How am I doing as an owner?

[Menzies]

Chameleon Information

Species: Nosy-Bilobe
Gender:Male
Age: 1Y5M
Care: Since he was 11 months old
Handling: 2-3 times every two weeks for around 30 minutes (varies from indoors and outdoors)
Feeding: 5 week crickets, superworms, horn worms, wax worms(rarely)
Amount: 1 superworm, 4-7 crickets
Feeding Schedule: Offered a superworm and crickets every day, eats till he's content.
Gutloading: Superworms - Oatmeal and powdered skim milk. Crickets - a variety of fruits and vegetables, changed every second day and also Repashy Superload dry formula.
Suppliments: Calcium dusted every other day, Calcium + D3 twice a month, Multivitamin twice a month. I try to space them out accordingly.
Brands: Rep-Cal and Exo Terra Suppliments.
Watering: a Zoo-Med Fogger + warm water misting 5-6 times daily
Seen Drinking: all the time, he stick his snout in the fogger tube and just bathes in warm watery goodness for an hour or two.
Fecal Description: grayish brown feces with a milky color urate.
Tested: as of April this year. No parasites for my boy.
Any Other Notes: He has had a vitamin A deficiency in the past and I do notice his eyes seem somewhat sunken in at times, anything I can do to help this??

Cage Information

Cage Description: 24x24x48 Metal Mesh cage mainly wrapped in shrink wrap to hold humidity.
Lighting: A 75W daylight basking bulb(Exo Terra), A Zoomed Repti-Sun 5.0 compact fluorescent bulb, and a 50W NightGlo(Exo Terra) bulb for added heat in the night.
Lighting Schedule: ON-7:00AM, OFF-7:00PM.
Day Heat: cage bottom: 67.9*F basking branch: 86-90.4*F
Night Heat: He sleeps on the same vine every night so I positioned a small heat source above him, the area maintains around 70-72.4*F
Measuring System: a digital Temp/Hydrometer position around the middle of the cage reading mostly for humidity, also an infrared temperature reader for hot spots and cold spots.
Humidity: ranges from 40-70% in the Day, 50-80% at Night (live in dry climate city)
Maintaining: 5-6 Warm mistings a day with a fogger on full for around an hour or two to help spike humidity.
Live Plants: Pothos, and Schefflera.

Placement

Location: In a corner in a room next to the family room. Near an air vent and medium traffic flows through.
Cage height: The top of the cage ranges around 6.1ft
Geographical Location: Alberta, Canada.

Current Problem: No real problem, just would like to know if I'm doing everything swimmingly or I should change my habits to better accommodate my chammy.

 

[Hoj]

Look good to me, Hope you are enjoying the forums

 

[Zen Reptiles]

Only things I would suggest is move him so he's about 10 feet or more away from the vent in the room (but not right up against any windows).

And ditch the night light.

I know how damn cold it can get there in the winter, so a night light then is a good idea, but they can take low 60s at night and it seems to be very good for them if they get a lower sleeping temp.

In Canada it is fine to use partial glass enclosures (like they use in Europe) to help with humidity. I am building some cages now (taking forever) and they are solid on the back, bottom, and a glass front. The top and sides are screen. I live in Kamloops which is a desert region so it get super-dry here too.

Aaaaand as for the sunken eyes. As long as his cheeks and head are full and squishy, he should be fine. I have a few that have HUGE eyes, and some that always seem a little sunken in. As long as he is drinking, eating, and free from parasites, he should be fine. If there is something dehydrating him too quickly, my guess would be it's the close vent combined with the dryer climate.

Also wtf, where's pics!!!

 

[Menzies]

I tried posting pics earlier but it said my pictures weren't valid photo files.. They work now but my client crops me down so small.. I'll try to get a photobucket or tumblr account going with enlarged images but for now this is the best I can do


Cage:

Taken this morning with fog on full blast for a morning fog simulation hahah.

And here's Poe!

 

[reptilover]

Very pretty guy! And nice set up!
I also agree with zen reptiles

 

[Swayne8998]

Me too. Above 70 may be too much for him at night. Also try to raise humidity just a liiiiitle bit. I understand it's hard for your climate but hey... Colorado at 7000 ft elevation isn't too different

 

[Swayne8998]

And just wanted to mention he is a beautiful boy

 

[Menzies]

Thanks for all the feedback everyone! I'll save the night light for the colder winters then. As for the humidity would it be safe to run my fogger through the night to ensure a high humidity level? I have a reptibreeze on top of my cage so air circulation is always active through his cage so I assure you no stagnant watery air sits in his cage for long.

 

[Menzies]

Very pretty guy! And nice set up!
I also agree with zen reptiles

And just wanted to mention he is a beautiful boy

thank you both I really do like the color scheme he developing! I'm seeing more and more red every shed. And that cage took a lot of time, trial, and error to get it the way I wanted it for him. Went I first got him there was only a fake plant in his cage and an old stick to climb on, I noticed he wasn't very active in the old cage so I gutted and revamped it entirely. He adjusted to it within a day and is highly active and more colorful since.

 

[Swayne8998]

Thanks for all the feedback everyone! I'll save the night light for the colder winters then. As for the humidity would it be safe to run my fogger through the night to ensure a high humidity level? I have a reptibreeze on top of my cage so air circulation is always active through his cage so I assure you no stagnant watery air sits in his cage for long.

I do. They need higher humidity during nighttime. I only shut mine off if it gets over 70 during daytime... unless he's shedding. Even if it gets as high as 100% during the night that's great

 

[pssh]

The humidity should be fine as long as he gets enough water. Panthers can handle the humidity being lower than other chameleons. It's great if you can get it higher, but it's not a big deal if you can't.

I would also suggest not using the night heat source, as a nigh time temp drop is good for them. They can handle low 60s and even mid 50s.

You're doing really, really well though.

 

[Menzies]

I do. They need higher humidity during nighttime. I only shut mine off if it gets over 70 during daytime... unless he's shedding. Even if it gets as high as 100% during the night that's great

I will do just that then. I was only worried about him breathing in constant fog all night, perhaps I'll put the fogger on a timer so it takes 1-2 hour breaks through the day and night cycles.

Again I appreciate all the tips. I look forward to taking a part in these forums, soaking up all the knowledge I can about these amazing reptiles, and hopefully give some experience back over time!

 

[Menzies]

The humidity should be fine as long as he gets enough water. Panthers can handle the humidity being lower than other chameleons. It's great if you can get it higher, but it's not a big deal if you can't.

I would also suggest not using the night heat source, as a nigh time temp drop is good for them. They can handle low 60s and even mid 50s.

You're doing really, really well though.

Bwah! My chams previous owner said to never let the temperature drop below 75.. I was naturally skeptical but thank you for clearing this up, the lamp is put away and out of sight.

With the reptibreeze I'm able to keep a stable 65-70% humidity(day) and 86%+(night) I just worry about all that fog filling up the cage. My friend who also owned a veiled chammy was told he could keep it in a part glass and part mesh tank with the fogger on full. Turned out it drowned his chameleon over time

 

[Lathelia]

That's a beautiful cham is it a waterfall in the picture?

 

[Menzies]

That's a beautiful cham is it a waterfall in the picture?

Yerp! It's an Exo-Terra medium sized waterfall. Poe likes to go down in the shade and just watch it from time to time, he's only drank from it once, used as a bathroom twice heheh. I like the faint sounds of running water so I believe it was a good purchase.

 

[Lathelia]

Well waterfalls aren't really recommendable, unless you change the wather every day. The cricket or poop or anything else can get into the wather and bacteries will mutiply very quickly. My advice is to take it out if you don't change the wather every day.

 

[Menzies]

I change water daily infact also I hand feed my chameleon so no crickets ever are left in the cage.

 

[Zen Reptiles]

Moisture is different from humidity. If he is not close to the humidifier then it is humidity......if he is right under it and water is forming on him it's moisture.

Moisture on the chameleon while they are asleep can cause respiratory problems. I have had issues with timers in the past where my lights didn't come on but the misting system did. Just after 2 days I noticed that they developed some breathing problems until the issue was corrected (we had a power outtage when I wasn't home......Mist King timers are WAY more reliable than store-bought ones).

Because my chams were asleep while the misting system came on, water formed on their nostrils which they breathed in directly and it caused bubbles when they breathed later on in the day.

If you change the water daily on that waterfall you should be fine.

I would also clean it with peroxide daily....you'll be surprised how much that thing is gonna fizz up with bacteria when you spray it with peroxide.

 

[Menzies]

I'll head out and buy peroxide tomorrow actually.. Why didn't I Think of that in the beginning! I try my best to keep it as clean as possible in there for him.. I haven't noticed anything wrong with his breathing for as long as I've owned him

 

[Lathelia]

I change water daily infact also I hand feed my chameleon so no crickets ever are left in the cage.

That's good I was to lazy and had to take mine out