He finnally arrived!

[m1ndless]

He finnally arrived! Meet Reptar/Godzilla

Here is Reptar/Godzilla (torn between names)!

He got here at 9am this morning, when I first put him in there, he explored for a little bit, and then crawled on my temp guage wire and I snaped this with my cell phone.

He arrived safley, I ordered from FL Chams, he was packaged very niceley, and was VERY bright green after I got him in the enclosure.

After I got him I ran to PetsMart and got about 50 crix, my order from lll reptile is not going to be here til tomorrow, so I put about 10 in a cup for him, and put about 6 to free roam, but I have yet to see him eat, and I am leaving for work, so I hope once he gets comfortable in his cage, he will eat.

I have a basking spot of ~76-78 for him, and the ambient temp is 68-70. Humidity changed between 100% when misting, to 50% about an hour after I mised. The fake plants retained no water droplets after about 20 minutes, but my real plants held water all morning.

Since about 2 hours ago, he crawled down into a really dense area, and is hanging up side down and appears to be just hanging out, eyes open watching me closeley, I think he was watching the crix crawling around the bottom, hopefully he eats! I told my roomate to check on him hourly to make sure he is doin alright, since I wont be home til 9pm tonight.

Here he is!!

 

[Chuck G]

Go with Reptar!
Congrats and good luck with him.

 

[m1ndless]

I have been leaning towards Reptar alot more than Godzilla.

Is it okay that he went and hit? Is he just adjusting to his new enviorment? He went to that spot at like 11 this morning, and when I left at abouy 1:50pm today he was still chillin there, he moved a little, and his eyes are very active lookin around.

 

[nash]

Yeah he is fine. Just hiding probably.

 

[Kevin1873]

How old is he 4 months?

 

[m1ndless]

Thanks, if he does not move by tonight, should i be worried?

How old is he 4 months?

I was told he is just about 3 months old. His body is about 2-3" and he is like 5-6" with the tail, really really small.

 

[spatulars]

Reptar is pretty awesome, but if you named him Godzilla, when he gets older you can take pictures of him terrorizing and stomping on army men and stuff. Gojira is Japanese Godzilla.

 

[m1ndless]

That is exactly what I was thinking!

Does he look healthy? I noticed when he saw me putting in crix, he got a little darker, is that normal? Did he get into hunt mode? As far as I know, he hasnt eaten yet, unless he is doing it silently.

 

[joefarah]

No worries man...

just let him settle in for a few days.

Don't harrass him too much and stress him out.

If you really want some advice, show us pics of your setup

 

[spatulars]

I think he's good! He might be thirsty if he hasn't had anything to drink yet, that's the only thing he would really need after arriving. Right now he's probably just like "hmm... where am i? what's this? what's that? i better be careful." but he'll remember that he's hungry and learn that he can chill without getting eaten in the cage, so he'll be fine.

 

[SuperRad]

That is exactly what I was thinking!

Does he look healthy? I noticed when he saw me putting in crix, he got a little darker, is that normal? Did he get into hunt mode? As far as I know, he hasnt eaten yet, unless he is doing it silently.

My male veiled will not eat if i am around. He will wait till i am out of sight. My female will start eating the crickets that are being poured out of the container into her cup. So it just depends on the chameleons personality. Hey m1ndless, there is a place in tempe called pets inc. They sell dubia roaches a dozen for 2 dollars. It's a good price considering how much they sell online. You should go get a couple of them for your cham.

You are an excellent example of a chameleon keeper. You've done tons of research and asked lots of questions before ever getting a cham rather than letting it be an impulse buy. I want to congratulate you on that, and congratulate you on your first cham.

JV

 

[m1ndless]

I misted 3 times, the water seemed to dry up quickly, and the humuidity would drop to 35%, is that normal? Should I mist more often or what? I think AZ is toooo dry.

 

[m1ndless]

My male veiled will not eat if i am around. He will wait till i am out of sight. My female will start eating the crickets that are being poured out of the container into her cup. So it just depends on the chameleons personality. Hey m1ndless, there is a place in tempe called pets inc. They sell dubia roaches a dozen for 2 dollars. It's a good price considering how much they sell online. You should go get a couple of them for your cham.

You are an excellent example of a chameleon keeper. You've done tons of research and asked lots of questions before ever getting a cham rather than letting it be an impulse buy. I want to congratulate you on that, and congratulate you on your first cham.

JV

Thank you very much for the info, and the compliment!

That is a good price, are they like forzen alive or dead? I want to get some to breed so I can save money on food.

I live way up in N. Phoenix, but if I can make it to tempe I will get some roaches, thanks for the advice!

Is it safe to keep my crix out in my storage shed at night? It gets to like 45 at night here, will the cirx die? Maybe ill set up a heat lamp in there or something

 

[joefarah]

I misted 3 times, the water seemed to dry up quickly, and the humuidity would drop to 35%, is that normal? Should I mist more often or what? I think AZ is toooo dry.

Veileds are a desert species and don't need high humidity, just enough water to drink and keep hydrated.

 

[m1ndless]

Alright, so it it gets down to 30-40% humitidy, that is fine? The water droplets seem to stick to the sides and live plant, and stayed there for a good time, ill just make sure to mist often, and let it dry out completly between mistings.

 

[SuperRad]

Right, i mist 3 times a day and run a constant slow dripper. I leave my crickets and Dubias in the garage with no problem. They seem to get by with the coldness and only minor death. The dubias on the other hand can't take cold temps like that, so i have them in a big rubbermaid container as well, but i have a standard heat pad under them set to a timer to turn on 45 minutes, and off for 30 throughout the day. they seem to do fine with that.
At pets inc they will not sell you male adults, but they will sell you female adults. So you'd have to wait for the babies to reach adulthood which is around 3 months or so. But you can always buy a bunch of adult females from pets inc. and then order from blapticadubia.com a mixed batch, and order some breeding pairs, you can request to have all males instead of a male and female breeder. for 50 mixed sizes and 4 adult pairs your looking at 35 bucks or so in total including shipping.

Oh and they are alive

 

[joefarah]

....ill just make sure to mist often, and let it dry out completly between mistings.

I might get jumped on for this, but I wouldn't mist very often. If you use some type of drip system he will be able to drink at his leisure and will not need much misting. If you put the dripper so that the water dropletts fall onto leaves and branches, he will drink off them. I don't think he will benefit much from being misted often, and my veileds always seemed to get a bit stressed when I blasted them with the spray bottle. It helps during shedding though...

 

[m1ndless]

The frozen ones are alive?

I can keep the roaches with a heating pad, that will work.

I am going to get a dripper soon, I am just trying to figure out how I can set it up without my cham being able to get in, I need some screen to put over the top.

For the cricket tub, I got a big rubbermaid tub, and drilled like 50 holes in the top with a small drill bit, is that enough air for them?

 

[SuperRad]

The frozen ones are alive?

I can keep the roaches with a heating pad, that will work.

I am going to get a dripper soon, I am just trying to figure out how I can set it up without my cham being able to get in, I need some screen to put over the top.

For the cricket tub, I got a big rubbermaid tub, and drilled like 50 holes in the top with a small drill bit, is that enough air for them?

No they are not frozen at all. They breed them there at pets inc.
The holes should be enough, i cut out a hole on top of my rubbermaid and hot glued some screen to it. I have a video of my cricket tub on http://www.keepingchameleons.com/diy.html under cricket keeper.

 

[dodolah]

I misted 3 times, the water seemed to dry up quickly, and the humuidity would drop to 35%, is that normal? Should I mist more often or what? I think AZ is toooo dry.

Veileds are a desert species and don't need high humidity, just enough water to drink and keep hydrated.

while i do agree that veiled can withstand extreme humidities and temperature, i disagree with letting the humidity drops below 40% for his sake (35% is a still acceptable. But, I would not let the humidity drops to this too often).

C.Calyptratus live in a coastal plain that rise steep into mountainous regions up to 12,000 feet. When red sea evaporates the condensation moves upward to these regions causing the place to have high humidity. The idea that Yemen is dry and arid is a common misconception.

Just because they can withstand the extremes, does not mean that we have to let them endure the extremeties in captivity.

Depending on your area, mindless. You will need to assess whether you need to mist more or less (or adding more live plants).
Since you did say that your area is too dry, misting more might not hurt you in the long process.
as long as you let the enclosure to dry up in between misting.
My room can be extremely dry during winter. It can drop all the way to 15%.
Therefore, i mist 4 times a day (5 minutes per misting).
I used to follow the "normal" misting procedures (2 times, 30 seconds). And, I immediately get a dehydrated chameleon within 3 days.

Just keep in mind, to never let the humidity drops lower than 40% (no higher than 70%)
and make sure the urate is white and the eyes are not sunken at all.
Some chameleons drink during misting session (like mine) and some are leaves lapper.
Adjust your misting and watering method base on your chameleon's behavior.