Help please, Jackson (xanth) might be sick fell asleep during the day :(

[Sterlingcham]

i am aware of fecal tests and what they are for thank you as for the mucous and what not about RI's i did not know that and i just looked at him and he hissed at me a lil when i put my hand in the cage so i got a good look at the inside of his mouth and it looks cleaner then mine hahah and no sign of any discoloration or mucous membrane anywhere

 

[xanthoman]

the lazer only indicates where the gun is pointed, it does not affect the reading or accuracy in any way, do you know the d/s ratio of your gun?, if not, then you cant tell what you are measuring regardless of the quality or d/s ratio of your gun. heat guns are great for some things but terrible at things like a cage environment.

your gun projects a cone of ir energy, at the end of that cone is a circle, the size of that circle is determined by the distance at which it is used, in combination with the d/s ratio. everything that can be seen in that circle is being measured and averaged, this includes your cham, your branches, even the screen or glass of your cage, it likely even includes readings from outside your cage. its measuring everything it sees and averaging it out.

ir temp guns only measure reflected ir energy of solid surface objects. air is not a solid surface object and does not reflect ir energy, therefore when you use a ir temp gun regardless of cost or quality or d/s ratio, you are measuring everything except the air, which is the thing you need to measure most.

if you dont know your d/s ratio or understand what it is, you can not accurately use your temp gun, even if you do , your temp gun does not measure air temp, it only averages the temp readings of all solid surface objects that can be seen within the circle of your d/s ratio.

waxworms are almost 1/4 fat, more fat than protein, combined with an astronomically high phosphorus ratio, imo make them one of the worst offering for any cham but especially a montane.

phoenix worms (or bsfl) are one of the best things you can feed your cham (in moderation). they contain high levels of lauric acid, which is believed to discourage many pathogens, including coccidia. that being said, its important to keep in mind that no single feeder should make up more than 40% of the overall diet and cricks arent a good choice for that.

also, even though they are a nutritionally balanced feeder, bsfl have a tough rubbery outer skin that is hard to digest. a common practice is to nip each one in the side with a pair of nail clippers, so that the digestive juices of your cham have a place to get started on. jmo

 

[Sterlingcham]

The heat gun doesn't measure just temperature my friend it the heat gun measures Heat signatures and displays the temp of those signatures in infrared display along with a accurate readout of all of its cage area and serroundings being most accurate at 20inches away from where your beaming from. Of course with no fans blowing or an air disruption such as humidifier on at that point while checking temp for the most accurate reading along with the digital and analog hygro and therms I have in the cage that read at about the same temp as my gun sept a bit lower then what my gun read out at. I am just wondering if his basking spot should be a lil hotter since its only 75-78 degree F ?

 

[xanthoman]

20 inches away, really, whats the d/s ratio of your gun and how large of an area are you trying to measure ? that would be really interesting to know.

doesnt matter how fancy of a display, its still measuring in the same way. even expensive ir temp guns come in a multitude of ds ratios for various purposes.
just being an expensive or fancy gun, does not neccessarily make it well suited for cham husbandry.
imo, you are not trying to measure your entire environment all at once, all that means is that you dont have a specific measurement of any specific temp or area. what you also dont have is air temp, because air does not reflect ir energy and therefore cannot be read or seen by an ir gun, ir guns do not measure ambient air temp, no matter what the display.

imo max uva basking temp should be absolute max of 84 as measured by the remote sender of your digital therm in the sweet spot of your uva basking area.
based on several variables, this usually translates into a 40w incandescent bulb(specific bulb type and reflector type being 2 of them)at about 10-14" in a typical wider beam reptile reflector, meaning not the smaller, narrow skinny ones, which i have never used so i cant really say what good distances for them are, if i had to guess i would say about 16-18"

imo, ideally, uva basking sweet spot 82*

upper cage 74-78*

mid to lower cage 70-74*, you dont want to get it too cold because you are still trying to provide at least a 10*-12* drop (from your lowest cage temps) for nitetime heat drop. imo, nite heat not usually recommended. jmo.

 

[Sterlingcham]

Thank u very much for your input you are a very good source for Jackson xanth husbandry also I would like add that I can assure u I am using all the eat temp equipment properly and that I obviously need to heat up my basking spot because it I only reaching 76-78 at its highest but that is not bad so until i find a way to perfectly replicate this i will be in touch and be roaming the boards along with another question I want to ask is I have another Cham veiled he is about 6-6 1/2 months old so is it proper I put him in a larger cage because I want to build a 20"-20"-48" all screen and wood cage would that be a proper size for that old ??

 

[xanthoman]

hopefully you are measuring your uva basking with a thermocouple(sender of a digital therm). remember your temp gun does not directly measure air temp.

for some reason you seem reluctant to disclose the specific model of gun or its d/s ratio. 20" is a really interesting figure, if your temp gun were to have a 1:1 d/s ratio, then that means you would be measuring a circle at least 20" wide, even then thats still not directly measuring ambient air temp. jmo

 

[Sterlingcham]

I'm reluctant because I don't want to go get it out of my tool box to tell u exact d/s ratio I believe it's 10:1 though I'm not sure

 

[xanthoman]

Thank u very much for your input you are a very good source for Jackson xanth husbandry also I would like add that I can assure u I am using all the eat temp equipment properly and that I obviously need to heat up my basking spot because it I only reaching 76-78 at its highest but that is not bad so until i find a way to perfectly replicate this i will be in touch and be roaming the boards along with another question I want to ask is I have another Cham veiled he is about 6-6 1/2 months old so is it proper I put him in a larger cage because I want to build a 20"-20"-48" all screen and wood cage would that be a proper size for that old ??

imo, thats an acceptable size for an adolescent veiled. a word on home built cages. they should be designed thoughtfully. what kind of screen and coatings were you planning on using? galvanized hardware cloth is zinc coated, which could concievably lead to zinc poisoning in some circumstances, such as excessive drinking off of the wire or excessive cage crawling. imo any wood coatings used should be food grade for the same reasons. most varnishes/waterproofers are not food approved.

imo, the cheapest and most readily available food approved coating that has a reasonable chance of standing up to the elements for more than 1 year would be polyester finishing (not laminating) resin. many epoxies are also food approved but usually $$$. untreated softwoods will likely result in stachybotrous (toxic black mold)
just my 2c worth (trust me, you dont want the whole dollar), lol
jmo

 

[Sterlingcham]

I do agreed that I would need treated would of course and I already do have would that is already waterproofed and everything with a safe for animals sealant this hey I wanted to build a cage rather then buy one also I was going to using nylon coated aluminum screening and the nylon coating will not be harmful to the Cham and it won't hurt his lil hands because it's not sharp so I would hope that is suitable if not please tell me ASAP I know the wood is fine I'm just not 100% on the screening but I'm almost positive that nylon isn't or couldn't hurt the little guy even if he was trying to chew the cage to death and ate some I don't think that would hurt him either along with the added factor that of course you won't get rust because aluminum and it ring nylon coated aswell

 

[xanthoman]

I'm reluctant because I don't want to go get it out of my tool box to tell u exact d/s ratio I believe it's 1:10 though I'm not sure

lol, i"d say unlikely, more likely 1:1, 2:1, 3:1 or maybe even 4 or 5:1.

a d/s ratio of 1:10 would mean that at 20" you"d be measuring a circle over 16' in diameter, thats larger than 6 sheets of plywood. if thats the case, you would likely get more accurate measurement by having some voodoo witch lady throw chicken bones on the floor, lol.

now if you had a gun that was 10:1, i would say that would be a genuinely valuable cham tool that would be worth holding on to, but i would be interested in knowing what gun it was and how much you paid for it. jmo

 

[xanthoman]

I do agreed that I would need treated would of course and I already do have would that is already waterproofed and everything with a safe for animals sealant this hey I wanted to build a cage rather then buy one also I was going to using nylon coated aluminum screening and the nylon coating will not be harmful to the Cham and it won't hurt his lil hands because it's not sharp so I would hope that is suitable if not please tell me ASAP I know the wood is fine I'm just not 100% on the screening but I'm almost positive that nylon isn't or couldn't hurt the little guy even if he was trying to chew the cage to death and ate some I don't think that would hurt him either along with the added factor that of course you won't get rust because aluminum and it ring nylon coated aswell

if by treated wood are you talking about the treatment that you apply?, or actual pressure treated lumber?

just to be clear actual pressure treated lumber is infused with copper chromium aresenate (cca), or some other highly toxic derivative, not good.

if you find a source for nylon coated hardware cloth please let me know, most plastic coated hardware cloth is coated with pvc (including the hardware cloth in my avatar). not as bad as zinc or cca but still could pose an issue for chams that spend a lot of time cage crawling or drinking off of the wire. jmo.

when i built the cage in my avatar i searched relentlessly for nylon coated hardware cloth and after weeks of searching found one source for it but it was more expensive than the stainless cloth. i use a lot of different kinds of wire for various wacky science projects and the single best source i have found for wire mesh of most any kind, is here; http://www.twpinc.com/
edit; just got a pm regarding vinyl coated wire as opposed to pvc coated , just to be clear they are the same thing. vinyl=pvc (polyvinylchloride.)

one of the reasons nylon coated wire cloth is so expensive and hard to find is manufacturing technique, pvc can be dipped, but i think nylon needs to be sprayed onto or molded around the wire, because of its physical properties, i dont think it can be dipped. jmo

 

[Sterlingcham]

I actually do have a source of nylon coated aluminum screening and it's only because my dad works as a welder/fab guy at a machine shop and they do all sorts of jobs and he ordered me some I think it was around 12$ for a 48"x84" roll of it which is a tiny bit more spendy then the PVC coated I believe I saw at lowes ...... But yes I have the nylon coated screening already so perfect and as for the would no its not pressure treated I know that preasure treating involves a chemical bath and I already stayed away from that I meant that the sealant was an all organic brand that was chemical free safe for pets brand I made sure and it's watterproof of course. As for my heat gun it is 9:1 ratio I would tell u the name of the gun but it was baught and shipped straight from jappan and it's all in Japanese hahah so I'm no translator the only things it says in english or in or system is the d/s ratio the laser button on/off and the pwr button that's it

 

[Sterlingcham]

Bump^

Bump.............

 

[joncro55]

Source

A possible source for this aluminum mesh that you are seeking may be found simply here:

http://www.bwire.com/

I just did a google search and they seem to be pretty legitamite as far as sourcing this kind of screen material. I also read reviews about them in the past when I needed wire cloth.

 

[kinyonga]

One comment nobody has made yet is your use of catfood as a part of the gutload...it contains performed vitamin A and might be a problem. I gutload with dandelion greens,collards, endive,escarole, kale, carrots, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, squash, zucchini, etc.