Just got a Jackson's Chameleon as a gift... Am I doing things right?..

DUSCRAFT

DUSCRAFT

New Member
Hi, my name is Dustin and I recently acquired a Jackson's Chameleon as a wedding gift and I just want to make sure I'm doing this right for the little guy. I have an Exo-Terra 18x18x24" Screen Terrarium and I filled it with Reptile Safe fake plants and three of those Flucker's Bendy Vines. I put a small pool in the bottom with a air-stone filter to make bubbles and I Little Dripper drip system on the leaves above the pool on a slow drip for drinking and it's right at his height on his vine. I'm using a single Exo-Terra 5.0 UVB bulb on a 12 hour timer and a 75W Infrared Basking Light in a Flucker's Mini Sun Dome 100W Max unit. I have the basking light on to metal beams I made across the top of the terrarium so that it's not resting on the mesh or anything he can touch. I spray him around 3-4 times daily with water as well as his plants and I also, give him a few sprays of Tropical Mist Humidifying Spray once a day for his skin. I feed him live crickets and I feed the crickets the Flucker's dry cricket food. He seems to be drinking from the drip tube often and he's eating those crickets like it's going out of style ha ha. His cage is between 70-80 on the bottom with around 40-60% humidity. Does all of this sound good? I just want the little guy to be happy and healthy ha ha. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. One small question is do I need to use an Exo-Terra 2.0 UVB light in conjunction with the 5.0 I already have or is that overkill? Thanks so much for any info you can give me!
 
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I'm pretty sure everyone will tell you to lose the pool at the bottom, the cham won't drink from it and it can grow bacteria. Also, Flukers gutload isn't the best, try getting some Cricket Crack from Steve on here (Ssimsswiss).

The 5.0 by itself should be fine.
 
Hi Welcome to the forum!!! A Jackson's cham is quite a nice wedding gift! How old is he? So far it sounds like you have him set up nicely. You definitely want to take out the dish at the bottom..it will just harbor bacteria and your cham wont drink from it anyway. Also, Jackson's chams like cooler temps then most other chams. You might have to sub your basking light with a regular household light bulb at around 60-40 Wats. His basking area should only be around 80-85 degrees max. You want to gut load your crickets with dark greens, such as Kale, sweet potato and other healthy vegies. Otherwise it sounds like you have a great setup. I'm sure some other members will chime in to help also..
Best of luck and enjoy!!! :):):)
 
JaxyGirl said:
Hi Welcome to the forum!!! A Jackson's cham is quite a nice wedding gift! How old is he? So far it sounds like you have him set up nicely. You definitely want to take out the dish at the bottom..it will just harbor bacteria and your cham wont drink from it anyway. Also, Jackson's chams like cooler temps then most other chams. You might have to sub your basking light with a regular household light bulb at around 60-40 Wats. His basking area should only be around 80-85 degrees max. You want to gut load your crickets with dark greens, such as Kale, sweet potato and other healthy vegies. Otherwise it sounds like you have a great setup. I'm sure some other members will chime in to help also..
Best of luck and enjoy!!! :):):)
Click to expand...
If I remove the pool won't the water from the slow drip just cause bacteria on the ground cover and won't that lower his humidity levels too much?
 
Also, if I remove the pool weekly and clean it it should be okay right? I mean the water is moving because of the pump so it's not stagnant. Also, is it really necessary to clean the fake plants a lot if I spray them with purified water multiple times a day? I mean in nature no one removes the plants and cleans them ha ha. Last thing is that I have his temp around 80-85 and he actually enjoys basking under the heat lamp a lot... But he moves when he gets hot.
 
DUSCRAFT said:
If I remove the pool won't the water from the slow drip just cause bacteria on the ground cover and won't that lower his humidity levels too much?
Click to expand...

You have to set up some kind of drainage. I made the bottom of his reptibreeze mesh, and put in one of those plastic drawers underneath with a hole in the top. The water would drain from the cage into the drawer that I could clean out. Check this thread for examples, including my own. :)

https://www.chameleonforums.com/my-drainage-idea-32069/index2.html
 
JaxyGirl said:
What do you have for ground cover?
Click to expand...
I use ZooMed Eco Earth 100% Coconut Fiber Substrate is my ground cover... It's better than wood based ground cover because it's not as prone to mites... Those killed a snake of mine as a kid ha ha.
 
DUSCRAFT said:
I use ZooMed Eco Earth 100% Coconut Fiber Substrate is my ground cover... It's better than wood based ground cover because it's not as prone to mites... Those killed a snake of mine as a kid ha ha.
Click to expand...

Usually it's better if you don't have substrate. Chams can ingest it and become impacted, which can be really bad.
 
ajacobson said:
You have to set up some kind of drainage. I made the bottom of his reptibreeze mesh, and put in one of those plastic drawers underneath with a hole in the top. The water would drain from the cage into the drawer that I could clean out. Check this thread for examples, including my own. :)

https://www.chameleonforums.com/my-drainage-idea-32069/index2.html
Click to expand...
The bottom of my Exo-Terra Wire Terranium is a waterproof platic bottom... I can't really remove it ha ha.
 
Hi, Unfortunately, chams have been known to eat the ground cover/substrate and it causes impaction which can lead to death. Your best bet is to remove all substrate. Many people use towels or paper towels to absorb the moisture..If you do a search there are also threads on here where people have raised the cage a little and slid a tub underneath the screen to collect the water
 
ajacobson said:
Usually it's better if you don't have substrate. Chams can ingest it and become impacted, which can be really bad.
Click to expand...
Is there anything I can put over the ground cover so he won't eat it? That way it can hold the humidity better? Maybe rocks or stones?
 
JaxyGirl said:
Hi, Unfortunately, chams have been known to eat the ground cover/substrate and it causes impaction which can lead to death. Your best bet is to remove all substrate. Many people use towels or paper towels to absorb the moisture..If you do a search there are also threads on here where people have raised the cage a little and slid a tub underneath the screen to collect the water
Click to expand...
Is that Eco Carpet stuff good? I could use that and put paper towels under that.
 
Many people on here use live plants instead of fake which really helps keep the humidity up and ton's of threads on here about live verses fake plants. The dipper drips onto the plant and then they use towels or paper towels in order to absorb the moisture. Some people have put a a small hole in the bottom of their enclosure in order to let the moisture drip into a tub bellow.
 
DUSCRAFT said:
If I remove the pool won't the water from the slow drip just cause bacteria on the ground cover and won't that lower his humidity levels too much?
Click to expand...

add a real plant at the bottom for the water to drip into, a hibiscus is a good bet. plant gets watered and buddy has something live to climb on and occasionally chomp on.
 
DUSCRAFT said:
Also, if I remove the pool weekly and clean it it should be okay right? I mean the water is moving because of the pump so it's not stagnant. Also, is it really necessary to clean the fake plants a lot if I spray them with purified water multiple times a day? I mean in nature no one removes the plants and cleans them ha ha. Last thing is that I have his temp around 80-85 and he actually enjoys basking under the heat lamp a lot... But he moves when he gets hot.
Click to expand...

in nature you wont find fake plants either :cool:
 
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