My first chameleon

[louiesowner]

Im new to this site and new to chameleons. I bought louie friday and knew by that night that the aqarium the pet shop guy sold was not pleasing to louie.
So I went to my shop and got a box of solid red oak flooring and built louie a cage. He seems to be happier now. Hes eating alot and stays a nice bright green.

I have a couple ?'s.

Is leafy celery ok for him?

If I put 5 crickets in the cage and he eats them all within like 3 minutes do I put more in. If so whats the limit per day. Or do I let him eat till he stops?


Any other tips would be great. Glad to be a member. Here are pictures of louie and his new habitat. Picture phone quality, sorry.

The pic of the cage is when first done I have since added lots of vegetation. I also made a drip system with a tupperware container, fish aquarium tube and valve.

 

[louiesowner]

One more question.

It seems everytime louie eats he turns really dark. Is this normal?

thanks in advance

 

[curly]

A glass cage isnt good for a full grown chameleon...and they dont drink out of bowls..that is an awesome cage thought..any possibility you could change the class to a screen..He would also need allot more foliage so he can feel hiddin..he looks pretty good to me..

 

[louiesowner]

Sorry I wasnt too clear. The pic where hes behind the glass is from when we first got him. The cage he is in now is screen. I did read after bringing him home about the water bowl but he liked to stand on it and dip his feet and belly in it. I set him up a drip system and he likes to sit under it and drink the drips off his head.

I did put more plants and sticks in since the pic as mentioned. I also plan on getting more.

 

[Laragail]

despite the pet shop, he looks really great.

I'm sure you have been reading up on chameleons since you realized you got bad advice from the pet store.

One of my favorite resources is :www.chameleonnews.com

i am not a very experienced keeper so I don't know what to tell you about food.

However, I did notice that in the picture he only had 1 basking light. He also needs UVB exposure or he will get MBD.

Also, all the crap they put in tap water isn't good for these guys. I use reptisafe water conditioner. but im sure bottled or filtered is better.


Good Luck!

 

[louiesowner]

despite the pet shop, he looks really great.

I'm sure you have been reading up on chameleons since you realized you got bad advice from the pet store.

One of my favorite resources is :www.chameleonnews.com

i am not a very experienced keeper so I don't know what to tell you about food.

However, I did notice that in the picture he only had 1 basking light. He also needs UVB exposure or he will get MBD.

Also, all the crap they put in tap water isn't good for these guys. I use reptisafe water conditioner. but im sure bottled or filtered is better.


Good Luck!

Thanks for the tips.

The pet shop is a small locally owned pet shop. Real nice people.

I have him on store drinking water.

He has a basking light and a daytime light and a night red light but I only have one lamp(getting another this weekend).

None of these say uvb so Ill be buying one of those this weekend.

I live in south florida though. High humidity and 75-80 F winters so he will be on the back lanai most of the weekends.

I picked up some worms and flies today to give him some variety. And some Fluckers gut load orange cubes.

He seems to be very happy and eating GREAT and getting use to us more everyday.
First couple days he would back off when you walked up to the cage, now he doesnt mind. He is also eating the worms out of my hand.

I love this little dude.

Here are some more pics. I added more plants and sticks to the cage since the first pics. Louie just ate in this pic hes a little dark.