Need advice to get my cage perfect!

[mswilly]

Okay, so I get my male baby Nosy Be in about 3 weeks now, and I'm in the process of trying to get my temperatures and humidity levels right before he gets here. I have a glass exo terra terrarium 18x18x24, an exo terra 5.0UVB compact coil bulb, a 40 watt household bulb for warmth, a Ficus that has been cleaned well, a thermometer/hydrometer and a digital thermometer with a probe to measure the temperature at different levels. My concerns are:
1. I've been hearing that you're not supposed to use the coiled UVB bulbs because they can cause blindness in your chameleon. Is this bulb okay?
2. I've done a run through of what the day would look like in terms of misting and lighting, and my temperatures are not as high as they need to be. I can only get the basking temperature up to 75.4F right now. What do I need to do differently? The bulbs are both in wire socket lamp things (I forget what they're called!) could i be losing all the heat because of that?
3. Is this 40 watt household bulb okay? I read somewhere on here that its okay, but I will go get something different if its not.


Any advice would be appreciated, as I want to make sure he's off to a good start! Thanks

 

[carol5208]

Hi and welcome to future chameleon ownership! The coil bulb will be fine. That was many years ago that there were problems. Most of us use the tubes but the coil will be ok. You need your basking temp about 90 so try using a 75 watt bulb. Do you mean you have them in domes? If not they should be.

 

[Wykd]

Like Carol mentioned they need to be in the clamp on work lights. You are trying to generate heat with that light, not provide light. Be sure to get a 8inch work light not a 5inch work light. You can get them at walmart for around 10.00

Then set that light on the screen top and set your temp gauge on the basking spot for about 10 minutes and you will know if you need bigger/smaller bulb. As for the temperature you need it will depend on 2 factors for a panther:

Age of panther - babys 80, juveniles 85, adults 90 is what I was told for a male.
Sex of panther -assume its a male based on your post referring to him.


You didn't say anything about your humidity... whats it reading right before you mist and then whats it read after you mist in the center of the enclosure?

 

[mswilly]

Wykd, I will go to Wal-Mart today and buy the clamp on work lights I have had chameleons before, just never a baby. Yes he is a male, and he will be about 3 months old when I get him.

The humidity was fine, before I misted it was around 50-60 percent, and after misting it was 90-100

 

[mswilly]

Wykd, I will go to Wal-Mart today and buy the clamp on work lights I have had chameleons before, just never a baby. Yes he is a male, and he will be about 3 months old when I get him.

The humidity was fine, before I misted it was around 50-60 percent, and after misting it was 90-100

 

[Wykd]

Wykd, I will go to Wal-Mart today and buy the clamp on work lights I have had chameleons before, just never a baby. Yes he is a male, and he will be about 3 months old when I get him.

The humidity was fine, before I misted it was around 50-60 percent, and after misting it was 90-100

The humidity sounds fine imo, if it spikes to 80's right after misting and is 50's before then it should cycle nicely between 50-80's thru your day cycle.

On the note of babies... i am having a devil of a time with my baby male ambilobe. He is a bit younger than yours though, just over 1 month, and have been unable to get him to eat. The stress of the shipping will be hard on them when they are babies. Be sure to have vitamin a gel caps, and some pedialite on hand in case.

The vitamin a. squeeze a tad bit on 1 crickets back for 3 days if he starts closing his eyes on you alot during the day. Stop this before it snowballs out of control if possible.

The pedialite dilute down 50/50 with water and manual mist the cage for a few days. The pedialite helps if they seem to dehydrate and supposedly stimulates appetite.

Good luck with him, not trying to scare you but babies can be touch and go as far as settling in goes after the stress of shipping.

 

[Zen Reptiles]

@ 3 months old. 40 watt is fine with a 75F basking spot. If you can raise the perch up an inch or so it will be around 80F and that is better.

My Nosy Be babies I have left right now all go crazy for wormy foods, like silkworms, phoenix worms, and the odd waxworm.

If you bought a new UVB bulb it should be fine. I really prefer the linear bulbs to the coiled, but most of the problems were with the bulbs a few years ago. I still use linear bulbs but that's a personal choice.

The exo-terra cage you have now will be fine only for another 2 months. Then you will want to get a screen cage.

I don't know where you live, I am in Kamloops, and I am using 1/2 screen 1/2 glass as it helps with humidity in my climate.

I would STRONGLY suggest not to buy the clamp lights recommended above from Wal Mart. Spend the extra few bucks on the zoo med or exo terra lights that are designed for the purpose of reptile basking. I went through 15-20 wal mart lights when I was first into reptiles.......what a waste of money. They crumble and break with time, the switches break, they just plain SUCK (typical wal mart evil voodoo). I have NEVER had to replace an exo terra or zoo med light in the last 5 or 6 years. It is worth the money, and safer fire-hazard-wise.

I also would strongly advise against using the vitamin A capsules as mentioned above as well. I am a huge supporter of using vitamin A capsules........but not until they are adults (6-8 month old for males).

@ 2-3 months old you can overdose easily and cause some serious problems........Wykd I would not be using vit A for your guy either.

I don't think you'll need the pedialyte either at that age. For the money you're probably spending, you should be getting a healthy cham..

Eyes closed and not eating at that age is usually because there is TOO MUCH moisture (too much spraying), or a bacterial problem (NOT cleaning cage enough), or tainted bugs.

Also Wykd it sounds like something's wrong with your guy......... Ima go see if you've made some posts about it already though lol.

 

[Wykd]

I have been using those clamp lights from walmart for years in various situations and alot more abused and never had the issues you have had. /shrug... They are all made by the same companies in china and just branded differently in most cases... so 25-30 vs 10.00 for the same thing is silly and that is my opinion. I actually have 2 broken reptile lights in the shed... a flukers and a zoomed. One the ceramic base craked under use and the other the switch went out. Seriously most desk lamps etc.. use the same core bulb housings and what. This is case where brand name is bologna, long as it has a reflector and UL listed its fine.

The vitamain a & pedialite info was provided because while a cham should be healthy when purchased and it may be, the stress of the shipping etc.. does impact the cham's ability to settle in. I did provide information as to when those items may be needed. I was not trying to scare the guy but citing sitautions that do arise and the need for a reptile first aid kit. A bunch of information passed on here conflicts between posters because alot of it is what works for that person in their situation.

 

[mswilly]

Maybe I will just go and get the Exo-Terra ceramic dome lights instead to be safe? They're on sale at my local pet smart right now anyways

He should be okay, as he is not being shipped but I'm driving to a city 2 hours away to pick him up. That shouldn't stress him out as much as shipping, will it? I really hope I won't have problems as soon as I get him, I'm paying a pretty penny for him!

Thanks for all of your advice so far, I really appreciate it!

 

[AlecWade]

Purchasing a proper ceramic dome will greatly increase the heat of your basking area! I achieve an 80-84 degree basking spot with a 25w bulb and a zoomed wide deep dome! The bulb is a regular soft white incandescent and the bottom of the dome is easily 9 or 10 inches from the basking area! These domes seriously blast the heat downwards so make sure it doesn't get too hot!