New chameleon mommy

[ILoveIris]

Hello all!

I'm a very new chameleon mommy. I've only had my veiled chameleon a little over a week. Before I got her i read everything I could for weeks and think I'm pretty informed but I'm sure there is so much more I could learn. So... here I am. I'm looking for a bit of reassurance and some guidance that I'm doing the right thing and that im giving my Iris the best care she can have. I've added a couple of pictures to my profile any feedback would be appreciated.

Species-- Veiled

Age-- not so sure. Please don't hate me I got her from PetSmart and they were not sure how old she is.. She's tiny. From nose to tip of her tail maybe 5 or 6 inches

Screen enclosure with plastic on the back and 2 sides

Lighting-- 5w uvb and a reptisun blue heat lamp

Temp-- around 80 in her basking spot 70 ish on the bottom of the cage

Humidity-- about 65% while misting 30- 40% the rest of the day

Plants-- all fake right now. Shopping for a good safe plant for her now.

Has only had crickets dusted in calcium and reptivite. Going to give her some fruits and meal worms this week..

Cup with holes in back corner of cage in place of a dripper..

So how am I doing? What should I be doing?

Thanks so much check out my profile for a few pics

 

[kinyonga]

Welcome to the forum!

Change the blue light for a white regular incandescent household bulb of a wattage that produces a basking temperature in the low to mid 80's.

For supplements it's recommended that you dust at almost every feeding with a phosphorus-free calcium powder and twice a month with a
phosphorus-free calcium/D3 powder and twice a month with a vitamin powder.

There are better choices to feed the chameleon than mealworms. Try appropriately sized superworms, BSFL, silkworms, mantids...and when it's bigger roaches, hornworms, etc.

Are you using a mister as well as a dripper for water? You need to run both long enough to stimulate the chameleon to drink.

If it really is a female then once she's sexually mature, don't overfeed her constantly and make sure you have a lay bin in her cage because they can produce eggs without having been mated. When she's mature she should develop mustardy yellow splotches and bright blue dots.

Hope this helps!

 

[ILoveIris]

Are you using a mister as well as a dripper for water? You need to run both long enough to stimulate the chameleon to drink.

I don't have an automatic mister yet. Will have one soon.. for now I mist her and enclosure for about 5 min when the light comes on in the morning and threw out the day. I've seen her drink from the dripper a few times. Some days she likes to be misted other days she runs..

make sure you have a lay bin in her cage

How do I make a lay bin? I've read all types of ways but kinda wondering what's best.

Thanks so much for the advice! I just want the best for my lil gal.

 

[kinyonga]

The hand mister is fine for now...just make sure the session is long enough to stimulate drinking and don't spray it at her mouth so she aspirates water.

I use an opaque container that is at least 12" deep x 12" x 8" filled with slightly moist washed playsand.i use a sand that is produced by Kings that comes in a white bag that has red, blue and yellow sand box toys on the front.

If you have more questions just ask...lots of good people here to answer them all!

 

[ILoveIris]

The hand mister is fine for now...just make sure the session is long enough to stimulate drinking and don't spray it at her mouth so she aspirates water.

I use an opaque container that is at least 12" deep x 12" x 8" filled with slightly moist washed playsand.i use a sand that is produced by Kings that comes in a white bag that has red, blue and yellow sand box toys on the front.

If you have more questions just ask...lots of good people here to answer them all!

Thanks so much! I have thousands of questions I'll continue to ask tomorrow! Thanks again!

 

[kinyonga]

You're welcome.