more questions

[animallover27]

Ok - I've got my poor little rescue chameleon's new cage set up - it actually took her a few hours to venture from the fake plants onto the real ones, but she's set up his new sleeping area in a real plant so I guess she likes it . . . she also was fairly calm when I moved him into his new cage . . . she was all curled up with his tail rolled when I turned off his light (that seems to be her sleepy position) - I was running late and you could see her thinking 'will you turn that light off please?!'

So here are my questions -
1) Her drip system should be here tomorrow (I've been misting every two hours) - how do you guys deal with overflow from the drip system? What I mean is I was hoping this cage would have a lipped base, but it doesn't. I know some of the water will be absorbed by my plants, but I assume eventually they will get full. What are your suggestions for containing the overflow?

2) I THINK this guy is a girl (though I'm going to get that confirmed before I proceed) - do females like to live in pairs or do they prefer to live alone? I have this idea that all animals prefer to live with another animal like themselves (and I honestly wouldn't mind having two to just sit and watch), but I know that isn't always true - I'm much more experienced rescuing mammals than reptiles . . .

So far she is continuing to eat and was VERY active exploring the new cage . . .

 

[heartben]

hello. you can pick up a super simple timer from walmart for 4 or 5 dollars so your lights will be consistant.

if by drip system you mean something like the big / little dripper..in my personal opinion if you keep misting as usual you wont want the dripper on all the time. that will cause excess water to drip out of the cage... it happened to me.

if you want it on all the time though, youll want to put some sort of drainage system in your cage. the easiest is to put the cage on a stand with no top, then drill holes in the bottom of the cage.. put a bucket under the cage and thats all!

you arent going to want more than one veiled per cage (unless they are babies of course). they prefer to be alone.

if you post a picture of the base of the chams tail someone can likely tell you if its a male or female. weve have to get that sorted because it was getting confusing reading all the mid sentence sex changes.

also, you were saying it took hours to move from one plant to another but at the end you said it was active?

 

[animallover27]

I tried to change the gender everywhere, but I think I missed some

I think we have decided this is a senegal - though I was told she was a flap neck . . . I'm glad if she is a senegal though, because it explains her color being so light . . .

Thanks for the clarification on the drip system - I was thinking it would need to be on all the time . . . I did mean the little dripper and/or something called a drip vine that I ordered because it was only $6 and sounded like a neat idea . . .

What I meant about her movement is that she seemed to be almost afraid of the real plants - I put her fake plants from her old cage at the back of the new cage so she would have something familiar and she stayed on those and the mesh for a good couple of hours while exploring - finally she felt ok getting on the real plants and finally picked a spot in the hybiscus to sleep for the night . . . but she was very active exploring the new cage the whole time . . . it was just where she was doing her exploring from . . .

 

[kinyonga]

The photos in your other thread are not clear but I think its a male Senegal.
If you post pictures of the chameleon that show the base of the tail we can likely tell.

Senegals need to be well watered...so try to make sure it drinks daily.

Here's some information I hope will help you with things like supplements, gutloading, etc....
Appropriate cage temperatures aid in digestion and thus play a part indirectly in nutrient absorption.

Exposure to UVB from either direct sunlight or a proper UVB light allows the chameleon to produce D3 so that it can use the calcium in its system to make/keep the bones strong and be used in other systems in the chameleon as well. The UVB should not pass through glass or plastic no matter whether its from the sun or the UVB light. The most often recommended UVB light is the long linear fluorescent Repti-sun 5.0 tube light. Some of the compacts, spirals and tube lights have caused health issues, but so far there have been no bad reports against this one.

Since many of the feeder insects we use in captivity have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorus in them, its important to dust the insects just before you feed them to the chameleon at most feedings with a phos.-free calcium powder to help make up for it. (I use Rep-cal phosphorus-free calcium).

If you also dust twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder it will ensure that your chameleon gets some D3 without overdoing it. It leaves the chameleon to produce the rest of what it needs through its exposure to the UVB light. D3 from supplements can build up in the system but D3 produced from exposure to UVB shouldn't as long as the chameleon can move in and out of it. (I use Rep-cal phos.-free calcium/D3).

Dusting twice a month as well with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A will ensure that the chameleon gets some vitamins without the danger of overdosing the vitamin A. PrEformed sources of vitamin A can build up in the system and may prevent the D3 from doing its job and push the chameleon towards MBD. However, there is controversy as to whether all/any chameleons can convert the beta carotene and so some people give some prEformed vitamin A once in a while. (I use herptivite which has beta carotene.)

Gutloading/feeding the insects well helps to provide what the chameleon needs. I gutload crickets, roaches, locusts, superworms, etc. with an assortment of greens (dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, zucchini, etc.)

Calcium, phos., D3 and vitamin A are important players in bone health and other systems in the chameleon (muscles, etc.) and they need to be in balance. When trying to balance them, you need to look at the supplements, what you feed the insects and what you feed the chameleon.
Please note that various supplements have various amounts of D3 and vitamin A and so some can be given more often than others. The idea still is not to overdo the fat soluble vitamins like D3 and prEformed vitamin A.

Here are some good sites for you to read too...
http://chameleonnews.com/07FebWheelock.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200605020...Vitamin.A.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200406080...d.Calcium.html
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
http://web.archive.org/web/200601140...ww.adcham.com/
If you can't access the sites above that have the word "archive" in you can do it through the WayBackMachine.

 

[animallover27]

great - thanks! I had wondered what gut loading was!

I got a good look at my chameleon today because I was setting up his mister and he crawled onto my hand (yea!) - he does have a tail bulge - so that is a male, correct? I didn't see any heel spurs, but then I read that only particular species have heel spurs.

He is also changing to a nicer green color - he has more foliage as well, so that may be part of it - but his color is definitely richer now . . .