my setup

[welshy2009]

hi im new to the forum i juat like to ask a few questions if i may im new to chameleons i juat got my self a 5mnth old male yemen wich i love to bits and think he his ace ive bought everything all setup from a freind who runs a petshop in uk my first question is whats the best way to tame chams hes ok once i get him out but he hisses a lot b4 i do lol! and whats the best way to feed him i ahve just been dusting the hoppers then put a few in his viv ? hope you like the pics!! thanx for looking and any tips would be very very thankful also can some one tell me the temps of a viv for a yemen so i know mine are ok and my stat is set right!

 

[tkilgour]

Your enclosure looks great!!!

 

[atsutane]

cool set up, just a quick question, is there a screen or some other vent along the bottom or near the bottom? air flow is important!

just to throw this out there, on average yemens will be more aggressive (hissing) and less tollerant to handling... but this is all on a cham to cham basis... evey person has their own personality, and so do chams

the best way to start to tame a cham is by hand feeding it (from what i read), at first the cham will probably be very weary of this so you will have to be patient and do this every so often until he is more accustomed to accepting food from your hand

keep in mind, in order for a cham to shoot its tongue it needs to have both eyes on its prey, and if you are trying to had feed it (especially at first) it will be weary of you. so do you and your cham a favor, keep the food positioned inbetween you and then cham so the cham can keep an eye on you and the prey

from what i understand is having a feeder (place where the crickets will be contained, such as a smooth bowl) works to help them warmed up to the idea of being hand fed.

it is said that handing causes stress on the animal and the stress will shorten the animals life span... also just throwing that out there

my one other suggestion is getting some live plants for the cage, do your reasearch on that because im not sure what plants you are and are not allowed to have in the UK... organic soil and plant food just in case your cham gets to nibbling on things (especially with Yemens)

good luck!

 

[welshy2009]

thanx i forgot to mention there is a powersun and 10" dome (glow in dark) one on once side and same other side attached to dimmer stat and red bulb !
thanx for the comment on viv!

 

[welshy2009]

thanks he already eating from my hand ! and yes there is vents at bottom! thanx for advice thanx alot!

 

[eisentrauti]

Sorry but I can't stand false plants. They look so artificial and they don't really help creating different micro climates

 

[atsutane]

my suggestion then would be to continue feeding him by hand, and try to coax him onto your hand with food... give him snacks every so often when you have him out so he associates being out with something enjoyable like eatting, but remeber to not keep him out too long because he is cold blooded and will loose his heat

 

[Miss Lily]

Sorry but I can't stand false plants. They look so artificial and they don't really help creating different micro climates

B&Q is a great place to buy cham safe plants - Schefflera (Umbrella plant), Ficus (Weeping Fig) and Pothos are all good. Also Hibiscus are great and the chams can eat the flowers too, but they only seem to be available in the UK during the summer months.

 

[ZippiesPal]

Some ideas

Chams change colors to reflect thier moods. Notice, that when your cham is left alone and you have just come home, and he is all mellow, what does his color look like. Its probably kinda light brownish. When he is excited and afraid, what color is he?
Now look at yourself. You change colors every day too. Sometimes you wear a red shirt, and other days maybe a green and yellow striped shirt, or maybe light brown or grey. What color you wear around your cham will effect its perception of you, at that time. Keep it to browns, light green or even grey, and that will help mellow the mood.

Birds approach prey (chams) from above. Try to never approach your friend from above. Also, try to avoid any grabbing, like abig mouth/hand biting him. I come up from underneith mine. She moves to avoid me, but I just bring my other hand into her path from below, and before we know it, I have a cham on my hand. Be careful here!! I almost injured my chams tail because I pulled away as soon as the cham was on my hand. The tail was still wrapped firmly around a limb. I felt the tug and the limb bent a little, and I fealt horrable, but the cham was fine.
Other people bate their chams with mealworms resting in the crux of the elbow just out of toung reach. The cham has to get onto your hand to get the goodie.

Dusting and releasing the hoppers is not horrably bad, but there could be problems. If the cham does not eat all of those hoppers, they could step into his poop and then later when the cham does eat one the cham eats its own poop and bacteria, parisites.

Are your lights inside or outside the enclosure? If inside, they should be placed outside, or covered completely in mesh so the cham cant get a burn. Its not enough to cover the light bulbs. You have to cover any and all hot surfaces!! If you cant grab it with your hand (because its too hot for you to touch), its too hot and needs to be covered to protect the cham.

Many people on this site are dead set against any unnecessary handling of chams, but I disagree with that. That said, I do not advocate taking your cham out for drives on saturdays either.

 

[welshy2009]

thanx for alll the advice i will be poppping out sometime this week for a nice plant for him and also will be feeding him the hoppers a difreent way from now on so any ideas would be grateful thanx again!

 

[DJ Richey Rich]

It has never been proven that hadling a cham will shorten its life if u gain a good bond with your cham it will get sad when u don't give it attention I hold mine every day ever notice how they are pissy when you try to take them then when ur walking with them they are happy again no hissing. People that think there cams are going to fall over dead due to handling only say that because they are more scared of their chameleons than their chameleons are of them. That being said sounds like your doing a fine job so far. What do you use for supplements, feeding and gutloading?

 

[welshy2009]

thanx for the help the supplements im using are nutrobal and bone aid and i dont know much about gutloadding to be honest but i do have some beaphar cricket feed high in calcium and vitamins so any help on gutloading would help me a lot thanx again everyone !

 

[ronnie]

Hi,carrots,apples and oranges are just some of the things that make for good gutload,if you do a search on the forums for gutloading ideas you should be able to find out loads,good luck

 

[welshy2009]

whats the best way to do it just b4 i feed my cham or have the hoppers eating apples and stuff all time! thanx again love this forum already everyone really freindly!

 

[ronnie]

Hi welshy,i used to feed the crickets and locusts the night before feeding off,about 12 hours or so

 

[reptoman]

i usually put the crickets I am going to feed into a plastic container the night before with gutload so they are well fed by the time I feed them in the morning. I keep the entire cricket enclosure fed with fluker high calcium cricket diet all the time.