Leaving chams alone for a few days??

[theonlyjuan]

Happy holidays all!!
I have 2 chams veiled and jax both are around 3 months old. My wife and I are planning a trip for 4 days. My question is how long is it ok to leave your chams home alone for???
My setup is all on timers. (Mister,lights, fogger) feeding is what I'm most worried about.
And no there is no one that can swing by to feed them.

Need some help with this.

 

[SaintJimmy]

Usually they will be fine without food for one day if everything else is automated. Adults can go for 2-3 days (3 is pushing it I think).

I'd have someone go feed them. Four days is too much for a baby to starve I think.

 

[pigglett79]

Some people come up with clever ideas for longer term feeding. For chams that young 4 days is too long to go without food. healthy adults could, but I wouldn't risk it with 3 month olds.

 

[theonlyjuan]

That's what I thought...it's just I don't really have any close friends that could do it. None of my other friends own reptiles. No family here either.

Going to have to figure something out...

Thanks guys

 

[fluxlizard]

I'd feed early the morning you left for your trip. If that's day 1 of 4 that you will be gone- you take care of 1 day right there and only have 3 left.

Feed extra the last feeding and leave some fairly safe feeders (roaches, other worms perhaps) running loose in the cages.

You can fatten the chams up between now and when you leave too- feed extra.

 

[qdude46]

I agree with this. If you cup feed, make a bigger cup, add a chunk of gut load and add in a bunch of crickets, just a thought.

 

[ChameSecret]

... cup feed, make a bigger cup ...

This got me thinking. Has anyone ever seen these in the reptile section at the pet store? Mealworm Feeder
It looks like the meal worms would crawl out the bottom at a semi-steady rate.. Although excess mealworms will probably end up in the bottom the the enclosures, I think this might solve theonlyjuan's problem! Although an all-mealworm diet isn't recommended long term, for a few days it could be ok, and it might space out feeding more than just leaving roaming feeders. Just a thought

 

[Olimpia]

I don't think that skipping 3 days is going to be fatal, but what if you just have a friend come by on day 3 of the trip so they really only go without food every other day?

And healthy adults can certainly go at least a week without eating without blinking, not just 3 days.

 

[Lathis]

Where are you located? Maybe you could make "pet sitting" arrangements with someone on the forum. You could also check with your vet - they might have someone to recommend.

 

[Tay And A]

Where are you located? Maybe you could make "pet sitting" arrangements with someone on the forum. You could also check with your vet - they might have someone to recommend.

exactly what i was thinking! there are reputable breeders everywhere that i am sure would be willing to help someone out. should we start a section here on the forums for "pet sitting"?? who has some rank/poll with the mod brad. lol =)

 

[djfishygillz]

This got me thinking. Has anyone ever seen these in the reptile section at the pet store? Mealworm Feeder
It looks like the meal worms would crawl out the bottom at a semi-steady rate.. Although excess mealworms will probably end up in the bottom the the enclosures, I think this might solve theonlyjuan's problem! Although an all-mealworm diet isn't recommended long term, for a few days it could be ok, and it might space out feeding more than just leaving roaming feeders. Just a thought

The worms would get out of the that thing in a few minutes to a hour or so max. It would be better to just leave the worms in a regular cup with gutload.

 

[Lathis]

exactly what i was thinking! there are reputable breeders everywhere that i am sure would be willing to help someone out. should we start a section here on the forums for "pet sitting"?? who has some rank/poll with the mod brad. lol =)

It would be a great way to get a vicarious thrill with other species


I'm volunteering for the KCMO area. I'd love to look after a veiled or panther for a few days!

 

[jannb]

I would highly recommend getting someone to care for your chams. I would never leave mine alone. There's just to much that could go wrong. Wonder if you cham had a medical emergency, like prolaps of tongue came out and wouldn't go back in. I've been around chams for awhile and experienced both of these problems multiple times. I could never forgive myself if this happen and my chams when for a entire day or even days without medical treatment. Other smaller problems can arise too...like the mister stops working.

 

[pigglett79]

I would highly recommend getting someone to care for your chams. I would never leave mine alone. There's just to much that could go wrong. Wonder if you cham had a medical emergency, like prolaps of tongue came out and wouldn't go back in. I've been around chams for awhile and experienced both of these problems multiple times. I could never forgive myself if this happen and my chams when for a entire day or even days without medical treatment. Other smaller problems can arise too...like the mister stops working.

I feel the same way. I would want some coming at least every other day to check on everything. I'm planning a vacation and believe me it's hard to find someone especially with all the needs of the chams and my tons of breeding insects, but it goes w the hobby, have to find people to help out when you are gone.

 

[Olimpia]

My tip if you're looking to find a sitter, especially if it's a friend or family member that's doing you a favor, is to dumb everything down as much as possible. If you're going to be gone 4 days and on the 3rd it's his day for vitamins instead of normal calcium - skip it. If you start telling people that X, X, and X day he gets this, and Y, Y, Y he gets that, you're just going to confuse them. It'll be fine if he only gets regular calcium (or no supplements at all) for the 3-4 days you're gone than to confuse the sitter and end up where they've gotten vitamins every day instead.

When I go away I always try to make things really simple. I may even pre-sort bugs into tupperware containers, with gutload, so they just have to go and dump the bugs into each cage/feeder cup and they're done. With adults I won't even bother instructing them about supplements, as they're up to date with everything and a week without calcium will not harm them. I will also leave tupperware with fruits/veggies in the fridge for them to throw into the insect bins whichever day they're coming.

A lot of my sitters are friends and since they're doing me a favor for free I try to make everything easy. I don't expect them to sit and chop up veggies themselves and mix it with dry gutload when all they want is to get in and out of there to do their own things. If lights and water are already automated that makes a big difference.

 

[Lathis]

This is what I put together for my mom/sister when we went to Peru. When I came back, my Jax was fat and happy. Too fat, actually, so now he only gets superworms once a week...

My mom always laughs at my spreadsheets. I also left written instructions and the vet information which I safety pinned to the side of the cage. Just in case.

 

[jbrough42]

The meal worm feeders are terrible... You end up with most falling to the bottom of the cage. Although they are better than nothing, it would also not be advised to feed only meal worms for 4 days. They have almost no nutritional value. If you absolutely can't get anyone to help, try getting a shoe box sized smooth plastic Tupperware container, and putting in way more crickets than they could eat in a day. Drape a vine over it so they can get to the crickets but the crickets can't escape. Leave a good chunk of gut load in the container too. This way you can leave enough to last a few days without the worry about free range crickets trying to nibble on your Chams overnight.

 

[xraygirl]

When I go out of town for a few days, I leave my friend a typed up page on basic stuff. Dump dirty water bucket if full, fill clean bucket if empty. Give 5-8 crickets, use the calcium powder that's on the same table, a few extra crickets will be okay. Check cricket and dubia food, and that there's little Tupperware cups in the fridge with prechopped up stuff for her to give the feeders... I tell her she can come by every other day so it's not being too much of a bother.. But she loves coming over to see Chief! She's getting him horn worms for Christmas apparently.. Lol

 

[pssh]

I wouldn't leave babies alone for that long without food. Adults can handle it for quite a while, but not babies. If you do find someone without any reptile/chameleon experience, do what Olympia has suggested. Pre-sort everything into small containers and make everything as simple as possible.

I once left a chameleon with my friend and gave her this complex care sheet because I figured she could handle it. The whole time she was terrified she would kill it because she thought it was super fragile, and ended up doing everything WAY overboard. Chameleon was fine, but the plants were half dead and there were bugs everywhere! After that, I started to tub everything and label it all so it's super easy for everyone.

 

[absolutbill]

I'm a big fan of the detailed list. When we go away I break everything down by the day, and list out the number of feeders, what kind, and the supliments - I have a tiny scoop that works perfectly for measuring. I'm lucky that our old roommate learned how to take care of all my chams while he was living here. He's moved out and is talking about leaving the area, so guess I'll be up the same creek having to find a new pet sitter