New Chameleon - What have we done?!?!?

[Debi]

After much research and after speaking to several 'pet store people' I decided to allow my four children to purchase a baby Jackson Chameleon. He is home and settling in. I do believe that we have had some bad or at least confusing information. I would appreciate any advice anyone has a moment to offer. We have the little guy in an aquarium. I will be upgrading that to mesh within a day or so.
Question: How big do I go for now? He is only four inches long minus his little curled up tail.
Question: How do we keep the humidity at its proper measure with an open cage?
Question: After we turn the basking light off at night, how do we keep the temperature from dropping to low? We keep our house betwee 76 and 79 degrees
Question: Is this accurate information:
Day Temp: 73*to 80*
Night Temp: 60* to 65*
Humidity level: 60% to 80%
Question: What are signs that she is scared or stressed?
Thank you
Debi Stamey and children

 

[psyensics]

I don't know how big of a cage you should get.
the day I was told was about the as yours but I have a veil cham.
When she is scared or stressed out she will change to a darker color.
I use a ceramic heat lamp and it works the same way as the basking lamp but I keep that on all the time.
To keep the humidity the same you could use a humidifier.

Hope this helps!!

 

[Will Hayward]

Welcome Debi, you made some errors I'll tell you right up front. It is however fortunate that you are seeking help. OK, lets clean the slate... forget everything that the pet store dummies told you. Forget even what the first user (psyensics) has told you. Most of it is wrong. There are many widespread Myths going around between the uneducated or inexperienced. You will enjoy reading the article here called: Common Myths of Chameleon Husbandry: Cautionary notes for the new chameleon owner and another important article: Introduction to Chameleon Husbandry

I hope you like reading, you have a lot of homework to do.

You have said both He and She in your post? Which is correct? (For the most part, although there are exceptions) Males have Three horns, and females, either just a single horn, or none at all.

Recently, the yearly chameleon shipments have just arrived from Tanzania, which is where some species of Jackson's chameleon are native to. This means there is a good possibility that your new pet is a Wild Caught (Referred to as "WC") Specimen. You will have to take into consideration that it takes time for chameleons to become acclimated to captive care. Info on this can be found here: Chameleon Acclimation, where the process of acclimation is described with detailed photos. The text discusses how important hydration is for wild caught chameleons, as well as how to deal with parasites that every wild caught chameleon inevitably has. Captive bred Jackson's tend to be bought up quite fast by experienced chameleon keepers.

Your baby will be fine in a glass tank for a while. In fact many people use solid sided enclosures for Jackson's, or screen cages with some of the sides covered, as humidity is more easily maintained. You can adapt humidifiers to run in systems like the one described here: Humidifiers and Chameleon Enclosures Glass is however not always a great idea. It keeps heat so well that it acts as an oven

Chameleons do not need a constant heat. Sleeping actually is aided by temperatures dropping. Some people suggest that the ambient night temperature should drop about 10-15 degrees from the ambient daytime temperature. This however is only a guideline. You should not need a night light, or heat source, as long as your house does not drop lower than 55*.

Unlike what the user psyensics, told you, it is not correct to use a ceramic heat emitter instead of a basking lamp. Nor is it safe to leave it on through the night. Hopefully the user will read this and take this advice as well, because it is an important rule in keeping chameleons.

So far, all the links I have given you have been about specific questions you had. I'll leave you with one more. Here is a bit outdated, but still quite trustworthy dedicated to this species: Jackson's Chameleon Information.

I wish you good luck. Im sorry about all the links, but there is just too much nessescary information to post all together.

Will Hayward

 

[Brad]

Hi Debi, welcome to the chameleon forums

To add to what Will has said, here is another link for you

Kids and Chameleons

 

[Debi]

Thanks for the infor

Thanks for the help. We will start reading. The Chameleon is a girl, no horn. Our family (Mom and two oldest children) set our alarms last night at two hour shifts to check temp and humidity. She is doing fine as of now, 5:45am. Thanks so much. You have encouraged us. I am sure we will have questions after we read the article. Talk to you soon.
Debi

Welcome Debi, you made some errors I'll tell you right up front. It is however fortunate that you are seeking help. OK, lets clean the slate... forget everything that the pet store dummies told you. Forget even what the first user (psyensics) has told you. Most of it is wrong. There are many widespread Myths going around between the uneducated or inexperienced. You will enjoy reading the article here called: Common Myths of Chameleon Husbandry: Cautionary notes for the new chameleon owner and another important article: Introduction to Chameleon Husbandry

I hope you like reading, you have a lot of homework to do.

You have said both He and She in your post? Which is correct? (For the most part, although there are exceptions) Males have Three horns, and females, either just a single horn, or none at all.

Recently, the yearly chameleon shipments have just arrived from Tanzania, which is where some species of Jackson's chameleon are native to. This means there is a good possibility that your new pet is a Wild Caught (Referred to as "WC") Specimen. You will have to take into consideration that it takes time for chameleons to become acclimated to captive care. Info on this can be found here: Chameleon Acclimation, where the process of acclimation is described with detailed photos. The text discusses how important hydration is for wild caught chameleons, as well as how to deal with parasites that every wild caught chameleon inevitably has. Captive bred Jackson's tend to be bought up quite fast by experienced chameleon keepers.

Your baby will be fine in a glass tank for a while. In fact many people use solid sided enclosures for Jackson's, or screen cages with some of the sides covered, as humidity is more easily maintained. You can adapt humidifiers to run in systems like the one described here: Humidifiers and Chameleon Enclosures Glass is however not always a great idea. It keeps heat so well that it acts as an oven

Chameleons do not need a constant heat. Sleeping actually is aided by temperatures dropping. Some people suggest that the ambient night temperature should drop about 10-15 degrees from the ambient daytime temperature. This however is only a guideline. You should not need a night light, or heat source, as long as your house does not drop lower than 55*.

Unlike what the user psyensics, told you, it is not correct to use a ceramic heat emitter instead of a basking lamp. Nor is it safe to leave it on through the night. Hopefully the user will read this and take this advice as well, because it is an important rule in keeping chameleons.

So far, all the links I have given you have been about specific questions you had. I'll leave you with one more. Here is a bit outdated, but still quite trustworthy dedicated to this species: Jackson's Chameleon Information.

I wish you good luck. Im sorry about all the links, but there is just too much nessescary information to post all together.

Will Hayward