New Cham - Feedback on Care and Enclosure

[jshaffer740]

Hi Everyone,

I am new to the forum, and just received my little guy (Abe, a 4 month old veiled) from FL Chams. Anyway, I was hoping that you could provide some feedback on his enclosure. I've done a good amount of research, and I believe it is good set up, but it's always good to get constructive feedback from the knowledgeable folks on this forum.

I made the enclosure using the well-known aluminum screen design. It is 18x18x36. I am running two 18" flourescent tubes. One is the Reptisun 5.0 UVB, the other is a standard GE 5600k tube from Lowe's. I have a 75w Zoo Med blue daylight bulb for heat. I am using a Mist King system currently running 4x per day for a cumulative misting time of about 40 minutes or so. There is also a home made dripper that drips about 1x every 2 seconds or so.

I have an Umbrella tree, and Pothos as the plants. I made a waterproof tray in the bottom, with holes drilled. This sits on top of a vanity w/ sink from Home Depot. The drain has PVC pipe attached which drains into reservoir below the sink.

Lights go from 7:30a to 7:30p. It is about 70 degrees F for ambient (slightly cooler towards the bottom and in the shade. The basking area (5" below the bulb give or take) is around 90 degrees (measured w/ infrared thermometer).

I'm going to also post some pictures. Please comment on the arrangement of the branches and vines, the plants, positioning of the lighting, etc. I want to make sure the habitat is properly arranged and constructed for Abe.

Thanks in advance!

Jason

 

[ChameleonMom]

Your setup looks good! If it were my cage I would put some vines a bit closer to the basking spot - with such a big cage for a little guy he may need to be a bit closer to that 90* heat at the top as he grows. Where geographically are you located? What are you using to measure humidity?? 'All screen' cages are notoriously difficult to maintain good humidity levels with and a lot of people (myself included) cover the sides with vinyl shower curtain panels. Humidity is an important part of Cham health, so this is important!

 

[ReptiGeek]

Honestly it looks terrific. For a first time chameleon owner, you're definitely off to a great start. You have a lot of horizontal lines which is perfect. It's going to be hell trying to find the lil veiled if he ventures into your mini jungle, but it also provides a nice "safe" feel for him, so it's more of a win situation.
Great work, lovely setup, and I also enjoy the photos. You must have a nice lens to create such great DOF (depth of field).

 

[ReptileLove18]

i was just about to say the same thing about moving the vines a little closer having the live plants in there should help with humidity since the soil they are in retains water but you definitely need a hygrometer if you dont have one!!! i think he will enjoy this set up immensely! i would suggest using a feeder cup to feed him since he is such a little guy and the cage is so large so that he can get to his food easily, i would hang the feeder cup next to one of the horizontal branches so that he can walk right over and grab his food

 

[ReptileLove18]

I second that youre doing a great job!!

and welcome to the forum!

 

[jshaffer740]

Thanks for all of the feedback! I will move a vine or two a bit closer tomorrow morning (don't want to wake him! ). As far as humidity goes, I do have a digital hygrometer. It seems that the humidity ranges from 40% RH on the low end, to about 60% or so soon after the MistKing goes off. I read somewhere that humidity should increase at night, so I have a ultrasonic humidifier in the room he is in set to turn on at night to help.

I already had that going my my room anyway, as the furnace tends to dry out the air (Winters in Ohio mean dry air unfortunately).

I was still in the process of getting the MistKing set up today, so I haven't had a full day of it running. I'll be anxious to see if that helps increase/stabalize the humidity. I'll take some readings throughout tomorrow and report back.

And on a side note regarding my camera to ReptiGeek, these shots were with a Nikon D600 and the 85mm f/1.8G lens. I love the combo! I'll try to get some more nice photos for everyone.

Thanks again!

Jason

 

[ReptileLove18]

sounds like you are doing great! and by the way, he is a handsome little fellow! cant wait to see more pics of him as he grows!

 

[dom1959]

u r doing a fantastic job!
good job by you!
set up will make a happy cham!
i know folks have suggested raising some vines-i disagree,
your basking is warm for a little guy, so raise the bulb and try to get the
basking temp in the range(see below)

Temperatures for Veiled Chameleons

Neonates – Juvenile (hatchling–3 months old) – 74-76 degrees Fahrenheit *heat lamp not usually required

Juvenile – Sub-Adult Female(3-5 months old) – 76-78 degrees Fahrenheit *heat lamp not usually required

Sub-Adult – Adult Male(5-12 months old) – 82-85 degrees Fahrenheit

Sub-Adult – Adult Female(5-12 months old) – 72-82 degrees Fahrenheit

Adult Male(12+) – 85-90 degrees Fahrenheit

Adult Female(12+) – 80-82 degrees Fahrenh

 

[jshaffer740]

u r doing a fantastic job!
good job by you!
set up will make a happy cham!
i know folks have suggested raising some vines-i disagree,
your basking is warm for a little guy, so raise the bulb and try to get the
basking temp in the range(see below)

Temperatures for Veiled Chameleons

Neonates – Juvenile (hatchling–3 months old) – 74-76 degrees Fahrenheit *heat lamp not usually required

Juvenile – Sub-Adult Female(3-5 months old) – 76-78 degrees Fahrenheit *heat lamp not usually required

Sub-Adult – Adult Male(5-12 months old) – 82-85 degrees Fahrenheit

Sub-Adult – Adult Female(5-12 months old) – 72-82 degrees Fahrenheit

Adult Male(12+) – 85-90 degrees Fahrenheit

Adult Female(12+) – 80-82 degrees Fahrenh

That's interesting. I knew that chams did not need super warm temps, but that is definitely lower than I expected. I initially had a standard 60W household incandescent, and it was giving me temps in the upper 70s - I'll probably switch back to that now.

Also, I added a cup feeder this morning. Within seconds of me filling it with crickets, he came over and ate four! That made me very happy, because I have not yet seen him eat since his Friday arrival. I'm sure he was just getting acclimated and not quite ready to eat, but he sure must have been hungry!

Thanks for all of the support and help so far.

Do any of you have suggestions in terms of misting schedules? I've done some searching, but there seems to be conflicting advice.

Thanks!

Jason

 

[ReptileLove18]

glad he ate some crickets!
generally the misting schedule is 3 or 4 times a day for 3 minsutes apiece. but the point of misting is to keep the humidity up and to provide drinking opportunities so if your humidity is staying around 55 percent and you have a drip system to provide drinking opportunites you probably dont need to mist as often

 

[jannb]

u r doing a fantastic job!
good job by you!
set up will make a happy cham!
i know folks have suggested raising some vines-i disagree,
your basking is warm for a little guy, so raise the bulb and try to get the
basking temp in the range(see below)

Temperatures for Veiled Chameleons

Neonates – Juvenile (hatchling–3 months old) – 74-76 degrees Fahrenheit *heat lamp not usually required

Juvenile – Sub-Adult Female(3-5 months old) – 76-78 degrees Fahrenheit *heat lamp not usually required

Sub-Adult – Adult Male(5-12 months old) – 82-85 degrees Fahrenheit

Sub-Adult – Adult Female(5-12 months old) – 72-82 degrees Fahrenheit

Adult Male(12+) – 85-90 degrees Fahrenheit

Adult Female(12+) – 80-82 degrees Fahrenh

I disagree. With basking temps under 80 I don't believe he'd be able to properly digest his food. At 3 months old I'd recommend a basking spot in the low 80's (82 or 83).

 

[jshaffer740]

glad he ate some crickets!
generally the misting schedule is 3 or 4 times a day for 3 minsutes apiece. but the point of misting is to keep the humidity up and to provide drinking opportunities so if your humidity is staying around 55 percent and you have a drip system to provide drinking opportunites you probably dont need to mist as often

Thanks! My hygrometer has the ability to record the low and high readings over a given period. I reset it this morning, and when I get home from work I'll check and report back. I would like to reduce misting some if possible. I'm currently buying RO water from one of those refillable stations - 5 gallons at a time. Which while cheap, is somewhat of a hassle. So saving water is good! Plus (correct me if I am wrong), I believe I read that veilds require slightly less humid habitats than some other species due to their natural environment.

 

[jshaffer740]

I disagree. With basking temps under 80 I don't believe he'd be able to properly digest his food. At 3 months old I'd recommend a basking spot in the low 80's (82 or 83).

Thanks for the input. I too felt that seemed slightly low, so I was hedging my bets and providing a basking area around the 80-82 degree mark. I'm still dialing it in within a few degrees (experimenting slightly with the height of the fixture and branch), but I think 82-ish sounds about right. I have a digital thermometer set up that will show me the low and high temp in a given period - I'm going to check that this evening and see where it falls.

Currently I'm using a 60W regular incandescent bulb, that is about 8 inches from the basking branch.