Tanya77
New Member
I have been wanting a Chameleon for sometime. I had three when I was younger and apparently I was doing things wrong the whole time while caring for them.
They did live for several years without the special things needed to care for them, now they have many, many things on the market for them.
So I decided to give it another go with getting another
I had just purchased a Jackson and bought the cage accessories and all. I read on the internet several websites that said glass aquariums were fine to use - many of those who said so, were Chamy owners themselves and never had problems and that their Chameleons have been in those cages for several months to even years. My problem is I see many conflicting things about cages, some say go with the tall aquariums where they open in front others say go with the screened enclosures!
I have a huge glass aquarium, it's really tall and I decided I was going to try what another person told me, to open the cage a little more to allow more ventilation and prevent bacteria from building as what she did and didn't have not one issue, she recommended getting screening and Velcro and to Velcro the screening to the front outside of the enclosure so, the front was open.
It worked, he isn't able to get out but I then ran into another issue, the temps and humidity doesn't stay where they should! Which told me, there is no way I would go with a completely screened cage because it's been hard to maintain the temps and humidity in the cage as my husband told me it would be a problem. My house gets really cold and I already have one basking light and two UVB bulbs in the enclosure - Do I need to add another basking light, what if I used a normal household light but put it at further distance to warm up the enclosure? I spritz the enclosure down constantly trying to bring the humidity up and it doesn't seem to raise it too much.
Many say buy the misters or just use a spray bottle to bring the humidity up, then I hear the water falls are BAD because the water sits in there, but what's the difference between a water fall and a mister? Both puts water into the cage and they both carry the potential of building bacteria, they do the same but in a different way. "Spike" doesn't believe in lapping up water from the foliage - I had to put a water bottle on top the cage and he crawls up to the top of the cage and walk along the top of the screening and laps it up from the bottle (there is a small hole at the bottom of the bottle). I am thinking he's just picky!
On to the Vitamins - Again, conflicting things saying not to use and others say use! I have Calcium with D3 and I would think they should get the Calcium every day? It' is a reptile and need the Calcium if they don't get it then they get a calcium deficiency and they die. But many are saying use it a few times a month NOT DAILY. I NEED to know is Calcium and D3 combined enough?
Cause I hear they also need Vitamin A! I don't understand reason of them needing all these different things when they don't get them in the wild (Vitamins) other then when they eat. You feed them mostly what they eat in the wild, Crickets, Fly's and so forth. What's different now they are captured? I have tried Meal worms, HE HATES them. Flies, he won't touch. Crickets, he will eat those like there's no tomorrow! I will also add that I do feed my Crickets, Cricket food and Drink cause I was told to gut load them? The cricket food has Vitamins in it, which if the Crickets consume the food and the Chameleon eats the cricket, it's getting those vitamins that the Cricket ate? It say's it has Vitamin E, Vitamin B3, Vitamin D3, Zinc and Calcium in the Cricket food. Is that enough? Or do they need extra
Vitamins? I don't want to over do him if he really doesn't need all that being that the Crickets are gut loaded. What do you all think?
Another question my Chameleon is about 3 months old (Not for sure) but he's a tiny guy. I've been giving him really small crickets, how many a day exactly should he be getting and do I dust with every feeding as I WAS TOLD TO DO SO, I'd think give him as many as he'd eat but heard over feeding them will cause harm? When will I be able to give him the larger adult crickets?
I hope I am not doing a horrible job so far.
Tanya
Need to speak to EXPERIENCED Cammy owners, DESPERATELY!
They did live for several years without the special things needed to care for them, now they have many, many things on the market for them.
So I decided to give it another go with getting another
I had just purchased a Jackson and bought the cage accessories and all. I read on the internet several websites that said glass aquariums were fine to use - many of those who said so, were Chamy owners themselves and never had problems and that their Chameleons have been in those cages for several months to even years. My problem is I see many conflicting things about cages, some say go with the tall aquariums where they open in front others say go with the screened enclosures!
I have a huge glass aquarium, it's really tall and I decided I was going to try what another person told me, to open the cage a little more to allow more ventilation and prevent bacteria from building as what she did and didn't have not one issue, she recommended getting screening and Velcro and to Velcro the screening to the front outside of the enclosure so, the front was open.
It worked, he isn't able to get out but I then ran into another issue, the temps and humidity doesn't stay where they should! Which told me, there is no way I would go with a completely screened cage because it's been hard to maintain the temps and humidity in the cage as my husband told me it would be a problem. My house gets really cold and I already have one basking light and two UVB bulbs in the enclosure - Do I need to add another basking light, what if I used a normal household light but put it at further distance to warm up the enclosure? I spritz the enclosure down constantly trying to bring the humidity up and it doesn't seem to raise it too much.
Many say buy the misters or just use a spray bottle to bring the humidity up, then I hear the water falls are BAD because the water sits in there, but what's the difference between a water fall and a mister? Both puts water into the cage and they both carry the potential of building bacteria, they do the same but in a different way. "Spike" doesn't believe in lapping up water from the foliage - I had to put a water bottle on top the cage and he crawls up to the top of the cage and walk along the top of the screening and laps it up from the bottle (there is a small hole at the bottom of the bottle). I am thinking he's just picky!
On to the Vitamins - Again, conflicting things saying not to use and others say use! I have Calcium with D3 and I would think they should get the Calcium every day? It' is a reptile and need the Calcium if they don't get it then they get a calcium deficiency and they die. But many are saying use it a few times a month NOT DAILY. I NEED to know is Calcium and D3 combined enough?
Cause I hear they also need Vitamin A! I don't understand reason of them needing all these different things when they don't get them in the wild (Vitamins) other then when they eat. You feed them mostly what they eat in the wild, Crickets, Fly's and so forth. What's different now they are captured? I have tried Meal worms, HE HATES them. Flies, he won't touch. Crickets, he will eat those like there's no tomorrow! I will also add that I do feed my Crickets, Cricket food and Drink cause I was told to gut load them? The cricket food has Vitamins in it, which if the Crickets consume the food and the Chameleon eats the cricket, it's getting those vitamins that the Cricket ate? It say's it has Vitamin E, Vitamin B3, Vitamin D3, Zinc and Calcium in the Cricket food. Is that enough? Or do they need extra
Vitamins? I don't want to over do him if he really doesn't need all that being that the Crickets are gut loaded. What do you all think?
Another question my Chameleon is about 3 months old (Not for sure) but he's a tiny guy. I've been giving him really small crickets, how many a day exactly should he be getting and do I dust with every feeding as I WAS TOLD TO DO SO, I'd think give him as many as he'd eat but heard over feeding them will cause harm? When will I be able to give him the larger adult crickets?
I hope I am not doing a horrible job so far.
Tanya
Need to speak to EXPERIENCED Cammy owners, DESPERATELY!
