Hello, my name is Leslie, and I am a soon to be chameleon owner

[lefemmemalinroux]

I recently purchased a chameleon from a reptile expo. It was a horrible idea; it was a baby flapnecked housed with adult fischers. Before the day was even through, his eyes were shut and his balance was off. He died in just over 24 hours of purchasing him. I feel horrible, but major lesson learned - idiot taxed paid.

Now, I have a glass tank that is 18" x 12" x 8" with mesh top. Full spectrum light, flourescent bulb (strip light), more types and quantity of moss than I even know, homemade waterfall. Getting UVB bulb this week. Also two non-toxic live plants.

I am usually an internet research pro, but with all the conflicting and even obscure information, I can not find specifics for setting up this type of enclosure for a baby male veiled I will be purchasing on Friday from an actual breeder.

Can I use soil as substrate, or should I keep plants in their pots? If the latter, what would be the best substrate?

Is it okay to feed wild caught insects? If so, what kind?

Can you "overmoss" the habitat? How much is sufficient?

I own a large piece of dried tree lichen, could I place this in there as a basking spot? My husband says it will mold or mildew.

I want to best possible set up for my little guy, and also let me note that this "tank" is temporary to maintain security because he is so small; as he grows, we will move him to the optimal mesh type tank.

I have kept at one point or another various exotics that are considered "difficult". I have a red phase amazon tree boa that others told me "most that young die in two months". I've had him 8, with 3 healthy complete sheds. But that was because the information was easy to find and very little of it conflicting, much unlike internet or even printed literature on chameleons, especially veileds.

Anyone who could answer my questions and help me give this little guy the best chance possible, would be greatly appreciated. I'm heartbroken that I paid a money hungry rep expo vendor (I know that not every vendor is this way) for a critter destined for fatality. With a healthier specimen, and your help, I hope to not see this happen again.

I am your student, teach me!

 

[Rune]

I recently purchased a chameleon from a reptile expo. It was a horrible idea; it was a baby flapnecked housed with adult fischers. Before the day was even through, his eyes were shut and his balance was off. He died in just over 24 hours of purchasing him. I feel horrible, but major lesson learned - idiot taxed paid.

Now, I have a glass tank that is 18" x 12" x 8" with mesh top. Full spectrum light, flourescent bulb (strip light), more types and quantity of moss than I even know, homemade waterfall. Getting UVB bulb this week. Also two non-toxic live plants.

I am usually an internet research pro, but with all the conflicting and even obscure information, I can not find specifics for setting up this type of enclosure for a baby male veiled I will be purchasing on Friday from an actual breeder.

Can I use soil as substrate, or should I keep plants in their pots? If the latter, what would be the best substrate?

Is it okay to feed wild caught insects? If so, what kind?

Can you "overmoss" the habitat? How much is sufficient?

I own a large piece of dried tree lichen, could I place this in there as a basking spot? My husband says it will mold or mildew.

I want to best possible set up for my little guy, and also let me note that this "tank" is temporary to maintain security because he is so small; as he grows, we will move him to the optimal mesh type tank.

I have kept at one point or another various exotics that are considered "difficult". I have a red phase amazon tree boa that others told me "most that young die in two months". I've had him 8, with 3 healthy complete sheds. But that was because the information was easy to find and very little of it conflicting, much unlike internet or even printed literature on chameleons, especially veileds.

Anyone who could answer my questions and help me give this little guy the best chance possible, would be greatly appreciated. I'm heartbroken that I paid a money hungry rep expo vendor (I know that not every vendor is this way) for a critter destined for fatality. With a healthier specimen, and your help, I hope to not see this happen again.

I am your student, teach me!

Hello! I feel sorry for your loss... I have learned that buying a unheatlthy cham, or a cham from a petstore is not a good idea..You can go on lllreptile to get some perfect 40$ veileds!
Alright, so first off... You should not use a glass cage.. Its ok for a while, but you really should change ASAP. Baby chams need a smaller cage than adults. Then when he is a adult, you should change up. I suggest a reptibreeze cage. Its very good. Waterfalls are not good for many reasons.
1. Chams do not drink out of them.
2. Its a good place for bacteria to spawn.
3. Chams easily drown, they cant see water!
So I suggest you dont use it.
For your uvb, please get a reptisun 5.0 tube bulb. I got another uvb bulb and I had to buy the reptisun. Its the best, trust me.
To answer your questions..
Never use substrate. Chams tend to eat it and get impacted and die.. And it can also be a pain to clean out.
Also, If you use soil for a laying bin or your plants, please use organic soil, no fertilizers or anything. It is toxic to chams!
Wild caught insects are a good treat .... But its kind of a gamble. You dont know if the insect ate something bad for chams, or if it has a parasite, ect... But you could catch some small crickets and grasshopers. Just post a pic before you feed it to make sure its not poisonous.
If you have anymore questions feel free to ask!
Oh, and about the moss, you could use a little, but it wont help alot. But again, the cham might eat it. If you want, just a little bit of moss. For humidty, live plants are much better.

 

[mbondy]

Your best substrate is none at all!

Here's a blog for new keepers.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...-keepers-young-veiled-panther-chameleons.html

And here is a list of safe plants.
http://flchams.com/safe_plant_list.asp

Most of us use either a ficus, pothos, hibiscus, or umbrella plant but you can pick and choose what you like!

 

[lefemmemalinroux]

Okay, my literary mistake here, "waterfall" is actually a faster than normal dripper. I call it that because if I was two inches, that would be a waterfall for me, the two plants I have for the set up is a bromeliad and gynura. Glass tank is temporary, only for while it is so small. So should I just leave plants in their pots? I've seen some "vivarium" tanks with a thin, basic layer of organic soil, for the plants, and a thicker layer of spangum moss to cover it? Oh, and the lichen? Is that okay to use? We also have a wonderful blue wild air moss here, could i use that to decoarte as well?

 

[Rune]

Okay, my literary mistake here, "waterfall" is actually a faster than normal dripper. I call it that because if I was two inches, that would be a waterfall for me, the two plants I have for the set up is a bromeliad and gynura. Glass tank is temporary, only for while it is so small. So should I just leave plants in their pots? I've seen some "vivarium" tanks with a thin, basic layer of organic soil, for the plants, and a thicker layer of spangum moss to cover it? Oh, and the lichen? Is that okay to use? We also have a wonderful blue wild air moss here, could i use that to decoarte as well?

If its a dripper, thats fine.
I would leave the plants in the pot, thats what I do. I transfered the soil it was in and used organic soil, the put large river rocks over the top so the cham wont get in. Sadly, cham tanks arent going to be the prettiest thing. If you want, you can put substrate for looks, but put a thin mesh over the top so the cham cant get in. If you want to plant the plants, I guess you could put soil in there and cover it with rocks, but chams need lots of climbing space so make sure It doesnt take up too much space!
The lichen should be ok if it has no fruits on the branch, and if there are leaves, they would just fall of. So it would just be a stick.
Same thing with the moss, limit it and you can use a little.

 

[kinyonga]

Sorry you lost your first chameleon.

What brand and type (compact, spiral, long linear tube, etc.) UVB light do you use?

I keep the temperature in the basking area for hatchlings in the low 80's. Their small bodies can dehydrate, heat and cool faster than the adults. Also keeping them at more moderate temperatures helps to keep their growth a little slower so they will be less likely to get MBD.

I never use substrate (including moss) for a chameleon. Too many of them can lead to impactions that its not even worth the risk.

You said..."Is it okay to feed wild caught insects? If so, what kind?"...you can do this, but be aware that they can carry parasites and you have to be careful that there were no pesticides used in the area where they could have been. There are too many to tell you what would be safe.

You said..."I own a large piece of dried tree lichen, could I place this in there as a basking spot? My husband says it will mold or mildew"...it would be fine as long as it doesn't get moldy or stay wet all the time.

Here's some information that will explain supplements, gutloading and a few other things....
Appropriate cage temperatures aid in digestion and thus play a part indirectly in nutrient absorption.

Exposure to UVB from either direct sunlight or a proper UVB light allows the chameleon to produce D3 so that it can use the calcium in its system to make/keep the bones strong and be used in other systems in the chameleon as well. The UVB should not pass through glass or plastic no matter whether its from the sun or the UVB light. The most often recommended UVB light is the long linear fluorescent Repti-sun 5.0 tube light. Some of the compacts, spirals and tube lights have caused health issues, but so far there have been no bad reports against this one.

A wide variety of insects that have been well fed and gutloaded should be fed to it. At that size you only need to feed it every two or three days. Feed it enough that it doesn't get fat (and, of course, doesn't get thin either).

Since many of the feeder insects we use in captivity have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorus in them, its important to dust the insects just before you feed them to the chameleon at most feedings with a phos.-free calcium powder to help make up for it. (I use Rep-cal phosphorus-free calcium).

If you also dust twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder it will ensure that your chameleon gets some D3 without overdoing it. It leaves the chameleon to produce the rest of what it needs through its exposure to the UVB light. D3 from supplements can build up in the system but D3 produced from exposure to UVB shouldn't as long as the chameleon can move in and out of it. (I use Rep-cal phos.-free calcium/D3).

Dusting twice a month as well with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A will ensure that the chameleon gets some vitamins without the danger of overdosing the vitamin A. PrEformed sources of vitamin A can build up in the system and may prevent the D3 from doing its job and push the chameleon towards MBD. However, there is controversy as to whether all/any chameleons can convert the beta carotene and so some people give some prEformed vitamin A once in a while. (I use herptivite which has beta carotene.)

Gutloading/feeding the insects well helps to provide what the chameleon needs. I gutload crickets, roaches, locusts, superworms, etc. with an assortment of greens (dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, zucchini, etc.)

Calcium, phos., D3 and vitamin A are important players in bone health and other systems in the chameleon (muscles, etc.) and they need to be in balance. When trying to balance them, you need to look at the supplements, what you feed the insects and what you feed the chameleon.

Here are some good sites for you to read too...
http://chameleonnews.com/07FebWheelock.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200605020...Vitamin.A.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200406080...d.Calcium.html
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
http://web.archive.org/web/200601140...ww.adcham.com/
If you can't access the sites above that have the word "archive" in you can do it through the WayBackMachine.

Background information...I've been keeping chameleons for over 20 years now. My veiled females usually live to be 6 or older and the males live even longer.