payton.geschke
Member
Hi everyone, I just recently got my cham, so I just wanted to check in with y'all to make sure I'm getting started correctly!
Chameleon Info:
Cage Info:
Current Problem - Currently no problems, I just want to make sure I'm setting her up for success. Please be critical of me, I won't take any offence, I just want the best for my baby Linda!
Thanks everyone, please ask any questions!!
Chameleon Info:
- Your Chameleon - Female Veiled Chameleon, around 2 months old. I have had her for about two or three weeks.
- Handling - I try to rarely handle her, recently I got meds for a respiratory infection, and I need to give her those antibiotics twice a day, so I do handle her for that, but never any other time.
- Feeding - I give her like 10ish small crickets in the morning so she has access to food all day. I feed the crickets Flucker's Orange Cubes, a ZooMed Cricket Block, and spinach.
- Supplements - Since she had broken ribs when I got her (they are pretty much healed now) I dust every cricket I give her with ZooMed ReptiCalcum. I am working on getting D3 to give her twice a month.
- Watering - I mist twice a day, morning and night, for about a minute each time. I give her access to a Flucker's mini-dripper twice a day as well, and I let her drink for as long as she wants (usually like 2 minutes each time). She will only drink when I watch over her, so I see her drinking every time.
- Fecal Description - Her droppings seem normal to me, mainly white or light yellow urates. She has never been tested for parasites.
- History - As she is so young, not much history other than getting her from PetSmart with broken ribs (again, they seem healed now), and I got her treated for an upper respiratory infection (she is pretty much done with that now).
Cage Info:
- Cage Type- My terrarium is 12inx12inx18in, which is small but so is she, I will get a bigger one as she grows. It has glass sides/bottom and a screen top, but I will sometimes open the front doors to allow more airflow.
- Lighting - I have a Thrive hanging lamp with a 75W UVA/UVB heat bulb (Link). It is attached to an automatic switch that turns it on/off at sunrise/sunset respectively, which I'm assuming equates to around 12hrs on 12hrs off.
- Temperature - During the day, the general space in the terrarium stays around 85F, with the basking area around 95F-100F. At night it gets as low as 60F, but usually stays around 70F, since that's the temperature in my house.
- Humidity - Humidity stays around 60% during the day, and I mist her after the lights go off at night, which usually keeps the night humidity around 80%. I have a ZooMed hygrometer to measure this.
- Plants - I'm not using live plants yet, though I know I should be! She has a large fake bonsai tree and some fake vines to climb and hide in (see in picture). I also use a coconut substrate on the ground, just to keep the water from pooling at the bottom of the terrarium. It's only about 1cm deep and I change it once or twice a week. Should that be okay? I used to have that Styrofoam fake rock backing on the tank, but the heat lamp melted it too much and I had to throw it away because the crickets were hiding in the melted holes.
- Placement - The terrarium is on a desk in the corner of my room. It is away from all fans and vents. It is next to a window to allow for some non-artificial sunlight to get to her. The top of the tank is probably 5 feet from the floor.
- Location - Lincoln, Nebraska, USA
Current Problem - Currently no problems, I just want to make sure I'm setting her up for success. Please be critical of me, I won't take any offence, I just want the best for my baby Linda!
Thanks everyone, please ask any questions!!