New owner, enclosure critiques from the pros please!

[Bemo]

Three weeks ago, after much consideration I purchased a Veiled Chameleon for my little boy. Three weeks later, his Cham (BEMO) is obviously Mommy's pet. We are pretty much in love. Bemo is approximately 8 months old, male. I initially took the advice/care sheet info from the pet store. I found this forum shortly after and I must admit I was very intimidated! But with all of the amazing info on this forum I believe I am moving in the right direction.

Bemo is in a 18 x 18 x 36 reptibreeze enclosure. The lighting is placed at the top of the enclosure. 5.0 UVB reptiglo on right and 50watt basking bulb on left. I have the basking bulb on a dimmer and I am not certain if this is recommended. It has however allowed me to maintain ideal basking temp without overheating. Bemo sometimes climbs on the top of tank and I feared he could be burned it the temp was to hot. His basking area in the form of a sloped vine and the temp is between 85-90. Ambient temperature is pretty consistently 72 degrees. Initially I was using a night time light, but after a week of observing night temp I decided to go without the bulb. I do cover all but one side of the enclosure with a sheet at night in order to minimize disturbances and maintain a comfortable temp. Night temp is between 62-68 degrees.

I have a small water dripper at the top of the tank and I have it cycle through twice a day. I also mist for 3-5 minutes 3 to 4 times a day. I was a little worried about dehydration as I noticed some yellow urate (is the that word?). He regularly drinks from the top of the enclosure after mistings and will actually come right up to drink directly from the misting bottle. I avoid misting him directly when he approaches and instead allow the bottle to form a drip. My next investment will be a mister/or fogger. Humidity levels fluctuate between 50-70%.

I have several live plants. I don't remember the exact name of each, however I researched cham safe plants when purchasing. I have some fake foliage to create more privacy. I also have some more live plants I would like to fill into some of the space once I find a good way to have them placed/potted in the enclosure properly.

Thanks for your time! Hope the image shows up! View attachment 87605

 

[Deevo]

It looks like he will be one happy little cham. I would maybe just add some more horizontal/vertical lines. I also like to get those fake cannabis vines they sell at the pet store to partially cover up 2 of the sides and give my guy some more things to climb.

 

[fluxlizard]

Sounds like you are doing pretty well so far and enclosure looks nice.

One thing to watch for though- in the photo I see a lone branch that is useful for basking. Rather than a hot spot on the branch and cool every where else away from the branch, your lizard will appreciate a thermal gradient and it will reduce the risk of burns for your lizard.

The way to create this is to use layers of branches beneath the light so the lizard can move from branch to branch to select exactly the temperature it wants to be at any given moment. This will allow your lizard to warm and cool gradually and slowly so it has more control over it's body temperature rather than moving from warm to suddenly cool and back again.

Lizards use their core temperature to thermoregulate and will choose to burn their skin waiting for their core to warm when their instinct is telling them they need to warm up. You are being careful about basking temp so that greatly reduces the risk of burning, but also if they are forced to cool down rapidly to use their living space, imagine the continual strain on the lizard's system from cooling a lot and then warming a lot over and over during the day rather than cooling a little, adjusting a little and warming a little- more gradually over more time- surely easier on the animal and more natural- more like it's instinct tells it to operate.

Also- the layering provides more usable space- the lizard might want to be 5 degrees cooler than the basking spot and the only way it can do this now would be to sit on the one branch slightly down to the side of the hot spot. Layering will give him more places to select from that are the temperature he wants to be.

Similarly You want not only layers but branches going from side to side so you get temperature gradients horizontally as well as vertically.

Your sloped vine is much better than some I've seen for creating a thermal gradient because of the slope, but a few more branches in there would improve the space a lot for the lizard.

Just my thoughts. Good luck with your new pet! Your little boy is a lucky boy!

 

[Ahyriah]

Looks nice and green! Like everyone else is saying more horizontal branches. My little guy seems to like the branch I have going diagonally from the back corner to the front corner All their branches are the stairways to move around. More "stairs" the better!

 

[Bemo]

Thanks for the ideas! I am going to make some changes tonight with an extra vine I have on hand and continue to improve as I go on. I will post an updated pic tonight.