Lighting for the noob

[opihiman]

I posted earlier RE shedding process and it seems that the replier was more concerned about my lighting conditions. This leads me to my next question

For Jackson Chameleons: Do they need Direct sunlight? or is indirect Sunlight enough... It gets pretty hot here in the mid day and I didn't want to have cooked Chams at the end of the day.

I did get concerned enough to go and and look for a full spectrum light. will this be enough...I noticed a sig increase in activity level of my female which had been content to sit on her perch for most of the day. She is now pretty much running all over the place.

As for how the chams get their indirect sunlight. They get to sit out on the porch for anywhere from 6 to 10 hours of the day.

Any info will be helpful...


Cage Info:
• Cage Type – 24x18x12 screen cage
• Lighting – Ambient light, Chameleons get to sit out on porch, anywhere from 6 to 12 hours per day
• Temperature – Hawaii temps Day time 80 night time in hours 65 to 70’s
• Humidity – anywhere from 50 to 60% spray cage 3 to 4 times per day
• Plants – artificial plants…on home made dowel tree
• Location – Cage location in corner of living room, medium to low traffic, ceiling fan

Chameleon Info:
• Your Chameleon –1 male/ 1 female chameleon and 1 orange spotted day gecko.
• Feeding – crickets and meal worms. Every one is eating well. About 6 cricket every other day, 6 to 8 meal worms gut loaded with additional dusting
• Supplements – I forget but some kind of cricket dust
• Watering – drip system in constant modification. Located currently a mid level of cage, may go back to top.
• Fecal Description – mostly brown with white specks. Occ watery with orange
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.
• Current Problem – Just curious about the shedding cycle.

 

[Tygerr]

For Jackson Chameleons: Do they need Direct sunlight? or is indirect Sunlight enough...

Any chameleon will fare better with lots of natural, unfiltered sunlight.
When you refer to indirect sunlight on your porch, what exactly do you mean? If there is any glass (windows) or plastic barrier between your cham and the sun, it will cut out the necessary wavelengths of UVB that your cham needs to synthesise Vitamin D, which in turn is necessary for the absorption of calcium. So without unfiltered (i.e. direct) sunlight, you need UVB lamps to make up for what they're missing. But even these bulbs are not a perfect substitute for natural sunlight, so if you're only keeping them under UV bulbs, they'll need some additional vit. D3 supplementation.

I did get concerned enough to go and and look for a full spectrum light. will this be enough...

Most of the 'full spectrum' lights on the market are actually designed for plants or aquariums. What is needed for chameleons is a bulb with specific output in the UVB range. You'll need something like a ZooMed ReptiSun 5.0 tube bulb (http://www.zoomed.com/db/products/EntryDetail.php?EntryID=48&DatabaseID=2&SearchID=1&SearchContext=YTo3OntzOjg6IlNlYXJjaElEIjtzOjE6IjEiO3M6MTA6IkRhdGFiYXNlSUQiO3M6MToiMiI7czo3OiJLZXl3b3JkIjtzOjIwOiJMaWdodGluZyBBY2Nlc3NvcmllcyI7czoxNToiUHJvZHVjdENhdGVnb3J5IjtzOjg6IkxpZ2h0aW5nIjtzOjc6IkhlYWRpbmciO3M6OToiVGVycmFyaXVtIjtzOjg6IlNlYXJjaF94IjtzOjE6IjAiO3M6ODoiU2VhcmNoX3kiO3M6MToiMCI7fQ==)

It gets pretty hot here in the mid day and I didn't want to have cooked Chams at the end of the day.

Regardless of whether the heat source for the cham is the sun, or a heat bulb, the cage needs to be designed in such a way that the cham has somewhere cooler to escape to when it gets too hot. That means it needs to be big enough, and you need to have lots of plants or screening to created shaded parts in the cage where the temps are cooler. Get a digital thermometer to measure and monitor the temps in the cage.

• Fecal Description – mostly brown with white specks. Occ watery with orange

Orange in the urates (the normally white part of the feces) is often an indicator of dehydration in the cham. You mention that you are using a dripper, but don't say anything about misting. I've never kept Jackson's, but my understanding is that their hydration requirements are quite high. You should try to provide them with at least two lengthy misting sessions per day to give them more opportunity for drinking.

 

[opihiman]

What I mean by indirect sunlight is that they are out side in the ambient environment in a slightly shaded area of the porch...no glass or anything in the way. We initially thought that just getting some freash air would be good for them rather than staying in the house all the time...the cage is small enough so that we can pick it up and move them a couple of times per day.

Thanks for all of the information...especially about the stool. I have been wondering about that. especially since i noticed that my females eye were starting to get sunk in. I started to use my water bottle more and she is starting to perk up and get alot more active...(even more than when I first got her)

Once again Thanks...you have been the most helpful so far...BTW
would you also know how long the shedding process is suppose to take for jack's... I finally got tired of waiting for the head part of my cham to come off so I helped it a little.

She looks much better now...I'll try to post a couple of pics later

 

[Billyjack187]

Shedding for jacksons is something you may have to help on. I use a soft bristle tooth brush to get excess or hard to remove skin. And loads of shower time. If you are concerned with exactly how long you must mist before a Jackson starts to drink....in the shower and time it. Sounds odd, but I thought my jacksons were drinking fine but my automister kicks on for only a minute at a time. My dude would not drink until a full 3 minutes of misting. As far as lighting goes I use the same method, but I make sure he gets at least an hour of direct light in the morning. I have a screened in porch so, as tyger stated its not direct, he does fine. I would advise another UVB source as without it, the health can drop off overnight without carefully monitoring the vit supplements and adequate light sources. Just noticed you are in the 808...howzit braddah? I lived near Kalihi for 13 years!

 

[opihiman]

Thanks...I was wondering about that...I ended up grabbing some tweezers and coaxing the rest of the skin off... she looks a lot better.

KALIHI....DAS CHAMELEON COUNTRY....

How long do you leave them in the shower and why the shower?

 

[Billyjack187]

Whoa braddah leave em in for da kine...say 5-10 minutes with a plant so he dont get beat to death! I miss that L&L!!!! And the opihi from the reef! Aloha!

 

[opihiman]

Shoot....

Yeasterday was the first time for put them in the shower...I had to clean their cage anyway...I never put anything in the cage though...not sure if they enjoyed that one....next time...I go put some cuvah....

much maholos

OPI

 

[Trace]

Thanks...I was wondering about that...I ended up grabbing some tweezers and coaxing the rest of the skin off... she looks a lot better.

I find putting a small drop of baby oil on the affected area helps remove those stuck sheds easily and painlessly. It just falls right off the next day. It's great for those spots like the spines along their dorsal crest too. Scrubbing those stuck areas with a soft brush or pulling at skin that isn't quite ready to come off sometimes damages the new skin underneath and can cause scratches and scrapes.

Keeping humidity high also will help the shedding process.

Cheers,
t