New cham owner

[pacificwynd]

Hello everyone!!

My boyfriend and I just got a female veiled chameleon 2 days ago. We figure she's around 3 or 4 months old as she is still quite small. We haven't been able to take a measurement yet because everytime we get her on our hands she just wants to climb and won't hold still!

We have a 45 X 45 X 60cm enclosure and we are using exoterra plantation soil (a compressed coconut husk fiber). We have an undersubstrate exoterra heat wave (8W) that covers approx half the floor space. For UV we have the ReptiGlo 5.0 compact UVB. I've heard a few things on here about some UV lights that can cause eye problems, is the one we have alright? We also have an Exoterra Sunglo 75W. How's my heating stuff so far? keeps her area at around 84F during the day.

I'm having issues with the humidity levels...maybe my hygrometer isn't working... It sat around 80 for the first day, was up at 90 this morning... and is now back down to 80. I've been spraying down her leaves and the substrate a couple times a day. We are working on making a small bubbler to place in the bottom of her terrarium as i'm not sure how i feel about misters (heard that getting water in their eyes can be very bad). Anyone have anything similar or any pros/cons?

I bought small crickets for her and she probably eats about 10 or 12 a day. Is this too many? not enough? Can anyone recommend a good mineral/calcium supplement to shake in with the crickets?

I've heard that females need to have a small "sandbox" in case they need to lay eggs. How big does this need to be, how deep, does it always need to be in there or just during "breeding" times (heard this is in the spring?)?

I know i've asked a lot of questions but i'd really appreciate anyone taking the time to answer them.


Cheers!

 

[Goggles]

Use the search tab and type in compact bulb. They are not good!!
I had one to start and after 1 month my cham was blinking all the time.
Also no substrate- Could cause impaction.
No under tank heater- alot of people use regular 40-60 watt house bulb for heat.

Terry

 

[ChamNovice]

Check out this site, this will help answer a lot of questions for you.
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/
Goggles is correct on the compact bulb.

Most people would like for you to fill this out:
Cage Info:
Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?

Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?

Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?

Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?

Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?

Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?

Location - Where are you geographically located?

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?

Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?

Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?

Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?

Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?

Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?

History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Current Problem - The current problem that you are concerned about.

Not all of these question pertain to you currently, specifically the last 2 don't, but the other info is useful. I know you have some of this info already, but more detailed information lets other members be able to help you more effectively.

Congratulations on getting a chamelon, they are amazing animals.

 

[pacificwynd]

Cage Info:

Cage Type - Screen top, glass enclosure...making the front into screen to provide better ventilation.

Lighting - Lights on at 8am. 75W exoterra lamp and a compact 50w UVB...taking it back today to get something non-compact. (also yelled at the petstore guy on the phone and told him i was printing off the info for him to read). lights off at about 6:30pm

Temperature - I have one of those crystalized temp gauges and it reads around 80f in all parts of the cage (except right under the lamp where it reads closer to 85f). Lowest night temp would be 18C (which is what our house is kept at, not sure what that is in F)

Humidity - I have a hygrometer. It is at 80 most of the time (was at almost 90 this morning). I've been misting 2 or 3 times during the day. Thinking about making a bubbler to provide water

Plants - No live plants as of yet.

Placement - Right now she is in the corner of the living room. It's just the 2 of us and we're ususally not home too much during the day. Her enclosure only comes to about 5ft off the ground but we tend to always sit on the floor when we're watching her. Probably will move her to the spare room (she'll have a hedgehog has a roomate)
Location - I live in B.C. Canada

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - She is a velied chameleon, still quite young (under 6 months) and we've had her for 2 days.

Handling - We've held her a few times so far. If she climbs on to our hand then we'll take her out and let her climb around on our hands for a few minutes. If she starts hissing we just leave her along.

Feeding - A bunch of crickets. Probably around 10-12 a day. I'll give her a bunch in the morning and she usually won't eat them all right away but they are all gone by the evening. and then 3 or 4 before i turn her lights out. Haven't started the gut-loading yet. Need to do some more research first.

Supplements - None yet, again, more research before i choose.

Watering - I've seen her drink once... misting 2 or 3 times a day

Fecal Description - She's only had one poop/pee so far and that was this morning. The poop was solid and shiny and the pee was liquidy with a white bit in it.

History - N/A

Current Problem - N/A


Hope this helps a little more!!

 

[Goggles]

You should read the link Chamnovice sent.
Glass tanks hold alot of heat, you should get a screen cage.
There is a ton of info on this forum you can access by using the search on the top.
That would be a good place to start before you go out and spend money on stuff you shouldn't use. ( I did this )

Terry

 

[sandrachameleon]

Welcome to the forum and congrats on the new chameleon. Im in BC too!

You need a heat gradient in the enclosure, such that the chameleon can thermoregulate. It should be warmer at the top under the basking lamp, and cooler at the bottom - remove the under tank heater.

You do not need an all screen cage, but your idea to replace the front glass with screen is a VERY good idea. All glass retains heat and humidity a little too well.

Here are links to more research and reading for you:
GENERAL
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/
http://www.adcham.com/
http://www.chameleonnews.com/
http://chamworld.blogspot.com/
http://www.herpvetconnection.com
http://www.chamaeleonidae.com
http://www.animalarkshelter.org/cin/
http://www.exoticpetvet.com/breeds/chameleons.htm
http://www.chameleonsonline.com/

Supplements
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/65-supplements.html

Feeder nutrition
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/75-feeder-nutrition.html

Lighting and heat
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/68-lighting-links.html

Water
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/92-hydration-importance.html

 

[kinyonga]

Its already been said that substrate and compact lights can be a problem.
The most often recommended light is the Repti-sun 5.0 long linear tube light. I've used them for years without any problems. Here's a site that talks about some of the problems with the lights...
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/

I've never used a bubbler with chameleons. I only use a mister until they are three or four months old and then I also add a dripper.

As for feeding...until they are reaching full growth, I will usually feed them as many crickets as they can eat in a minute or two. For the first few months I feed them daily and then start to cut back to feeding them every second day.

You said..."Can anyone recommend a good mineral/calcium supplement to shake in with the crickets?"...I use Rep-Cal phos.-free calcium powder at most feedings. This helps to make up for the often poor ratio of calcium to phos. found in many of the feeder insects.

I dust twice a month with a vitamin powder that has a beta carotene source of vitamin A. Beta carotene won't build up in the system like preformed vitamin A can. Its not known if any/all chameleons can convert beta carotene though...so some people give a little preformed vitamin A once in a while. Excess preformed vitamin A can build up in the system though and prevent the D3 from doing its job and push the chameleon towards MBD...so don't overdo the preformed vitamin A.

I also dust twice a month with Rep-cal phos.-free calcium/D3 powder. d3 from supplements can build up in the system though...so don't overdo this either. Exposure to UVB either from a UVB light or direct sunlight will allow the chameleon to produce D3 so it can use the calcium in its system. The UVB from any source should not pass through glass or plastic.

Calcium, phos., D3 and vitamin A are all major players in bone health and they need to be in balance. You need to look at your supplements, what you feed the insects and what you feed the chameleons when trying to balance them.

I gutload my crickets with a wide assortment of greens (dandelions, collards, kale, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, squash, zucchini, celery leaves, etc.) The veileds can eat the same greens and veggies along with a little fruit (apple, pear, melon, berries, etc.) in addition to their insects.

Appropriate temperatures allow the chameleon to digest its food properly so it plays a part indirectly in nutrient absorption.

Veileds will also eat the leaves from the plants...so any plants you use should be non-toxic and well-washed (both sides of the leaves). BTW...they have been known to try to ingest fake plant leaves too....so I don't recommend them for veileds that are older than a couple of months.

You said..."I've heard that females need to have a small "sandbox" in case they need to lay eggs. How big does this need to be, how deep, does it always need to be in there or just during "breeding" times (heard this is in the spring?)?"...I leave an opaque container of washed playsand in the cages of all my egglaying chameleons all the time once they are old enough to lay eggs. Failure to lay the eggs can lead to eggbinding and death. The container should be at least big enough that the female can fit into it when its empty with a couple of inches to spare on all sides of her including above and below.

Also...its important not to overfeed female veileds once they are sexually mature...it can lead to egglaying issues, constipation, possible impaction and possibly even MBD.

Here are some sites worth reading...
http://adcham.com/
http://web.archive.org/web/20060502...als.com/vet/index.php?show=8.Gout.Basics.html
http://chameleonnews.com/

 

[pacificwynd]

thanks for all the great help guys!!

got rid of the compact light and got the repti glo 5.0 UVB 14W. The guy that sold it to me said he would take a look at that website... the owner on the other hand was right put off by what i had to say and was very rude

how do you wash playsand?? sounds so silly....

I bought a schefflera arboricola (umbrella tree) to put in her tank but i don't just want to put it in there as is... fertilizers in the soil and all that bad stuff. how should i go about cleaning off the roots? and what should i re-plant it in? should i keep it in the plastic planter it came in or put it in a ceramic pot?

i also picked up some cricket feed and gel. i got a calcium and d3 powder to shake in with the crickets.

i managed to put together a home-made dripper system but i still have yet to see her drink any water... could she just be being sneaky about it?

 

[kinyonga]

You can buy playsand that has already been cleaned/washed.

You can repot the plant if you want to be very thorough...but most of the time I just run lots of water through the soil and then remove the top inch and replace it then cover it with pebbles that are too big for even an adult chameleon to ingest.

What cricket food and supplements did you get (brands, etc.)

 

[pacificwynd]

the cricket feed and gel are from a woman my grandma knew that makes her own mix. the feed is specific for chameleos and the gel is just for moisture and can be given to superworms and stuff too. She told me all the ingredients but i didn't write it down. Lots of greens and some dried fruits and stuff. the chameleon dust is by t-rex. it's high in calcium, vitamin d3 and a.

 

[Dunnigan]

When and if you move her to another room make sure she cannot see the hedgehog. It could stress her out. My male could see a turtle and he did not like it one bit...

Also, i have found that digital hydrometers/thermometers work much better and are much more accurate than the analog ones.

 

[sandrachameleon]

the cricket feed and gel are from a woman my grandma knew that makes her own mix. the feed is specific for chameleos and the gel is just for moisture and can be given to superworms and stuff too. She told me all the ingredients but i didn't write it down. Lots of greens and some dried fruits and stuff. the chameleon dust is by t-rex. it's high in calcium, vitamin d3 and a.

You may like to find out again what's in the cricket feed and run it by the group here, just to make sure.

Im not familiar with th trex supplement, but if it had D3 and preformed Vit A / retinol you do NOT want to use that at every feeding. I would suggest a phos free calcium supplment (nothing else, just calcium) for use on most crickets. Other supplements much less frequently.
Read through the links I provided you, and you'll learn why

 

[pacificwynd]

whole grain cereal, bee pollen, dandelion, dehydrated apple, a calcium additive, alfalfa, almonds. and the gel actually has some fruits in it too.

going to pick up a phos free calc dust for daily use and use the stuff by t-rex...once a week?

she's only had one poop/pee since we got her on Saturday... maybe just nervous? our hedgehog didn't drink any water or poop much (for a hedghog) for the first few days when we got him. just stress? any way to stimulate "movement"?

Harley the hog is on the ground in his cage and she would be up on a bookshelf. Will throw a blanket up between them though. (hedgehogs attack snakes in the wild and her tail looks a little to snake like sometimes, lol. they will not be playmates.)