New little buddy, Valentino

[alfaracer75]

Hello everyone. You have a nice forum here. I have been researching for a couple weeks, reading everything I could before taking the plunge. Today my fiance and I went to the Intl Reptile Show here in San Diego, CA and I picked up my new buddy Valentino, a Veiled Cham.

I was kicking myself at the show though, last week I bought a 15x15x30" screen enclosure and some furnishings. I spent around $100 at a local pet shop without lighting or a live plant. At the show they had the exact enclosure for a package deal with hood, UV lamp, clamp light w/bulb, small pesticide-free ficus, dripper, spray bottle, Herptivite & Rep-Cal. All for $119, plus they gave $10 off the baby veiled's if you bought a package. Of course the pet store I bought the enclosure from will only take returns for store credit. I went ahead and bought the package deal and I'm going to get the store credit and just use it to buy food for a couple months.

Anyways, here is my setup:

15x15x30" screen enclosure
18" ESU Reptile light fixture with 7% UVB bulb
Timer set up for 12 hour days (7am-7pm)
9" clamp light with 100w bulb
Fluker's digital combo thermomete/hygrometer
Small ficus tree and a piece of sandblasted grapevine

I got 100 small crickets and started feeding them Total Bites (gutload & water).

I was hoping this enclosure wouldn't be too big for him, but I think it is a bit on the large side. I put a bunch of the crickets in there today, but I didn't see him eat any. A lot of them drowned themselves in the catch bowl for the dripper (only had maybe 1/8" of water in it). I figure it's been a stressful day for the poor guy, being plucked from his cage and stuffed into a paper bag for an hour... so maybe that's why he hasn't eaten. I have seen him drink though, which I am very happy about! I tried putting the cup full of crickets in there with him, and they were crawling around pretty close to him but he didn't got for it. I'll see how he's feeling about eating in the morning.

So here are a couple questions for your awesome collective knowledge:

- I know the Reptisun bulbs are popular, is the brand lamp I have any good?
- Should I be worried about him not going for the crix? Should I order some flightless fruit flies or get some small worms for him instead?
-Any other input would be GREATLY appreciated of course.


And here are a couple pictures of the little guy...

Having a little drink...

Thanks in advance,

Chip

 

[Shelby]

Valentino is very cute!!

You definitely want to replace that ESU bulb. The fixture is fine ... just the ESU bulbs are worthless. Reptisuns are what I use in my ESU fixtures as well.

For my baby panther chameleon (besides crickets) I get him fruit fly cultures and phoenix worms (I get these from http://www.blackjungle.com/home.htm) and silkworms (from http://www.coastalsilkworms.com/catalog/index.php). When mine gets older he'll be getting introduced to superworms as well.

There are also other feeders people use like roaches (which I refuse to buy in my house). :^)

Did you also purchase his calcium dust and vitamins?

Welcome to the forums and becoming a new chameleon parent!!

 

[alfaracer75]

Thanks for the input!

Will the ESU bulb be OK for a couple of days while I order the Reptisun or should I go buy one from a retailer today? Would you recommend the 5.0 or 10.0?

There will be no roaches in this house! haha. I'll stick to crickets and I'm going to order up some fruit flies I guess.

I just fed Valentino his breakfast, a bunch of gutloaded & dusted small crickets and he's chowing down!

The other thing I'm running into... the mesh on the enclosure is so close that the water from my dripper does't seem to want to go through it. It just pools up on top until I tap the cage and make it "rain down". Anyone else notice this? Maybe I'll just try to enlarge some of the holes in the mesh near the dripper.

 

[Drake]

I have been using a Repti-glow for a few months now since my petstore was out of the Reptisun 5.0/10.0. My chams are healthy, and show no sign of MBD, and they are very active. In a few days though, I'm going to be ordering Reptisun bulbs online, since it will be just about time to get a new bulb.

As for the dripper, you can try putting the dripper a few feet higher then the cage and let gravity work. But I'm not sure

Nice pics.

 

[Kalibr03]

holes

I had some problem of water staying up top, I just took a knife and made a little bit bigger holes. Works perfect and doesn't comprise my cage at all.

 

[Prism Chameleons]

Very cute! Nice shots too

 

[alfaracer75]

I took a couple more pictures this weekend of little Valentino. While I was cleaning out his enclosure I put him in a potted ficus tree in my back yard in the sun. He seemed to enjoy it, he kept climbing around until he got to the top and just hung out for a bit.

And here he is the other morning, right after the lights came on... quite a contrast to how he looks when sleeping (very light green).

Chip

 

[Chamomile T]

Great pics! You gotta love the power in those twiggy legs. Very cute! (btw: how did you get that hydrometer to stick to the screen?? I have the same one and can not get it to stick.)

 

[alfaracer75]

Thanks.

I am amazed at how strong thier legs and tail are. I saw him contemplating that move and I thought for sure he was going to fall, but he pulled it off effortlessly of course.

I couldn't get the hygrometer to stick at first either, but then I removed the velcro that came with it and used 3M automotive double sided moulding tape. I put two strips (covering the whole back) of the tape on the meter rather than the two squares of velcro. It's held up fine so far... not sure if it will come off ever though

 

[Chamomile T]

Great idea! I will do that tomorrow. I think I even have some of that tape in a drawer left over from Christmas. Wahoo! I love how creative Cham owners are

 

[jvillereptile]

just wondering did the person you bought him from say he was a boy or girl. it looks like a girl. i didn't see any spur on his back feet. just don't want you to get confused when it doesn't get as big and colorful as male

 

[alfaracer75]

The breeder told me it was a male. She looked closely at like 10 babies before she found one to sell me. She could have been mistaken though, how do I check? What exactly does the spur look like and where is it supposed to be?


Thanks.

 

[alfaracer75]

Before I left for work today I peeked into Val's cage and I think I can see a little spur, so I'm pretty sure he's a male. I'll try to take some close-up pictures this evening and post them so you guys/gals can see what you think.


Chip

 

[jvillereptile]

the spur look like a piece of skin that sticks out of the back of the hind feet.

 

[alfaracer75]

Here's a picture of what I think looks like the tarsal spur... what do you think? Sorry it's a crappy picture, he only wanted to crawl around on my right hand and it was hard to operate the camera with my left.

 

[jvillereptile]

how big is it the phot is to dark to tell if you can but it on a branch and zoom into the foot from the side. how big is the chameleon

 

[REL JJA]

Hey I Think We Went To The Same Show Because I Got That Package Deal To It Was The Best Deal Ever!!! I Love Mine They Are In Such Good Condition....do You Take Yours Outside??