gracie88
Member
Hey guys! I am super paranoid and I'm always open to learn more and improve on my chameleon care so if anyone has a couple extra minutes I would greatly appreciate a husbandry review. This totally isn't urgent, my cham is in great health but like I mentioned before I am always looking for ways to improve to make sure Cosmo is leaving his best life. Thanks so much!
Chameleon Info:
Chameleon Info:
- Your Chameleon - Male veiled chameleon around three months old, have had him for almost a month, got him 5/1/20.
- Handling - I try not to handle him too often, I have only taken him out three times and two out of those three were for a reason (1. He was trying to walk into his light during free range so I needed to pick him up, after this he didn't want to go back so I put him on a plant, 2. My cleaners were coming and I didn't want him to get stressed so I took him into the other room with a plant). The third time I took him out was so he could enjoy the new 5 foot tall money tree I bought him, he loves to chill on the live plants I have for him. I will admit though, when he does come out he is out for a long period of time, but 75% of this time he is enjoying his live plants or outside time. I closely look for any kind of stress and when he is out he is always green and active.
- Feeding - I feed Cosmo a balanced diet of cricket, BSFL, and superworms. If I had to make an estimate of how many of each, I would say 6-9 BSFL, 4-6 cricket, 2-4 superworms, but max 16 feeders total. I feed him once a day in the morning/early afternoon. I gutload my feeders with turnip greens, collard greens, and carrots.
- Supplements - I use ZooMed's ReptiCalcium without D3 everyday, ZooMed's with D3 once every other week, and ExoTerra's Multivitamin once every other week.
- Watering - I use a misting system that goes off once every hour for 60 seconds. This may seem like a lot but I am from a desert area with NO humidity so this is what his works best for me. Twice a week a mist for 7 minutes straight to give him a chance to really drink/wash his eyes out. I am also adding a homemade dripper system on top of his enclosure once I finish the milk left in my gallon ? On occasion I do also put him on a plant and bring him in the shower with me to make sure he is getting a lot of chances for water. I do occasionally see him drink but he is shy about it.
- Fecal Description - Cosmo has consistent, dark brown poops with almost completely white urates. The other day I did see a urate with a little piece orange but I quickly looked it up and Gingero says this can happen through a crystal structure type thing, I haven't seen any orange urate since. Cosmo has never been tested for parasites but I hope to get him tested once we are out of this Coronavirus craziness.
- History - Nothing special in particular, got him from LLLReptile on 5/1/20.
- Cage Type - Cosmo has a 24x24x48 screened enclosure with clear saran wrap on the outsides. This may sound a little weird but it is completely safe and is only to make sure his humidity stays up considering my dry climate.
- Lighting - I am using the ReptiSun T5HO 5.0 UVB light and a 75 watt incandescent light bulb for heating. Cosmos lights are on from 11:30 AM to 11:30pm but I am slowly working on getting this time closer to sundown because I am finally fixing my sleep schedule.
- Temperature - Basking spot temps are around 85-90 but I do not know the exact floor temperature. His overnight temps are about 70 degrees. I measure this with a duel thermometer.
- Humidity - Humidity levels are about 40% but I am doing everything I can to get these higher. I will also be adding a humidifier to my room to raise the levels in my room in general. Unfortunately this lack of humidity just comes with my living enviroment so that is why I give him so many oppurtunities to have water/high humidity like I mentioned in the water section.
- Plants - I am not using live plants but I am hoping to add Pothos to my enclosure soon. When I give Cosmo free range time he has a 5 foot tall money tree and a 2 foot tall bamboo tree he enjoys.
- Placement - My cage is located in the corner of my room away from an fans, airvents, or traffic areas. I am working on getting a table to put the enclosure on but until then it just goes on my floor. Besides me, I only have a cat that has access to my room and she is barely in here so his cage being on the floor doesn't seem to stress Cosmo out at all.
- Location - I am from Nevada.