Ordered a baby, some last ?'s

[crapwhereaminow]

Alright so I ordered a baby cham and his cage/supplies should be here tues. I just have a few more questions before he shows up.

First, I have to be out of my house by 6:10am to get to work. How long does it take a cham to wake up before I feed/mist him? If I set the lights to turn on at 5:30am will he be awake enough at 6:00am for food and water?

Second, anyone got any good links for cup training? I think it'd be a little easier on him and me if I can throw silkies in his cup before I go to work so he can eat on his own time.

Third, I plan on keeping him is the same room as my fish tanks. That room stays warmer and more humid year round. Think the movement of large (10" plus) fish would stress the cham?

Last, I'm soooo excited! Hopefully I'll have him by friday. I'll post pics of the enclosure for critique when I get it set up. I'll use this thread to ask more questions as they arise.

 

[warpdrive]

Hi,

while I normaly mist between 30 mins and 1 hour after the lights come on, I also then wait another 30 mins before I then add food.
I would maybe have the light timmer set to maybe 30 mins sooner then you stated.

don't worrie, they will wake up about the time the lights come on...I just can't say how fast your guy might start moving toward the basking spot.
I also like to turn on a room light just before the main lights come on, so it's not full blast brightness after the room is dark.

btw, silkies can be placed on most fake vines and they stay there real nice...no need to cup feed.

Harry

 

[laurie]

Hi,


I also like to turn on a room light just before the main lights come on, so it's not full blast brightness after the room is dark.

Harry

You turn on a room light for Splat & Laurie before their lights come on???? This from a guy who says I spoil my chams. Got you with pot calling the kettle black.

 

[laurie]

Last, I'm soooo excited! Hopefully I'll have him by friday. I'll post pics of the enclosure for critique when I get it set up. I'll use this thread to ask more questions as they arise.

Hello, I got so excited to find Harry being worst than me at spoiling chams I forgot all my manners.

Welcome to the forum. Now tell us everything, what kind of cham are you getting. where do you live, and what do I call you??? that name at the top is way to long for me and you don't want to have it shortened to crap do you? This is a good group woth a lot of very knowledgeable people who are happy to help. I hope you enjoy the forum and gain as much from it as I have.

 

[crapwhereaminow]

I fell so bad for the poor little guy! I hate waking up at 5:30am and I hate making my animals do it too. I'm thinking I'm going to order a mistking system so I don't have to worry about running out of the house without watering my cham. So if I have an automatic watering system and I just leave silkies on the branches for him to find, that should be ok right?

That leads to another question. Is it ok to feed them later on the weekends? I really don't want to be waking up at 6am on weekends to throw food at an animal. (watering and lights will be on a timer so they'll come on at the normal time)

Hi laurie!!! I'm getting a male ambilobe panther. I live in Los Angeles and my name's Jessica. I've been haunting this forum for a little while now, reading and asking questions. I keep fish and a large female cornsnake, but this is my first foray into chameleons.

 

[Lancecham]

The cham will be fine. He will eat in the morning when he is ready.
You can feed them later on the weekends. That definitely isn't a problem.

 

[warpdrive]

You turn on a room light for Splat & Laurie before their lights come on???? This from a guy who says I spoil my chams. Got you with pot calling the kettle black.

what's realy bad is I feel like I'm about to neglect them tomorrow because I'll be at work, and can't turn on the room lights tomorrow..
they are so neglected at times...I'm not even at work yet and I feel like a bad daddy.

...and I should have bought the mist king last week. now they will miss there morning misting...I'll be home about an hour late for that. I'm such a bad daddy, I might have to give an extra silkie or phoenix worm as a treat.

Harry

 

[laurie]

Jessica you need to look on the forum for the club that meets in LA. You can PM Dave Weldon for information. Also lots of people trade feeders, and all sort of stuff at the meeting. Wish we had one here but I am one of very few cham keepers in Montana.

 

[crapwhereaminow]

lol, Dave pm'd me as a new recruit when I posted my first question. Sadly I couldn't make the meeting but I'm hoping to be able to go to the next one.

It's really great knowing there's a bunch of other people in LA that I can go too for help or if for some reason I need a babysitter (chamsitter? whatever). Kind of reassuring to a inexperienced keeper.

 

[robmd1]

hi jessica
welcome to the fourms lurker lol i did that too hey the group she was talkin bout the next meetin is comin up heres the link https://www.chameleonforums.com/november-24th-tues-south-bay-chameleon-keepers-meeting-32962/

should check it out meeting places change here and there but this is where the next one is lot of good people and like she said ya can get diff feeder

lol nm glad he got ahold of you maybe ya can make the next one

 

[pssh]

I turn on my lghts at 5 am and mist around 5:30. I then throw some food in my feeder cup after I mist and he eats when he's ready.

You should probably block his view of that fish, as it may stress him out. Welcome!

 

[crapwhereaminow]

thanks for the advice everyone!

Little update. He's actually in the mail right now! He'll be here tomorrow (I'm having the box delivered to my grandma's house because I'm stuck at work till three) I've got silkworms, butterworms, and houseflies being delivered on the same day (to grandma's house of course, poor grandma!). Problem is, my cage and setup was supposed to be here today, but something happened, got the call today at work, and hopefully it will be here tomorrow. So I REALLY hope I have a cage to setup for the little guy when I get home tomorrow. I'm bummed that I won't have time to have it set up for a couple days before he shows up, but it always seems to work out like this. I'll post pics of the cage in the enclosure section tomorrow to get critiqued and if he's not too freaked out I'll post some pics of him as well.

I guess if the cage doesn't show up I can keep him in a shoebox? just kidding..... I hope.

 

[pssh]

If it doesn't show up tomorrow keep him in a plant in a warm room, with a cup of food. If you have a large enough box with tall enough sides you can put the plant in that to keep him from wandering off.

 

[crapwhereaminow]

That sounds like a really good idea.

Ok, I've got some vines and ropes and whatnot that were for his cage so I guess I can find a suitable box to string them in along with a plant. Would a glass aquarium be ok for a couple days? I've got an extra 20 gallon long for fish (no water obviously). At least I know food is being delivered with him. Will he be ok without lights for a couple days? It's a warm, humid room and I guess I can take him outside for a couple hours for sunlight. (gotta love so. cal, it's fall and still sunny and beautiful!)

Hopefully all this planning is for nothing, and the cage arrives tomorrow!

 

[Lizardlover]

That sounds like a really good idea.

Ok, I've got some vines and ropes and whatnot that were for his cage so I guess I can find a suitable box to string them in along with a plant. Would a glass aquarium be ok for a couple days? I've got an extra 20 gallon long for fish (no water obviously). At least I know food is being delivered with him. Will he be ok without lights for a couple days? It's a warm, humid room and I guess I can take him outside for a couple hours for sunlight. (gotta love so. cal, it's fall and still sunny and beautiful!)

Hopefully all this planning is for nothing, and the cage arrives tomorrow!

an aquarium will do for a little while but you will have to take him outside every day for a while, they cant go without uvb for so long without having problems along with it.

 

[crapwhereaminow]

an aquarium will do for a little while but you will have to take him outside every day for a while, they cant go without uvb for so long without having problems along with it.

I had it all planned out, but you know what they say about the best laid plans. The cage and lighting was originally supposed to be here monday, but it didn't get shipped out until late monday, then ups said instead of tues (when they originally said it would be here) is would be here wed. I planned to have the cham delivered on Friday but it turns out they only ship mon-wed. So I had to scramble to line up someone to be around to sign for him and they only day she could do it was wed. I got a call today saying the cage would be delayed, but this is after the cham was shipped out. I'm trying to do the best I can with what I've got since everything kind of went sour.

I'm actually really stressed about this. I don't want to mess this up.

Kind of funny, I had a similar problem when I shipped several fish in from Thailand. The seller said he shipped them out, but the woman who was supposed to transship them to me was out of touch. For about a week and a half I had no clue where my fish were or who had them and then one day the suddenly showed up, sick as hell but alive. I really should stop ordering animals online, it never works out well.

 

[Lizardlover]

sounds complicated , he will be fine just do as I say, as long as its not for an extended period of time.

 

[Lancecham]

I think you are in southern Cal.
I am in Buena Park area. If you want to borrow a cage until the new one arrives, just let me know.
Lance
562.458.8304

 

[pssh]

Why not make a small free range set up on a chair and put it by a screen door with tape on the screen so he can't climb out of reach. Thats what I did when it was warm enough and I didn't want to supervise Pan outside. Just make sure there is shade for the baby.

As for the cardboard box, make sure it's far enough away from the plant branches that the baby cant climb on to the rim of the box and out of the set up. The tall side of the box have to be taller than the baby can reach on it's back legs so if it goes to the bottom of the box, it can't climb out and run away.

EDIT: or you can borrow a cage!

 

[crapwhereaminow]

Thanks for all the great ideas everyone!

Lancecham, I will give you a call tomorrow if the cage doesn't arrive. I think borrowing a cage is the best idea, I'm located in Woodland hills. Putting him by the screen door is a good idea but I'm nervous leaving him alone anywhere outside of my room because I have two large dogs and I wouldn't trust them if for some reason the cham got out..

I think I'm worrying unnecessarily and I really hope I feel like a fool tomorrow for bugging everyone. Hopefully all this worrying is for nothing and the cage shows up like it's supposed to.

Fingers and toes crossed!