New to Chameleons. Introducing Yosh

Conrad

New Member
I just got my first Chameleon, well first cold blooded pet of any kind actully. He is a yong male veiled. Im not sure how old? He seems to be doing good. hes active and has a big appitite. For his enclosure I have a small Zilla half glass half screen gace that is only temporary, as I am going to build a nice big one, but they said at the store he should be in a smaller one for the nest month or so.
For lights I am using a 25W basking bulb, and a repti glo 5.0 18in flourecent uvb. His basking spot is at about 80-84F and the ambient is from 70-73. I hae a very small usb fan blowing across the from of screen but not dirwectly into the cage. I have a small water dripper and have been spraying his cage down several times a day. I have been outting down paper towls in the bottom and changing them daily. I have a live jade plant in his cage and then some fake plants. I have been feeding him dandilion leafs which he loves, as well as crickets gutloaded with sweet potatoes, apples and carrots and then dusted with the calcium/d3 powder... I hope that all sounds like im doing ok? I think I should get a fogger for his new bigger cage becasue he doesnt seem to like the water dripper and I have only seen him drink it a couple times. Also My main probelm right now is getting the crickets from their big cage into a smaller cage and then into the Chamelon cage. i seem to lose like 5 every time, Ha. There has got to be an easy way to do it. Are there any examples of an easy diy cricket cage with those tubes to easily get the crickets into his cage? Is there anything elese important I am overlooking?


Here he is. These are his dull colors. He turns a very tourqouise blue sometimes.

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rubbbeeeeermaid

go to walmart get a 5$ storage bin cut hole on top side and on cover then hot glue screen over the hole... as for the long tubes... just use cut up egg crate and some toilet paper roll....
 
I would bump that bulb up. His basking temp should be 90-95. My male is about 5 months and no bigger then my thumb and LOVES his heat! Also idk about these leaves. Chams don't usually eat plants? And I keep my crickets in a cricket carrier the use the tubes to transport them to a bag where they are dusted and then from the bad to the cage! But I only keep about a weeks worth at a time so I can monitor them easier. And you only dust WITH D3 twice a month. For example I dust every other monday with D3 and then every other monday he recieves his multi vitamins and then I dust every day with the no D3 powder. Hope this helps
 
I would bump that bulb up. His basking temp should be 90-95. My male is about 5 months and no bigger then my thumb and LOVES his heat! Also idk about these leaves. Chams don't usually eat plants? And I keep my crickets in a cricket carrier the use the tubes to transport them to a bag where they are dusted and then from the bad to the cage! But I only keep about a weeks worth at a time so I can monitor them easier. And you only dust WITH D3 twice a month. For example I dust every other monday with D3 and then every other monday he recieves his multi vitamins and then I dust every day with the no D3 powder. Hope this helps

Chams do eat plants especially hibiscus leaves.
also 90-95 is much too hot for a cham of that age especially.
anyone will tell you that.
 
Hi there Conrad. Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your new veiled Cham. This is the best place to come to learn how to look after your boy. Your basking temps are fine for a baby, you can increase them a little bit as he gets older. Your supplements are not correct though. I dust my feeders daily with plain phosphorous free calcium daily. Calcium with d3 twice a month. Multivitamin twice a month. Crickets can be a pain. I keep them all together in a plastic ventilated box with a piece of egg flat inside. I also have a large drinking cup and I shake some in and lightly dust with supplement. You might want to make a cricket feeder out of a sunny d bottle. There are loads of them to be found on here. You might enjoy reading the care sheet on here. It is very up to date. Also sandrachameleons blogs on gut loading your feeders is awesome.
 
Chams do eat plants especially hibiscus leaves.
also 90-95 is much too hot for a cham of that age especially.
anyone will tell you that.

That's only his basking spot which he spends most of his time in with out poping his mouth open to regulate his heat, so I'm sure he likes it just fine... Good to know they eat leaves tho.
 
That's only his basking spot which he spends most of his time in with out poping his mouth open to regulate his heat, so I'm sure he likes it just fine... Good to know they eat leaves tho.

Sorry to disagree. If you check out the new care sheets on this forum, juveniles up to 9 months, basking 85f. There exceptions to the rule but for a new Cham owner I think it is important to give out well tried out info and not cause confusion.:)
 
To dust my crickets with out loosing any I cut a toilet paper roll in half and make two tube that i throw in my cricket bin - I bought one of those cricket dusters for way too much money but it has a hole in the top and the tube fits right in - and I'm too old to chase crickets on my hands and knees all over the place- I'm sure some whipper snapper could come up with something that works with a coffee cup with a lid or two. The tube usually comes out with 8 to 10 crickets on it -flick the side and out they pop into the duster cup.
 
The basking spot is too hot for him, which is the reason he is opening his mouth to cool down. 95F is even in the very upper limits for an adult male.

85F would be a much better temperature for the basking spot and he will probably not need to open his mouth to cool down now.
 
^thanks for the ideas everyone. Kate i went today and got normal calcium without the d3, and will start using that. along with a multi-vitamin. And kplatvoet that's a good idea, i will try just putting the whole roll into the cage.

Today Yosh started molting. he seems to have less of an appetite today. is that normal when they shed their skin? We took him outside for some sunlight and he enjoyed climbing around our hands while looking very bright blue/green and happy. I also found a cricket cage online that has black removable tubes that are supposed to make it easier to put them in. I might try to make my own... Question about cricket water; I had a water dish in there with them and there was many that had drowned in it. whats the best way to water the crickets? I have updated my first post with the photos that didn't work the first time.
 
I would bump that bulb up. His basking temp should be 90-95. My male is about 5 months and no bigger then my thumb and LOVES his heat! Also idk about these leaves. Chams don't usually eat plants? And I keep my crickets in a cricket carrier the use the tubes to transport them to a bag where they are dusted and then from the bad to the cage! But I only keep about a weeks worth at a time so I can monitor them easier. And you only dust WITH D3 twice a month. For example I dust every other monday with D3 and then every other monday he recieves his multi vitamins and then I dust every day with the no D3 powder. Hope this helps

No bigger then your thumb? Mine is about 5-6 months old and he is bigger than my palm.
 
^thanks for the ideas everyone. Kate i went today and got normal calcium without the d3, and will start using that. along with a multi-vitamin. And kplatvoet that's a good idea, i will try just putting the whole roll into the cage.

Today Yosh started molting. he seems to have less of an appetite today. is that normal when they shed their skin? We took him outside for some sunlight and he enjoyed climbing around our hands while looking very bright blue/green and happy. I also found a cricket cage online that has black removable tubes that are supposed to make it easier to put them in. I might try to make my own... Question about cricket water; I had a water dish in there with them and there was many that had drowned in it. whats the best way to water the crickets? I have updated my first post with the photos that didn't work the first time.
Put fresh veg ar fruit in with the crickets. That will give them fluid.yes it's normal for them to slow down on their eating when shedding.:)
 
If you'd like a care sheet I could provide you with a very good one! Pm me if you're interested. :) good luck! He's too cute!
 
That's only his basking spot which he spends most of his time in with out poping his mouth open to regulate his heat, so I'm sure he likes it just fine... Good to know they eat leaves tho.

lol do what you want then.
right choice not listening to people who have a vast amount of knowledge of chams far beyond me or you.
 
Here is his enclosure for now. This is at night, u can see him sleeping at the top. He is in the basement so its kind of cool at night, whats the lowest temp it should get to at night? I have a temp control in the room.
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relaxing on his favorite vine(during the day)
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I just bought the cricket cage with the tubes that come out and it works great. They just go right into them and there is a flap that closes. and it just dumps into his cage.
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^

Today Yosh started molting. he seems to have less of an appetite today. is that normal when they shed their skin? We took him outside for some sunlight and he enjoyed climbing around our hands while looking very bright blue/green and happy. I also found a cricket cage online that has black removable tubes that are supposed to make it easier to put them in. I might try to make my own... Question about cricket water; I had a water dish in there with them and there was many that had drowned in it. whats the best way to water the crickets? I have updated my first post with the photos that didn't work the first time.

id cover one end of your tube...they like to crawl up so that will keep them just crawling up out of the tube and onto your hand and hopping away.. my veileds LOVE their plants..to eat lol i have a hibiscus which im going to have to replace. it was so full and bushy.. not a huge one but its still a decent size and it looks like its been pruned pretty heavy.. i also have a star jasmine..she doesnt eat the leaves but a flower will never grow in that cage again lol..everything ive read about veiled and from many posts on here as well they tend to be big plant eaters.

As far as your crickets you can use a sponge..that will keep them from drowning in the dish but itll get nasty quick so you have to clean it alot.. i use the flukers cricket quencher..not to be confused with the orange cricket diet lol..its actually the only flukers product i use and its basically water in a gel form
1.80% crude protein
0.08% crude fat
1.81% crude fiber
97.49% moisture
0.32% ash

just my 2 cents
 
id cover one end of your tube...they like to crawl up so that will keep them just crawling up out of the tube and onto your hand and hopping away. i use the flukers cricket quencher..not to be confused with the orange cricket diet lol

The cage I got has clear end caps on the tubes so u can see how many are in each one and they don't get out... The orange cricket diet is no good i have heard?



Here is the cage currently. I have been putting down paper towels in the bottom and changing them but those dang crickets keep hiding underneath of them. So I am going to stop putting them down so they don't have a place to hide.. I have started building his new adult cage. It is going to be 44x27x18 inches.

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Congratulations on the new veiled chameleon and we are very happy that you are on the forums with us! :)


I did skim the posts and like most of the advice in which you are receiving.

However, does anyone else notice the curvature in his front arms from the photo(s)?

I skimmed quickly through the posts but I do not believe anyone has mentioned it.

This is a sign of Metabolic Bone Disease (lack of dietary calcium). Not cure-able, but can be helped. Correcting his supplementation is the way to go, along with properly gutloading your feeders, providing a varied diet, and switching out his UVB source every 6 months or so for preferred output.

I admire that you are asking the appropriate questions and again am very happy to have you on the forum with us :)

Chelsea
 
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