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Zrod

New Member
Hello I'm a new chameleon owner his/ her name is Neeko .I brought my new baby home 5 days ago.i have to say I did get Neeko from petco and I was unaware of the warning signs when you are looking to own a chameleon or any pet from there for that matter.it was a spare of the moment thing just roaming around and deciding to bring one home since I always wanted one.i never had the chance to do any research ahead of time so I started to ask questions but the sales person didnt have much knowledge regarding the gender or age.just gave me a care panflip . To get straight to the point I dont know what in the world I'm doing. I really Neeko and I want to give him/her everything it needs.i have the lights on from 9 to 9 ,feeding about 10 checkers say, mist 4 times a day and handing every day for a few minutes. Neeko skin to me looks dry but again I honestly wouldn't know.any feed back would be highly appreciated!

I'll attach photos ,Neeko home is still in the works.
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Welcome to the forum and the world of chameleons!

So we can help you better, please answer the questions in the how to ask for help thread near the top of the health forum.
 
  • Your Chameleon - The veiled, sex is unknown, I was told 6 weeks old and Neeko been in my care for 6 days now.
  • Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? Everyday after work for a few minutes if he/she allows me to.
  • Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?feeding about 5 in the morning and about 5 in the afternoon after work. I gutload them with carrots and apples as of right now.
  • Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? All I have is calcium with VD3 .I was doing it for the first few days and found out its only twice a month.
  • Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?I hand mist once before work, when I get home from work and before lights are out and if someone is home they would mist once during noon for me
  • Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?dropping looks normal its brown and the urine is cloudy white
  • History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. None
Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? I have a cambo glass around and screen on top. Its a 18 x 18 x 24
  • Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?its a trive terrarium. The lights came with it.60 watt day time blue heat bulb and 13 watt tropical uvb bulb. I have it one from 9 to 9
  • Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? Its stays between 70 to 90.it goes up and down between that range .
  • Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
  • Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?none
  • Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? It's in my room on top of my dresser.there is a ceiling fan that's on at night and the A.C on low at night
  • Location - Where are you geographically located?Florida
 
  • Your Chameleon - The veiled, sex is unknown, I was told 6 weeks old and Neeko been in my care for 6 days now. Looks like a Female to me
  • Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? Everyday after work for a few minutes if he/she allows me to. Try To keep Handling to a minimum since there are still Changes that need to be made to her cage.
  • Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?feeding about 5 in the morning and about 5 in the afternoon after work. I gutload them with carrots and apples as of right now. Here in Forums, we have many threads on gutload. Some commercial Gutloads I can think Are Cricket Crack, OMG.
  • Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? All I have is calcium with VD3 .I was doing it for the first few days and found out its only twice a month. What I use, and most of members here for Supplementation is Repashy Calcium Plus LoD, thats every feeding, every feeder. No need to keep a supplement schedule.
  • Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?I hand mist once before work, when I get home from work and before lights are out and if someone is home they would mist once during noon for me. is it hot and really Humid? If it gets too humid with basking bulb on, That may lead to respiratory problems. Humidity spikes should happen at night. Aim for 30-40% humidity with basking bulb on.
  • Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?dropping looks normal its brown and the urine is cloudy white. Try to get a fecal done ASAP since you don't know the exact breeder it came from, even if you did its never a bad idea.
  • History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. None
Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? I have a cambo glass around and screen on top. Its a 18 x 18 x 24. I've never used that cage, but you gon have to upgrade to a bigger cage. At least 36 in height
  • Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?its a trive terrarium. The lights came with it.60 watt day time blue heat bulb and 13 watt tropical uvb bulb. I have it one from 9 to 9. Don't use any color lighting. Change basking bulb to regular incandescent house bulb. Is UVB light a compact bulb? We all recommend a T5 HO Hood & Bulb for UVB needs.
  • Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? Its stays between 70 to 90.it goes up and down between that range . Basking Branch should be 8 inches away from light source to prevent burns. Temp should be 85F at basking spot, and cooler as it goes down.
  • Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? Get a hydrometer, TheBioDude seels some Therm/Hydrometer combo in his website. I'm sure other members can recommend better ones.
  • Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?none. Live plants are a big Yes Yes since they provide so much for your Cham. She needs to feel like at home, secure and places to climb on.
  • Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? It's in my room on top of my dresser.there is a ceiling fan that's on at night and the A.C on low at night
  • Location - Where are you geographically located?Florida
  • Assuming it is a female, start researching Lay Bin since they lay infertile eggs. Hope I could be of some help and this is just some basic info, I'm sure other members can provide more details and insight on more questions you might Have. Welcome to the Forums
 
Hello I'm a new chameleon owner his/ her name is Neeko .I brought my new baby home 5 days ago.i have to say I did get Neeko from petco and I was unaware of the warning signs when you are looking to own a chameleon or any pet from there for that matter.it was a spare of the moment thing just roaming around and deciding to bring one home since I always wanted one.i never had the chance to do any research ahead of time so I started to ask questions but the sales person didnt have much knowledge regarding the gender or age.just gave me a care panflip . To get straight to the point I dont know what in the world I'm doing. I really Neeko and I want to give him/her everything it needs.i have the lights on from 9 to 9 ,feeding about 10 checkers say, mist 4 times a day and handing every day for a few minutes. Neeko skin to me looks dry but again I honestly wouldn't know.any feed back would be highly appreciated!

I'll attach photos ,Neeko home is still in the works.View attachment 256220View attachment 256221View attachment 256222View attachment 256223View attachment 256224View attachment 256220View attachment 256221View attachment 256222View attachment 256223View attachment 256224
Take a pic of her back feet so we can sex her/him. (I'm Sure it's a she)
 
  • Your Chameleon - The veiled, sex is unknown, I was told 6 weeks old and Neeko been in my care for 6 days now. You have a female; she’s around 3 months old. Within the next three months, you will want to put a lay-bin in her enclosure. I’ll post a link below.
  • Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? Everyday after work for a few minutes if he/she allows me to. I would hold off on any handling for a few months. Chameleons, in general, are not hands-on animals, but especially when they are getting used to their new homes.
  • Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?feeding about 5 in the morning and about 5 in the afternoon after work. I gutload them with carrots and apples as of right now. Are you cup feeding, or just letting the bugs loose? She can eat as much as she wants until she hits the 6-8 month mark. Try to give her the majority of her food before 3 pm. I’ll post a link about proper gutloading ingredients below. For now I would add a commercial gutload such as “repashy bug burger” or “repashy superload”. Use them mixed with water as per the directions on the container as part of your gutload regime.
  • Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? All I have is calcium with VD3 .I was doing it for the first few days and found out its only twice a month. There are several supplement schedules that will work here. To keep things very simple, use an all-in-one supplement at every feeding, such as “repashy calcium plus LoD”. This can be used at every feeding safely. There are at least two other good supplement schedules, but I would encourage you to use the very simple repashy schedule until you’ve had a chance to research and understand what part supplements play in healthy nutrition.
  • Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?I hand mist once before work, when I get home from work and before lights are out and if someone is home they would mist once during noon for me. There are several schools of thought here too, and a lot will depend on your cage type/decor, your humidity values, and your drainage (or lack thereof). To get you started, my suggestion would be to mist just before lights on in the morning so that she wakes up to a cage full of misted leaves. Then pick up a dripper to run throughout the day. ( there’s a caveat here: If your enclosure has no external drainage, you’re going to have to be careful how much water you drip in. This can be accomplished by only putting x amount of water in the dripper, or else having a catch basin where the water drops land.) Then give a long mist in the evening just before lights out. This schedule is kind of a compromise between several different schools of thought on hydration, but it will work fine until you have fully researched chameleon hydration and what works best for you and your Cham.
  • Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?dropping looks normal its brown and the urine is cloudy white. This is something I wouldn’t compromise on: book a checkup with a good exotics vet sometime over the next month. You can bring in a fecal sample then, and establish a relationship with the vet.
  • History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. None
Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? I have a cambo glass around and screen on top. Its a 18 x 18 x 24. This size will not be sufficient long-term. There are numerous options here depending on whether you want to stick with glass, or go to screen. Either way the following are MINIMUM cage sizes suggested for your chameleon: screen: 2x2x4 foot tall, glass: 2x3x3 foot tall. This really is important, because your girl is going to get as long as your current cage is wide, and needs both way more cage height and length. Please start budgeting now.
  • Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?its a trive terrarium. The lights came with it.60 watt day time blue heat bulb and 13 watt tropical uvb bulb. I have it one from 9 to 9. Again, this is a crucial point. The current UVB bulb you have is not sufficient long-term, and especially not, since your pictures don’t show any branch within the effective range of the light—which, for a 13 watt compact fluorescent, would be about 3” from the bulb. So here’s what I’d do: get a T5 high output linear fluorescent uvb bulb and fixture, 24”. The bulb can either be an “Arcadia 6%” or a “Reptisun 5.0”. This is not optional. You’re going to have to account for the low height of your cage to create the natural decrease in uvb from the highest basking branch (approx 6” from the bulb) to the lowest climbing branch near the bottom of the cage. Here’s what I’d do:
  • 1)set up your basking branch 6” from the uvb source, and use the dome light that you currently have ask a basking bulb. Position the dome light so that if she wants to warm up, she goes to the basking branch, which also happens to be exactly where she’ll receive proper uvb radiation from your uvb tube.
  • 2) immediately below the basking branch, set up a network of branches at varying heights with lots of foliage throughout this lower branch network. This way, the lower she goes down in the cage, the more shade from plants she gets. The heavy foliage here is crucial, as you have a relatively short cage. Basically: full sun on the basking branch, increasing partial shadiness as you move down the cage.
  • Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? Its stays between 70 to 90.it goes up and down between that range . As I said before, you try to have a fixed basking area with a temp between 82-85, where she will also get maximum uvb exposure. As you move down the cage the temp should drop until, near the bottom, it is around 75. Because your enclosure is glass, you’re going to have to experiment with regular incandescent bulbs to get the basking area just right. If you have a thermometer with a little probe on it, try literally putting that probe on the basking branch and see where your heat is at. Then do the same for mid-cage and bottom.
  • Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? This will be important, please pick up a hygrometer.
  • Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? I’d try using only live plants. Try pothos, schefflerra, or ficus.
  • Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? It's in my room on top of my dresser.there is a ceiling fan that's on at night and the A.C on low at night
  • Location - Where are you geographically located?Florida. There is a lot to talk about with respect to keeping in Florida, as you have some awesome opportunities to make use of the great outdoors, but that can come later. I’ll post links in the next post.
 
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