Husbandry for Squanchy

Jessicanicolewebb

New Member
Chameleon Info:
  • Your Chameleon - Veiled, male, hatched May 1st 2019, purchased from a breeder August 2nd 2019. Completed his first shed with me August 20th-22nd.
  • Handling - Once daily while hand feeding a portion of his feeders. He is never grabbed or picked up, I present my hand underneath him and allow him to climb out to food that I hold on my arm. He typically eats comfortably, then sits for a minute before turning back to the enclosure.
  • Feeding - Mainly small crickets, with super worms, wax worms, and fruit flys as treats. Planning to add roaches, silk and horn worms once he is larger. I provide 10-15 feeders a day depending on their size. I leave him with 6 when I leave for work, I feed the remainder through the afternoon/evening. I gut-load feeders with sweet potato, spirulina, dandelion, collards, parsley, and carrots. He eats/hunts anything he sees with the exception of when he was shedding and only ate about 5 crickets a day and only from my hand.
  • Supplements - I am using Repashy calcium plus. I dust half his crickets daily.
  • Watering - I use filtered water treated for chlorine in a misting bottle and in a dripper. I mist the entire enclosure until plants begin to drip in the morning when heating up and at night before turning out the lights, I provide a light misting when I get home from work. The dripper runs all day into a basin that I can empty. I see him drink regularly.
  • Fecal Description - Feces is typically half dark brown half white, it is soft but not loose. He poops on the same leaf everyday LOL.
  • History - No history, since I got him as a baby. The breeder said he had been breeding for years and he bred additional insects and reptiles that I saw when I went to his home to pick up the Cham. His home was clean and all the animals were well cared for.

Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - I currently have the Reptibreeze screen enclosure 16x16x36. We will be building a larger enclosure once he starts outgrowing this one.
  • Lighting - I use a Zoomed hood with a Zoomed Reptisun T5HO 10.0 UVB and a dome fixture with a 60w Zoomed daylight basking bulb. Lights are on for 12 hours everyday.
  • Temperature - Basking temperature is between 80-85 degrees, ambient temperature between 70-75 Lowest overnight temperature is 65. I have a basking thermometer that’s placed on the basking branch and an ambient thermometer on the bottom of the enclosure.
  • Humidity - Humidity is kept between 45-55% The bottom of the enclosure is a large Pothos that holds the humidity as well as plants in the surrounding living space, daily hand misting has shown sufficient so far. Humidity is measured with a humidity gauge.
  • Plants and cage interior - A large Pothos sits at the bottom, it’s vines are threaded up as far as they extend. Three large plastic plants, vines, sticks, and
    897B01B7-F85F-478B-A07E-63855E3D583B.jpeg
    11440DAC-E497-4F43-9805-2BCBC77A0342.jpeg
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    a wooden/rope bridge make up the rest of the enclosure. Basking branch is 7 inches from the bulb.
  • Placement - The cage is located in the corner of the room on a desk. Fans and vents blow opposite of the enclosure. Light to no traffic. Top of the cage is 5ft from the floor.
  • Location - Northern Utah
 
Welcome to the forum! You can learn a lot here about chameleons!

Looks like you're doing pretty good with the husbandry! Just a few comments...

I'm not sure if that's the only supplement you need because I've never used it and don't know what's in it....so I hope someone else will answer you about that.

Regarding feeding...I recommend feeding most of the insects to the chameleon in the morning so it has time to digest its food before the lights go off at night. Until your chameleon is an adult you can feed it as much as it will eat in a couple of minutes and then leave a couple of crickets in the cage for a snack later.

Veiled chameleons will munch on leaves so you might want to get rid of the plastic ones soon.

I hope I didn't miss anything.
 
Welcome to the forum! You can learn a lot here about chameleons!

Looks like you're doing pretty good with the husbandry! Just a few comments...

I'm not sure if that's the only supplement you need because I've never used it and don't know what's in it....so I hope someone else will answer you about that.

Regarding feeding...I recommend feeding most of the insects to the chameleon in the morning so it has time to digest its food before the lights go off at night. Until your chameleon is an adult you can feed it as much as it will eat in a couple of minutes and then leave a couple of crickets in the cage for a snack later.

Veiled chameleons will munch on leaves so you might want to get rid of the plastic ones soon.

I hope I didn't miss anything.

Thank you for your feedback.
The Repashy seems to be the highest recommended supplement across the internet. I feel pretty confident in it’s ingredients. What is it that you use?

Do you feed your Cham throughout the day or only in the morning? I haven’t heard about this. I don’t feed the last two hours of the day but I space his feedings out to mimic how he might hunt in the wild.

I haven’t noticed him eating the plastic leaves, he does chew on the Pothos occasionally. I assume he’s smart enough to distinguish between the two since the smell, texture, and taste is different. I’ve noticed most keepers do provide artificial plants in addition to live plants to provide adequate foliage at the top of the enclosure. Is it common for them to eat the plastic plants? I haven’t seen anyone warn about that.
 
Thank you for your feedback.
The Repashy seems to be the highest recommended supplement across the internet. I feel pretty confident in it’s ingredients. What is it that you use?

Do you feed your Cham throughout the day or only in the morning? I haven’t heard about this. I don’t feed the last two hours of the day but I space his feedings out to mimic how he might hunt in the wild.

I haven’t noticed him eating the plastic leaves, he does chew on the Pothos occasionally. I assume he’s smart enough to distinguish between the two since the smell, texture, and taste is different. I’ve noticed most keepers do provide artificial plants in addition to live plants to provide adequate foliage at the top of the enclosure. Is it common for them to eat the plastic plants? I haven’t seen anyone warn about that.
Repashy Calcium Plus LoD?
 
Yes, it is incredibly common for veiled to chew on their leaves, be it real or fake. Youd think they were smart enough to tell it was fake, however many have swallowed the fake leaves and became compacted. Especially for veileds, real is always better.
 
@Jessicanicolewebb as AmandaS said...they do chew on the fake plants be they plastic or the cloth type...they also swallow pebbles, pieces of bark that some people use for substrate..eat the soil or sand in lay bin or plant pots...etc. The trouble is you likely won't notice them doing these "dangerous" things.

I'm sure the Repashy is good since so many people use it. I have used RepCal calcium and calcium with D3 and Herptivite for many many years and since it works I've never changed...following the old adage...if it ain't broke don't fix it! I also don't give my veiled chameleons any prEformed vitamin A. My incubator is unconventional and my watering is still the old spray bottle and dripper method. (Now you can laugh heartily!) Almost all my veiled females live to be seven and the males longer...so I guess it works.
 
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