New Chameleon Owner having problems already

[AReptile]

Well now I know that the bulbs that I had were probably damaging the poor thing. However I keep getting bombarded with information and am getting a bit confused between it all. you guys are telling me to use a regular house bulb with a lower wattage but is it just providing the lizard with heat? The Reptisun bulb is still needed right for the UVB correct?

 

[Psi]

Well now I know that the bulbs that I had were probably damaging the poor thing. However I keep getting bombarded with information and am getting a bit confused between it all. you guys are telling me to use a regular house bulb with a lower wattage but is it just providing the lizard with heat? The Reptisun bulb is still needed right for the UVB correct?

Here's my setup.

Heat: 5.5" clap lamp (don't use the clamp) with a 60w (inefficient) house bulb.
UVB: Reptisun 5.0 linear tube.
Cage: Varies per which Cham, All reptibreeze aluminum screen cage.
Misting: 3+ times daily (prior to getting my mistking), soak the cage.

Because (I think?) you're using an aquarium, you could use a lower wattage bulb to provide the adequate heat your Cham requires.
Be sure that your Cham do to age doesn't get access to areas of heat over 90f, and also be sure that the ambient night time temp is over 65f.

Hope that helps.

 

[pssh]

Checklist:

-Screen cage of appropriate size
-live plants that are non toxic and have covered organic fertilizer free soil
-a normal incandescent house bulb of appropriate wattage
-a dome to put the house bulb in
-a linear reptisun 5.0 and appropriate hood
-a digital thermometer or temp gun to check temperature
-a digital hygrometer to check humidity (you can buy a 2 in 1 thermometer/hygrometer)
-three supplements: calcium with d3, calcium without d3, and a multivitamin that contains no vit A (make sure all are phos free)
-a pump style spray bottle to spray chameleon
-a dripper of some sort
-drainage for the water so that the cage does not flood
-many horizontal, vertical, and diagonal branches/vines/perches make sure there are many at different levels under the basking branch so he can move around under them to get a certain temp, the closest one to the bulb (6-8 inches under it) should have the maximum temperature a baby veiled can handle (80-83 degrees)

All of this can be bought on lllreptile.com but it would be cheaper to buy the uvb hood, normal incandescent house bulb and dome, plants, and digital thermometer from home depot or lowes (unless you are getting a temp gun, then tempgun.com) Veiled chameleons can handle temps as low as 50 degrees (at night) so there is no need to use a night light, though I would try to keep it around 60 for a baby. If you do need extra heat, use a space heater or ceramic bulb.

 

[AReptile]

How vital to the cham are real plants? Have fake plants in there for him atm. Is everything you listed available to be purchased in stores because my record with online purchases isn't great lol. If I could get all of the most important things needed for him asap would be helpful.

 

[pssh]

It depends on how good your pet stores are. It will be a LOT more if you buy from pet stores. If you live in Socal you can go to the actual lll store.

Live plants are important to maintain humidity and because veileds will eat plant matter (whether it's real or fake...) and this can cause impactions. Just be very diligent about making sure he isn't eating any fake plants until you get real ones.

 

[AReptile]

Oh great I hope he doesn't try to eat them lol. The items being more expensive isn't an issue for me, I have enough money to cover it all. My parents think I'm crazy spending so much money on one lizard though . But hopefully I have success with this one.

 

[pssh]

You can also try to offer veggies like collard greens and dandelion greens to see if he'll eat them. I hang mine from the wall of the cage.

 

[kinyonga]

Here's the short course on keeping veiled chameleons....
CAGING: Because you live in NY you can use either a screen cage or a partial screen/glass cage or one of the exo-terras that are glass but have ventilation in the front and screen lids. I prefer long low cages that are not too big for hatchlings (approx. 24"L x 12"W x 15"H). If you use a glass cage you need to be careful not to leave water laying on the floor of the cage.

You will need branches and foliage for cover...preferably live plants, non-toxic and well-washed (both sides of the leaves). You need a thermometer to be able to read the temperature. Two thermometers are even better because you can place one near the basking area and one elsewhere in the cage.

For the hatchlings, I try to keep the temperatures in the low 80's in the warmest areas with slightly lower temperatures at one end since their bodies are small and can dehydrate/overheat easier than an adult can.

LIGHTING/TEMPERATURE: I use a regular incandescent household bulb in a metal dome of a wattage that produces the proper temperature range for the chameleon to bask. With hatchlings I have not found it necessary to use a basking light...I use a double fluorescent fixture with a Repti-Sun 5.0 bulb in one half and a regular fluorescent tube in the other half. Some of the compacts, spirals and even long tubes have been found to cause problems, but this one has a clean record. (I already gave you the temperatures for a hatchling above.) For adult males I keep the basking area in the mid 80's to low 90's.

I place the basking light on/over the lid of the cage at one corner of the cage and I run the fluorescent tube lights along the length of the cages. Be aware that the UVB light should not pass through glass or plastic.

Watering: For hatchlings, I mist the cage a couple of times a day with warm water trying to make sure the water doesn't pool in large drops. I don't use a dripper for hatchlings because they can aspirate the water and drown. I use a dripper for adults...it can be as simple as a deli cup with a tiny hole in the bottom so it drips at the rate of a couple of drops per second.

FEEDING: I feed hatchlings mostly crickets of an appropriate size that have been gutloaded/fed a nutritious diet and dusted at most feedings with a phosphorus-free calcium powder (Rep-cal) to help make up for the usually poor ratio of calcium to phos. I feed the hatchlings as many crickets as they can eat in a couple of minutes. I feed them at least once a day. Adults I feed every second day. (Female veileds have to be regulated to prevent health issues...males can have a little more leeway.)

I dust lightly twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder (Rep-cal). D3 from supplements can build up in the system and cause problems..so don't overdo it. Its best that the chameleon gets most of the D3 as a result of exposure to UVB.

Twice a month, I dust with a vitamin powder (herptivite) that has a beta carotene source of vitamin A. Beta carotene (prOformed) vitamin A can not build up in the system...but there is controversy as to whether any/all chameleons can convert it...so some people give them a little prEformed vitamin A. Excess prEformed vitamin A may prevent the D3 from doing its job and push the chameleon towards MBD.

I gutload/feed the crickets, roaches, superworms a wide assortment of greens (dandelions, collards, kale, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, zucchini, sweet red pepper, sweet potato, celery leaves, etc.).

BONE HEALTH: Calcium, phos., D3 and vitamin A are 4 of the main players in bone health and need to be in balance. The above supplementing, gutloading/feeding of the insects, temperatures, UVB lighting, etc. seems to keep them in balance....at least, my chameleons seem to live long healthy lives.

Hope I haven't missed anything! Sorry if its overpowering!

Background information: I have been keeping/breeding/hatching/raising chameleons (and numerous other reptiles) for over 20 years now.

Here are some articles that might help too...
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
http://web.archive.org/web/20060502...rnals.com/vet/index.php?show=5.Vitamin.A.html
http://web.archive.org/web/20060421.../index.php?show=6.Vitamin.D3.and.Calcium.html
http://chameleonnews.com/?page=article&id=102
http://adcham.com/
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/
http://chameleonnews.com/?page=article&id=109

Good luck with this new little one!

 

[AReptile]

When the chameleon is hungry and he sees a cricket is he going to try and get closer to it for his tongue range or is he not gonna bother if it's too far away?

 

[pssh]

It depends in the chameleon. Some are the run and eat it type, others are the let it come to me type.

 

[AReptile]

Also if he knows I'm like there observing him his focus is probably gonna be on me opposed to the crickets right

 

[pssh]

It depends. Mine doesnt usually care unless I've already misted. Then he won't eat from my hand or even free range until I leave.

My female panther on the other hand, doesn't usually take her eyes off if me. She's only eaten a handful of time in front of me and only eaten out of my hand once.

 

[tkilgour]

Congrats, I am glad they allowed you to return the poor thing. I 100% recommend www.lllreptile.com, their prices are great and they ship stuff very quickly. That is almost the only place I buy my supplies. www.petmountain.com has a great price on The Reptisun bulbs, shipped they are like $22, and remember to change these every 6 months. As mentioned, the 40watt house bulb is for basking and like you said, the Reptisun UVB 5.0 by zoomed is for UVB. That is all the lighting you need. The colored lights are useless, unless temps are getting below 60 degrees F., even then I would use a small space heater before the colored bulbs.

As far as eating goes, my chams. all eat no matter if I am there or not. In fact all my chameleons will eat right out of my hand.

 

[AReptile]

I actually just replaced the 40 watt bulb with a 60 watt bulb as the thermometer i got the highest temp never got to 80 with the 40 watt bulb (around 78 was the highest). If this wattage isn't ok then I need to know asap so I can lower the wattage again. I really don't have a credit card at my disposal otherwise I would get everything offline and make my time here a bit easier. I'm kind of getting frustrated with the chameleon not showing interest in the crickets though. The people assured me that they were indeed eating and he looks very healthy compared to the first one I had. He stays on his plant close to the top of the cage basking and the crickets are basically on the bottom of the tank. Do I have to move him to the bottom for him to actually show any interest in eating? He definitely sees the crickets as he scans the area.

 

[serenitystarlite]

I recently saw another thread where someone had their temps way too high for a baby cham and it died. So that's basically why people tend to jump on you right away with corrections to your husbandry. We just want to make sure your baby is ok

 

[pssh]

Go to a rite aid or safe way or something similar and buy a rechargeable credit card for 5 bucks and put as much money on it as you need. Quick fix!

Is your thermometer digital? 78 is better than 90, but 80-83 would be best.

 

[AReptile]

Well I had a regular thermometer and now I got a digital one two. Using the list you made in one of your earlier posts I went out and got some stuff for him. I'm gonna run through everything I got and want to know what is good/bad.
20"in. Single Tube Strip Light
ReptiGro 5.0 UVB Bulb
ExoTerra Hygrometer
ZooMed Digital Thermometer
ExoTerra Fogger
ReptoLife plus Supplement
4 Paws Nature's Reptile Calcium

I have 2 questions about the lighting now. Do I have the normal house bulb on at the same time as the UVB bulb and at night neither light should be on him correct?

Also I'm not quite sure how to work the fogger correctly yet lol. I put it in a small water dish and nothing happened so i felt around it and there's like this button under the handle but when you remove your finger it goes back to doing nothing. Sorry if I'm being a pain for everyone I just want my chameleon to be ok and not have what happened to the last one.

 

[pssh]

you probably dont need a fogger at all. What is a reptigro?

Both lights on for about 11-12 hours and off for 12-13 hours. what is in the 4 paws natures pretile calcium and the reptolife plus supplement?

 

[AReptile]

It's the brand of the UVB bulb that I bought. I bought the fogger for humidity no? The 4 paws Nature's Reptile Calcium guaranteed analysis is Calcium- .093% Phosphorus .072% and Vitam D3 5.69 OZ. The ReptoLife Plus guarantee analysis is Calcium-4.6%, Phosphorus 0.6%, Potassium 0.3%, sodium 0.1%, Chloride 1.3% and Magnesium 0.02% Though your list said no phos in any of the supplements didn't it...

 

[pssh]

I would take back the spray supps and get powder supplements. Plain calcium without d3, plain calcium with d3, and a multi vitamin without vit A. All should be phos free.

I'm not sure if a reptigrow is sufficient, and I urge you to buy either a reptiglo or a reptisun linear tube. Most people can maintain enough humidity with just 3-5 mistings a day and a dripper in addition to live plants.