Looking into getting my first chameleon!

Let'sTalkLizard

Let'sTalkLizard

New Member
Hello! I am hopefully getting my first chameleon soon, and I am really excited! I have 3 snakes (2 Ball Pythons and 1 BCI Boa), and love reptiles! I did always want a chameleon, and I'd start with a veiled. As I have no experience with lizards myself, my cousins have bearded dragons, leopard geckos, and crested geckos. I often visit them and see how they do things! I've been seriously looking into a cham in the last two-ish months, and I've learned a lot! My checklist is
Now I know a veiled's temps should be about 80°F-95°F, right?
And humidity from %50-%60?

I'm pretty sure that's really all. If anyone has any tips/questions, feel free! Thank you! :D
 
The humidity should be a little bit higher, but if you live in a dry area then it could be a little more difficult to obtain that. I have a screen cage that I have covered in a plastic dropcloth, and I have a humidifier running when the humidity gets very low. 95 degrees is a little hot. 90 is probably the absolute max heat you should have. Shoot for something around 80 to 85. The UVB bulb is best when it is 10.0, and it should say whether it is 10.0 or 5.0 on the package. For the basking bulb, I have a red tinted 100 W bulb from my local reptile shop. Make sure that whatever basking bulb you provide for your cham has tinted glass, not anything that has been painted on. In the reptibreeze or zoomed chameleon kits, it usually comes with the lowest UVB and a blue basking bulb that doesn't last very long. This is an example of when you would want to upgrade. Also, if you are ever confused about something and cannot get a clear answer here, always go for the reptile experts near you or go to a vet if you need some medical help. It is very risky when you act as a vet. For the decor, you should have real and artificial plants. Real plants are the best, but if your cham is anything like mine, they will want to have one of those dense plastic plants. Might I ask what your feeders are going to be? I wish you the best of luck with your chameleon, and hope you have a very happy new year! ;):):p:D
 
Thank you! This is really helpful :D I'm going to PetSmart in like 6 hours I guess lol. I'll write this stuff down and try to price some stuff :) I forgot to include it, but I didn't forget about the UVB ;) Do you think this 16x16x30 cage would be enough for the veiled or would I need something a bit bigger..? And I forgot about live plants! What plants should I use? Feeders would be crickets and mealworms, and I'd feed 2 times a day. Happy new year to you too! :D :)
 
Well I find golden pothos is cheap, easy, fills in nicely, and the chams love it. You could also use ficus benjamina, and there is a list of safe plants for A to Z floating around the web somewhere. You may want to skip out on the mealworms. I tried them, and they were fine, but then my reptile shop told me that they do not have much meat on them and can sometimes stay alive in their stomachs. They are not the greatest feeder, though they are easy. Crickets are good. You should feed them healthy and fresh foods such as carrots, lettuce, collard greens, apples, oranges, strawberries, and others. I have a more detailed list if you want it. I use dubia roaches right now and they are working pretty well in case you are looking for options. Also that cage size might be good for a baby cham who is warming up to everything. You may want to upgrade it as your cham gets bigger. If you need more help along the way, feel free to ask. I am happy to help
 
Welcome to the forums! I keep veileds and have babies now. Veileds don’t require as high of humidity as Panthers. 50 to 60 should be fine and it will drop some between mistings. The pothos plant will help to keep the humidity up. I’m attaching my blog for how I recommend keeping young veileds. I hope you will find it helpful. https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...-with-young-veiled-or-panther-chameleons.325/

The forums care sheet: https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/veiled/

More great chameleon info here: https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/
 
Just a couple of things stand out here so far to me. First, you want to get a linear uvb bulb not a corkscrew type when you buy your supplies. Secondly, be careful on just saying grab a 10.0 bulb. If you are going to grab a 10.0 T8 you want at least a 36" tall cage or T5ho a 48" cage and loads of foliage to hide in. I'll post a screen shot of a post from @nightanole on the lights when I jump on my phone in a bit. As for basking, many use regular household incandescent bulbs and either adjust height or use a dimmer switch to adjust their temps. I use a ceramic heat emitter and a temp controller along with a mutli bulb t5ho fixture personally though. I would skip the 30" cage you linked to personally and go for a 48" if you have the space for it now. Saves having to "upgrade" down the road since you'll need at least that size for an adult anyway.

I do agree with skipping the mealworms, look for superworms instead. If you get a baby cham look for "mirco superworms" though tbh, none of the 4 babies (I have all panthers btw) in my house have done anything more then look at their supers. My 10 month old how ever likes them in his rotation. So far my babies (ranging from now 3 months to 5 months) have taken small silkworms, bsf but not bsfl for what ever reason, crickets and small hornworms. My male baby also took a discoid when I first got him but hasn't since. If you can't find a decent selection of feeders in your area look up @Katacara. She runs feeders for friends and has a nice menu to select from. She's been busy lately so you may have to contact her through her website or facebook though. There are several other places other members have gotten their feeders from too but I use my local dedicated reptile shop and @Katacara for the stuff I'm not already breeding myself.

edit: glad @jannb jumped on here for you. She is one of the best brains to "pick" when it comes to veiled.
 
Here is the ss I refered to.
Screenshot_2017-11-17-19-51-45.png
 
@dshuld Thanks for the shout out! You are also right, I am super, crazy busy taking care of my boys, all my critters, all my feeders, and my business! I do "lurk" around here reading up on how everyone is doing, even though I do not usually have time to post. I also check for any posts I am mentioned in at least once a day, and respond. I get e-mail alerts for private messages also and try to respond to those right away. So if anyone needs me dshuld is right about sending me a message here or through my Facebook page.

I do try to offer a "menu" of options! Right now however I am out of stock on just about everything. I do have some different sizes of superworms available, although it is a limited quantity. I have had trouble with a few containers of cricket eggs, but should have some soon. My silkworms are also doing very well, they are still just to tiny to sell & ship right now.

Always happy to hear from people, and help where I can!
 
Thank you, guys! Jannb, thank you and those links are very helpful! I've read through the last two, and I'm reading your blog right now ;) dshuld, I don't know where to start! I am writing everything down, and that helps a lot. I'll start with this cage- https://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-Rept...514837554&sr=1-2&keywords=screen+reptile+cage
And in this case, I would go with the 10.0 T5HO. Because it is the 48''? And thank you, I won't feed mealworms :) I'll go with crickets and superworms/micro superworms? And also offering "carrots, lettuce, collard greens, apples, oranges, strawberries, and others." as CamrynTheCham22 said :) And Katacara, I can go to you for my feeder needs? Do you ship things like crickets and superworms/micro superworms? That's so cool! Thank you all :D I do have 1 more question, though. I think I would use Pothos and Ficus, with some plastic plants. So should I keep the plants in pots and just stick the pots in there? Or do I put like soil as the substate and plant the plants in that..? Also, a side note- This is expensive! I thought maybe $250-ish but now I'm thinking this will be closer to $500! Along with vet visits... Sheesh! Might have to wait longer than I thought so I could save up lol. But thank you guys again!
 
Properly taking care of a cham is VERY expensive, you got that right!! When I got Peepers I was thinking the same as you, $250-300 (to start). I am very glad that I had saved $1000 because I spent that easy! Although I did not have the guidance of this wonderful forum at first, and had to buy some of my supplies twice, so you are definitely doing better than I was! I also quickly realized how much they eat and that to support my reptile "habit" I was going to need to start breeding feeders lol, thus Feeders For Friends.

I would be happy to supply feeders for you! When I have availability I post just about everywhere, but you can also follow my Facebook page to get alerts. Also feel free to message me here anytime, about anything! I do ship anywhere in the continental 48 states. I ship USPS, so if you get mail, I will ship to you! I have also finished typing up my policies so they should be posted very soon to both Facebook and my web sight.

About your question regarding plants... it is really up to you on what you would like to do. I use potted plants in Peepers enclosure, but you could decide to go with a bio-active enclosure also. I am definitely not the one to ask about the workings of a bio-active enclosure tho!
 
Katacara said:
Properly taking care of a cham is VERY expensive, you got that right!! When I got Peepers I was thinking the same as you, $250-300 (to start). I am very glad that I had saved $1000 because I spent that easy! Although I did not have the guidance of this wonderful forum at first, and had to buy some of my supplies twice, so you are definitely doing better than I was! I also quickly realized how much they eat and that to support my reptile "habit" I was going to need to start breeding feeders lol, thus Feeders For Friends.

I would be happy to supply feeders for you! When I have availability I post just about everywhere, but you can also follow my Facebook page to get alerts. Also feel free to message me here anytime, about anything! I do ship anywhere in the continental 48 states. I ship USPS, so if you get mail, I will ship to you! I have also finished typing up my policies so they should be posted very soon to both Facebook and my web sight.

About your question regarding plants... it is really up to you on what you would like to do. I use potted plants in Peepers enclosure, but you could decide to go with a bio-active enclosure also. I am definitely not the one to ask about the workings of a bio-active enclosure tho!
Click to expand...

First of all, that's an awesome business to have! I'm sure it really helps a lot of people! And, $1000! Phew! It would be horrible to buy things twice:eek:
That would be awesome, I'd love to order from you! I'll definitely be sure to talk to you close to when I get the cham!
I think I will stick with potted plants then, I'm not sure I could handle bio-active lol. Thank you!
(Btw, Peepers is a great name:ROFLMAO:)
 
Let'sTalkLizard said:
Thank you, guys! Jannb, thank you and those links are very helpful! I've read through the last two, and I'm reading your blog right now ;) dshuld, I don't know where to start! I am writing everything down, and that helps a lot. I'll start with this cage- https://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-Rept...514837554&sr=1-2&keywords=screen+reptile+cage
And in this case, I would go with the 10.0 T5HO. Because it is the 48''? And thank you, I won't feed mealworms :) I'll go with crickets and superworms/micro superworms? And also offering "carrots, lettuce, collard greens, apples, oranges, strawberries, and others." as CamrynTheCham22 said :) And Katacara, I can go to you for my feeder needs? Do you ship things like crickets and superworms/micro superworms? That's so cool! Thank you all :D I do have 1 more question, though. I think I would use Pothos and Ficus, with some plastic plants. So should I keep the plants in pots and just stick the pots in there? Or do I put like soil as the substate and plant the plants in that..? Also, a side note- This is expensive! I thought maybe $250-ish but now I'm thinking this will be closer to $500! Along with vet visits... Sheesh! Might have to wait longer than I thought so I could save up lol. But thank you guys again!
Click to expand...

When I started building Blue's enclosure I was told to plan on about $1000 between buying him and getting everything setup. If I were to guess, I probably went over that mark though a little bit lol. I built him a 48w x 24d x 52h bio active enclosure. I reused some 2x4 from a false wall I built that was covering my garage door from Hurricane Irma for the "skeleton" of the upper part of his enclosure. I already had a sunblaze 46 fixture from one of my planted tanks I had taken down so that saved me some money there I just had to buy my uvb bulbs for lights. On to the questions...this maybe sporadic answers and I'll try to clarify if it comes out that way lol.

If you're not in a hurry, you can get the 48" reptibreeze from petco (their ebay page anyway) for $75 shipped but it will take 3 or 4 weeks to get it. I got lucky and found 4 of the xl reptibreeze on craigslist for $150 for all 4. Some time intensive cleaning and sterilizing makes it worth the savings there though. Also, diy cages has an ebay page and if they have them listed, the 24*24*48 cage is $99 shipped and takes about a week depending on where you are located (Florida for me). That being said, check Canvas Chameleons site for the dragon strand with shipping. You may be able to get a better built cage for not much more then the amazon reptibreeze.

If you go with a 10.0 t5ho make sure you have lots of foliage to hide in for breaks from the bulb as it doesn't have a dead zone until 48" from @nightanole 's post. Before picking a bulb, pick out how you want your lights set up first. Are you doing multiple t5ho bulbs, are you doing them in separate fixtures or all in one. The reason I bring this up is, you may be better served by going with 2 5.0 t5ho spread a-part from one another then one covering a smaller portion all the way down. This was something I discussed with @Matt Vanilla Gorilla when I purchased Blue from him. Many people do run singles though.

Plants, I have a ficus and I wish I had listened to Matt lol. It drops leaves big time lol. I also have loads of pothos and schefflera along with some ground cover. You will want to pull your plants out, wash the root ball off then replant with organic soil. After that wash your leaves and finally cap off the dirt with washed river rocks or something similar. I'll try post a little more coherently shortly on the next round of questions lol. Sorry!
 
@Let'sTalkLizard ... welcome to the forum!

I would recommend for your first chameleon you get a male....females are more complicated because you throw reproductive issues into the mix!

@CamrynTheCham22 said.. "UVB bulb is best when it is 10.0"...I have to agree with what @dshuld said on this one.

Camryn said..."For the basking bulb, I have a red tinted 100 W bulb from my local reptile shop. Make sure that whatever basking bulb you provide for your cham has tinted glass, not anything that has b ineen painted on"...sorry, but colored lights are not recommended...white basking lights are and for a basking light I use a white regular household incandescent bulb I a wattage that produces the basking temperature the species of chameleon you're keeping requires.

There should be no lights on at night BTW.

Camryn said..."if you are ever confused about something and cannot get a clear answer here, always go for the reptile experts near you"...IMHO you are much better off looking for answers here than trying to determine who is a reputable reptile expert eslewhere! Most pet stores don't know enough. I don't know who would be considered an expert elsewhere.

One word of warning about fake plants that are material or plastic...veileds eat foliage and greens and veggies often and if they somehow ingest a piece of material or plastic it can lead to an impaction. Things like dandelion greens, kale, collards, endive, escarole, squash, zucchini, carrots, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, berries, melon, apples, pears, etc that I recommend for feeding/gutloading crickets, roaches, superworms, etc can also be offered in appropriate sized pieces to your chameleon...go easy on the fruit though.

Do you know about supplementing/dusting the insects?

Hope this helps!
 
@kinyonga , thank you for clearing some of that up! I would probably get a double light with the white basking bulb in one and the UVB in the other. I'm still not too sure what wattage to get for the basking bulb, I'm going to wait until I know for sure what size cage I'm getting because I'm seeing some cheap cages float around eBay/craigslist that are 30''-36'' (I'd of course upgrade later). That's a good point... I never thought of the cham eating plastic plants! Should I do all live plants? I do know a bit about dusting from what I've seen my cousins do and reading @jannb 's blog; ''The feeders have to be "lightly" dusted with 2 kinds of supplements. When your chameleon is young you will use plain calcium (no d3) at just about every feeding...... if you skip one or two days a month that's ok. You will also need Reptivite with d3 twice a month.'' My cousins use fluker's Repti-Calcium with d3 to dust feeders. Thank you!

@dshuld , $1000 is A LOT! I won't be building an enclosure, though. And I don't think I'll be doing bio-active. That does seem pretty cool though. Can you post pictures on here? If so I'd love to see how that turned out :D Define ''deadzone''? What do you mean by that exactly? Sorry!
I looked on eBay, but couldn't find any different price than what's in store. DiyCages seems like it's got nice cages, it's a bit cheaper (48'' Reptibreeze is $120, while their 48'' is $99), and seems like it would be better quality.
I was planning on having a double dome (I just had one sitting around from one of my snakes), with the basking bulb on one side and the UVB on the other. I'm just confused about what wattage basking bulb to get, and what UVB.
What you said about the plants really helps! I actually have a huge Pothos as just a decoration in my room, and I've been able to keep that alive and healthy for a while now. The corner that the cham would be in, is close to the window and can get a good amount of sunlight. I am a huge plant nerd as well lol and I keep a lot of flowers, herbs, etc. But thinking back to what @jannb said in her blog, I might be able to use a hibiscus since the cage would be close to the window. Anyways, thank you!



Also, this might affect things... There's a reptile show near me on the 27-28th, which I will be attending. I've been to this show before, and it was a decent size. Of course, the last time I went I got my second snake and wasn't paying much attention to the chams, but I remember seeing some there. I feel like this might be a great opportunity to get my chameleon. I'm really not trying to rush into things, and if I'm not prepared I won't get one then. But that said, I would like to!
 
You said..."I would probably get a double light with the white basking bulb in one and the UVB in the other"...please note as @dshuld said..."you want to get a linear uvb bulb not a corkscrew type". I have for years us the long linear Repti sun 5.0 tube UVB light and a done hoo with a regular white incandescent household bulb or basking.

Regarding live plants...I have always used live plants for all my adult chameleons and hatchlings over 3 months of age. I used them for most of my other reptiles' too unless they were a species I knew absolutely wouldn't ingest them accidentally or on purpose. Helps with the humidity too. Just make sure they're non toxic and well washed both sides of the leaves.

You said..."The corner that the cham would be in, is close to the window and can get a good amount of sunlight"...the sunlight, if it passes through glass or plastic, won't provide the chameleon with any UVB and being by the window, if you live in a cold climate, could lead to a respiratory infection.

Hope this helps!
 
Ah! I forgot so sorry. I will then for sure just get a normal dome for the basking light, and a linear UVB(y) I don't know why I forgot that lol
All live plants, no problem. I think I'll do a Pothos, Hibiscus and maybe some Schefflera. :)
It usually doesn't get too cold here (I live in Oklahoma) and in the winter months the window is shut of course and I do have a heater :)
 
@kinyonga already beat me to the reminder on not using a corkscrew type uvb bulb lol.

It wasn't $1000 because of building my own cage though. I spent roughly $100/ $125 on wood tops lol. It was once I started adding in all the "little" stuff that the money started racking up. 15 $6 pots of ground cover plants, $65 on leaf litter since the trees in my yard are cherry laurel and the leaves are cyanide carriers/ producers. $95 piecing my mist system together. $40 for temp controller. Four $16 pots of pothos and four $11 schefflera and a bunch of other cheaper priced stuff that added up as I went along. Anyways a pic of the semi final product. I'm looking at changing it around a bit after a couple of month of it like this.
20171105_162754-1.jpg
 
dshuld said:
@kinyonga already beat me to the reminder on not using a corkscrew type uvb bulb lol.

It wasn't $1000 because of building my own cage though. I spent roughly $100/ $125 on wood tops lol. It was once I started adding in all the "little" stuff that the money started racking up. 15 $6 pots of ground cover plants, $65 on leaf litter since the trees in my yard are cherry laurel and the leaves are cyanide carriers/ producers. $95 piecing my mist system together. $40 for temp controller. Four $16 pots of pothos and four $11 schefflera and a bunch of other cheaper priced stuff that added up as I went along. Anyways a pic of the semi final product. I'm looking at changing it around a bit after a couple of month of it like this.
View attachment 197335
Click to expand...
That looks amazing! What do you mean by ''mist system''? Is it like a self-misting thing lol, that would be super cool! I might not need as many plants because I'd have a smaller cage, right? I already have an amazing temp gun I got for my birthday last year (for the snakes), and I might not need as much leaf litter. Great job!
 
Well, I didn't buy a mistking or a climist. I did buy climist nozzles but I bought my pump, power supply, tubing, rain gutter for "rain heads", push to connect fittings all separately from amazon and climist.

Also I forgot, dead zone is where the uvb stops penetrating the cage and its pretty much just visible light basically.

No, you won't need as many plants as I put into that enclosure. The reptibreeze xl is roughly half give or take of that one. The petco thing must have been a Christmas deal they were running last year I guess because I cant find it now either.
 
dshuld said:
Well, I didn't buy a mistking or a climist. I did buy climist nozzles but I bought my pump, power supply, tubing, rain gutter for "rain heads", push to connect fittings all separately from amazon and climist.
Click to expand...
That's pretty much foreign to me lol. Thank you for explaining though! Just give me about 2 months owning a chameleon and being on these forums and I'll understand what you're talking about ;)

Oh, the deadzone makes sense! Thank you, that really helps lol
 
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