New owner to a baby veiled- need some advice!

[acottrell]

Hi everyone, so I just recently got a baby veiled from petsmart on friday ( I work there.) This is the first reptile I have ever owned. I actually was not a big fan of reptiles until I started working with them at my job. I grew attached to this cham in particular because he generally was okay with handling when I did handle him the odd time at work and quite the curious little guy and is very friendly. Im not completely foreign on how to take care of chameleons since I do it at work, however I've done alot of research and am very conflicted on certain things as so many people seem to have so many different opinions. I'm not sure how old he is, I want to say 2-3 months. I have a 16x16x30 reptibreeze all screened cage that came with the chameleon starter kit I bought. I swapped out the 60 watt basking bulb it came with for a 75 which keeps the cage in general around 80, and his basking spot around 95. I kept the original uvb light. Basically my questions are these:


Feeding- Tongs, cup feed, or let them roam in the cage..?

Ive been tong feeding him and he is totally okay with it, i have stainless steel tongs and I actually dont like it when he grabs them impatiently from the tong I try and place the cricket on a near by leaf or branch but he's impatient and will literally grab it right away lol. I read that tongs can hurt their tongue? He's very curious and has no problem coming to me for handling or feeding. What is this best method to feed a chameleon crickets?

Cleaning- What to use, how often, and how much?

I have alot of plants and branches in his cage going from the top to the very bottom of his cage. I want him to have lots of things to climb and hide in however the plants and vines and whatnot at the bottom make it hard for me to get my hand in and clean the bottom / get dead crickets out. I currently have no substrate at the bottom because Ive read that its horrible and bad for bacteria. I was going to use paper towel but like I said i have alot going on in the cage so its hard to move everything and reposition everything so I just left it bare. What is the best thing to use for cleaning? Do you need to clean every plant and leaf in the cage, and how often? I clean out his feces every day and wipe the bottom of the cage and get any dead crickets out as well.

In general, he seems incredibly content. He seems comfortable with me and comes right too me for handling or food ( however i've only handled him a few times.) I love him to bits and his name is pascal.

Those are basically all my questions.. sorry for the long post. I want to provide him with the best life I can possibly give so all advice is appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Alexander1]

Hi everyone, so I just recently got a baby veiled from petsmart on friday ( I work there.) This is the first reptile I have ever owned. I actually was not a big fan of reptiles until I started working with them at my job. I grew attached to this cham in particular because he generally was okay with handling when I did handle him the odd time at work and quite the curious little guy and is very friendly. Im not completely foreign on how to take care of chameleons since I do it at work, however I've done alot of research and am very conflicted on certain things as so many people seem to have so many different opinions. I'm not sure how old he is, I want to say 2-3 months. I have a 16x16x30 reptibreeze all screened cage that came with the chameleon starter kit I bought. I swapped out the 60 watt basking bulb it came with for a 75 which keeps the cage in general around 80, and his basking spot around 95. I kept the original uvb light. Basically my questions are these:


Feeding- Tongs, cup feed, or let them roam in the cage..?

Ive been tong feeding him and he is totally okay with it, i have stainless steel tongs and I actually dont like it when he grabs them impatiently from the tong I try and place the cricket on a near by leaf or branch but he's impatient and will literally grab it right away lol. I read that tongs can hurt their tongue? He's very curious and has no problem coming to me for handling or feeding. What is this best method to feed a chameleon crickets?

Cleaning- What to use, how often, and how much?

I have alot of plants and branches in his cage going from the top to the very bottom of his cage. I want him to have lots of things to climb and hide in however the plants and vines and whatnot at the bottom make it hard for me to get my hand in and clean the bottom / get dead crickets out. I currently have no substrate at the bottom because Ive read that its horrible and bad for bacteria. I was going to use paper towel but like I said i have alot going on in the cage so its hard to move everything and reposition everything so I just left it bare. What is the best thing to use for cleaning? Do you need to clean every plant and leaf in the cage, and how often? I clean out his feces every day and wipe the bottom of the cage and get any dead crickets out as well.

In general, he seems incredibly content. He seems comfortable with me and comes right too me for handling or food ( however i've only handled him a few times.) I love him to bits and his name is pascal.

Those are basically all my questions.. sorry for the long post. I want to provide him with the best life I can possibly give so all advice is appreciated. Thanks!

Congrats on ur veiled!
First off it is important to have his basking temps at the right temp
A young veild like that his basking temp may be too high, u want something in the mid 80's with a gradient that goes down to room temp towards the bottom of his cage
Feeding is up to you and your Cham, I cup feed some bugs and free range others, make sure the bugs are gut loaded and dusted with calcium without d3 EVERY feeding, twice a month use calcium with d3 and a multi vitamin.
As for the bottom of his cage you are correct in leaving his cage bare, I suspend all my branches and vines about 10 inches from the bottom for easy clean up, I clean his entire cage about 2-3 a month, take everything out and rinse off in a hot water bucket with a tiny bit of bleach, I dunce until I can't smell any bleach and let dry.
Make sure you have a dripper until you can possibly get a mister.

Remember to feed different bugs and gut load them all of possible. Dust with calcium as I suggested, check out the care sheets here they are pretty awesome and have great info...
Good luck!

 

[Alexander1]

Congrats on ur veiled!
First off it is important to have his basking temps at the right temp
A young veild like that his basking temp may be too high, u want something in the mid 80's with a gradient that goes down to room temp towards the bottom of his cage
Feeding is up to you and your Cham, I cup feed some bugs and free range others, make sure the bugs are gut loaded and dusted with calcium without d3 EVERY feeding, twice a month use calcium with d3 and a multi vitamin.
As for the bottom of his cage you are correct in leaving his cage bare, I suspend all my branches and vines about 10 inches from the bottom for easy clean up, I clean his entire cage about 2-3 a month, take everything out and rinse off in a hot water bucket with a tiny bit of bleach, I dunce until I can't smell any bleach and let dry.
Make sure you have a dripper until you can possibly get a mister.

Remember to feed different bugs and gut load them all of possible. Dust with calcium as I suggested, check out the care sheets here they are pretty awesome and have great info...
Good luck!

Sorry for the misspelling I'm using my phone and txting to fast

 

[Andee]

Just to expand on what Alexander said, I would get multiple feeders. Chameleons are not content with just one type of feeder. I would feed at least two-three types per day, and rotate around six a week.

 

[acottrell]

Thank you both! I mist him 3-4 times a day. I may switch back to the 60 watt then. And I will offer both the cup feed and free range option then. I am looking into getting a mist king because everyone seems to say that is the best. When i'm at work i usually have who ever is home to check on him and mist him, but I still worry and want an automatic mister. Im going to raise the plants and everything at the bottom a few more inches just so I can get in there to clean. And i will be expanding his diet to more than just crickets. Im also going to put a live plant in his cage as well I was thinking a ficus. thanks again !

 

[TheCoop]

To be honest for you a mistking system for you would be overkill, a dripper running as well as a few daily misting would be sufficient. You could aso do a luke warm shower every other week for 20-40 minutes. Gongrats BTW.

 

[Sheac88]

I recommend the Climist misting system from Coastal Silkworms. It's only $100 shipped. It also comes with a zip drip valve built in. Very comparable to Mistking for less money.