Our general husbandry

[jojackson]

I thought it might be handy to have a thread (anyone can bookmark) of general husbandry of members. This could act as a database thread for those new to chams.

The idea is you cut n paste "The Questionaire!!!", as I have below but put in your own answers.

Heres mine...

Cage Info:

Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?

Full screen flexarium 30 x 30 x 72"

Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?

lights are on timer, currently 11 hrs on, 13 off (adjusting for winter here)
UV: reptisun 5 tube on top (24" inch tube/ballast)
100 watt incandescent heat bulb over basking spot
additional 23watt compact flourescent household powersaver bulb for brighter visible lighting.

Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?


Gradient of 20c/68f on floor to 30c/86f ambient air temp at top.
basking spot at 35c/95f
Thermal gun used at various sites, Thermo/hygro gauge in bottom
lowest overnight temp is currently about 20c/68f, Will monitor this as winter approaches and suppliment if nessesary with dim night heating bulb during winter.


Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?

humidity at floor level 80% during day (dripper going) 60 at night
Humidity at top at 58%- 70% after a misting.
Lowest daily humidity around 50%
Thermo/hygro gauge in bottom


Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?

Yes. Hanging pothos, + 1 pothos, 2 shefflera arboricola, and one ficus on floor


Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?

Bedroom, low traffic, no fans or airvents unless i use a fan in summer, windows carries a gentle breeze for a few hours a day. Not in a draught. top of the cage at 8ft


Location - Where are you geographically located?

Southern Hemisphere.

Chameleon Info:

Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?

Veiled chameleon, male now 5 months, in my care since three weeks old.

Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?

Normally once a day, he goes out for UV for an hour a day unless its raining windy or cold (especially not if its all three)

Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?

I feed crickets, cockroaches, moths, mealworms, grasshoppers.
They are gutloaded by being constantly fed (in the cage too) with the following daily:
Fresh chinese leaf vegetables, bok choy, choy sum etc, endives, kale, brocoli, carrot, fresh green grass, fish pellets, algae meal, dry rodent pellets/powder, dry dog kibble.
roaches also given wasted snake/lizard food. You should see how fast a dead mouse becomes a tiny fragile mouse skeleton! He eats a variety daily, for example, a dozen crickets 2 grasshoppers, 2 or 3 mealworms, any moths I catch, a few fresh moulted roaches.
crickets, grasshoppers and moths are let go free in the cage, mealworms, roaches and others are fed from a hangng feeder bowl.

Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?

I use ©Reptivite and ©Reptical from aristopet. Reptical is phosphorus free and has vit D3. Reptivite is a concentrated mulivitamin and mineral suppliment with amino acid. Mealworms are dusted with both every other day.

Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?

I use a dripper with a 10 litre resevoir, this runs from lights on till lights off everyday. Currently I mist once a day for a few minutes.
He drinks copiously every morning, so I have no current concern.

Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings.

The poo is firm and consistant, with no sign of undigested food . Urates are white and firm. He poos daily.

Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?

No

History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

No previous issues.

Current Problem - The current problem that you are concerned about.

Its taken so long to fill this out I hope I havent been logged out and lose the post! Here Goes...

 

[Julirs]

I use ©Reptivite and ©Reptical from aristopet. Reptical is phosphorus free and has vit D3. Reptivite is a concentrated mulivitamin and mineral suppliment with amino acid. Mealworms are dusted with both every other day.

You probably were not expecting feedback, but...

Mealworms are a terrible feeder. You are overusing both D3 and the vitamin/mineral. Get a calcium without D3 and dust one feeding daily (Lightly) 5-6X weekly, then use the one with D3 in place of that 2X monthly, and depending on age, the Reptivite 2X monthly. You can OD them on D3 and vit/mins.

 

[jojackson]

By every other day I mean every third day roughly, I dont add more crickets everyday, so I make sure he gets the supps by dusting 2 or 3 mealworms with each. Dust dosent stay on free ranging crickets for long, so the mealworm dusting is purely for supplimentation because he eats them so readily.
Keep in mind he is growing very fast, and gets natural UV daily, There is no sign of any powdery discharge from his nose indicating overdosing. Nor any other obvious signs like swollen joints, calcium deposits etc.
It might be premature to call this overdosing with the D3 at this point.
As for nutritional content of mealworms, they are warm gutloaded also and not a staple,
I dont give him many to avoid impaction, or riuning his appetite for more nutritious insects.

And Yes I certainly Did expect feedback from somebody, never the less the thread was not intended for this purpous, but thankyou.

P.S. Though I dilligently ensure all the best practices this site recommends, excepting for the changes to bigger cages as he has grown, My supplimenting has been the same since purchase
and in this case I beleive its a case of 'If its not broke, dont fix it!"

 

[Julirs]

By feeding mealworms you are risking impaction, even if it is a small risk, why go there? Superworms would work just as well. Salt excretion from the nose does not always mean over-supplementation, just as no-salt coming from the nose does not necessarily mean you are not over-supplementing. Correct me if I am wrong, but is this not your first chameleon? Why are you not moving him to a bigger cage if I am understanding you correctly?

 

[Malicious]

Are all the compact flourescents harsh on the eyes, or just the reptile/uvb variations?

-Jay

 

[kinyonga]

Malicious...its the compact UVB lights that are of concern. I don't think there have been problems reported with the ones meant to be used for household fixtures. In some of the compact UVB lights there is a certain phosphor used that produces the incorrect range of UV light which can cause photo kerato conjuctivitus in many reptiles. There have been other problems with some of the other compacts and even tube lights causing other problems too.

 

[jojackson]

By feeding mealworms you are risking impaction, even if it is a small risk, why go there? Superworms would work just as well. Salt excretion from the nose does not always mean over-supplementation, just as no-salt coming from the nose does not necessarily mean you are not over-supplementing. Correct me if I am wrong, but is this not your first chameleon? Why are you not moving him to a bigger cage if I am understanding you correctly?

I have just moved him to a bigger cage. Please see 'Homers new Habitat' under General photography.
I understand Mealworms are a treat food, hence I use them to ensure he gets the suppliments. The small few mealworms I feed each week are always freshly moulted (white/pale) and ofcourse very 'few'.
I beleive the risk of impaction from chitin given these variables to be very low to non existant.
Worms labeled 'Superworms' here are merely larger mealworms. I do not enjoy the benefits of a large variety of feeders in my country unfortunately.

What are indicators of over supplimentation please? Yes its my first chameleon, but not my first reptile (20 plus years keeping)

 

[desultadox]

I understand Mealworms are a treat food, hence I use them to ensure he gets the suppliments. The small few mealworms I feed each week are always freshly moulted (white/pale) and ofcourse very 'few'.
I beleive the risk of impaction from chitin given these variables to be very low to non existant.
Worms labeled 'Superworms' here are merely larger mealworms. I do not enjoy the benefits of a large variety of feeders in my country unfortunately.

Mealworms aren't even a treat food. Treats would be more like waxworms and butterworms. Freshly molted mealworms are definitely better than harder ones, but it seems like that makes most of your mealworms useless most of the time. Superworms are NOT large mealworms. Superworms are Zophobas morio and mealworms are Tenebrio molitor, so they are not even the same genus, let alone species.

So if you stick to cherry-picking softer mealworms that may work for you, but I think you'd be saving yourself some hassle if you just went with superworms.

 

[jojackson]

Again for you.... 'Superworms' sold here, ARE just larger mealworms! I looked at some recently, very dissapointing. They are identicle.

I do not enjoy the benefits of a large variety of feeders in my country unfortunately.

As for nutritional content of mealworms, they are warm gutloaded also and not a staple

nor a major part of his diet.

Seems the purpous of this thread is defeated, on the upside, ive gained insight into why people are loath to do 'THE Questionaire' !

 

[Malicious]

Malicious...its the compact UVB lights that are of concern. I don't think there have been problems reported with the ones meant to be used for household fixtures. In some of the compact UVB lights there is a certain phosphor used that produces the incorrect range of UV light which can cause photo kerato conjuctivitus in many reptiles. There have been other problems with some of the other compacts and even tube lights causing other problems too.

Thank you for the information.

 

[warpdrive]

jojackson,

I think that the idea of a general husbandry of members is a good idea, as some members here are sick and tired of typing out this form repeatedly when a problem arises.
it will also help new members here like me find better ways to take care of our pets.

but if we were to do something like this, some rules would need to be set in place.
such as, absolutly no comments are to be posted in that thread. comments will have to be removed/deleted by a mod to insure that the thread stays just a form of husbandry practice.
...and should be stickyed at the top for easy lookups when needed.

maybe this thread should be used to come up with ideas of what some of the rules should be and then with agreement of the administrator, we could then start the final husbandry thread.

Harry

 

[jojackson]

Yah, that was the Idea Harry Thnx!

Actually I dont know whats possible with this forum software but Ive seen some where you could add such information on your profile as an attachment??? Maybe a notifier that something likethis could be done at the registration page. It would save a million post saying 'please fill in the questionaire' and 7 million others asking 'what could be wrong' LOL