone have experience with or thoughts about the exo terra glass enclosures that have ventilation holes a few inches off the bottom and a screen top? Do you think that would be enough airflow for a Senegal? How difficult or easy has it been for you to keep a screen enclosure at a consistent humidity and temp?

Also, when you ARE able to maintain high heat and humidity how in the *world* do you control mold growth if you have potted plants in there?

Another concern I have is with the required lamps. I know the recommened bulb is the reptisun 5 or 10.0, but I read they do not emit heat so another heat bulb is required. I've also heard of a mercury vapor bulb that emits uva, uvb AND heat, and am wondering why those aren't more popular? What drawbacks are there to using the mercury vapors? And if you do go the route of having two lamps, one for uva/uvb and another for heat then what is the best set up/positioning for them? Just have them both sit on top of the cage? If anyone can post pictures that would be great. Figuring out the mechanics of how to set up the habitat is my biggest challenge right now.

One last issue is the sociability of chameleons. The Senegal in the pet store would actually paw at the glass when we went over to him (no, he didn't do that all the time, most of the time he didn't do it at all) as if he wanted to be held. When an employee opened his cage his climbed right onto her hand and just seemed delighted to crawl up and down her (and then my own) arm. There are many videos online that depict chameleons behaving in this way too, they just seem to enjoy climbing all over people. In one video I saw a chameleon was displaying its darker "stressed-out/scared" colors, but went lighter when the owner reached for it. My question then, is why do chams have such a reputation of "not tolerating being handled"? I did read one source that said the oils or any products on our skins can harm them (which does make sense), but most sources claim it just stresses them out too much. The cham I interacted with and many others seem to love exploring a human, so why the discrepancy?

Thanks so much for your replies!

 

[Pilotman800]

Hello all,
I recently fell in love with a Senegal Chameleon at my local pet store, but as much as I wanted to buy him I went home without him and have been reading everything about Chams and especially Senegals for about 3 weeks now.

I have a few questions I'd like to get your opinion on:

I'm worried about how I will keep a screen enclosure at the humidity and temperature a chameleon needs. I'm thinking all the heat and moisture will be lost through the screen. Does anyone have experience with or thoughts about the exo terra glass enclosures that have ventilation holes a few inches off the bottom and a screen top? I would personally go for a screen enclosure if its your first chameleon. Glass enclosures should be used by experienced keepers imo. Do you think that would be enough airflow for a Senegal? How difficult or easy has it been for you to keep a screen enclosure at a consistent humidity and temp? For me, it hasn't been that hard. You should have a lot of live plants and mist daily to keep the humidity level constant. I use pothos and ficus.

Also, when you ARE able to maintain high heat and humidity how in the *world* do you control mold growth if you have potted plants in there? I would think just cleaning out the cage whenever necessary would be enough to prevent mold from growing. And if you have a screen enclosure, I would think it would take longer for mold to grow because there is constant airflow, as compared to a glass tank where its more humid and the air is still. Don't quote me on that though, haha.

Another concern I have is with the required lamps. I know the recommened bulb is the reptisun 5 or 10.0, but I read they do not emit heat so another heat bulb is required. I've also heard of a mercury vapor bulb that emits uva, uvb AND heat, and am wondering why those aren't more popular? What drawbacks are there to using the mercury vapors? And if you do go the route of having two lamps, one for uva/uvb and another for heat then what is the best set up/positioning for them? Just have them both sit on top of the cage? If anyone can post pictures that would be great. Figuring out the mechanics of how to set up the habitat is my biggest challenge right now.
I can't answer your questions about the mercury vapor bulb, but your basking light should be 6 inches above your highest point of the plant. As for the reptisun, I place that on the top. I also recommend using a reptisun 5.0, not 10.0. 10.0 is too strong.

One last issue is the sociability of chameleons. The Senegal in the pet store would actually paw at the glass when we went over to him (no, he didn't do that all the time, most of the time he didn't do it at all) as if he wanted to be held. When an employee opened his cage his climbed right onto her hand and just seemed delighted to crawl up and down her (and then my own) arm. There are many videos online that depict chameleons behaving in this way too, they just seem to enjoy climbing all over people. In one video I saw a chameleon was displaying its darker "stressed-out/scared" colors, but went lighter when the owner reached for it. My question then, is why do chams have such a reputation of "not tolerating being handled"? I did read one source that said the oils or any products on our skins can harm them (which does make sense), but most sources claim it just stresses them out too much. The cham I interacted with and many others seem to love exploring a human, so why the discrepancy?
Well, it really just depends on the chameleon. Like us humans, they have different personalities. There are some things you can do to try and "tame" your chameleon, like hand feeding them, taking them out for sun, etc, but don't be surprised if it doesn't work. Some chameleons are just naturally... Well... Mean.


Thanks so much for your replies!

Answers are in red.

 

[DavidBuchan]

Hello, and welcome to the forum . That's an action-packed first post, and I've never kept a Senegal before, so I'm limited use to you. For humidity you can get away with letting the enclosure dry out between mistings, if you have two or three good sessions a day - dry time also helps keep any mould away.
Live plants help with keeping humidity up too of course.............
I'm not 100% sure why the mv bulbs are not more popular - maybe because they are so powerful you need a pretty big enclosure to pull it off.
There's no issue at all with oils or products (unless you got some crazy beauty products....). Chameleons are by nature solitary and nervous animals. All of them are, even the ones that are most friendly will spook sometimes and 'fire up' their colours. Some Chameleons are treat with love and kindness all their lives and still try to bite the hand that feeds them...... Just about all of them are in the middle ground and will tolerate a bit of handling when there's food or a misting session in it for them, but too much handling can still be stressful..........it's a balancing act that depends on the Chameleon itself, really.