New member! Many questions...

[DavidBuchan]

Finally... this question goes back to gut loading. Is there a complete at least semi complete gut loading product you can buy and not worry about buying 50 different types of veggies to properly gut load? I only plan one getting one chameleon so I won't have a massive stock of feeders (probably only 100/week is my guess) so making this gut load good will cost much more than the crickets and probably take more of my time than the chameleon...

I can't help with your misting or free range questions because I do it the easy and cheap way (hand mist, in a cage). I mentioned the commercial gutload products that have the best reputation already. Repashy Bug Burger is the one I use. It's a powder that you mix with water. Some fresh veggies are needed as well because as you've guessed there is no totally complete one that can satisfy us Cham owners
Looking after feeders is what keeping a cham is all about - no getting away from it. When you start gutloading fruit flies to feed to your mantis to feed to your cham you will have truly gone too far.......

 

[Lathelia]

When you start gutloading fruit flies to feed to your mantis to feed to your cham you will have truly gone too far.......

Best answer ever!

 

[theiceberg13]

welcome to the forums!

Just remember he/she is going to require your wallet with lots of CASH

LOL! The more I research the bigger the investment I realize it is. I've been learning that about my blue tongue's as well...

But if I get the set up right the first time I know it'll save a lot of money in the long run even if it means spending more $ at first.

I just found out there's a panther breeder right here in Portland! Anyone know about the guys behind www.epicChameleons.com? I know shipping is safe but I would love to avoid it if possible b/c its just extra stress on the chameleon, on me, and on my wallet...

 

[theiceberg13]

I can't help with your misting or free range questions because I do it the easy and cheap way (hand mist, in a cage). I mentioned the commercial gutload products that have the best reputation already. Repashy Bug Burger is the one I use. It's a powder that you mix with water. Some fresh veggies are needed as well because as you've guessed there is no totally complete one that can satisfy us Cham owners
Looking after feeders is what keeping a cham is all about - no getting away from it. When you start gutloading fruit flies to feed to your mantis to feed to your cham you will have truly gone too far.......

Thanks! Sorry I thought bug burger was for the chameleon not the feeders haha I feel a lot better about gut loading now. Get feeders from a store that gut loads then use bug burger and add some other produce to make it as complete as possible.

 

[DavidBuchan]

Never trust a pet store to gutload for you, petstores are usually 'the enemy' (bad conditions, bad advice - there are exceptions of course......)
And I'm not sure if he's the owner or not but there's a guy who does the Epic Chameleons stuff on here - https://www.chameleonforums.com/members/imcurt/

 

[theiceberg13]

Never trust a pet store to gutload for you, petstores are usually 'the enemy' (bad conditions, bad advice - there are exceptions of course......)
And I'm not sure if he's the owner or not but there's a guy who does the Epic Chameleons stuff on here - https://www.chameleonforums.com/members/imcurt/

I agree about pet stores, but some actually are trustworthy though. I'm not saying they know a ton about chameleons, but I do trust that they do some gut loading. And like I said I would gut load as well.

For example If I was buying crickets, I would ask what they have been using for gut load and if they were using apples I would make sure I did something like collared greens or bug burger.

Basically, I'm just saying I'd rather get my feeders from a quality reptile store than a chain like Petsmart. The fact that they gut load would just give more variety to my own loading.

Thanks for your concern though. I know I can't just trust my pets with things a pet store says and take it as truth because I know there is a lot of sketchy stores out there.

Back to the housing questions though...

So basically all of my research has came to the consensus that getting the mistking system is the best way to achieve the correct humidity and proper hydration (especially since I won't have time to manually spray the tank since I will be at work from 9-5). I've seen there are a few different systems though. Is the "starter" system any good? It's much cheaper than the rest so I'm a little skeptical, but since I'm only going to get 1 cham I'm hoping it would be enough?

And what do you do for drainage? I'm hoping to slowly start piecing my set up together and would like to make sure the enclosure has good options for drainage and a misting system. I'm thinking about getting a cage bigger than the 4x2x2 but I'm not sure how big yet.

Also, about how much foliage is enough? I've seen cages that are jam packed and I've seen the opposite, tanks with hardly anything. Basically I'm guessing happy medium between the two extremes is best, but what does that look like? If someone could post a picture or link that would be great because I'm still kind of clueless on what the right amount is.

Finally, I've seen pictures of some pretty cool set ups with real plants hanging from the top of the enclosure. Is that a good option or is it better to pot the plants on the bottom? I could see the hanging plants being less stable and have too much swing to them...

Thanks in advance for the responses!

 

[Charmeleon818]

I would say basking temp of 100 is way too high.. 85 degrees is what works for my adult veiled ^.^

 

[Craig94089]

I have my mistking setup on my 18x18x36 screen cage with paper towel at 4 misting at 90 seconds a go. I don't have a drain system currently and I have zero issues with water outside of the enclosure. I also have a live plant in the enclosure so it helps. The paper towels do get a good soaking in some spots but drys out between mistings. I change out the towels every other day at the very least for sanitation...daily poop cleaning, but those clean up easy thank gawd. But I can say he's regular and between 8 - 9 am each day is becoming my least favorite part of my day lol.

I went with the $180 setup...I wanted the zip drip and extra parts.