New 6 -7 week old chameleon Questions

[Eppler]

How much misting at a time and how often I have a drip system that drips on the plants?

Should I spray the chameleon directly or just the cage environment?

Do I need a blue light for night time the temps stay around 74 to 76?

I have uvb 5 and uva 2 bulbs and some sorry temp and humidity gages so I am going to order better ones. I am going to get real plants today to put in the cage and finish my Minitec light stand. Any other helpfull tips or tricks are very welcome. I have always wanted one and so now I want to provide the best care so my family and I can enjoy her for years to come.

 

[jannb]

Welcome to the forums. What kind of cham do you have? Male or female. I had veiled babies a few months ago and this is the info that I send new keepers that got a baby from me. Maybe you will find it helpful.

You will need a starter cage to began with. Right now the babies are 11 weeks old and in screen cages 25 inches high. They are very delicate and fragile but so cute! I'd get a cage no bigger than 30 high at the max to start with. Too big he will not be able to find his food. Even a little smaller would be good. lllreptiles has about the best cages for the money and get something small enough that it will fit in your car so you can use it for travel......vet visits and so forth when he moves up to a big boy cage (48 inches high) or a free range tree. http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog/reptile-supplies/reptile-cages-glass-and-screen/

You need a Reptisun 5.0 tube light. You can see a pic of it here: It's the best UV bulb for chameleons and must be the 5.0.
http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog...por-bulbs/-/zoo-med-24-repti-sun-50-uvb-bulb/

You probably will not need a basking light right at first. He'll be so young he'll only need to bask at about 80 to 82 until 4 or 5 months old. Luie bask as an adult at 88 or 89. They live a little longer when kept cooler. You can use a household bulb for basking when he's older and needs a basking light. You'll have to keep testing the temps. (25 to 40 watt or so)

Your lights need to be across the top of the cage and you need allot of vines and branches 6 inches or so down from the top.....under the lights. Veileds love to bask and you don't want him rubbing his veiled on the screen or he'll wear the top off and he can also get a burn if too close to the lights.

You can make a homemade dripper. Take a plastic cup or bowl and poke a couple of very small holes in the bottom. As adults you can use a plastic milk jug. Fill it with warm water and make sure it drips very slow over a vine with leaves so your little guy can drink from the leaves. Also mist for a pretty long time. It takes awhile for them to start drinking. I would mist 2 or 3 times a day for 2 minutes or so. Just make sure the cage dries out real good between each misting. As adults I mist twice a day for about 4 minutes and mine drink water from a dropper.....see video below. You will need drainage for your cage. Maybe some holes in the bottom with a bucket or pan sitting under it to catch the water.

Branches from outside are ok from most trees. Clean them well and some member bake them in the oven. Cut the branch the size you need and thumb tacks can be use on each end to hold the branches up. You will needs several plants. Pothos is my favorite because is lives very well in side.....holds water very well on the leaves for the babies to drink from and also keeps up the humidity. They love hibiscus and eat the leaves and the flower but they need allot of sunlight and do very well outside. Ficus and shefflera also work well for inside plants. Your plants need to be cleaned with soapy water, rinse well and re-pot in organic soil. The top of the dirt should be covered with VERY LARGE river rocks so they can't eat the soil. You will need a couple of plants for the cage and a couple to sit around for him to free range on. These babies are very tame and friendly. They are use to just sitting on a plant on my bar in the middle of my kitchen. They would get very mean if left in a cage all the time and put in a room by them self where they couldn't socialize. They are all spoiled rotten. They sit on my hand, arm or shoulder while I cook and do house work. I treat my chameleon with love and respect just as I would treat any other animal and they are very healthy and happy.....as you can tell by looking at them.

You really need the 5.0 UVB bulb like the one in the link above. It has to be the tube style. A must to keep you guy from having MBD and eye problems. If it's fairly warm in your house at 2 to 3 months old you will not need a basking bulb, when older or if your house is cold you will need one. Measuring the heat is very important. I have a temp. gun.......see link below. They can fry in a very short time in the heat. At night he needs to be dark, no light, and cool so he can rest. He should be 10 degrees cooler at night than in the daytime but not below 65 as as adult and 70 as a baby.

The feeders have to be "lightly" dusted with 3 kinds of supplements. Plain calcium (no d3) at just about every feeding...... if you skip one or two days a month that's ok. Calcium with d3 twice a month and a multi. vit. once a month. In this link I use the 1st, 3rd and 5th one. http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog/reptile-supplies/vitamins-medicines-and-cage-cleaners/

You need to gut load the feeders with collard greens they are excellent. You can also use kale, carrots, butternut squash apple and orange. You also need a dry gut load. My vet makes one that I use and one of the Forums members sales it. https://www.chameleonforums.com/dry-gutload-sale-37717/ I highly recommend that you get this. It last a long time. To use it just pull the feeders the night before and put them in a small container with a small amount of the dry gut load. They eat it all night long and when you feed them to your cham the next morning he's getting all the vitamins and nutrient from the gut load. I use the fruits and veggies to feed the feeders all the time and the dry gut load right before feeding.

The Raising Kitty link on keeping veileds is excellent. I still refer to it from time to time. http://raisingkittytheveiledchamele...-max=2008-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=11

 

[Eppler]

I have a female veiled and a 18”x12”x12”cage. I got a 5.0 compact but will see if I can exchange it for the tube

 

[jannb]

I have a female veiled and a 18”x12”x12”cage. I got a 5.0 compact but will see if I can exchange it for the tube

The compact has cause damage to their eyes in the past. Here's some info for females: Everything's the same as above except for.

She will probably never need a basking light. I use a double fixture with one UVB bulb and one regular fluorescent bulb and that works perfect. As a baby her basking temps should be at 80. Being female 80 or 81 her entire life unless you breed then you could up it a bit...84 or 85......you'll still want a small clutch. If your house is really cold you might need a 15 or 25 watt basking bulb.

This blog is VERY IMPORTANT for keeping a female: http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/keeping-female-veiled.html

 

[thechink09]

The feeders have to be "lightly" dusted with 3 kinds of supplements. Plain calcium (no d3) at just about every feeding...... if you skip one or two days a month that's ok. Calcium with d3 twice a month and a multi. vit. once a month. In this link I use the 1st, 3rd and 5th one. http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog/...cage-cleaners/[/url]

why dust the feeders with calcuim with no d3 ?