New cage setup

[Chet]

Well I've been lurking around and reading like crazy about chameleons for the last 2 months. I've learned quite a bit already and look forward to continuing.

I had found a 11 month male Ambilobe cham on craigslist but the seller flaked out on me after I had purchased a 24 x 24 x 48 cage from diycages.com
I guess it all works out because I saw a cham from Bruce @ http://www.chameleonparadise.net/ on somebodys thread and loved the colors. So I ordered a male ambilobe candy cane from Bruce and its scheduled to be delivered on Tuesday.

My 3 girls and I are very excited and spent today getting the cage setup. I live in Maricopa, AZ and we have very, very little humidity which 99% of the time is a good thing but not for chams so I ordered a Mistking and will hopefully receive it next week. We have a Ficus Benjamina and a Varigated Schefflera both repotted and cleaned up. I still need a couple of horizontal branches toward the top, and will finish that up tomorrow. I clipped some branches from our Desert Museum (Thornless) Palo Verde and have them thru out the cage as well as a couple of vines.

The lights are also from diycages and seem well built, I have the 24" hood that houses up to 3 - 100 watt bulbs. I currently have a couple of Zoo Med Daylight Blue 60 watt bulbs. If I need soem more heat I'll add the third bulb. The other hood is the dual 18" t8 bulb setup and I have the Reptisun 5.0 uvb bulb and I'd like to pick up a 6500k plant grow bulb as well.

So any tips or comments would be great and I'll be sure to post more pics when the little guy arrives!

 

[DavidBuchan]

Looks really good. A few more small branches and leaves around the basking spot for cover would be best for Chameleon happiness. How old are your girls? If you want a long life then avoid overhandling. You will know if it it particularly confident if it stays nice and bright and doesn't run too fast when outside the viv. Still it will start to resist handling around 3 months old, backing away more and probably hissing. Only handle it when you have to after this (or when you really want to show it off ). Not more than once a week is best unless it's good weather out and you can give natural sunlight safely for a few hours.

 

[Chet]

Thanks, I was really looking for a nicer ficus but they were all wiped out by the hard frosts we had here last winter. I hope it starts to fill in soon. I think the male cham is about 3-4 months old and so far very easy going but I have read about their "teen" years

I imagine explaining to my girls (9, 6 and 2) that they can't hold them all the time will be a bit of a challenge but they are good with our other pets.

 

[DavidBuchan]

You're right it should fill out quickly as long as the lights don't burn it. I've never kept the species before, but get the basics and play it by ear. I just read again that you already planned more branches, so in order to give some useful advice I'll say get a wide variety of insects/spiders, things that move which fit into his mouth......and be prepared to move him into a bigger viv when he gets to adult size. The one you have will do for a while while yet, but overkill is almost always better when it comes to viv size.

 

[carol5208]

Looks really good. A few more small branches and leaves around the basking spot for cover would be best for Chameleon happiness. How old are your girls? If you want a long life then avoid overhandling. You will know if it it particularly confident if it stays nice and bright and doesn't run too fast when outside the viv. Still it will start to resist handling around 3 months old, backing away more and probably hissing. Only handle it when you have to after this (or when you really want to show it off ). Not more than once a week is best unless it's good weather out and you can give natural sunlight safely for a few hours.

I don't think there is any proof that handling a chameleon leads to a short life. I believe it depends on the individual chamelelon as how often and when to handle. Some do not mind being handled at all. My chameleon happends to be one fo them. I handle him everyday atleast three or four times a day, moving him between free range, and indoor and outdoor cages. I open the cage door and he eagerly climbs on my hand. How does that attribute to a short life? Just curious...... As far as the cage, it looks nice. My only comment would be to raise it up off the floor so it is higher. I think your chameleon would feel more secure being higher up.

 

[ataraxia]

cage looks nice. i see in the pics your basking temp around 80?

also your cage is recommended size for a adult panther.

 

[SonTigerPantherCham]

And my go to girl chimes in!
thank you Carol, I am sitting here thinking.." I handle Krash like all the time!) He hates being in his cage! I take him in and out whenever Im home, inside or out
Thank you again for reassuring me its ok to handle him, I hope my next will be as easy!

 

[DavidBuchan]

I don't think there is any proof that handling a chameleon leads to a short life. I believe it depends on the individual chamelelon as how often and when to handle. Some do not mind being handled at all. My chameleon happends to be one fo them. I handle him everyday atleast three or four times a day, moving him between free range, and indoor and outdoor cages. I open the cage door and he eagerly climbs on my hand. How does that attribute to a short life? Just curious...... As far as the cage, it looks nice. My only comment would be to raise it up off the floor so it is higher. I think your chameleon would feel more secure without everyone looking straight in at him.

True there's no proof, but I thought of three little girls playing with it and in general chameleons do stress easily. In my next post I said get the basics right and play it by ear. Actually raising it off the floor is even better than wasting money on a new viv but I'm just so happy with my 6ft mahogany wardrobe that I fitted with lights and a screen front that I'm posting loads of almost needless advice to people. You're lucky with a chameleon that actively enjoys being handled. Neither of mine do but my female has never hissed ( just a really cute little gasp...awww)

 

[Chet]

The cage will be moved to a quieter room and placed on a stand to get it off the ground. We have a couple of dogs that could care less about the cage buy I know the cham would be stressed with our fat bulldogs head stareing in, not to mention our 2 tear old.