Question regarding my cage, movement, and temps

[fox3060]

Hey guys,
I'm new to the forum but not to the Herp world. I've looked around on the forums and looked at some set ups; I'd like any advice on my current practices and husbandry.
For starters, I acquired a breeding pair of Veiled Chameleons from a member (FLchams, Mike rocks) a young male ~4-5 mths and a young female ~2-4 mths.
Both are eating (small/med crix/large meal worms) regularly. I drop in roughly 8-14 bugs every other day. I dust them 3xweek with RepCal VIT.D3 and 1xweek with RepCal Herptivite. (Instructions from Mike upon my purchase, Tampa bay reptile show).
I recently finished my first screen cage 2ftx2ftx5ft, I have a Ficus for veg which seems to fill the cage decently. Currently I have both male and female sharing one of those black mesh cages you can get at PetCo/PetSmart. I have a divider in it separating them.
I mist them 3 times a day for about 2/3 minutes and I keep them both outside for the majority of the time (daytime temps high in the mid 80's, night time temps in the mid to low 70's) When we get cold fronts moving through I move them inside.
I've attached links that show the cage set up and I'd like any input, pointers, advice, etc. I would imagine that it's plenty humid out here in Fl, and that natural sunlight is best. When I move them inside I have the hood with a repti sun 5.0 and 10.0 that I keep on them.
My questions are:
1) am i moving them around too much?
2) are the outside temps too high, humid enough?
3) can i house them together if the cage is big enough?
-will the male harass the female? what age should i separate them at?
4) supplementing too much? not often enough?

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m41/shelbyi/IMGP7094.jpg
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m41/shelbyi/IMGP7093.jpg
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m41/shelbyi/IMGP7095.jpg
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m41/shelbyi/IMGP7096.jpg

Thanks crew!
Fox

 

[Dave]

Hi Fox,
I don't know the sure answers to all of your questions, but you do need to house them seperately, out of sight of eachother, as it causes stress to them both.

And I think it's more of the female harassing the male lol, I've heard the female lets out a hiss at the male if she's not ready to breed.

And you should dust every feeding to baby chams with calcium, I also dust mine once a week with repi-vite just to round off the edges of the rest of the nutrients.

I'm not sure if it's different with baby chams, but a good temp is 75-80 deg F daytime, and 65-70 nighttime.

Hope this helps I'm sure someone will be along shortly to fill in the blanks.

-Dave

 

[Justin Carl]

Hey!
Welcome to the forum!
Mike is awesome, and he definitely knows what he is talking about.
Yea, I moved my guys in today aswell.
This cold front we have moving in is a little on the cold side.
That 2x2x5 cage is really sweet!
I would like to know where you got it.
On the other hand...you cant beat natural sunlight.
SO, since we live in Florida, I would let them get as much natural light as possible.
I try to bring my guys in when it drops bellow 50 degrees.
You have babies, so that number might be raised to 60 degrees.
On the other side of the spectrum I would try to bring them in if it gets above 90 or 95.
You could leave them out in that kind of heat, but they should be provided with some shade and and a lot of water.

That Reptarium might suffice for a bit longer, but I would have two on hand for when they grow a bit larger.
Babies can live together with minimal stress, but need seperate enclosures as adults.
A 2x2x5 is a little on the large side for an adult female, but bigger is better.
If you have the room and the money to spend on a large cage, then why not.

About your artifical light, you only need one of the UVB bulbs.
Judging by the size of the cage the 10.0 would work great.
The 10.0 bulbs are also reccomended for the Reptariums.
The dark mesh blocks a lot of the UVB given off by the bulb.

 

[fox3060]

Hey thanks for the fast replies.
I made the cage myself cost me ~100 clams, not bad. If you're interested, I'm going to be making a new inside sized cage with two sides. I'm thinking 30Lx24.5Tx12.5deep, split right down the center. I can email you my plans. Currently I'm using the tall cage as my outside cage, my plans are to build another one so both have their own outside enclosure, and they can share the smaller one as an inside cage.
The artificial bulbs I have are the 26 watt bulbs, the package says they are equivalent to like 100+ watts of a regular bulb. They aren't very bright but I'm sure they get the job done taking into consideration visible light.
Is it humid enough outdoors down here in Florida? I'm in the St. Pete area right on Tampa Bay so even when the heat spikes there's always a nice breezy off the water to keep the temps nice and warm.

 

[Justin Carl]

Here is my caresheet:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/justin-carl/20-caresheet.html
It needs to be revised a bit, but it has a lot of the basics in it.
The constant learning and small changes in husbandry make me rewrite this thing once a month.

Brad Ramsey's blog:
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/

Dodolah's Blog:
http://chamworld.blogspot.com

https://www.chameleonforums.com/vitamin-d3-10858/
http://chameleonnews.com/
http://adcham.com/
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/

 

[Julirs]

Hi fox3060-always good to have new cham people in the area. I am here in Safety Harbor right off Tampa Bay. I agree with Justin-when it gets too hot--- in the chams come-the humidity and temps really are a bit too high in the summer here, and you will risk URI's keeping them outside.