First time posting, just gonna lay it all out there...

I feel like I should start by saying:
Hi, my name is Shannon, and I have fallen victim to my impulse shopping and the chameleon kit :rolleyes:(y)


Chameleon Info:
  • Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? I have 2 female veiled chams, Blanche and Rose. I believe they are 4ish months old. I should have asked, but didn't. I have had them for about 4 weeks.
  • Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? I Only have to move them from Viv to Viv at this point.
  • Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? They get crickets everyday. I have also tried black fly larvae, hornworms, and I just got the silkworms that I ordered yesterday for them to try. They both eat the crickets right up. I've only gotten Rose to eat 1 hornworms. Blanche digs the black fly larvae, but rose hasn't gone for any. And I'm not sure on the silkworms yet. The crickets are gutloaded with repashy bug burger and random veggies and fruits.
  • Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? The crickets are dusted with repashy supercal nod daily and I have given them herptivite every other week. I just got exoterra calcium w/d3 last week, so I gave it to them for the first time then.
  • Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? I have had a mistking set up for about 2 weeks now. I mist 3 times a day, first thing in the morning for 3 minutes, for 5 minutes in the afternoon, and then for 3 minutes a couple hours before the lights go off. I have seen both of them drink at times.
  • Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? Blanche has brown poop with white urates. Right now rose's urates are a bit more yellow.
  • History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. I got them from DBD pets at a recent reptile expo in my area.

Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? Started off with both of them in the dreaded chameleon kit cage, because I'm the worst kind of impulse shopper, and why wouldn't I go for the 2 for $70 deal, they definitely need a buddy .... After getting home and jumping online to give myself a crash course in chameleon husbandry, I realized that I was super super ill prepared. And then I proceeded to Amazon and started ordering like a mad woman, to my fiance and ups drivers dismay. I ordered a screen exoterra 36x18x36 terrerium, hoping that that would be big enough for me to still be able to house them together. That lasted a few days before I realized what a biatch Blanche is and knew that I had to move poor sweet rose into her own space. Sooooo, back on Amazon I ordered the zoo med 24x24x48 for her. Got it a few days later and it came with bent frames to the sides and a gash in the screen on one of the side panels. So I got a replacement a few days later and set it up as quickly as I could with lighting and plants so I could move her in. They have been in their separate areas for 6 days now.
  • Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? Both have t5ho 5% linear bulbs that run the length of the vivs. Blanche has a zoo med and Rose has a sunblaster. They both have basking areas with 75w bulbs and sepearte plant light bulbs on each Viv as well. The lights are on a 12/12 schedule from 7a to 7p.
  • Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? Basking areas are 80ish throughout the day and the cave floor is generally in the 70-75 range. At night my house generally stays around 68-70. I just got a set of digital thermometer/hygrometer and I'm not really convinced on their accuracy right now. But those are the numbers in Blanche's Viv with the disc combo I have, and the zoo med digital thermometer with probe that are in there.
  • Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? The disc combo I have in blanche's Viv read generally between 50-60%. The new digital ones I have range from upper 30's near basking to 50ish near bottom. I put plastic on the back of my vivs to save my walls and try to help maintain the humidity better. I also have live plants in both vivs.
  • Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? Yes, both have a schefflera, croton, and hibiscus. Rose also has a fake aquarium plant I had gotten for the little baby Viv initially.
  • Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? Both cages are in a back room in my house where my 9 year old beardie lives. Not really high traffic, though their room is off of my mudroom which is high traffic. Both cages are about 6' off the floor.
  • Location - Where are you geographically located? I am in upstate, NY.

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about. I am a bit concerned right now with rose. She hasn't been eating or drinking as much as she should. I have noticed her rubbing her eyes, not sure if that means she will be going through shed or there is a bigger prob there. I don't know if she is just stressed because of living with Blanche and the moving around or if I should be more worried. And I'm Hella stressed about getting lay bins set up for them. I don't know if it's worth getting the chameleon kit set up as a perma lay bin or if moving them during that time would cause more stress than it's worth. And if I'm doing the lay bins in their vivs, their plants take up quite a bit of floor space, so should I move a plant out of the Viv to make room for one or just try and move them around enough to squeeze one in?

1st Pic is their setup now. 2nd is Blanche. 3rd is Rose.
 

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She hasn't been eating or drinking as much as she should
She should be settling in at the 6 day mark but that doesn’t mean it’s panic time, but your correct on identifying it as something to keep an eye on. How much is she currently eating/drinking?

And I'm Hella stressed about getting lay bins set up for them.
Bins are super simple, but you have plenty of time. Let’s focus on husbandry first.

if possible ALWAYS have the lay bin as a permanent part of her viv. This allows her to lay when she’s ready and eliminates the guess work of you trying to figure out when she’s ready.

And if I'm doing the lay bins in their vivs, their plants take up quite a bit of floor space, so should I move a plant out of the Viv to make room for one or just try and move them around enough to squeeze one in?
Put in some elevated planters so the pots are up off the floor, or look into dragon ledges.

Also listen to the chameleon breeder podcast, great easy to understand resource!
 
She should be settling in at the 6 day mark but that doesn’t mean it’s panic time, but your correct on identifying it as something to keep an eye on. How much is she currently eating/drinking?


Bins are super simple, but you have plenty of time. Let’s focus on husbandry first.

if possible ALWAYS have the lay bin as a permanent part of her viv. This allows her to lay when she’s ready and eliminates the guess work of you trying to figure out when she’s ready.


Put in some elevated planters so the pots are up off the floor, or look into dragon ledges.

Also listen to the chameleon breeder podcast, great easy to understand resource!


She hasn't eaten out of the food bowl at all since she's been in her own Viv, but she's eaten crickets that have gotten out of there, so I just put them in her Viv today and she ate like 4 so far that I have seen. Granted, I have a 4 and 1 year old, so I haven't been out here all day, so she could have eaten more.

I think I will try to make the bins permanent so I don't lose my mind worrying about when the time will be.

I haven't had a chance to listen to any of the podcasts, yet, but I have looked through the site to check it out. I will definitely listen start listening to some soon.
 
Just realized I didn't answer the drinking part. I have not actually seen her drink since she's been on her own. I do use a home made dripper on top of her cage as well because she always went right for that before. It's what I used when I first brought them home, before I got the mist king.
 
I always get a lot better of a feeding response from my juveniles by just releasing them into the viv so the Cham can do what they were built to do, hunt!

Let som of your BSFL pupate into adulthood and release a few into her viv every day. Flying prey will produce the strongest feeding response hands down.
So she is eating, she’ll settle in and you should see an uptake over the next few days. Horn and silk worms are excellent for hydration too.

Maintain the dropper and mister. Next time she poop post a pic.
 
Brody said it all, but welcome to the forums! Let me parrot Brody here by saying how wonderful it is to have someone new fill out the form right off the get go, and come looking for help with such a great attitude! Welcome, welcome, welcome!
 
Let som of your BSFL pupate into adulthood and release a few into her viv every day
Maintain the dropper and mister. Next time she poop post a pic.

Will do!

Brody said it all, but welcome to the forums! Let me parrot Brody here by saying how wonderful it is to have someone new fill out the form right off the get go, and come looking for help with such a great attitude! Welcome, welcome, welcome!

Thank you both for the welcome! After creeping on a ton of threads throughout the site for the past 4 weeks, I figured I would just save everyone the hassle of telling me to fill it out, haha
 
I'll parrot everyone here and tell you welcome. Also, I love the names of your little girls (though with those names, you just KNEW Blanche would bully Rose, didn't you?) :ROFLMAO: You are in good hands, and getting a great start on things. Follow this advice and listen to the podcast and we're always happy to help with any questions. The only other thing I'd mention is to add more horizontal branches at lower levels in the cages, but you're doing a great job so far!
 
Haha, thank you both for the welcome! Their names are definitely fitting, lol... I will be adding more branches and I just got a couple more vines to put in, too. I just wanted to figure out what to do with my lay bins before I make it too difficult to maneuver around in! I haven't had a chance to listen to a podcast, yet, but hopefully I'll be able to start one tonight after the kiddos go to bed!
 
The podcasts are all kid-friendly so you could have them playing in the car while driving without any worry of the little ones hearing things they shouldn't! Plus, Bill does show notes so if you are driving and can't write something down you are able check it out later.
 
Thank you! I was actually listening to the naturalistic hydration one on my way into work today!

I was also able to get a decent picture of rose's poop this morning before I left for the day. Any feedback is appreciated!
 

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Still the same I would say. She runs from me any time I go in her cage to give her food or clean up a bit, but I have seen her eat the crickets roaming around. And her poop still looks the same. I got her to eat a couple silkworms the other day from a dish, but while she was grabbing one she also pulled up a little guy that was attached by a thread and she freaked a bit trying to get that thread away from her mouth and now she hasn't eaten silkies since then :confused: Blanche is doing good. Has been eating from my hands with no issue. I have noticed a couple times that she would wander down to the bottom of her hibiscus and grab at stuff with her tongue around the rocks. She doesn't usually have food running around her cage because she eats it right up from the bowl. I have given her a bit more food when I see her do this and she eats that right up too. So I'm not sure if she's just still hungry and looking for food or if that is cause for concern?Or maybe I need to up the size or amount of crickets I give her? She eats bsfl and silkworms on the daily as well.
 
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