Husbandry Check

Capsicums&Reptiles

Established Member
Chameleon Info:
  • Your Chameleon - Male,Veiled,roughly 6 months old. Been in my care since January 5th.
  • Handling - Rarely. He has an attitude problem.
  • Feeding - Crickets,Dubia,Red Runner,BSFL,BSF,Blue Bottle spikes and flies,Silkworms,currently attempting hornworms with no success. At least 7-10 crickets,5-6 dubia,6-9 red runners,8-10 BSFL,5-6 BSF,the same with Blue Bottle spikes and adults,3 Silkworms every few days as treats. Every morning at 7:30 . He gets a different feeder every day to keep him interested.
  • Fresh gutload. Leafy greens,carrots,mango,bee pollen,spirulina,sweet potato. Chow for the Silkworms.
  • Supplements: Zoo Med Repticalcium with D3,Repticalcium without D3,Zoo Med multivitamin without D3.
  • Regular calcium at every feeding,Calcium with D3 twice a month,Multivitamin twice a month.
  • Watering - I use a pressurized hand mister,a dripper and a fogger at night. I mist for at least 2-3 minutes,3 times a day. Morning,Afternoon and at lights out. I've seen him drinking. He's shy about it,so I have to spy on him lol.
  • Fecal Description - Brown with white urate. Not too wet,not too dry.
  • He's been tested for parasites. He had none.
  • History - I took him to a reptile vet when I first got him. The vet gave him a vitamin A injection,because the pet shop didn't really give him the care he needed.

Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - ZooMed Reptibreeze screen enclosure. Will have a DIY aluminum enclosure soon to avoid rust. 2x2x4
  • Lighting - UVB is a 24" T5HO 6% Arcadia bulb with the matching fixture,for basking he has a 75 watt incandescent.
  • 7:30am-7:30 pm. 12 on,12 off.
  • Temperature - Basking is 85-87°F,midway down is between 75-80°F,bottom is at a steady 70°F.
  • Overnight gets down to 60°F.
  • I measure his heat with a temp gun,probe,and an analog thermometer.
  • Humidity - Humidity is between 50-60% during the day with brief spikes after misting,and 70-80% at night.
  • I mist Gizmo's enclosure only when it's completely dry to maintain daytime humidity and run a fogger at night to maintain night time humidity.
  • I use a digital hygrometer to measure humidity.
  • Plants - I use live plants in his enclosure.
  • A couple pothos and an umbrella tree. I'm planning on getting a hibiscus to add a little color.
  • Placement - Enclosure is in a spare room that never got used,so,he literally has his own room.
  • The only traffic in his room is me,during feeding,misting and turning lights on and off. There is a vent in the ceiling on the opposite side of the room from his enclosure.
  • His enclosure sits on top of an old hardwood dresser. He's approximately 9' off the ground.
  • Location - Indiana

Current Problem - No problems. Just wanting to know what improvements,if any,I should make.
I'm open to constructive criticism and advice.
After all,even with all my research before getting Gizmo,I still have more to learn.
There's always room for improvement


I will post pictures when I get off work.

Thanks,
Wayne
 
Everything looks spot on to me. Keep up the good work.

Something you may want to start working toward if you havent already is building trust. Get him used to you being around and not being a threat. Work up to hand feeding and eventually trying to lure him to your hand for a treat and he will probably start associating you with good food and let you handle him. Take it slow and hopefully he will calm his attitude down lol.
 
is a fogger something everyone should have or something that is only needed if your location doesn't provide the adequate temps needed for your cham? if that makes sense lol.
 
is a fogger something everyone should have or something that is only needed if your location doesn't provide the adequate temps needed for your cham? if that makes sense lol.
It aids in naturalistic hydration not just drinking drops off leaves but having higher humidity at night so they loose less water in respiration. The fogger if kept sanitary is a big bonus and upgrade for visual aesthetic and your Chams hydration.
 
is a fogger something everyone should have or something that is only needed if your location doesn't provide the adequate temps needed for your cham? if that makes sense lol.

You have to be very careful with foggers. If they are not used or maintained properly, they will quickly give your chameleon a respiratory infection. I don't like to risk it, personally
 
You have to be very careful with foggers. If they are not used or maintained properly, they will quickly give your chameleon a respiratory infection. I don't like to risk it, personally

I make sure to thoroughly clean my fogger every morning to prevent any nasties from growing and spreading.
I concentrate mostly on cleaning the tube since it's segmented to prevent anything from growing in ribs of the tube.
 
Everything looks spot on to me. Keep up the good work.

Something you may want to start working toward if you havent already is building trust. Get him used to you being around and not being a threat. Work up to hand feeding and eventually trying to lure him to your hand for a treat and he will probably start associating you with good food and let you handle him. Take it slow and hopefully he will calm his attitude down lol.
Thank you.
I've tried to build trust,but,he's reluctant about it.
I'm guessing the owner of the pet shop just tossed him in a glass box and kinda did little to nothing for him.
So,he probably doesn't have many reasons to trust the giant hairless apes.
 
I make sure to thoroughly clean my fogger every morning to prevent any nasties from growing and spreading.
I concentrate mostly on cleaning the tube since it's segmented to prevent anything from growing in ribs of the tube.
What do you do/use to clean your fogger thoroughly?
 
Enclosure picture.
It looks like there aren't many horizontal walk ways,but,there are several of them.
The umbrella tree grew around them and created more hiding spots for Gizmo.
Also,ignore the duct tape lol.
The enclosure came a little beat up.
I'm guessing UPS played kickball with the box it was in.
IMG_20190417_114911.jpg

IMG_20190417_114953.jpg
 
You have to be very careful with foggers. If they are not used or maintained properly, they will quickly give your chameleon a respiratory infection. I don't like to risk it, personally

This. I have one that I was using just for room humidity in the winter. Within a week it had mold all through it. And how much crap is still there before you can see it? I remember as a kid I'd get colds after being at Halloween events where there was a fogger. No idea if this could be related in any way, but seeing how gross they get it, it would make sense. IMO it is more natural to drench the cage at night and let it naturally raise humidity than to have a fogger going. I'm not telling anyone that does use them with proper cleaning, that they are wrong, but I'd personally not risk it unless I had to.
 
This. I have one that I was using just for room humidity in the winter. Within a week it had mold all through it. And how much crap is still there before you can see it? I remember as a kid I'd get colds after being at Halloween events where there was a fogger. No idea if this could be related in any way, but seeing how gross they get it, it would make sense. IMO it is more natural to drench the cage at night and let it naturally raise humidity than to have a fogger going. I'm not telling anyone that does use them with proper cleaning, that they are wrong, but I'd personally not risk it unless I had to.
I personally love my cool mist humidifier. Does the job, easy to clean and both me and my chameleons get to benefit. Wish it wasnt so dry here otherwise I'd keep my chams outside during the summer.
 
I'm not calling anyone out, but I have seen(which may be ENTIRELY unrelated) several people that were happening to use foggers, also have chameleons die from RI's or other freak occurrences. I have no proof that they caused this, and I'm sure many people use them without problems, but it did seem a little fishy considering these weren't people that were inexperienced. Again though, not trying to freak anyone out or make up bs, these could have easily been coincidences!
 
I'm not calling anyone out, but I have seen(which may be ENTIRELY unrelated) several people that were happening to use foggers, also have chameleons die from RI's or other freak occurrences. I have no proof that they caused this, and I'm sure many people use them without problems, but it did seem a little fishy considering these weren't people that were inexperienced. Again though, not trying to freak anyone out or make up bs, these could have easily been coincidences!
And yet here I am, freaked out :eek: one more thing to add to my morning cham routine! Deep clean fogger every morning! I do also ONLY use distilled water in all of my water fixtures. I noticed awhile back in a humidifier (completely unrelated to any reptile use) a ton of nasty mold and mineral build up by just using tap water. Never again!!
 
Enclosure picture.
It looks like there aren't many horizontal walk ways,but,there are several of them.
The umbrella tree grew around them and created more hiding spots for Gizmo.
Also,ignore the duct tape lol.
The enclosure came a little beat up.
I'm guessing UPS played kickball with the box it was in.
View attachment 229420
View attachment 229421
Hey there what is the distance between where he basks and the top screen? I would run the UVB light Horizontally across the middle of the cage as well instead of running down the side. You essentially are only providing uvb to that one very end of the cage. Once you hit about 12 inches down from the light you the uvb barely registers on a solarmeter as well. Since he is a Veiled you may want to consider bumping up to a 12% arcadia bulb next time you get a new one. :)

I would remove the duct tape and either get screen patching kit or if the holes are small enough hot glue the opening closed just make sure you remove any of the hot glue stringy stuff.

Love your umbrella plant!
 
Hey there what is the distance between where he basks and the top screen? I would run the UVB light Horizontally across the middle of the cage as well instead of running down the side. You essentially are only providing uvb to that one very end of the cage. Once you hit about 12 inches down from the light you the uvb barely registers on a solarmeter as well. Since he is a Veiled you may want to consider bumping up to a 12% arcadia bulb next time you get a new one. :)

I would remove the duct tape and either get screen patching kit or if the holes are small enough hot glue the opening closed just make sure you remove any of the hot glue stringy stuff.

Love your umbrella plant!

His light is 7 3/4" from his basking spot.
I kept measuring temps until I got his basking temp in the recommended range.
I have it on the screen.
I've never seen him climbing on the screen,so, I haven't been too worried about him getting burned.
Still going to get a stand just to be on the safe side.

His UVB is usually across the middle of his enclosure. I had moved it when I cleaned underneath his enclosure.

Thank you for the recommendation on the 12℅ UVB light.
I'll order one in the morning.

Will the 6% be fine until the 12% light gets here?
I only got the 6% because the 12 was out of stock at the time and really wasn't sure if it would be too much UVB.

I'll remove the duct tape and patch it up properly.
It was more of a quick fix at the time lol.

Thank you for your time and your recommendations.
I'll definitely heed your advice.

Thank you on the umbrella plant.
I started growing it before I got Gizmo.
 
His light is 7 3/4" from his basking spot.
I kept measuring temps until I got his basking temp in the recommended range.
I have it on the screen.
I've never seen him climbing on the screen,so, I haven't been too worried about him getting burned.
Still going to get a stand just to be on the safe side.

His UVB is usually across the middle of his enclosure. I had moved it when I cleaned underneath his enclosure.

Thank you for the recommendation on the 12℅ UVB light.
I'll order one in the morning.

Will the 6% be fine until the 12% light gets here?
I only got the 6% because the 12 was out of stock at the time and really wasn't sure if it would be too much UVB.

I'll remove the duct tape and patch it up properly.
It was more of a quick fix at the time lol.

Thank you for your time and your recommendations.
I'll definitely heed your advice.

Thank you on the umbrella plant.
I started growing it before I got Gizmo.
Your welcome. Yeah you are good with the 6% until you get the 12%. Leave the basking spot at that level as well. You should be in the right UVI range there.
I have read how bad tape of any kind is with Cham cages. Just in case he finds a way to get stuck if your anything like me it would cause a total freak out. lol

Otherwise everything else your doing looks really good. Keep up the awesome work! Your a rock star!
 
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