Newbie Humidity

[meganlane02]

Hi everyone! We will be receiving our 1st Veiled Chameleon this week.

We have the reptibreeze xl, tons of safe live plants, 36in UVB ordered off of Pangea. I have the dome for the basking lamp but no bulb yet.

I have 2 main questions....

Our house stays at 71 right now unless we drop it down at night. And our humidity in the house stays in the low 50s (GA Humidity)

Do you think I will need a fogger?
(We have cresties so we are use to the misting. Which they are only at night and the Cham will be morning and night.)

I also plan on putting a backing on.. maybe a shower curtain to help save my walls from water. I thought about doing the sides also with velcro and only having them covered at night.

My next question is the basking lamp.... I plan on using just regular bulbs like I saw on youtube w/ Neptune the Chameleon. But I am not 100% sure which wattage to start with.

We do have a heat gun so we can test the temp on the branches.

TIA

 

[meganlane02]

Oh and I got the reptisun 5.0 UVB so I believe my branches will start at 8in from the top?? Is that correct?

 

[Gloriawood]

Oh and I got the reptisun 5.0 UVB so I believe my branches will start at 8in from the top?? Is that correct?

I started with a 60 watt bulb. 8-9 inches from the bulb is where your basking branch should be.

As far as the Fogger, I don’t use one but lots of others here do use them. I also live in a very humid area. I just use the misting system. If I need higher humidity at night I hang a shower curtain over two or three sides of the enclosure.

 

[meganlane02]

Ok perfect! That is what I was thinking!

 

[Beman]

Hey there another option for water blocking and humidity for night high is to get corrugated plastic sheets. Most big hardware stores carry this. Then you can get velco to put on the cage frame. Put a permanent panel on the back wall but then you can have one for each side that you can just pull off and on when needed. Then leave your front open for airflow.

Your night temps should come down a bit more for the room the cham is in. Most of us use a window unit air conditioner or a portable air conditioner for this. Your looking for night lows of 65 they really need a cool down. Ambient day temps should sit in the low 70's.

Fogging is all about hydration. If you can achieve humidity levels above 70% at night with just your ambient house levels and misting then that is what I would go with. Having an automatic misting system like a mistking comes in really handy for this.

You already got perfect info for your lighting distance and wattage.

Where are you getting the chameleon from and how old is it? Age will make a difference in your lighting due to babies always screen climbing the top.

 

[meganlane02]

Ok! I can do a portable ac unit. He will be placed in the main space of our house in the living room part. Its an open concept type house. However, we do have parrots so I may need to rearrage so I don't freeze them or install their heaters.

We are getting him from Carters Chameleon in Knoxville TN and he is 4-5 months old per the morph market ad. I didnt ask for his exact age. But I can ask him when I pick him up.

And the corrugated plastic is an awesome idea! I was only going with a shower curtain so I could have a design And I was going to cut it for each side and velcro it as well. But the plastic would be sturdier.

I honestly have spent much more than planned. Cresties are soooo simple

 

[Beman]

Ok! I can do a portable ac unit. He will be placed in the main space of our house in the living room part. Its an open concept type house. However, we do have parrots so I may need to rearrage so I don't freeze them or install their heaters.

We are getting him from Carters Chameleon in Knoxville TN and he is 4-5 months old per the morph market ad. I didnt ask for his exact age. But I can ask him when I pick him up.

And the corrugated plastic is an awesome idea! I was only going with a shower curtain so I could have a design And I was going to cut it for each side and velcro it as well. But the plastic would be sturdier.

I honestly have spent much more than planned. Cresties are soooo simple

Chameleons are a totally different game when it comes to money that goes out for initial set up.

Make sure he can not see the parrots... And make sure the parrots can not get to his cage. This would be a bird of prey to a chameleon and will cause stress. Might be better to move the cham in another room from the birds. Then you also are not dealing with trying to manage temps for both.

You could hook a plastic shower curtain to the panels... Just wash the shower curtain first in your washing machine then air dry. These are often pretty intense right out of the package and you do not want the cham breathing in the plastic fumes.

Make sure baby looks healthy. If it does not then do not get it. Ask if they run fecals on their babies to ensure they do not come with a parasite load. If there are tarsal spurs on the back of the back feet you have a male if it is smooth on the back of the back feet then it is actually a female.

If you notice screen climbing then we have to do your lighting differently... For now I would suggest actually raising the heat fixture 4 inches off the top of the cage with a 60 watt bulb. Then if baby climbs when you are not there there is not a thermal burn risk. If baby is climbing you also want to raise the UVB 4 inches off the top of the cage. You will add in a branch 5 inches down from the screen below the UVB and the heat. This way you can pull these when the baby stops screen climbing and drop the UVB back down onto the cage top.

 

[meganlane02]

Yes the parrots are totally separated by a short wall. Technically a different room but it is all open. I know that probably doesn't make any sense.

We have an amazon parrot who never comes out of his cage except when we are taking him to his shower or to his outside cage. He is around 50yrs old and extremely aggressive.. I am the only one that can handle him and even I don't trust him. So that won't be an issue. The other birds are parrotlets the size of a budgie/parakeet and they do get out some but they stay in their play area. Of course it is all supervised. And all the birds are wing clipped for their safety.

The place I am getting him has 5stars on Morph Market and he has been very open about their care. I just don't want to bombard him with my questions

 

[Beman]

Yes the parrots are totally separated by a short wall. Technically a different room but it is all open. I know that probably doesn't make any sense.

We have an amazon parrot who never comes out of his cage except when we are taking him to his shower or to his outside cage. He is around 50yrs old and extremely aggressive.. I am the only one that can handle him and even I don't trust him. So that won't be an issue. The other birds are parrotlets the size of a budgie/parakeet and they do get out some but they stay in their play area. Of course it is all supervised. And all the birds are wing clipped for their safety.

The place I am getting him has 5stars on Morph Market and he has been very open about their care. I just don't want to bombard him with my questions

You will be good as long as the cham does not have a direct view of the birds...

Per the breeder. I would ask. They are not a breeder that I have ever heard of. And honestly the last thing you want to deal with as a new keeper is a baby with parasites. Not all parasites are treated the same or should be cleaned the same. Some are quite intense.