Introduction of newbie and presentation of current habitat: Pics and walloftext

Z

Zhenya

New Member
Hi Y'all,

I wanted to introduce myself and my new little friend.

My name is Zhenya, and this is Ernie. Ernie is a Rieppeleon Brevicaudatus or a Dwarf / Pygmy Chameleon.
(Sorry I am still learning to take photographs with my Cannon XT. The glass wasn't helping.)

Today my girlfriend gifted him to me (us :p) and I am incredibly excited. I have had all sorts of pets from a young age. Birds, turtles, lizards, cats but never any dogs :(.
I still have my cockatiel , Terry (although he is in GA with my brother) I've had him since i've been 8 years old. I am however, now CONSIDERABLY older :p.

We are responsible, educated people, and I want to make sure I do right by my new little companion.



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Terrarium Setup:
Here is a overall picture of his setup. I will add twigs and branches tomorrow.
10g Glass Aquarium with a Zilla screen cover.
At the bottom we have the Zilla Jungle Mix (about 1.5-2 inches)
And then we have about half a bag of the Zilla Terrarium Moss (Beaked Moss)
A small dish for water and a soaked paper towel.

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Lighting:

The lighting is provided by Repti Glo 26w 5.0 UVB ambient halogen lighting and ambient lighting from the overhead halogens through out the condo.
Is this enough? We usually keep the condo at around 72 degrees and a bit cooler when we go to bed.

IMG_7765.JPG




Food:
I have about 30 crickets in a Kricket Keeper that were picked up when we got him/her (?)
The water in there is tap right now

Observed Behavior
We setup and let him go in the terrarium tonight. So far I have observed him eat all 3 crickets(In real time!!) which I released into the terrarium. WHAT A HUGE TONGUE, WOW!
Really great to see Ernie attack the food.
He also climbed into the water dish and sat there with his head in the water for probably for around 5 min just slowly opening and closing his mouth.

He loves being watched! He always climbs to the front of his new home when I come by!

Things to still on my list to buy
  • Thermometer (can i get the aquarium ones from walmart for 99c?)
  • Mister, I will get this in the morning!
  • She was sold 2.12oz of ReptoCal for 16.99. I figured I could find it cheaper somewhere else!


Questions:
  • How is the lighting?
  • Aside from the lack of twigs (more on this), how is the layout?
  • How does he/she loook?
  • Any other advice?
  • Can Chameleons overfeed (if i put too many crickets in Ernie's habitat)?
  • Can these little guys use heating rocks?


    Thanks!
 
Welcome. Well, what species is he? How old is he? You probably don't want any substrate in there until you get the hang of things (depending on the species.) chameleon do not need water bowls and they really serve no purpose except to breed bacteria. They need to be sprayed and have access to a dripper for water.

Yes they can overfeed so only feed as much as his species should for his age. What are you gutloading with? What are his basking temps? What are you supplementing with? Do you hve any real plants?

There is a form in the health clinic section called 'how to ask for help.' fill that out and post it here.
 
Last edited:
what kind of chameleon? ditch substrate use nothin,paper towels or newspaper, if hes a baby under 3 in your ok as far as set up for the next month ut you will need to switch to a screen cage....everyone else will chime in on what needs to be fixed..if you bought the glass set up new you should be able to return it and get an all screen cage. i didnt read everything so i know im not addressing all of your concerns...welcome to the forum...and dont mind some of the senior members they can come off as well blunt and sometime hurtful. they dont mean to but chams are a difficult species in general and its usually recomended to do research before bringing one into your care so be prepared to read up save up for vet visits and the study of what your chams poop looks like oh wait dont hold him unless its absolutely necessary it will stress him out they dont like to be bothered
 
Welcome to the forum! Cute little chameleon!

You've already been given some advice...but here are some more comments/questions......

What supplements (specifically) do you use and how often for each?
What do you gutload/feed the crickets? What size are the crickets?

Some spiral and compact lights can cause problems...most often recommended UVB light is the long linear tube fluorescent Repti-sun 5.0.

Its okay to use substrate with this species although I have kept them with none and that works well too.
 
Aww! He's a Pygmy! I thought you had a true chameleon. Okay, this changes everything.

Make sure to add more plants and twigs and stuff tomorrow and get that mister!!! I would probably raise the temp by a few degrees, maybe around 75 or so. You shoud be dusting his crickets with calcium without d3 though. You also need to gutload with greens like kale, collard greens, dandelion greens, mustard greens, and endive. Use fruits and vegies like oranges, papaya, squash, carrots, and sweet potatoes as well.

He should probably be eating 3-4 crickets every other day as an adult.

Do a quick search on pygmies here and it will give ton of ideas for the cage and tons of info about them! There is actually a section of the forums dedicated to them and their enclosures. It's in the normal enclosures section.
 
pssh said:
Welcome. Well, what species is he? How old is he? You probably don't want any substrate in there until you get the hang of things (depending on the species.) chameleon do not need water bowls and they really serve no purpose except to breed bacteria. They need to be sprayed and have access to a dripper for water.

Yes they can overfeed so only feed as much as his species should for his age. What are you gutloading with? What are his basking temps? What are you supplementing with? Do you hve any real plants?


There is a form in the health clinic section called 'how to ask for help.' fill that out and post it here.
Click to expand...
Looks pretty young, but i truly have no idea.
Dripper: Can I use the ice cube and mister method?
Can i gut load the crickets by just throwing old vegis in their storage case?
I've read that the dwarfs don't bask that much. Is your question still valid since my update?
She was sold 2.12oz of ReptoCal for 16.99. I figured I could find it cheaper somewhere else!

kinyonga said:
Welcome to the forum! Cute little chameleon!

You've already been given some advice...but here are some more comments/questions......

What supplements (specifically) do you use and how often for each?
What do you gutload/feed the crickets? What size are the crickets?

Some spiral and compact lights can cause problems...most often recommended UVB light is the long linear tube fluorescent Repti-sun 5.0.

Its okay to use substrate with this species although I have kept them with none and that works well too.
Click to expand...

No suppliments yet. Please suggest away! I was told 3 crickets twice a day. Is this appropriate? any great links on gutloading? Crickets are small than a pushpin.
What you guys think about the specific bulb i used...
 
Pygmies don't actually need a UVB light, though a 2.0 linear tube will always be better. A 5.0 is a bit strong.
 
pssh said:
Aww! He's a Pygmy! I thought you had a true chameleon. Okay, this changes everything.

Make sure to add more plants and twigs and stuff tomorrow and get that mister!!! I would probably raise the temp by a few degrees, maybe around 75 or so. You shoud be dusting his crickets with calcium without d3 though. You also need to gutload with greens like kale, collard greens, dandelion greens, mustard greens, and endive. Use fruits and vegies like oranges, papaya, squash, carrots, and sweet potatoes as well.

He should probably be eating 3-4 crickets every other day as an adult.

Do a quick search on pygmies here and it will give ton of ideas for the cage and tons of info about them! There is actually a section of the forums dedicated to them and their enclosures. It's in the normal enclosures section.
Click to expand...

Keep temps low, 65 to 72.
It is a true chameleon
You have a girl.

-Brad
 
5.0 is perfect, but it needs to be a linear tube fluorescent.
No basking light is needed as long as the temperature in your house stays between 60 and 70 in the day.

-Brad
 
Brad Ramsey said:
5.0 is perfect, but it needs to be a linear tube fluorescent.
No basking light is needed as long as the temperature in your house stays between 60 and 70 in the day.

-Brad
Click to expand...

Brad and everyone else, thank you so much for y'alls quick an thorough responses!

I am reading and learning from the links. Seems like there is are sites that have already mislead me. Great to be in the "care" of some pro's.

Here's a totally dumb question. Do I turn of the light for the night? When is best time to feed?
 
One of my brevicaudatus enclosures.
branches are needed in yours ... she is a chameleon, she doesn't want to be down on that moss.

-Brad
 

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Zhenya,

Welcome! I'm new to these forums, too. So far, they're proving to be a wealthy source of information; many members are very experienced, knowledgeable and helpful. There's a great deal of misinformation elsewhere, and this is a good place for dispelling it. I encourage you to sift through both old and new threads in each of the five husbandry forums and to make liberal use of the search function. You'll likely discover useful information and testimony that you hadn't thought to ask about.

As I have no actual experience with chameleons, I'll leave your questions to other members. Looks like the ball's already rolling. Listen to Brad :)

Good luck!

Sincerely,

S. Hendricks
 
I've read that the mid seventies is just fine but you want to keep it below 80 in several places. Pygmies are true chameleons? I've heard them called false chameleons before. Is that incorrect? I've also read that they do not need a UVB light many times. They've always said because they live on the forest floor.

I'm going off of things that I have read in several different places, if I'm wrong at least be nice about it. I don't just go spouting stuff willy nilly, I Have actually done research you know. I don't need to keep them to do research.
 
Brad Ramsey said:
Lights off at night.
I feed in the morning.
What are you feeding her? How big is she (in inches)?

-Brad
Click to expand...

Feeding: Small crickets from the pet store
Size: she is around 1 1/3 to 1/2 inches!

The other issue i'm having is the petstore sold my gf the light enclosure and the bulb.
But the bulb is longer than the enclosure and causes the light to rock on the screen!

So i had to use their mount but it cause me to skoot the screen over and leave a tiny bit of the top of the terrarium exposed!
 
Thanks for the welcome!
I guess in this situation I'm the n00b and you're playing my role (i'm on car forums). Yelling at the n00bs to use the search button! At least I tried to make for it with lots of pictures and plenty of detail :D
Thanks again for the warm welcome! I think brad is going to be my new PM buddy :p
schendricks said:
Zhenya,

Welcome! I'm new to these forums, too. So far, they're proving to be a wealthy source of information; many members are very experienced, knowledgeable and helpful. There's a great deal of misinformation elsewhere, and this is a good place for dispelling it. I encourage you to sift through both old and new threads in each of the five husbandry forums and to make liberal use of the search function. You'll likely discover useful information and testimony that you hadn't thought to ask about.

As I have no actual experience with chameleons, I'll leave your questions to other members. Looks like the ball's already rolling. Listen to Brad :)

Good luck!

Sincerely,

S. Hendricks
Click to expand...
 
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