Going away for 2 weeks

L

Leon911

Member
Hey guys, I'm leaving my adult male veiled chameleon at home while I'm away for 2 weeks. He is in a large enclosure with UVB and heat lamp which go off on a timer every 12 hours. My brother is able to spray him with water but I'm not sure how reliable he will remember. I also plan to leave about 20 - 30 crickets in the cage and make sure the crickets have a potato and vegetables to eat. I've fed him a few calcium/vitamin coated super worms before I leave. Is there anything else I should do before I leave? Has anyone else done this?

Thx guyz
 
I would never leave all those crickets roaming losely in the cage. Even if you are leaving food for them to eat. If you chameleon only ate like 5 or 6 of them that leaves alot of crickets running loose. I would not take the chance of them taking a nip out of your chameleon. Does your brother plan on putting fresh vegetables in there for the 2 weeks? Even so, I still would not do it. What about dusting the feeders? that also seems like a low amount of feeders.
 
why cant your brother feed him as well?

id leave the crickets in a small bucket with a vine that goes inside, if you were planning on letting them wander the whole enclosure.

id also leave a lot more than 30 in there for 2 weeks.

*edit*

carol got her post in first so im gonna add, in ref to her comment.

if they've been getting fresh veggies and gutload up till now 2 weeks without it isnt going to hurt, neither is a lack of calcium.

the only thing i would be concerned about is the frequency with which he will be eatting. i think you really should force your brother into feeding them at the bare minimum a week in.

otherwise all i see working is a bucket like i said.

my veileds used to easily put down 15 a day (if i let them) so 30 just seems low for 2 weeks. if you only feed him 30 every 2 weeks already and thats normal for him its less of an issue, but im thinking given the opportunity he will decimate the 30 in a couple days

if your basking temp is around 95f i would drop it 5 or 10 degrees if hes going to get so little food, it will effectively slow his metabolism and he wont be processing food as quickly as normal.

**extra edit**

haha and as far as doing this before there were a couple of occasions that didnt go so well

i had the neighbor kid come over and feed them, he had a frog so he was cool with all the crickets, and i had an automated misting system, so that took care of that. it was right after i got my pair of werneri so i was stressed the hell out becuase of that but otherwise i was pretty content leaving them.

the only problems i had was he lost one of my female panthers for a couple days (who i later found on top of a heater vent)

and he sliced up all my gallon jugs with a katana he found in my house. but i let that slide since he was only like 11 at the time.

the other time i went to the beach for a week and my brother was watching them, i had half of my collection outdoors. midway through the week an apparently huge storm comes in and he had to stand outside in the rain trying to batten down and hold up like 6 or 8 cages in the middle of this storm.

ahah i remember comming home and half of them were deformed and a couple were being held down by fairly large rocks and logs.

anyways so then it takes him like 2 more days to realize or admit, one of my male panthers had escaped. and then later that day a neighbor of mine a few streets away, old hippie dude that is legally blind, called him up (he knew his number becuase he repaired his guitar) and told him he caught his bothers lizard. being completely oblivious to the fact that i had lost one and having only know i owned lizards because he saw me "walking my alligator" (savannah monitor btw)

the panther was apparently walking along the power lines disappeared into his trees and the miraculously reappeared on his fence. so he snatched it up and threw it in a bucket. i am DAMN lucky that guy found him, pretty good at spotting chameleons for a blind guy.
 
Not a permanent solution, but I have used this for 3-day trips...I don't know about 2 weeks though...


What I do is use a tub that can house a larger number of crickets (purposely more than they should eat just incase, but I also go DOWN a size as well to help with escapees from the container) with dry food and water gel in there. make sure the tub is deep enough that the crickets CAN NOT GET OUT. place sticks across the top for easy hunting

Also, the chameleons will fall into the tub on occasion. I use a tub with approx 6" depth and no eggcrate or anything in it. The crickets typically can not get out (one does every now and then but rarely) and if a cham falls in, they can pull themselves out.



BUT! make sure you do *NOT* mist into this tub or your crickets will drown real fast.


EDIT: I agree with others that 30 crickets for 2 weeks seems very low.... adults will eat 5 per day pretty easy, if not more
 
Normally what I do is hand feed him a super worm or two every day. He doesn't seem to eat much more then that and sometimes won't eat for a day. So what I will do is put crickets in a tube I guess and he can crawl on the screen to get them. Last time I had superworms in a tube he didn't seem to eat them, instead he knocked the tube over and some of the worms metamorphosed into beetles.
 
Ask your brother to assist you reliably for the 2 weeks you are gone. If not him, someone else. Even pay someone to assist. That is the solution for 2 WEEKS.
 
Yeah looks like I'll have to do that.. it's just that hes not very reliable. What instructions should I give him, should I feed him crickets or worms.. Also, what if I just told him to release 2 or 3 crickets from the container a day if he doesn't see them in the cage?
 
I believe an adult male veiled should be eating more than a few superworms a day.
I would feed crickets.
I would not leave a chameleon unnattended for a few weeks, without someone reliable to care for it.
Many feeding cups with screen bottoms could be placed in the cage.
If your brother isnt reliable enough to feed him, then what makes you think he is going to mist your cham 2-3 times a day?
Is there anyone else who might be able to care for him?
 
Leon911 said:
Normally what I do is hand feed him a super worm or two every day. He doesn't seem to eat much more then that and sometimes won't eat for a day. So what I will do is put crickets in a tube I guess and he can crawl on the screen to get them. Last time I had superworms in a tube he didn't seem to eat them, instead he knocked the tube over and some of the worms metamorphosed into beetles.
Click to expand...

You are feeding him ONLY mealworms? This is a problem in itself; mealworms are not very nutritious...you should try implementing crickets into his regular diet.


I agree with Solid Snake; if you can't rely on your brother to properly care for him, then you shouldn't rely on him at all.
 
where do you live? You could always see if a reliable chameleonforums member will watch him for you. Especially for 2 weeks I would never risk it.
 
Solid Snake said:
I believe an adult male veiled should be eating more than a few superworms a day.
I would feed crickets.
I would not leave a chameleon unnattended for a few weeks, without someone reliable to care for it.
Many feeding cups with screen bottoms could be placed in the cage.
If your brother isnt reliable enough to feed him, then what makes you think he is going to mist your cham 2-3 times a day?
Is there anyone else who might be able to care for him?
Click to expand...

What's the screen bottom in the feeding cups for?? is it for "drainage"?
 
Pet Supplies Plus in my area sells crickets in a box that has a small door built into it and the box also has food/water built into it. I have used them when I travel for other reptiles. Makes caring for herpes easy buy people who don't normally take care of pets like these. I would make it easier for your brother maybe.
 
I'm in Toronto Ontario if anyone is willing to help me out. I thought about taking him to a pet store but I'm pretty sure he'd be worse off there.

I don't feed him mealworms, I rotate with Superworms and crickets. His cage is really big so I can't always observe him eating crickets but when I hand feed him super worms I know that he has eaten.
 
Leon, can you put together a few "feeder cups"...use deli cups (or other washed plastic containers) poke lots of holes, top and sides for ventilation and put 10 crickets with food and gel water*. Make 3 or 4 and have your brother just dump the whole thing into the cage. You'll need to retrieve the gel water when you get home. That way, he doesn't have to handle them at all.

If it were me, I'd call him a lot. Particularly on days you want him to feed the chameleons. I would stay on the phone and not get off until he'd done it.

*note, I would have said use a piece of apple or something like that, but when your talking 2 weeks, bad things can happen to cut fruit. If he's good enough, you could use fruit or a wet veggie for 2 cups and water gel for the others
 
Elizadolots said:
Leon, can you put together a few "feeder cups"...use deli cups (or other washed plastic containers) poke lots of holes, top and sides for ventilation and put 10 crickets with food and gel water*. Make 3 or 4 and have your brother just dump the whole thing into the cage. You'll need to retrieve the gel water when you get home. That way, he doesn't have to handle them at all.

If it were me, I'd call him a lot. Particularly on days you want him to feed the chameleons. I would stay on the phone and not get off until he'd done it.

*note, I would have said use a piece of apple or something like that, but when your talking 2 weeks, bad things can happen to cut fruit. If he's good enough, you could use fruit or a wet veggie for 2 cups and water gel for the others
Click to expand...

I like the pre package cricket idea. Write the date on each top so he knows when to put it in the cage.
 
Ok good ideas, I'll do that. Thanks.

Do you think I'm feeding my chameleon too many super worms? Most of you use crickets as the staple food right?
 
I think I stole that idea from Carlton...

I know I stole it from someone here.

There's a lot of dispute on whether supers are good staples or not. Crickets seem the most accepted.

For your vacation, do what it is easiest.
 
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