New to the forum and chameleons

[DavidBuchan]

Hello, welcome to the forum I don't know why you'd remove the Bromeliad because it all looks good, but you could have a couple more branches that would be a better size for his tiny feet.
I hope he doesn't sleep much during the day? That is a sign that something may be wrong.....

 

[AllFallDown]

Hello, welcome to the forum I don't know why you'd remove the Bromeliad because it all looks good, but you could have a couple more branches that would be a better size for his tiny feet.
I hope he doesn't sleep much during the day? That is a sign that something may be wrong.....

I was thinking of replacing it with one that has larger leaves. That bromeliad makes me nervous because the leaves are kine of pokey at the end.

No, I have never seen him sleep during the day. When I shut the lights off on his cage hes out cold after about 30 min. I plan to make him a vet appointment in a week or so for an initial checkup. Luckily our local vet did herp in vet school. Not sure yet if hes a cham guy though.

 

[DavidBuchan]

Ok, all good then, I was just concerned because it looked like daylight in the sleeping pic. I wouldn't worry about slightly pointy leaves (I say that, but we all worry unnecessarily about our Chams........)
Here's a great all round caresheet you might like a look at - https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/chameleonsinmyhouse/395-veiled-chameleon-care-sheet.html I always recommend it to new people with Veileds

 

[Canny Chams]

get him an initial checkup at the vet, what city do you live in, we can recomend you good experianced reptile vets

 

[DekuScrub]

it usually takes me a few months on the name as well. dosnt matter much since they wont hear you if you call their name.

i just recently came up with Mephistopheles and Lilith (though Samael would have been more appropriate rather than Mephistopheles) but i did it because of the horns.

i dont normally do pairs with names that are associated with one another. but another example of this is Marduk and Tiamat

and when i got 2 boys at once i named them Agamemnon and Achilles.

and i named a hold back Deucalion becuase he was son of Prometheus.

females are always the hardest to figure out for me

 

[AllFallDown]

it usually takes me a few months on the name as well. dosnt matter much since they wont hear you if you call their name.

i just recently came up with Mephistopheles and Lilith (though Samael would have been more appropriate rather than Mephistopheles) but i did it because of the horns.

i dont normally do pairs with names that are associated with one another. but another example of this is Marduk and Tiamat

and when i got 2 boys at once i named them Agamemnon and Achilles.

and i named a hold back Deucalion becuase he was son of Prometheus.

females are always the hardest to figure out for me

Wow, someone is well versed in multiple pantheons. I have not heard the name Marduk since I had a website on ancient multi-deity religions. I used to study things like Zoroastrianism and ancient Babylonian paganism for fun early in college.

 

[AllFallDown]

Ok, all good then, I was just concerned because it looked like daylight in the sleeping pic. I wouldn't worry about slightly pointy leaves (I say that, but we all worry unnecessarily about our Chams........)
Here's a great all round caresheet you might like a look at - https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/chameleonsinmyhouse/395-veiled-chameleon-care-sheet.html I always recommend it to new people with Veileds

Awesome, I had not seen that one!

 

[AllFallDown]

get him an initial checkup at the vet, what city do you live in, we can recomend you good experianced reptile vets

Where do you look for that? I looked at arav.org, anapsid.org and herpvetconnection.com between the three I found about 4 dvms who advertise experience with reptiles locally.

 

[sandrachameleon]

welcome to the forum and the joy of chameleon keeping.

good links for new owners:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/ryan-jarosek/119-new-arrival-bringing-home.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/syn/226-frequently-asked-questions.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/frequently-asked-questions-71620/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs...hameleons.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/74-feeders.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/92-hydration-importance.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/65-supplements.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/75-feeder-nutrition-gutloading.html
http://www.chameleonnews.com/
http://www.chameleonsonline.com/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/olimpia/522-average-cost-owning-chameleon.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/olimpia/573-chameleon-physiology-supplements.html
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/

 

[PantherEnvy]

Welcome to the ADDICTION. Hang on, you're in for the best ride of your life. Cham husbandry is TOPS!

 

[AllFallDown]

welcome to the forum and the joy of chameleon keeping.

good links for new owners:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/ryan-jarosek/119-new-arrival-bringing-home.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/syn/226-frequently-asked-questions.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/frequently-asked-questions-71620/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs...hameleons.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/74-feeders.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/92-hydration-importance.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/65-supplements.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/75-feeder-nutrition-gutloading.html
http://www.chameleonnews.com/
http://www.chameleonsonline.com/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/olimpia/522-average-cost-owning-chameleon.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/olimpia/573-chameleon-physiology-supplements.html
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/

Looks like I got some homework to do

 

[Canny Chams]

lol, like school wasnt long enough...

TBH before i got my first cham i probably did 120 hours of non stop research... and that was just the first...

 

[sandrachameleon]

Looks like I got some homework to do

Its not as much as it seems LOL
and its worth it - the more you know up front the fewer issues you are likely to encounter

 

[AllFallDown]

Just a quick update between tasks.

My little veiled seems to be doing well overall.

He has been a good eater drinks water regularly-
1) I feed between 7 and 12 medium sized crickets a day according to what he is willing to eat (ordered my crickets from lllreptile by the way- highly recommended). The crickets are gutloaded with commercial food (Flukers high calcium diet:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=6016+18936+6466&pcatid=6466 and
Flukers thirst quencher with calcium fortification:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=6016+18936+6461&pcatid=6461)
2) I also give him a wax worm or two as a treat about twice a week and keep a meal worm or two in his cage most of the time in case he wants some variety.
3) I keep a drip line of water going about half the day (once in the morning and once in the evening- sometimes I forget to start it in the morning- not on purpose...) and allow it to run off into a pot outside the closure.

For supplementation:
1) Cricket dusting with Calcium + D3 every feeding(The calcium + D3 is what I have been using because that is all I have been able to find here locally, I do plan to switch to Calcium alone pretty soon here, just have not gotten around to it yet. I get the impression that I should switch, but that it is not urgent) I have this product with the D3:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=6016+6057+19709&pcatid=19709.
2) Once a week, or once every two weeks, I dust with a multivitamin instead of the calcium
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=6016+6057+6415&pcatid=6415 although I have the one with D3, same comment as above).
3) I do not dust the worms

Lighting:
1) For UVB, I have this a Zilla tropical strip light:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=6016+6028+22809&pcatid=22809
2) For heat, I am just using a 60W incandescent lamp which sits on the top screen. I am changing this; however, as the chameleon has a persistent black spot on its back which I strongly suspect was caused by being too close to the light (The spot showed up shortly after I rearranged his cage as I recall).

I have been cleaning his cage about once a week (a quick wipe down, clean the leaves off). I did a complete break down clean up a couple of weeks ago as well.

View attachment 54986

Bad picture... girlfriend's phone

 

[kendall56789]

first chameleon

hey guys, i just started getting into chameleons and i wanted to know, what would the best chameleon to get be for a first timer???

 

[DavidBuchan]

For supplementation:
1) Cricket dusting with Calcium + D3 every feeding(The calcium + D3 is what I have been using because that is all I have been able to find here locally, I do plan to switch to Calcium alone pretty soon here, just have not gotten around to it yet. I get the impression that I should switch, but that it is not urgent) I have this product with the D3:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=6016+6057+19709&pcatid=19709.
2) Once a week, or once every two weeks, I dust with a multivitamin instead of the calcium
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=6016+6057+6415&pcatid=6415 although I have the one with D3, same comment as above).
3) I do not dust the worms

Lighting:
1) For UVB, I have this a Zilla tropical strip light:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=6016+6028+22809&pcatid=22809

There is too much D3 in that. A plain Calcium is needed, overdosing on D3 is possible. Use it only twice a month.
If you want a simpler way then get the Repashy all-in-one.
What kind of bulb is it? A 5.0 strength is most used and recommended.

 

[DavidBuchan]

hey guys, i just started getting into chameleons and i wanted to know, what would the best chameleon to get be for a first timer???

Depends what you want really, the most important thing is to do your research properly first. Veileds are often recommended as a first Cham because they are a little more forgiving of mistakes than other Chameleons (and are cheaper too ). Panthers are kept in a very similar way though and are usually much more colourful. If you want one with horns a Jacksons could be good..........Have you kept other lizards before?

 

[blackhawk007]

Nice looking cham, welcome to the forums.

 

[AllFallDown]

hey guys, i just started getting into chameleons and i wanted to know, what would the best chameleon to get be for a first timer???

I can't say with any kind of authority as this is my first cham.

I have had him about 2 months now and have enjoyed him so far. Veileds have a reputation of being very mean- at least from what I have read. So far, my guy is best described as tempermental. Sometimes he is ok with me picking him up and other times he starts hissing and trying to bite- its always on his terms not mine. Last time I cleaned his cage I just gave up fighting with him and pulled his entire ficus out of the cage and put it in the living room so I could get in and clean everything (he was supervised in there of course. I have 3 cats and don't want my cham to become expensive and exotic cat food). I do handle him semi regularly, a couple times a week as I want him to get used to me. We will see if that helps cool off his temper a bit over time.

It has only been about 2 months. So far no major problems but then again 2 months is not a very long time to really say whether they are difficult or not. He is starting to get some color (as you can see in the picture), so that is very exciting. I am hoping to set up an outdoor enclosure for him pretty soon here so he can go out and bask in the sun every once in a while. Then again I might be moving soon so we will see how it goes.

So, my point: From the perspective of a fellow beginner, so far I have been happy with the veiled. I was a little worried about getting a veiled on account of the tempermental reputation, but he has really grown on me. I would like to get a panther in the near future once the veiled outgrows his cage and moves into a bigger one (supposedly panthers are not as temperamental, and are fairly forgiving of mistakes. They are certainly colorful!).

Let us know what you decide- post pictures! You might want to check out some of the pre-assembled kits at places like flchams.com. I kind of wish I had gone that route instead of buying everything separately. I would have saved a little money.

 

[AllFallDown]

There is too much D3 in that. A plain Calcium is needed, overdosing on D3 is possible. Use it only twice a month.
If you want a simpler way then get the Repashy all-in-one.
What kind of bulb is it? A 5.0 strength is most used and recommended.

Yeah, I plan to switch to non-D3 soon here. Is there a brand of calcium supplement you like? I was thinking of trying Miner-all or Rep-cal. Suggestions are always welcome.

As far as the light. I believe the number on it is 25 UVB. The brand is Zilla.