Pygmy Chameleon

[MadSince95]

Hey I'm curious if anybody knows whether you can tell me how different caring for a pygmy is rather then a normal sized chameleon and how you would go about caring for these tiny cute creatures. I'm just researching typed of chameleons and care and curious to see what yall say. Appreciate your input :}

 

[carol5208]

yes their care is different. Here is a link for you with alot of good info http://www.chameleonnews.com/05DecRouthouska.html

 

[EvilLost]

the care is completely different.


I would suggest you to fill the "HELP" form, but I will give you some general basics:

-roughly 5 gallons PER pygmy, however MINIMUM 10gallon size (even if you only have 1)

- 1 male to an enclosure generally (unless it is both big and densely planted). Males will "fight" without contact (visual displays, territorial dominance, etc) and I have personally witnessed one male toss another smaller male from a branch

-As many females as you like, they are friendly

-Tank setup is similar to dartfrog setups. If you are not familiar,
----- use a DRAINAGE layer at the bottom (1.5-2" of gravel, LECA, hydroton, something that doesnt absorb the water)
----- on top of that put coco fiber/eco earth (i like to mix with some shredded sphagnum and some finely smashed up WOOD coals with no chemical additives). Do NOT use outdoor potting soil or anythign with fertilizers in it as the contained area will not let it break down properly. The chameleon poop will fertilize the plants nicely.
------ Simple live plants are best. POTHOS can be bought for $2 at home depot, looks nice, grows fast, and is the perfect size for the pygs. Be careful that some plants are toxic!
------ LIGHT with a simple 14W 6500K daylight bulb. for my smaller tanks i find that CFLs are much cheaper than tube lights.
------ NO heat.
------ MIST daily
------ TEMPERATURES: 72-78F during the day, 10F drop overnight (62-68F at night)
------ SUPPLEMENTS: I supplement my pygmys calcium with each feeding and multivit / calcium + d3 alternating weekends (same as my panthers basically, but it ends up being less supps overall because I feed every 3 days and the crickets that are eaten on the third day have typically wiped it all off by then)

FEED ~3 small (1/4") crickets per pygmy per day. I have 1male 2 females per enclosure (3 total * 3 per day * 3 days = 27 crickets) so I just put in about 30 crickets every 3 days. Do monitor them though, if you see that the crickets are gone instantly they may be hungry or if there are a bunch leftover when you are ready to drop in more, you are overfeeding.



I realize now that someone has a great caresheet for them around here...but meh i guess i typed it all...

use the search feature ^^


EDIT: Herpa derp...took me so long to type that you beat me to.....oh wells just waiting on someone who is late and I'm bored! lol

 

[MadSince95]

Wow lots of info thank you so much greatly appreciated uou both