Newer with Deremensis in HK

[rancid22]

imo as far as crickets go i would free range them in the cage till he has been in your care for a while. just make sure you put some cricket food aka gut load i like to use a lots of little bits of different veggies and just put it somewhere in the cage the crickets will go for food before your cham then you could leave them in there over night my cham likes to eat a bunch of crickets first thing after he wakes up and shies out if i open the cage or interrupt in anyway that is what i have seen works best for my cham so you might like to give it a try?

Thanks Franticurchin, let me try this method , will goto get some cricket's food from the reptile shop. The first thing is I need to make sure he does know there's a cricket area .

Cheers

 

[rancid22]

Hi Bruce, welcome to the forum. I have never kept that species, but for 4 days if there is drinking and some eating then there is no need to worry.
Your Chameleon looks very good - have you got uv strip light and basking lamp?
Do you know the best temps for this species?
Maybe a different kind of insect will inspire him. All Chameleons love things like flies and moths/ butterflies - things that fly around. You shouldn't feed only flies though - crickets with vitamins are the best staple, especially if you feed them dark green leaves.......chameleons are usually happiest with a variety of insects. Maybe some soft fruit (strawberries/kiwi/banana) would get eaten.

Hi David, nice to meet you. Yea, I do have a UV5.0 from morning 8am to 6pm also a 40W Basking lamp. and yes, I read something about deremensis before I got him home, but it's hard to keep the temp correctly, I just make it around 28-30C in the day time (32-34C under the basking lamp), and around 22-24C at night with air conditioning.

How about silkworm? cause I don't know how to keep flies. Can he have the full size silkworm(white in color)? or he only can have the baby (black in color)?

Cheers
Bruce

 

[rancid22]

If your Deremensis is bought from the "shop" I think, then therez a lot u need to do to keep it alive.

First of all, no ups and downs of humidity for dermensis, u have to keep it at least 65%-70% humidity, but with constant airflow. U can achieve this by having ur cage cover up with a board on 2 sides. (But in Hong Kong, the humidity is usually 60%, so u gotta do the math urself) Also a 10degress drop at night is a must (Good job)

Secondly, u need to make sure ur chameleon is hydrated, coz as far as I can tell, that "shop" don't have a mister or a dropper, and they only do hand misting once a day.

Thirdly, u will also need to de-worm ur chameleon. They are usually full of parasite, as you should know they will mix the chameleons in one single cabinet in the shop.

By another week, if your chameleon still does not take another cric, you should try some other food and take a close look at your setting again.

***By the way, the habb*mist, itz a quite useless product....***

Thanks Littleborn, do you have a facebook or MSN? About hydration matter, is it true that a chameleon can absorb from it's skin? I saw him sometime taking the water drops from it skin, but at night, I just rain on his body. Yea, that Mist machine a bit toy like, but when I've bought it already before I knew mistking. and I think I need to get a ultrasonic mist asap.

Cheers
Bruce

 

[eisentrauti]

Hi Bruce,

the temperatures are too high. If you want to keep them for a long time you must drop them. The spot is not necessary and especially the night temps should be lower. Can you keep them in a cellar or in a northern room ?
The silkworms are a good idea for them, but dont use them too often.

Best regards
Benny

 

[Littlehorn]

Thanks Littleborn, do you have a facebook or MSN? About hydration matter, is it true that a chameleon can absorb from it's skin? I saw him sometime taking the water drops from it skin, but at night, I just rain on his body. Yea, that Mist machine a bit toy like, but when I've bought it already before I knew mistking. and I think I need to get a ultrasonic mist asap.

Cheers
Bruce

I'm a guy who don't use facebook, lol. But I do have MSN though...
Well, I won't say they absorb the water, but I will say that around the chameleon's head, they are many crevices, which can lead water into their mouth.

There are a few things u have to bear in mind, a spray on the chameleon's body is not enough, u have to do a misting all around the cage(leaves, trees..). Ur night temp. drops quite a bit, so I guess u r using a air-conditioner (for cooling in the house) beware that it also dries up the room(including your cage), so you gotta be careful.

With regards to the fogger (ultrasonic mist), I would say itz also another product which might potentially lead to many problems. "I am not sayin itz not good" but itz just I won't use it, coz I had much experience with it and it do leads to many problems, maybe itz my own fault, but I have stopped using them for the past 6-7years.

For what you should do now;
1./ Do a fecal check urself: look for any sort of worms in the fecal, there are some which you can see with your bare eyes. Observe the fecal, if there is orange stuff, u cham is mostly dehydrated.
2./ If u r using a all screen cage, cover up the back and one of the side with a PP(plastic) board, this will help to keep the humidity up.
3./ Don't walk around and "play" with your chameleon. It just enter into a new environment, it needs time to get use to it. (Imagine someone walking around you in circles all day long, itz a bit damn annoying, I would definitely punch him in the face)
4./ I guess you are an office guy, so you go to work 8-6, one thing many people don't mention is the lightings cycle throughout the day, I find that if you suddenly change the light cycle to 180, your cham will not get use to it. The shops in HKG usually opens at 1pm and close at 9pm. Did you keep the light cycle at that time? Or you just switch the light on whenever you get home? then turn off the light when you go to sleep? It is very very important that you have a good light cycle every day, at least 10-12hrs daily.
5./ For the spot lamp, just use a 25W ones will do, no need to get it up to 32C coz itz a waste.

***I have to say that keeping chameleons is rather "easy" in Hong Kong, as the weather quite meet up with their natural environment (except for the hotness in summer). I suggest you read more, and then summarize up all the information you have and work out which is best for you. You should never just follow the care sheets or chameleon cage settings on the web, because we don't live in a house, but we live in a flat. So the entire caging system you set up will be different to some of the information from the web. The most important of all is that you are able to create a caging which at least 90% mimic the environment which you species lives in. By the time you can do that, you are already 70% success in keeping your chameleon.***

 

[Littlehorn]

Hi Bruce,

the temperatures are too high. If you want to keep them for a long time you must drop them. The spot is not necessary and especially the night temps should be lower. Can you keep them in a cellar or in a northern room ?
The silkworms are a good idea for them, but dont use them too often.

Best regards
Benny

Only maybe 10% of Hong Kong residents live in a place which have a cellar...
coz we are all poor people (just kidding). 90% of the Hong Kong residents live in a flat/ apartment, so they usually won't have a cellar, even with the northern room, it all depends on which side of the building you live in, lol...
Hong Kong is just a damn small place with too many people, lol...

 

[eisentrauti]

Only maybe 10% of Hong Kong residents live in a place which have a cellar...
coz we are all poor people (just kidding). 90% of the Hong Kong residents live in a flat/ apartment, so they usually won't have a cellar, even with the northern room, it all depends on which side of the building you live in, lol...
Hong Kong is just a damn small place with too many people, lol...

Haha, yes but I have even here for Germany good conditions, we have a cellar and a very large garden with many trees, so I can always decide where it's best for them

 

[DavidBuchan]

How about silkworm? cause I don't know how to keep flies. Can he have the full size silkworm(white in color)? or he only can have the baby (black in color)?

Cheers
Bruce

Silkworms are all good, yes, but like eisentrauti says - you have to be careful with them as well, don't feed too many of them as Cham might stop eating crickets. You don't need to keep flies, just find 2 big bluebottle flies and put them in after the cricket or silkworm is eaten. This might make him eat because they love flying things so much. Putting the viv up high will make him happier, and enough leaves is important too.

 

[rancid22]

Hi eisentrauti,

Hahahaha Littlehorn is right, most of us in Hong Kong are living in a little apartment. I can only switch my air conditioner much cooler

Hi Littlehorn,

Thanks for your advice, I won't get the Ultrasonic fogger then. So how can I increase the humidity? the habba can just increase the humidity for a while once per hour.

1. I check his fecal in the past few days, it's brown in color, some people say it should be a white thin layer wrapped around, but I don't see it.

2. For the Plastic cover, can I just cover one side as the Back of the cage is facing outside the windows, I would like to let the natural light go into the cage (there's a window, so just light without any UV). I AM SO STUPID!!! HAHA, I CAN USE TRANSPARENT PLASTIC!!!! SO, PROBLEM SOLVED. haha

3. Understood, I won't disturb him then, I though need to let him get used to me first before. haha

4. yea, and my working time is very unusual like 11am to mid night 3-4am, for my room, um.......I separated into 2 parts, let say Area A and Area B, he is in Area B, when I get home, I will stay in Area A, so just very little light go into Area B. Will it still harm to the Cham? or I need to cover him with a black cloth?

5. Understood, thanks you

Thanks for your corrections. In fact there's not too much information about Deremensis, some people say it's the easiest cham to keep, but some people say it's difficult. but anyway, I will try my best.

Cheers
Bruce

 

[rancid22]

Silkworms are all good, yes, but like eisentrauti says - you have to be careful with them as well, don't feed too many of them as Cham might stop eating crickets. You don't need to keep flies, just find 2 big bluebottle flies and put them in after the cricket or silkworm is eaten. This might make him eat because they love flying things so much. Putting the viv up high will make him happier, and enough leaves is important too.

Thanks David,

I will try Silkworms first, then goto get some flies later , not sure is it easy to find in Hong Kong. Let me take a pic for my cage and share tomorrow.

Cheers
Bruce

 

[rancid22]

It is the time for me to celebrate !!! I just saw my cham hunted itself!!!! but I need to hide and watch.

Thanks everyone!!! hoh hoh hoh~~~

 

[rancid22]

Hi, I've bought the flies at last as the silkworm has been sold out. I have another question again, sorry. There're around 100 of flies inside the bottle, should I just put the open bottle inside the cage (the shopper says, these bottle of flies don't fly)? or should I just put some of the flies on the leafs? The flies are so small, how about 50 flies each time?

Thank you so much

 

[eisentrauti]

Hi Bruce,

dont open the bottle inside for too long ! So many feeders are just stress and no good lunch ! Try to put 10 in a seperate bottle with calcium dust and minerals, shake them inside and then put them in the cage. Dont put in more flies than he will eat in one hour

Regards
Benny

 

[rancid22]

Hi Bruce,

dont open the bottle inside for too long ! So many feeders are just stress and no good lunch ! Try to put 10 in a seperate bottle with calcium dust and minerals, shake them inside and then put them in the cage. Dont put in more flies than he will eat in one hour

Regards
Benny

Thanks Eisentrauti, I will start on feeding flies for few says from tomorrow. Also, I'm planning to get a real plant inside the cage to avoid the losing of humidity, do you think Murraya paniculata can be a choice? cause I don't see it in the Safe Plants List for Chameleons. if not, I will have the Hibiscus Rosa Sinensis; and there's only a UVB light and the Misting system inside the cage, is that enough for growing a plant?

Cheers
Bruce

 

[eisentrauti]

Hi Bruce,

they look ok, I didnt find anything about them being dangerous. But dont use them just after you buyed them ! You must water them for some days in the shower, spray them with clear water very often.
Fresh buyed plants carry often bad mixes of pesticids and fungicids with them. This can be lethal for your cham !

Greets
Benny

 

[rancid22]

Thanks eisentrauti, I will get one on the coming weekend with good care before put inside the cage.

I found one more strange thing, I found one WHITE FECAL inside the cage, what does it indicate?

Cheers

Bruce