My first Cham, need your opinions and help.

F

feks

New Member
Hi everyone, I am totally newbie in this reptile world, however I bought a Chameleon last Sunday and I am doing my best to give him the best. I have some questions that I will put at the end of the topic.

Chameleon Info:

  • Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
    I have a ambilobe panther chameleon, he is a male. He’s about 3 1/2 months old and I have had him for 7 days.

  • Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? I have only handled him once, it was when I was cleaning the Enclosure and fixing the branches.

  • Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
    I am currently feeding him crickets and today I bought mealworms. These days I did not see if he is eating, I think not, he is shedding. I have a big box with more than 300+ crickets and I put some veggies (Carrots) inside it.

  • Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
    I am giving Reptivite without d3 + Bee pollen everyday, and Repashy Calcium Plus twice a month.

  • Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long do you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
    I am using just a water spray, doing a lot of times daily, the humidity is between 70 ~ 72%. I can see he drinking water sometimes.

  • Fecal Description - Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? I do not have an idea about the parasites, for the fecal, looks like normal. pasty.

  • History - I bought him at Expo Reptile in Toronto from a breeder called https://chameleonscanada.com/

Cage Info:

  • Cage Type - What are the dimensions?
    I am using Reptibreeze large open air black aluminum screen cage ( 18x36" )


  • Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? I am using a Arcadia UVB 6% and a 40W 3000K Led.


  • Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? At the moment I have the basking spot temperature ranging from 70~74 degrees F (I tried to increase, but it is difficult, I do not know if I am using a wrong lighting). Near cage floor my temperature is from 70-72 F.


  • Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? I try to maintain my humidity levels between 65% 75%. I am using a Digital Measure. I am spraying the Enclosure each 2 hours.


  • Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? I have two real plants + real branches + 1 fake plant (like vines) at the right corner. I do not know the specie of plants, but I know that I can use for my Chame.


  • Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At the moment the cage is on the Dinner Table, a lot of traffic areas because for now I am living in a small apartment, I am moving next week for a house, So I will have more space to him.


  • Location - Where are you geographically located? Toronto Canada.


Current Problem - Hello, so this is my first chameleon as well as reptile ever. I need some help on how to my humidity (at night) and warm levels up. I also having some difficult to feed him, in the first 2 days, I saw he eating some times, but not these days. I tried cup feeding and free range as well.

Thanks

1630182831337.png
 
Last edited:
Hi and welcome is your reptivite a multivitamin? You will want to give your new baby a calcium phosphorus free no d3 every feed then say the 1st and the 15th calcium +d3 and on the other say the the 8th and 30th a multivitamin no d3
 
Also this is only my opinion I would not dust with bee pollen every day I only feed my insects organic bee pollen I never dust my feeders with it
 
Flick boy said:
Hi and welcome is your reptivite a multivitamin? You will want to give your new baby a calcium phosphorus free no d3 every feed then say the 1st and the 15th calcium +d3 and on the other say the the 8th and 30th a multivitamin no d3
Click to expand...
Let me show you.

All day: ReptiCalcium without D3
1st and the 15th: Repashy Calcium Plus (this contains D3)

I have this Arcadia CalciumPro but I do not know how to use.


1630183654059.png
 
Hi @feks I would get those lights raised ASAP what is the temp right below that heat light? And also with your baby screen climbing he's getting exposed to high uvb
 
Have you tested it with a wired probe ? As they can end up with thermal burns Also as I mentioned the amount of uvb in that distance will be extremely high unless you have a solar meter 6.5??
 
WELCOME TO THE FORUM AND THE WORLD OF CHAMELEONS!
Chameleon Info:

You said..."I am currently feeding him crickets and today I bought mealworms. These days I did not see if he is eating, I think not, he is shedding. I have a big box with more than 300+ crickets and I put some veggies (Carrots) inside it"...
WHAT SIZE ARE THE CRICKETS? HOW MANY A DAY? HOW ARE YOU KEEPING THE CRICKETS? You need to feed them better...dandelion greens, kale, endive, collards, Squash, zucchini, sweet red pepper, sweet potato, and a very small amount of apples, pears, berries.

You said...I am giving Reptivite without d3 + Bee pollen everyday, and Repashy Calcium Plus twice a month....Ill let someone else comment on this since I don't use those products.

You said..."I am using just a water spray, doing a lot of times daily, the humidity is between 70 ~ 72%. I can see he drinking water sometimes"...good that he's drinking but that's a lot of spraying!

You said..."I do not have an idea about the parasites, for the fecal, looks like normal. pasty"....should be a brown soft "log" shape for the poop and a white to slightly orangey yellow piece at one end.

You said..."I bought him at Expo Reptile in Toronto from a breeder called [/B]"...I didn't know the expo happened!

You said..."I am using Reptibreeze large open air black aluminum screen cage"...size?

You said..."I am using a Arcadia UVB 6% and a 40W 3000K Led"...
Long linear UVB? LED's don't produce much heat. A regular incand scent household bulb would be better.

You said..."At the moment I have the basking spot temperature ranging from 70~74 degrees F (I tried to increase, but it is difficult, I do not know if I am using a wrong lighting). Near cage floor my temperature is from 70 to 72"...basking temperature could increased to 78F but make sure it's far enough above the cage that it won't burn him and white light not colored. No lights at night...right?


You said..." I try to maintain my humidity levels between 65% 75%. I am using a Digital Measure. I am spraying the Enclosure each 2 hours"... IMHO too much spraying. I'm sure someone else will chime in on humidity levels.

You said..."I have two real plants + real branches + 1 fake plant (like vines) at the right corner. I do not know the specie of plants, but I know that I can use for my Chame"...I see a schefflera. Fek vines should be replaced IMHO.


You said..."At the moment the cage is on the Dinner Table, a lot of traffic areas because for now I am living in a small apartment, I am moving next week for a house, So I will have more space to him"...let us know where you put it when you move please.

You said..."Toronto Canada"...I would not put the cage near a window or a vent.

You said..."Hello, so this is my first chameleon as well as reptile ever. I need some help on how to my humidity (at night) and warm levels up. I also having some difficult to feed him, in the first 2 days, I saw he eating some times, but not these days. I tried cup feeding and free range as well"...what size are the insects? If the temperature is low he won't eat much either likely.

I can't sex it from the photo...but if it turns out to be female..let us know. They need a different treatment re temperature and diet.

If you get the husbandry right you should have him for quite a few years!
 
@kinyonga thank you very much for your comments!

The crickets are small, and I know that the crickets should be less the size of their head and eyes. I will start put more veggiies to the Crickets, for now they are in a big Box. I do not know how much I am feeding him, because he is not eating so far.

How many time do you think it is good to spray the water?

For the lighting it is UVB is long, and I bought minutes ago the correct heat bulb, I was using LED and it was not giving the necessary heat. I also bought a Temperature Gun, so now it is easy to check the basking temp.

and its a male.

Thanks again!
 
I would spray the water once I the morning when the lights are coming on long enough to start the chameleon interested in drinking and once in the evening abut before lights out. Don't spray on/at the chameleon.

How do you know it's a male?

Glad you got the lights sorted out!
 
kinyonga said:
I would spray the water once I the morning when the lights are coming on long enough to start the chameleon interested in drinking and once in the evening abut before lights out. Don't spray on/at the chameleon.

How do you know it's a male?

Glad you got the lights sorted out!
Click to expand...

The breeder sold me as male, so I will trust on him lol

I will start spray just twice a day, one after I turn on the light, and one before lights out.

Thanks
 
You said..."The breeder sold me as male, so I will trust on him lol"...
Well, it's important to know by the time the chameleon is almost sexually mature because if you overfeed and keep a female too hot, she can end up with reproductive issues and die. So it's not a problem for a couple more months.
 
feks said:
Let me show you.

All day: ReptiCalcium without D3
1st and the 15th: Repashy Calcium Plus (this contains D3)

I have this Arcadia CalciumPro but I do not know how to use.


View attachment 308907
Click to expand...
Ok per the supplements...

Calcium plus would only be used 2 times a month say the first and the 15th.
The repticalcium without D3 would be used at all other feedings...
You can add in the calcium pro MG by arcadia. By using it 1 or two feedings a week. you would drop that day of repticalcium.
Bee pollen would be used on gutload only.

Example. Mon and Tues Repti calcium, Wednesday Arcadia, Thursday Friday Repticalcium. Saturday Repashy cal plus, Sunday Arcadia.
Following week drop the Saturday repashy and use the repticalcium
Then return to the schedule above. Then your week of dropping the repashy.

Use a calendar to keep track.

Now for the lighting. YOu need to raise fixtures.... The UVB needs to be raised 4 inches off the top and then have a 5 inch drop from the screen to the highest branch below it. This will keep baby from being extremely overexposed to uvb at the screen. So your total distance would be 9 inches from bottom of fixture to the branches below. Then when baby is older and not screen climbing you can put the fixture on the cage top and drop the branches so that they are 9 inches below the screen putting the cham in a 3UVI level. I would do the same with the heat lamp. That baby is going to spend a lot of time on the screen top. Over exposure and thermal burns are high risk.
 
feks said:
@Beman do you have any idea how can I raise the fixtures ? Any tips ?
Click to expand...
You can put the cage on a wire bakers rack. this is probably the easiest. Another option is building a stand out of PVC pipes that would sit on top of the cage. Then you would hook fixtures to that getting them higher. Ummmm you can get creative and use metal bookshelf brackets that you would install in the wall. Getting longer ones so you can get the lighting where it needs to be. Then just set the T5 on that and hook the basking to it.

In this link it talks about the rack and where to buy one. https://chameleonacademy.com/case-study-2-x-2-x-4-cage/
 
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