New Veiled Enclosure

[Breanna]

Hi There everyone, I am a new Chameleon owner (well soon to be, getting him on Sunday) and I have been glued to this forum for like 2 weeks now! It has been a huge help. well I started getting my enclosure all set up this week so its all ready for him on sunday and wanted to see what you all thought and make sure I wasnt missing anything!

well here it is:
16x16x30 reptarium
18" repti glo 5.0
5.5 clamp lamp w/ 60w blue light
mr. mister
some bio vines
fake pothos/ until I can get a real plant
I was thinking of lining the bottom with paper towels
I bought crickets that I am feeding carrots, apples, and squash w/ fluckers gut load
and I have repti cal calcium w/ and w/o d3
and repti cal vitaims

If there is anything that is missing or not right please help!! thanks soo much I cant wait to get him on Sunday

 

[Breanna]

oh also thought I might ad that I am in AZ, and what do I need to keep the cage humidity at??

 

[pssh]

Humidity: 40-50% dry, 70-90+% right after misting, and it should hang around 60-70% for an hour or two after misting. I assume you have the thermometer and hygrometer?

You will need a multivitamin as well. Sounds good though!

 

[Breanna]

yes I have the hermometer and hygrometer, is the reptical Herptivite good to use? also what is a good feeding schedule for a 2 1/2 month old and what is a good dusting schedule?

 

[pssh]

I use that brand Feed as much as he can consume in 5 minutes twice a day. When he gets older (like 4 months or so,) about 12 appropriately sized crickets (or the equivalent of) a day is usually good. Supplementing means nothing if you don't gutload well, so keep that up!

I use calcium without d3 very very lightly at almost all feedings (so for a baby at least 5 times a week,) and I use the repcal brand of calcium with d3 very lightly twice a month (it has a lot of d3 in it, so dont be too liberal about the d3,) and I use the multivitamin once or twice a month.

 

[Breanna]

Great thanks for the help!!! ok this maybe a stupid question but how do you dust crickets, I bought 100 of them yesterday and but them in a large rubber maid bin that I cut a hole in the lid and glued a screen on to it? so do I dust them right before I feed them to the chameleon and any tips or techniques

 

[pssh]

There are no stupid questions! I put the bugs to be dusted in a small plastic container and add a very teeny amount of the supplement in. I put the lid on and shake them around. I then separate them up for my chameleons and throw them in the cages/feeding tubs.

Make sure the bugs are not ghost white, they should only be one shade lighter max. Dust them right before they are to be fed off, and re-gutload/re-dust any bugs that are left over at the end of the day.

 

[Breanna]

what is better to do just put the crickets in the cage or use a feeding cup

 

[pssh]

I use both methods. A lot of people like to train to cup feed so that they can just throw roaches in the tub. If you choose to cup feed, I would go with a small rubbermaid shoe box rather than an actual cup. They they can still hunt in the tub, but the bugs stay contained.

I usually free range crickets and worms, and hand feed the roaches or throw them in the cups.

 

[Breanna]

Great Thanks Again!!