New Female Veiled - 1st-time owner with questions regarding overall setup and diet

[Julia777]

Hello, everyone. I am excited to be part of this group and eager to benefit from your collective expertise.

About 4 months ago, my niece purchased a female veiled, not sure of exact age, but estimate that she is 5-6 months old. Since I have soft spot for animals, I have put much energy into caring for the cham and it will be moving into my place in the near future, where it will likely reside at least 9 of 12 months. My niece will then take it home for summers and "babysit" when I am out of town. I have already taken the chameleon to two different vets 3x in total to treat an eye problem, which is now resolved. I am brand new to the cham scene, so have been reading up a storm to learn quickly about optimal conditions for raising a female veiled. I will outline below what I have done so far:

Personality: She will climb onto my hand, eat worms from my hand, and accept me dropping water on her head so that it rolls down to her mouth (through the screen, using dripper) sometimes. She also drinks from dripper without my aligning it directly over her. When she had eye problem, she tolerated me and my niece giving her eye medication daily for 3-4 weeks. When I spray her directly with water or near her, she turns colors to show that she is perturbed. She hisses on occasion, but has never bitten anyone and has been held by at least 10 different people (not to mention, several doctors). She can be taken out of the cage, but when I do so she is restless, walks faster, and is eager to get back in. We try to take her out at least once per day as it seems important that she continue to trust us and to be tame in the event future medical care and handling is needed.

Cage: 18x18x24 glass cage, Exo Terra. I have read up on glass cages and am careful in monitoring temperature (as it can get hotter in there), humidity, etc. It seems to be working well so far. She has fake plants, fake branches to climb on, two hammocks (which she loves), and a few places to hide well behind plants. I've also hung hammocks vertically on portions of the glass so that she can climb up parts of the wall, as she likes to do this. I like the cage setup a lot and it's crowded enough that she can hide from me a bit if she would like to (which she does...lol).

Lighting: Reptisun 5.0 UVB bulb and basking light and Exo Terra Sun Glo 120v 60hz basking light.

Diet: Crickets, mealworms, silkworms, superworms

Hydration: Use dripper 2x/day and mist at least once per day.

Gutload: Flukers Orange Cube, Flukers Cricket Quencher, and fruits and veggies (commonly apple, orange, or strawberry, along with romaine lettuce, dandelion greens, carrot, and sometimes sweet potato or red pepper)

Vitamins:
Reptivite/Herptivite - biweekly give one or the other, I rotate them.
Calcium without D3 - every other day

Question regarding diet:
1) Gut loading: How am I doing with my wet ingredients?
2) Gut loading: I am wondering how important it is to give the crickets a dry gut load. I have looked up most of the commercial options but don't trust the nutritional value of things I have to heat in the microwave prior to serving. I have also seen Sandra's dry gut load recipe, but don't know where to find hardly any of the ingredients and the project of finding them seems overwhelming. Is anyone aware of a place to purchase an organic, fresh gut load for crickets that doesn't require microwaving/cooking?
3) Fruits/veggies to chams: How many of you feed your veiled chameleons food directly and what fruits and/or veggies do they like the most?
4) What are the best worms to feed chameleons?
5) If the maximum diet is supposed to be 8-10 medium crickets for non-adult veiled, and I am using some worms, how many crickets is a worm equivalent to?
6) If the chameleon is walking around looking hungry or seems to have voracious appetite, do I go ahead and feed her more, or restrict, as Sandra advises, to prevent egg formation?

Question regarding lighting:
According to Sandra's blog on raising female veiled chams, no basking light is needed. Does anyone have any idea why this is so?
Also, does anyone have any opinions regarding this light? http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produ...MIxv2W_eDn1QIVWJ7ACh0AagCPEAQYAiABEgJX9fD_BwE

Supplementation:
I am wondering about whether I should offer calcium with D3 2x/month. I have read mixed views on this.

Misc
Are there any other variables that I am overlooking as beginner that I ought to take into consideration?
Does anyone have any thoughts/ideas/proposed changes regarding any aspect of what I have done thus far?

Many thanks to anyone who is able to help me become oriented to being a first-time cham mommy

 

[bobbydigital]

I can only answer very quickly since I have to go back to work. First off you should be misting multiple times a day for at least 1 minute (if you're not doing that already). As far as the "best" worms in my opinion are horn worms and silkworms. But I've heard black soldier fly larvae is more nutritious than both of those if I'm not mistaken. I wouldn't use mealworms or superworms. I use fruits and veggies along with a dry gut load. I use cricket crack. I've heard a lot of good things about bug buffet as well (it seems similar to cricket crack). I don't use water crystals anymore because I want to encourage them to get their hydration from the food I leave out for them. I take my male veiled outside for natural sunlight multiple times a week and still give him d3 twice a month.

 

[Classy]

Okay, for gutloading, ask @Kristen Wilkins, she showed me hers, and it is a good idea. For hydration, you'll want to mist 3-4 times a day for about 5-6 minutes. For supplementation, you are correct on that. Feel free to correct me, but the Flukers products are not the best. I may have missed somebody things, but good luck with your new chameleon!

 

[Kristen Wilkins]

Welcome @Julia777 , very exciting times !!.

There's a few things you can do to gut load . If you want to go easy rapashy or cricket crack are very good . You can use them as dry or wet or both if you want . You can use either as your base and then add lots of veggies , fruits , herbs .i have a recipe for wet . My dry is from @Andee and I'm working on it . You would need a dehydrator to make your own dry .

Worms - Hornworms , silk worms , supor worms , bsfl are are great choices . I would drop the meal worms . Silkies and bsfl are very hi and balanced nutritionally . Hornworms are great for hydration but not as nutritious .

Hydration - you should be misting 3 to 4 times a day for minimum of four minutes each session . You should be socking the floor of the enclosure and needing to figure out drainage . Make sure you are getting the excess out . Mistingking or climist makes life less stressful . Worth the money.

Lighting - yes you need basking or she will not properly digest . The temps should be in the low 80s 83/84 .

Supplements - rapashy has an all in one that's to be used daily . Unless she's out daily for 2+ hours she needs D3 -2 times a month alternating weeks multivitamin . Every feeding calcium without D3 . That's if you don't go with a all in one . .https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/food/ . Check this out if you have not .

Feeding schedule - yes at some point you will want to slow her down to every other day . If she 5/6 months personally I think it's too young she still growing . Though she can start to produce eggs as young as 4 months . Tou will have to be the judge when you start slowing her .

Hope this helps a bit .

 

[Julia777]

I can only answer very quickly since I have to go back to work. First off you should be misting multiple times a day for at least 1 minute (if you're not doing that already). As far as the "best" worms in my opinion are horn worms and silkworms. But I've heard black soldier fly larvae is more nutritious than both of those if I'm not mistaken. I wouldn't use mealworms or superworms. I use fruits and veggies along with a dry gut load. I use cricket crack. I've heard a lot of good things about bug buffet as well (it seems similar to cricket crack). I don't use water crystals anymore because I want to encourage them to get their hydration from the food I leave out for them. I take my male veiled outside for natural sunlight multiple times a week and still give him d3 twice a month.

Thank you so much for your response. I had read somewhere that Cricket Crack is high in protein and thus unsafe to use as dry gutload for crickets on regular basis. Have you heard of this concern? In the meantime, I will check locally on the availability of horn works. Good idea with regard to natural sunlight also.

 

[Julia777]

Okay, for gutloading, ask @Kristen Wilkins, she showed me hers, and it is a good idea. For hydration, you'll want to mist 3-4 times a day for about 5-6 minutes. For supplementation, you are correct on that. Feel free to correct me, but the Flukers products are not the best. I may have missed somebody things, but good luck with your new chameleon!

Okay, thanks! I will icks nay the Flukers products. In their absence, is fruit sufficient or should I get some small pieces of foam and dip them in water?

 

[Julia777]

Welcome @Julia777 , very exciting times !!.

There's a few things you can do to gut load . If you want to go easy rapashy or cricket crack are very good . You can use them as dry or wet or both if you want . You can use either as your base and then add lots of veggies , fruits , herbs .i have a recipe for wet . My dry is from @Andee and I'm working on it . You would need a dehydrator to make your own dry .

Worms - Hornworms , silk worms , supor worms , bsfl are are great choices . I would drop the meal worms . Silkies and bsfl are very hi and balanced nutritionally . Hornworms are great for hydration but not as nutritious .

Hydration - you should be misting 3 to 4 times a day for minimum of four minutes each session . You should be socking the floor of the enclosure and needing to figure out drainage . Make sure you are getting the excess out . Mistingking or climist makes life less stressful . Worth the money.

Lighting - yes you need basking or she will not properly digest . The temps should be in the low 80s 83/84 .
Supplements - rapashy has an all in one that's to be used daily . Unless she's out daily for 2+ hours she needs D3 -2 times a month alternating weeks multivitamin . Every feeding calcium without D3 . That's if you don't go with a all in one . .https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/food/ . Check this out if you have not .

Feeding schedule - yes at some point you will want to slow her down to every other day . If she 5/6 months personally I think it's too young she still growing . Though she can start to produce eggs as young as 4 months . Tou will have to be the judge when you start slowing her .

Hope this helps a bit .

Omg, Kristen, your cham looks a lot like mine I didn't realize you could use repashy in dry form. And you have no concerns regarding protein content in cricket crack? How much of these products do you give the crickets? I have 2 cricket keepers and I house 30 crickets in each one, so how much per day ought to be given in each bin? Also, I've heard that crickets prefer the dry gut load to the fruits/veggies/leafy greens so that some people feed the live food first. Do you also follow this practice? I will look into your recipe also. I actually do have dehydrator that I haven't used in ages.

I do give silkworms and superworms, but will add hornworms if I can locate them. What does bsfl stand for? It is my understanding that silkworms can be given nearly every day and other worms should be rotated in and out of diet throughout week. Is this what you and others do? I'm not sure how many of each to give per week.

Do you think I need to mist 3-4x/day on top of using the dripper twice per day? I usually use dripper 2x and mist 1-2x. I do keep washcloths on the base of the cage to absorb water and protect her if she falls, and I switch them out daily. I have heard of mistking but it looks so darn complex. What is climist? I will have to do more research and may invest.

With regard to basking light, Lynda Horgan (http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/keeping-female-veiled.html) says to not use one so long as there is at least one area where temperatures are maintained at 80-82 degrees. Do you think her chams are consequently likely not digesting food as well? Do you have any familiarity with the light I posted the link to, and whether that is a good light? My concern with a basking light is that it heats up a glass cage quite rapidly and can overheat my cham (as evident by a gaping mouth at times). After noting the temp getting into the upper 90s, I propped the basking light up about 6 inches above the cage to reduce the inside cage temp to no more than mid 80s. I thought the basking light was just to generate heat and so I am wondering if it's needed so long as a portion of the cage maintains 80-82 degrees without one.

I followed the link you provided to the page regarding food and it's great info. I didn't see anything about Repashy there. Is it intended to replace Herptivite/Reptivite and, if not, what is it intended to replace (in terms of being an all-in-one)? I will be sure to give D3 2x/month opposite of the Herptivite/Rep rotation. Thank for offering me so much new information

 

[kinyonga]

You said..."With regard to basking light, Lynda Horgan (http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/keeping-female-veiled.html) says to not use one so long as there is at least one area where temperatures are maintained at 80-82 degrees. Do you think her chams are consequently likely not digesting food as well?".....I did not say not to use one...I said..." I do not use a basking light, but continue with a double fluorescent hood keeping temperatures in the low eighties". My veiled females almost always live to be over 7 years old so do you think I'm causing them problems by keeping them like I do?

You said you used Flukers Orange Cube, Flukers Cricket Quencher as part of the gutload...I don't use either. I feed/gutload crickets, roaches, superworms a wide assortment of greens such as dandelion greens, endive, escarole, collards, etc and veggies such as carrots, squash, zucchini, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, etc and a small amount of fruit such as berries, melon, apples, pears, etc. These same greens, veggies and fruit can be fed to the veiled chameleons.

I don't recommend using fake plants since veileds do eat leaves of plants and have on occasion been reported to try to eat fake ones. I do use well washed non toxic plants. (There is an exception to this...I have used fake plants sometimes for hatchlings for the first couple of weeks because they don't usually nibble the leaves that young.)


You said... "If the maximum diet is supposed to be 8-10 medium crickets for non-adult veiled, and I am using some worms, how many crickets is a worm equivalent to?"... Where did you read this is the diet for NON-ADULT veileds?

You said..." If the chameleon is walking around looking hungry or seems to have voracious appetite, do I go ahead and feed her more, or restrict, as Sandra advises, to prevent egg formation?" ....until the hatchling reaches sexual maturity/full growth it's still building it's own bones and can be fed as much as it will eat in a minute or so at its feeding. After that , if you over feed her constantly she will likely develop a very large clutch of eggs, may become eggbound, may develop MBD, may prolapse and die young.

Hope this helps!

 

[Kristen Wilkins]

Omg, Kristen, your cham looks a lot like mine I didn't realize you could use repashy in dry form. And you have no concerns regarding protein content in cricket crack? How much of these products do you give the crickets? I have 2 cricket keepers and I house 30 crickets in each one, so how much per day ought to be given in each bin? Also, I've heard that crickets prefer the dry gut load to the fruits/veggies/leafy greens so that some people feed the live food first. Do you also follow this practice? I will look into your recipe also. I actually do have dehydrator that I haven't used in ages.

I do give silkworms and superworms, but will add hornworms if I can locate them. What does bsfl stand for? It is my understanding that silkworms can be given nearly every day and other worms should be rotated in and out of diet throughout week. Is this what you and others do? I'm not sure how many of each to give per week.

Do you think I need to mist 3-4x/day on top of using the dripper twice per day? I usually use dripper 2x and mist 1-2x. I do keep washcloths on the base of the cage to absorb water and protect her if she falls, and I switch them out daily. I have heard of mistking but it looks so darn complex. What is climist? I will have to do more research and may invest.

With regard to basking light, Lynda Horgan (http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/keeping-female-veiled.html) says to not use one so long as there is at least one area where temperatures are maintained at 80-82 degrees. Do you think her chams are consequently likely not digesting food as well? Do you have any familiarity with the light I posted the link to, and whether that is a good light? My concern with a basking light is that it heats up a glass cage quite rapidly and can overheat my cham (as evident by a gaping mouth at times). After noting the temp getting into the upper 90s, I propped the basking light up about 6 inches above the cage to reduce the inside cage temp to no more than mid 80s. I thought the basking light was just to generate heat and so I am wondering if it's needed so long as a portion of the cage maintains 80-82 degrees without one.

I followed the link you provided to the page regarding food and it's great info. I didn't see anything about Repashy there. Is it intended to replace Herptivite/Reptivite and, if not, what is it intended to replace (in terms of being an all-in-one)? I will be sure to give D3 2x/month opposite of the Herptivite/Rep rotation. Thank for offering me so much new information

That's Frances she's a sassy little beauty . No I do not worry about protein content In rapashy it's balance for the Bugs . I do about 500 crickets a bin . I add a ton of veggies , fruits , and herbs to my gut load blend freeze . It's wet so i feed off with in 12 hours . You don't want mold . I also dont feed off crickets to any of our babies for 24 hours . We make sure their well fed .

Rapashy all in one would be all 3 supplements in one . It's created to be used every day . If you choose not to do that then you can pick another brand or use rapashy , they have several Supplements . You would need to decide if you wanted to go with a multivitamin with vitamin A or beta carotene , calcium wIth out D3 , and calcium with D3 .

Silk worms are highly nutritious and balanced they are absolutely fine as a Staple feeder . bsfl is for Black soldier fly lave as well very nutritious and balance .

You can use a lower wattage incandescent household bulb . As you did with some height .

 

[Kristen Wilkins]

You said..."With regard to basking light, Lynda Horgan (http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/keeping-female-veiled.html) says to not use one so long as there is at least one area where temperatures are maintained at 80-82 degrees. Do you think her chams are consequently likely not digesting food as well?".....I did not say not to use one...I said..." I do not use a basking light, but continue with a double fluorescent hood keeping temperatures in the low eighties". My veiled females almost always live to be over 7 years old so do you think I'm causing them problems by keeping them like I do?

You said you used Flukers Orange Cube, Flukers Cricket Quencher as part of the gutload...I don't use either. I feed/gutload crickets, roaches, superworms a wide assortment of greens such as dandelion greens, endive, escarole, collards, etc and veggies such as carrots, squash, zucchini, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, etc and a small amount of fruit such as berries, melon, apples, pears, etc. These same greens, veggies and fruit can be fed to the veiled chameleons.

I don't recommend using fake plants since veileds do eat leaves of plants and have on occasion been reported to try to eat fake ones. I do use well washed non toxic plants. (There is an exception to this...I have used fake plants sometimes for hatchlings for the first couple of weeks because they don't usually nibble the leaves that young.)


You said... "If the maximum diet is supposed to be 8-10 medium crickets for non-adult veiled, and I am using some worms, how many crickets is a worm equivalent to?"... Where did you read this is the diet for NON-ADULT veileds?

You said..." If the chameleon is walking around looking hungry or seems to have voracious appetite, do I go ahead and feed her more, or restrict, as Sandra advises, to prevent egg formation?" ....until the hatchling reaches sexual maturity/full growth it's still building it's own bones and can be fed as much as it will eat in a minute or so at its feeding. After that , if you over feed her constantly she will likely develop a very large clutch of eggs, may become eggbound, may develop MBD, may prolapse and die young.

Hope this helps!

Hi Lynda I did not realize Julia was referring to you with no basking . No basking did not make sense . Happy you posted . I also know you recommend house hold bulbs . If basking temps are low . @Julia777 @kinyonga is an amazing keeper with way more experience then I . She is one of my go to's when I can't make sense outa something . Along with @Andee , @Nursemaia , and @Matt Vanilla Gorilla . Then they get my head right .

 

[kinyonga]

Thanks for the comments. I still have lots to learn.

 

[Kristen Wilkins]

Thanks for the comments. I still have lots to learn.

And so do I !!. I have about 23/3/4 years to go to get to your knowledge . You still will be that ahead .

 

[kinyonga]

By then I'll !likely be dead.

 

[Kristen Wilkins]

By then I'll !likely be dead.

I will be almost 66 and dedicating my retirement to these little gems .

 

[Julia777]

That's Frances she's a sassy little beauty . No I do not worry about protein content In rapashy it's balance for the Bugs . I do about 500 crickets a bin . I add a ton of veggies , fruits , and herbs to my gut load blend freeze . It's wet so i feed off with in 12 hours . You don't want mold . I also dont feed off crickets to any of our babies for 24 hours . We make sure their well fed .

Rapashy all in one would be all 3 supplements in one . It's created to be used every day . If you choose not to do that then you can pick another brand or use rapashy , they have several Supplements . You would need to decide if you wanted to go with a multivitamin with vitamin A or beta carotene , calcium wIth out D3 , and calcium with D3 .

Silk worms are highly nutritious and balanced they are absolutely fine as a Staple feeder . bsfl is for Black soldier fly lave as well very nutritious and balance .

You can use a lower wattage incandescent household bulb . As you did with some height .

Hi Kristen. Thanks for the nutrition and gutload info. Oh, the black soldier fly larve is what bobbydigital also recommended. Is that something commonly available? And what is the frequency with which chams can be given this? I just ordered (but haven’t received) the light that I referenced above and am not sure if it is adequate or whether I need something more – like the incandescent bulb that you mentioned or the flourescent tube light that Lynda mentioned – I don’t know if they are equivalent. I know nothing about light bulbs…ugh.

 

[kinyonga]

I'm older than that now.

 

[Kristen Wilkins]

Hi Kristen. Thanks for the nutrition and gutload info. Oh, the black soldier fly larve is what bobbydigital also recommended. Is that something commonly available? And what is the frequency with which chams can be given this? I just ordered (but haven’t received) the light that I referenced above and am not sure if it is adequate or whether I need something more – like the incandescent bulb that you mentioned or the flourescent tube light that Lynda mentioned – I don’t know if they are equivalent. I know nothing about light bulbs…ugh.

We have lights from lightyourreptiles . We love them it's a quad set up . It's basking, UVB and plant all in one . I personally like Linenger for uvb there's more coverage . . The Incandescent is what you use for your lights at home . It's fine for basking as well .

 

[Julia777]

You said..."With regard to basking light, Lynda Horgan (http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/keeping-female-veiled.html) says to not use one so long as there is at least one area where temperatures are maintained at 80-82 degrees. Do you think her chams are consequently likely not digesting food as well?".....I did not say not to use one...I said..." I do not use a basking light, but continue with a double fluorescent hood keeping temperatures in the low eighties". My veiled females almost always live to be over 7 years old so do you think I'm causing them problems by keeping them like I do?

You said you used Flukers Orange Cube, Flukers Cricket Quencher as part of the gutload...I don't use either. I feed/gutload crickets, roaches, superworms a wide assortment of greens such as dandelion greens, endive, escarole, collards, etc and veggies such as carrots, squash, zucchini, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, etc and a small amount of fruit such as berries, melon, apples, pears, etc. These same greens, veggies and fruit can be fed to the veiled chameleons.

I don't recommend using fake plants since veileds do eat leaves of plants and have on occasion been reported to try to eat fake ones. I do use well washed non toxic plants. (There is an exception to this...I have used fake plants sometimes for hatchlings for the first couple of weeks because they don't usually nibble the leaves that young.)


You said... "If the maximum diet is supposed to be 8-10 medium crickets for non-adult veiled, and I am using some worms, how many crickets is a worm equivalent to?"... Where did you read this is the diet for NON-ADULT veileds?

You said..." If the chameleon is walking around looking hungry or seems to have voracious appetite, do I go ahead and feed her more, or restrict, as Sandra advises, to prevent egg formation?" ....until the hatchling reaches sexual maturity/full growth it's still building it's own bones and can be fed as much as it will eat in a minute or so at its feeding. After that , if you over feed her constantly she will likely develop a very large clutch of eggs, may become eggbound, may develop MBD, may prolapse and die young.

Hope this helps!

Hi Lynda, I appreciate your reply. I was trying to track you down and couldn’t find any mention of you recently online, so now I know your screen name ☺ I am well aware that you are a great cham keeper. I wasn’t sure, with regard to basking light, how to clarify the debate around whether to use one. I have no idea whether using one or not using one could cause problems since I’m a novice, but you are certainly doing many things very well for your chams to live so long.

Did you notice that the life span of your chams extended specifically in response to modifying that one variable? I wasn’t sure if you made one change at a time in order to clarify the impact of each specific change, or just made many changes that cumulatively produced great benefit (without isolating the impact of changing each individual variable). I meant no offense in my question about whether some believe that using a basking lamp in some way may benefit the health of a chameleon (or whether not using one may be disadvantageous), I was asking because it seems that there remains some debate about this issue out there. My sense from reading your post on female veiled chams was that, in your experience, achieving optimal basking temperature is more important than whether a specific basking light is used to create/maintain this temp. I hope that this is correct, as the basking light seems too hot for my cham and so I’d rather not use one (or change bulbs, as Kristen proposed) so long as omitting a basking bulb holds no risk of impacting her digestion.

Thanks for your veggie list. Are those things enough to hydrate or do you use something else specifically for that purpose? Sounds like everyone is giving Flukers thumbs down, so that’s really useful to know. I just want to make sure the crickets stay sufficiently hydrated. As I asked Kristen (and I am eager to hear from any member on this), do you feed raw foods first and then the dry gut load? As I said in previous post, I am wondering since some say crickets like dry food better and ignore live foods if given in combination. Also, is it better to use veggies mostly and only fruits a few times a week or can both be given in equal amounts daily?

The plant issues is difficult for me, as I have no idea where to purchase non-toxic plants and whether they come with non-toxic soil, or what soil to repot them in if they come with wrong soil, how to clean/maintain them, when to replace them, etc. I haven’t seen her nibble on the fake plant leaves yet but certainly don’t want that risk to be present. She also loves hiding under them. If you can point me in the direction of info to read to study up on this, that would be great. It’s been overwhelming learning the amount I’ve learned in the last 8 weeks. It has been crash course since I never intended to a cham mom and just jumped on board to support my niece (and, of course, the cham, since I’m an animal lover). I can only study carefully and then implement a few changes at a time, so I will have to work on this and the dry gut load next. I really wish you sold your dry gut load because it looks great, but the thought of trying to locate so many foreign ingredients is overwhelming on top of trying to just master the basics.

With regard to food you mentioned in your post on female veiled chams that when young, I do recall what you said - to offer as many crickets as they can eat in a few min and then a 1-2 extra to hunt. However, in the general feeding section, you said 5-8 per day (I must have forgotten this when I said 8-10, so sorry about that). Also, during the minute or so that you permit them to eat as much as they like, do you also offer worms? And, after this, you just leave a 1-2 crickets that they can hunt for remainder of day and offer no food in afternoon/evening, right?

What fresh foods, if any, do you feed your chams directly?

No one on the forum has yet responded about the light I mentioned and I was wondering if you (or anyone else online) have an opinion on the light that I just ordered: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produ...MIxv2W_eDn1QIVWJ7ACh0AagCPEAQYAiABEgJX9fD_BwE.
You mentioned you used double hooded light and I looked online and didn’t know where to find double hood or what strength of flourescent tube ligth to get. I have spent hours reading up on lights and the topic has thus far been very confusing to me.

Thanks for all of the info you shared with me. I feel like I’ve found a great cham community here and I am appreciative of all the responses and support. I hope I don’t exhaust everyone with my continual stream of newbie questions (*warning - there will be many more, as I want to give my cham the best possible setup...lol).

 

[Julia777]

Here are a few pics that show my cham and her habitat...

 

[kinyonga]

You said..."Hi Lynda, I appreciate your reply. I was trying to track you down and couldn’t find any mention of you recently online, so now I know your screen name ☺ I am well aware that you are a great cham keeper"...how did you know about me? Just curious.

You said..." I wasn’t sure, with regard to basking light, how to clarify the debate around whether to use one. I have no idea whether using one or not using one could cause problems since I’m a novice, but you are certainly doing many things very well for your chams to live so long"...there's no problem with using a basking light....I just didn't use one because the set up I had worked the way it was. Don't forget when I started keeping them there were no books about them and no vets who could tell me what was wrong with them and no internet information....so it was all by hook or by crook.

You said..."Did you notice that the life span of your chams extended specifically in response to modifying that one variable?"...no, back when I started keeping them the stores and everyone asked why would you even buy a chameleon...they die in a couple of weeks...but my first just by my husbandry being accidentally good enough ( not perfect by any means) lived over a year. (Read more below)

You adked..."I wasn’t sure if you made one change at a time in order to clarify the impact of each specific change, or just made many changes that cumulatively produced great benefit (without isolating the impact of changing each individual variable)".... I just changed things as I went along...if I saw that the chameleon wasn't doing as well as I hoped I changed things by studying where they came from and trying to figure out what I might be doing wrong. I read all I could about vitamins, minerals, studies that were done on chameleons,etc. I was lucky to have a fantastic vet who also wanted to learn about them. A lot of things got me to the point I'm at now...but I still have so much to learn.
I used to also do things like give a chameleon to some of the vets I met along the way who said i needed to change things i didn't think i should so they could find out on their own.

You said..."I meant no offense in my question about whether some believe that using a basking lamp in some way may benefit the health of a chameleon (or whether not using one may be disadvantageous), I was asking because it seems that there remains some debate about this issue out there. My sense from reading your post on female veiled chams was that, in your experience, achieving optimal basking temperature is more important than whether a specific basking light is used to create/maintain this temp. I hope that this is correct, as the basking light seems too hot for my cham and so I’d rather not use one (or change bulbs, as Kristen proposed) so long as omitting a basking bulb holds no risk of impacting her digestion". ..to me the basking temperature is important but they also need different temperatures in the cqge so they can regulate their temperatures...which is why so many use basking lights and I usually advise people to have a basking area now. I try to keep things simple for newbies. There is no one way to keep the chameleons...many things work as long as you meet their husbandry requirements. I hope I'm explaining that well enough. BTW...no offence taken!

You said..."Thanks for your veggie list. Are those things enough to hydrate or do you use something else specifically for that purpose?"...
I wash the greens and don't dry them completely so they get some moisture from that. It seems to be enough.

You said..." Sounds like everyone is giving Flukers thumbs down, so that’s really useful to know"...I just prefer using a natural diet for the insects. There are quite a few commercial products out there that people seem to use with success...and many supplements too. Like I said..there is no one way.

You aaked..."do you feed raw foods first and then the dry gut load?"...no...i don't use a dry gutload...but again...others do.

You said..."is it better to use veggies mostly and only fruits a few times a week or can both be given in equal amounts daily?"... I use a lot of greens and veggies and only a little bit of fruit. I do all the things each time because I've also always had water dragons, tortoises, beardies, etc that eat "salads".

You said..."The plant issues is difficult for me, as I have no idea where to purchase non-toxic plants and whether they come with non-toxic soil, or what soil to repot them in if they come with wrong soil, how to clean/maintain them, when to replace them, etc. I haven’t seen her nibble on the fake plant leaves yet but certainly don’t want that risk to be present. She also loves hiding under them. If you can point me in the direction of info to read to study up on this, that would be great".... Inbuy the plants at places like garden centres, Walmart, home depot, etc. I wash them well...both sides of the leaves and run lots of water through the soil. I put stones that are definitely too big for the chameleons to ingest on top of the soil. You can use pothos, ficus, hibiscus, etc. There are lists of safe plants out there on beardie forums, turtle forums and I think on here too.

You said..."It’s been overwhelming learning the amount I’ve learned in the last 8 weeks. It has been crash course since I never intended to a cham mom and just jumped on board to support my niece (and, of course, the cham, since I’m an animal lover). I can only study carefully and then implement a few changes at a time, so I will have to work on this and the dry gut load next. I really wish you sold your dry gut load because it looks great, but the thought of trying to locate so many foreign ingredients is overwhelming on top of trying to just master the basics"..it is a lot to absorb. This is a great place to learn!

You asked..."With regard to food you mentioned in your post on female veiled chams that when young, I do recall what you said - to offer as many crickets as they can eat in a few min and then a 1-2 extra to hunt. However, in the general feeding section, you said 5-8 per day (I must have forgotten this when I said 8-10, so sorry about that). Also, during the minute or so that you permit them to eat as much as they like, do you also offer worms? And, after this, you just leave a 1-2 crickets that they can hunt for remainder of day and offer no food in afternoon/evening, right?"...for hatchlings I use crickets as the main food...they are easy to feed/gutload and buy/find but you can use appropriate sized worms as part of it for sure!

You asked..."What fresh foods, if any, do you feed your chams directly?" You can use any of the greens, veggies and fruits I list as gutload...just cut them in appropriate sizes. I don't offer them until they are a few months old...and it's only veileds I offer them too. I do, however put little juice bottle lids of greens, veggies in the chameleon cages so the crickets have something besides the chameleon to munch on.

You said..."No one on the forum has yet responded about the light I mentioned and I was wondering if you (or anyone else online) have an opinion on the light that I just ordered: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produ...MIxv2W_eDn1QIVWJ7ACh0AagCPEAQYAiABEgJX9fD_BwE."...I have to look this up.

You said...You mentioned you used double hooded light and I looked online and didn’t know where to find double hood or what strength of flourescent tube ligth to get. I have spent hours reading up on lights and the topic has thus far been very confusing to me". ..I use 4foot long double fluorescent fixtures I bought at places like Canadian Tire, Home Depot, etc. that have a plug.

You said..."Thanks for all of the info you shared with me. I feel like I’ve found a great cham community here and I am appreciative of all the responses and support. I hope I don’t exhaust everyone with my continual stream of newbie questions (*warning - there will be many more, as I want to give my cham the best possible setup...lol)"...no problem!