Husbandry Review

[ChamelaChameleon]

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? Panther- male - 2.5 months - in my care ~2 weeks
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? Not handling.
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? Feeding crickets and grasshoppers. I have offered silk, horn, meal, and wax worms also bsfl, and dubia - he turns them all down. He is only eating crickets and grasshoppers. I leave his feeders in the cup for 8 hours then dump whatever he doesn't eat. 8am feeding time - he eats about 9 feeders. He has returned later for an additional 1 or 2 feeders. Gut load - fresh leafy greens, fruit, bug burger.
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? Repashy supercla NoD -daily dusting - Reptivite w/D3 - 1st and 15th
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? He is a drinker. I use a dripper for 12 hours. Hand misting 2minutes before lights on and before lights out. He is a frequent drinker.
  
  
  
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? He has not been tested for parasites but will be tested at 1st Vet visit in September. Fecal is brown with white urates.
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? Reptizoo 2x2x4 screened w/ full plexiglass attached to both sides and a 1/4 on the back.
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? Arcadia UVB 6% T5HO, regular 75w household bulb. Heat light 9am-3pm, UVB 8am-8pm.
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? Daytime ambient 75 - 81, bottom to top. Night time temp 68 with the help of a cool mist humidifier in the room (not in the cage). 70 without humidifier. Humidifer runs 8pm-6am. Basking branch ~77, Top of cage screen ~81. Bolt will screen climb to catch an escaped feeder. No screen climbing other than chasing a random escaped feeder. I keep the heat lamp on the top screen but temps are about ~81 degrees to avoid burns.
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? Daytime Humidity ~ 40, Night time is a struggle ~ 65%. Humidifier 8pm-6am, Fogger 10pm-6am. Temps/humidity are measured with 2 probe hygrometers/thermometer - 1 at screen top heat lamp, 1 at basking branch. I will install Govee monitors soon.
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? Live plants- pothos, monstera, benjamina ficus, and money tree installed. I have 3 other plants that will be installed soon.
• Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? In a no traffic bedroom, away from the a/c vent, top of cage at 7ft.
• Location - Where are you geographically located? TEXAS - We are hot, hot, hot and dry!

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about. Eating has slowed. Initially, he was chowing down feeders - 7 to 9 medium crickets/grasshoppers. The past 2 days he hasn't eaten all of his feeders. Today, he ate 4 medium crickets at 8am and 1 early evening. Didn't touch horn, silk, or wax worms, dubia, or bsfl. I have trashed over 100.00 worth of feeders.

 

[elizaann2]

Oh he is darling!! I'll go through your husbandry and see how I can help

 

[elizaann2]

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? Panther- male - 2.5 months - in my care ~2 weeks Where did you get your boy?
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? Not handling. Perfect!
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? Feeding crickets and grasshoppers. I have offered silk, horn, meal, and wax worms also bsfl, and dubia - he turns them all down. He is only eating crickets and grasshoppers. I leave his feeders in the cup for 8 hours then dump whatever he doesn't eat. 8am feeding time - he eats about 9 feeders. He has returned later for an additional 1 or 2 feeders. Gut load - fresh leafy greens, fruit, bug burger. Fantastic! Babies take time to learn that different bugs are yummy to eat too so just keep offering those different feeders and eventually he will try them. My boy is going through a similar thing and I offer his 15 crickets daily (which I know he eats) and then in a separate container, I offer his variety bugs to get him to try new things. This might work for you as well. I've attached some recommended veggies and fruits for gut loading, bug burger is great
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? Repashy supercla NoD -daily dusting - Reptivite w/D3 - 1st and 15th. Excellent
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? He is a drinker. I use a dripper for 12 hours. Hand misting 2minutes before lights on and before lights out. He is a frequent drinker. Chameleons tend to be shy drinkers so if you seeing him drinking a lot I would take that as a hint that you need to make adjustments in your hydration methods. Have you ever considered fogging at night?
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? He has not been tested for parasites but will be tested at 1st Vet visit in September. Fecal is brown with white urates. Awesome!
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Will respond soon with part two...

 

[elizaann2]

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? Reptizoo 2x2x4 screened w/ full plexiglass attached to both sides and a 1/4 on the back. Fantastic!
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? Arcadia UVB 6% T5HO, regular 75w household bulb. Heat light 9am-3pm, UVB 8am-8pm. Great! Do you have a plant light? This might be helpful to keep your plants alive.
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? Daytime ambient 75 - 81, bottom to top. Night time temp 68 with the help of a cool mist humidifier in the room (not in the cage). 70 without humidifier. Humidifer runs 8pm-6am. Basking branch ~77, Top of cage screen ~81. Bolt will screen climb to catch an escaped feeder. No screen climbing other than chasing a random escaped feeder. I keep the heat lamp on the top screen but temps are about ~81 degrees to avoid burns. Awesome, if you notice he screen climbs you may have to adjust your lights so they are above the screen so baby doesnt get burnt or exposed to ungodly levels of UVB.
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? Daytime Humidity ~ 40, Night time is a struggle ~ 65%. Humidifier 8pm-6am, Fogger 10pm-6am. Temps/humidity are measured with 2 probe hygrometers/thermometer - 1 at screen top heat lamp, 1 at basking branch. I will install Govee monitors soon. As you know, humidity is a little low. During the day you want it to be 50-60%. Does your fogger run constantly from 10 to 6? Does it have settings you can adjust the fogger's intensity? You could also try watering the needed plants at night to help lost humidity levels or knowing you hand mist, you could add another misting session just before your fogger turns on, this will help the humidity stick around a bit better. If you notice the humidity go low during the day you can add a misting session then as well.
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? Live plants- pothos, monstera, benjamina ficus, and money tree installed. I have 3 other plants that will be installed soon. Awesome!
• Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? In a no traffic bedroom, away from the a/c vent, top of cage at 7ft. Perfect!
• Location - Where are you geographically located? TEXAS - We are hot, hot, hot and dry!

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about. Eating has slowed. Initially, he was chowing down feeders - 7 to 9 medium crickets/grasshoppers. The past 2 days he hasn't eaten all of his feeders. Today, he ate 4 medium crickets at 8am and 1 early evening. Didn't touch horn, silk, or wax worms, dubia, or bsfl. I have trashed over 100.00 worth of feeders

If you are doing what I am doing and trying to expand the variety in his diet you will be throwing away feeders unfortunately, thats just the nature of the game. Maybe try offering less of those variety feeders since it will take him time to try them. The other thing to consider is keeping his feeders in for longer. I keep all feeders in the enclosure all day and remove them 30 minutes just before lights go out. I see my guy picking at his feeders a little bit throughout the day. In an almost 12 hour span he will eat 9-10 feeders, however if I only let him eat in an 8 hour window I know he would only get half of that.
Another thought is how are you offering your feeders?

 

[ChamelaChameleon]

Where did you get your boy?

@Camiezone.

The fogger runs at max output 10pm-6am. I'll try adding a early evening mist but It will depend on the ambient temp in the enclosure. We are in a heat wave. My lowest ambient temp is 75(~10pm). I just added a computer fan to the top of the enclosure which brought temp down to 66 degrees. Tomorrow, I'll run the cool mist humidifier all day to test if that helps with humidity.

Feeding - I use a feeder and allow a few bugs to escape. Today he ate 5 feeders I placed a feeder on the screen and he ate it. I'll leaves his bugs in the feeder until bedtime. I'll try the 2 feeder cups. That might spark his curiosity. I'm gonna adjust his heat lamp to give him a little higher temp.

 

[elizaann2]

@Camiezone.

The fogger runs at max output 10pm-6am. I'll try adding a early evening mist but It will depend on the ambient temp in the enclosure. We are in a heat wave. My lowest ambient temp is 75(~10pm). I just added a computer fan to the top of the enclosure which brought temp down to 66 degrees. Tomorrow, I'll run the cool mist humidifier all day to test if that helps with humidity.

Feeding - I use a feeder and allow a few bugs to escape. Today he ate 5 feeders I placed a feeder on the screen and he ate it. I'll leaves his bugs in the feeder until bedtime. I'll try the 2 feeder cups. That might spark his curiosity. I'm gonna adjust his heat lamp to give him a little higher temp.

Oh good. I would actually recommend reaching out to the breeder too. My issues with my guy eating was because it was so different from the breeder and it took time to get used to. He grew up on only crickets and they were free ranged in a bioactive enclosure. I was offering everything but crickets and in a bird feeder cup. I had to adjust what I was doing to fit more what he was used to and his needs.

Another thought is how big are the feeders?

 

[ChamelaChameleon]

Feeders are sm-med. I talked to @Camiezone yesterday. I'm gonna make a oversized feeder so it resembles free range or add multiple feeder cups near the basking branch. 4 feeder cups - each with 4 types of buggies. It will be a round robin/smorgasbord of bugs!

 

[ChamelaChameleon]

Oh, I could be overreacting! I just wanna stay on top of things

 

[elizaann2]

Feeders are sm-med. I talked to @Camiezone yesterday. I'm gonna make a oversized feeder so it resembles free range or add multiple feeder cups near the basking branch. 4 feeder cups - each with 4 types of buggies. It will be a round robin/smorgasbord of bugs!

I think that is a fantastic idea! I have two feeding stations. One is a feeder run and my boy took to that instantly.

 

[elizaann2]

Oh, I could be overreacting! I just wanna stay on top of things

You are doing a great job! And I totally hear you on that. I am the same way and with those littles it just adds to the anxiety of making sure everything is ok.

 

[kinyonga]

Bradypodium pumilum…multiple paternity…
https://www.researchgate.net/public..._the_Cape_Dwarf_Chameleon_Bradypodion_pumilum