Help!

[Sikchick341]

I'm new to this site. And I'm new to my new chameleon that I just got a few days ago. I would like someone to enlighten me on their behavior and how much I should feed him, clean his cage, shedding, etc. He is only 2 months old and I have him in a 24x18x24 terrarium with plenty of vines and plants. I use plantation soil to help keep the humidity up and I also have an exo terra fountain that I use. I use repti-safe for the water to clean out the chlorine and junk. I spray him down every day multiple times even though he doesn't like it. I have a 5.0 repti-safe bulb and a 25 watt sun-glo bulb both in a compact top, and a 50 watt basking bulb. The temperature half way down in the terrarium stays in the mid 70's but higher up near the basking bulb it's in the mid 90's. He eats twice a day maybe 6 crickets at a time. Anything else I should be aware about? I'm new to owning a chameleon even though I work at a pet store, however, I do have a good idea. I posted a picture to see what you all think.
View attachment 46198

 

[camimom]

I'm new to this site. And I'm new to my new chameleon that I just got a few days ago. I would like someone to enlighten me on their behavior and how much I should feed him, clean his cage, shedding, etc. He is only 2 months old and I have him in a 24x18x24 terrarium with plenty of vines and plants. I use plantation soil to help keep the humidity up and I also have an exo terra fountain that I use. I use repti-safe for the water to clean out the chlorine and junk. I spray him down every day multiple times even though he doesn't like it. I have a 5.0 repti-safe bulb and a 25 watt sun-glo bulb both in a compact top, and a 50 watt basking bulb. The temperature half way down in the terrarium stays in the mid 70's but higher up near the basking bulb it's in the mid 90's. He eats twice a day maybe 6 crickets at a time. Anything else I should be aware about? I'm new to owning a chameleon even though I work at a pet store, however, I do have a good idea. I posted a picture to see what you all think.
View attachment 46198

Welcome.
A few things regarding your husbandry you need to change.
FIrst, remove that soil. if your cham eats it, he can become impacted.
SEcond- remove the fountain, he wont drink from it, and it can lead to bacteria growth if he poos in it.
Third- the temps are way to high for a baby that young. you wnt temps between 80-85 in his basking spot, and even 85 may be too hot for him.
Fourth- YOu only need to bulbs. a basking bulb (which you can get a regulard housebulb), and a uvb bulb. I dont think any of your mentioned bulbs are uvb, unless you meant reptiglo or reptisun, not reptisafe.
FIfth- You need to gutload your crickets. this means feeding them certain foods to help with their nutrition for your cham. do a search on this forum for sandrachameleon, she has a blog about gutloading.
Sixth- you need to use powdered supplements. YOu need a calcium without d3 for every feeding, a calcium with d3 for twice a month, and a multivitamin for twice a month. Or you cn buy an all in one supplement called repashy all in one calcium plus for geckos (though its used for chameleons) you can buy this from a site sponsor, repashy.
Seventh- let him eat as much as he wants.
are you sure hes a boy?
good luck!

 

[DavidBuchan]

Hello, welcome to the forum He looks really good, but your basking temp is pretty high for a Cham, and fountains really are just too much trouble to keep clean enough - here's a great caresheet with all the basic info for keeping Veileds which also has some gutloading and supplementing advice - https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/chameleonsinmyhouse/395-veiled-chameleon-care-sheet.html

 

[Sikchick341]

It is a repti-GLO bulb I got the water cleaner and the bulbs confused. I changed the the compact top bulbs to two 5.0 repti-GLO bulbs at 13 watt that contains UVB. I also lowered his basking bulb wattage as well. He drinks from the fountain that I have in there quite often. I clean it out almost constantly everyday. I have been told to remove the soil but I don't know what else to use in replacement. I use repti-vite for the vitamins would that be okay? And yes he is a boy! He has little spurs on the back of his feet.

 

[DavidBuchan]

Well, I've had a fountain in with a Cham for a while and I got sick of cleaning it so much.....they are ok when new I suppose but get harder to clean properly quite quickly too. I think most people would say to have no substrate at all for Chameleons because of the potential problems of them eating it and the fact they spend just about all the time in the branches anyway. You don't need 2 of the reptisun bulbs going at once, they need to be replaced every 6 months because they stop emitting enough uvb so you'd be better off just using them one at a time. I'm not sure about most of the different brands of vitamin powders, but you usually want a phosphorous-free Calcium for everyday (no d3), one with d3 for twice a month, and one mulitvitamin for twice a month.

 

[Sikchick341]

Would it be okay if I kept both of the bulbs in? It doesn't affect the temperature in the terrarium I just figured it would be nice for him since he is so young. I will be sure to get the vitamins I need that was very helpful! Are there any behavior notices that I should know about? Shedding.. anything?

 

[pbveiled]

IMHO. In that size cage 2 5.0 bulbs is too much. Too much uvb can be just as bad as too little.

At 2 months he should be eating approx 20 small crickets a day and they need to be properly gutloaded.

Make sure you get the proper supplements asap. Your cham will grow very quickly over the next 3-4 months and proper nutrition is very important.

I would also recommend removing the soil and fountain.

 

[Sikchick341]

Okay thank you so much! This was very helpful. I want the best for him.

 

[kinyonga]

Welcome to the forum!
Here's some information I hope will help you ....
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.

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.
Please note that various supplements have various amounts of D3 and vitamin A and so some can be given more often than others. The idea still is not to overdo the fat soluble vitamins like D3 and prEformed vitamin A.

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.