New Veil Cham Owner

[wslinky]

Well my wife got me a chameleon for xmas, I had been saying I wanted one for a few months. I didn't think she would actually get me one so I didn't get to do my normal reasearching, so now I have a few questions.

Cham Info:
Female, young (about 6" with tail, not sure on exact age), eats about 6 crickets/day given a few wax worms.

Environment:
100w Heat lamp (keeps cage about 80 in basking area), Few fake vines and plants, moss and dirt substrate (will be removing in the next few days)

Questions:

1) Currently I have a 10g Aquarium with a cage section on top, so it is about 24" tall. I am having a problem getting the humidity about 50%, but it never drops below 40%. I have been hand misting her about 3-4 times a day. I did notice last night that after the light went out the humidity did go up to 65% which I thought was backwards. Anyways is this level acceptable, or should I try and get it higher?

2) When I am spraying her she seems to not like it, as soon as I start spraying the cage she turns Dark Green (Stress?) and if I spray near her she moves. Is this normal? I do see her drinking when the water is on her though, have yet to see her drink off of leafs. I am using hot tap water the is warm when misted.

3) I have been using Fluker's Orange Cube Cricket Diet, is this ok for a gutload for now? I am planning on making my own but haven't got the time to do the research yet.

4) Vitamins I got both a Rep Cal multi vitamin, and calcium d3 w/o phosphurous, from reading here I should only give this 1 or 2 times a month? How do I prepare the insects? Should I just sprinkle a little on them? Should I get them moist and dip them in it? Is there a prefered/better method?

5) Last one for now, because of all the water I am getting a white mold growing in some of the moss at the bottom, should I remove this immediatly? Or is this something that I should worry to much about?

In the next month I will be building her a new all screen cage, that will hopefully be easier to do cleanup on, and keep the water in check in. If you need more info let me know. Thanks for any information you can provide.

Will

 

[Brad Ramsey]

You haven't told us what kind of cham she is.

-Brad

 

[Brad Ramsey]

Will,
First of all, regardless of her species, you need to remove all substrate. And yes the mold can be a problem and needs to go along with the dirt and moss.

Ration waxworms to 2 or 3 a week, they are fatty and too many in her daily diet can lead to health issues and the possibility of her refusing any other food.

Humidity sounds okay to me if she is a veiled.

I do use some prepared cricket food as a supplement for feeders, but think you get a more balanced gut-load if you add your own recipe to this. mine is on my site (address below) and others will have something to add to this I know.
Stay away from tomatoes, broccolli and spinach in the cricket diet.

They often don't like to be sprayed but you should do it anyway. As she gets older she will probably look forward to it and enjoy it more.

At her age I would use the calcium about 3 times a week and the vit. supplement once every other week. Just a pinch in a cup, then swirl the feeders in it so it sticks to them. Let her have more than 6 crickets a day while she's little, especially since you'll be cutting down on those waxworms.

Congrats on your new project!!!

-Brad

 

[Stuey!]

lmao read the post it sais "new veiled cham owner"

 

[Brad Ramsey]

Ooops.

-Brad

 

[Jordan]

If the hydrometer you are using to measure the humidity is in close proximity to the basking area it will give off a lower reading while the light is on and then when off it will spike. I would recommend humidity to be between 50-75% for a veiled.

 

[wslinky]

Figured I would post picture so everyone could see her. Haven't decided on a name yet still can't think of a good one. My cat decided to get on the book shelf the Cham is on to see what was there. Don't think either of them noticed the other before my wife caught the cat. Any ways here are pictures, as you can see in the second picture she was shedding yesterday but was finished today. Thanks for the information, I will remove the dirt tomorrow since she is already in bed for the night.

Will

 

[Jordan]

She looks healthy. Hydrated and a nice figure.

For the furture I would try to plan with the cat in mind. Perhaps a different room with a closed door. If not make sure with future cages and current one that the cat can not get to close. Also make sure the basking lamp is secured well. As cats have not ligaments connecting the front shoulder blades they are capable of a vertical jumps 6x the length of their body. The last thing you want is a cat knocking off the basking bulb on to some carpet.