philintheblanks
New Member
Hello, Chameleon enthusiasts!
I got a text message from my girlfriend a couple days ago that said "do you like chameleons? I just volunteered to adopt one."
A friend of one of her co-workers found him walking in the road. We figured he was definitely a pet that was set loose or abandoned. We found a cage and supplies for him on craigslist and I went and picked him up from my girlfriend's co-worker yesterday.
From what I can tell, he seems to be in decent enough health considering he was wandering around outside on his own for who even knows how long. I had some reptiles as a teenager (geckos, turtles...) but it's been a while and from what I've been reading chameleons are a little more difficult to keep happy.
Chameleon Info:
• Jackson's Chameleon, I'm guessing a male (but I'm not certain), age is totally unknown. Just adopted it yesterday.
• Handling - I try to avoid it!
• Feeding - I put a few small slices of apple on various branches around the cage along with a snap pea pod. I haven't seen him eat any of the apple slices but one looks like he may have nibbled at it a little. I also have a feeding cup with three small crickets in it (he doesn't seem to have discovered them in there yet) and I also let a couple crickets loose in the cage to see if he would notice those guys (he did! I witnessed him eat at least one of them and I can't find the other one in there anywhere so he may have caught that one as well). I'm feeding the crickets apple slices as well right now (just what I had in the kitchen already, going to pick up some additional fruit/vegetable options for both the chamelson and the crickets asap).
• Supplements - I dusted the crickets with Sticky Tongue Farms brand calcium & mineral supplement, which came with the cage and other supplies I bought on craigslist.
• Watering - the guy that sold me the cage and supplies gave me a Zoo Med Little Dripper, which I've got dripping down onto some fake leaves and ainto a little pool for excess at the bottom. I've also been misting the enclosure a few times a day with a little spray bottle. I did witness the chameleon drinking shortly after I brought him home and put him into the cage (he reached up and was licking drops of water directly from the drip tube).
• Fecal Description - It looks like he did make a few droppings at some point in his new home. One is dark, almost black. There's another right next to it which is white/yellow.
• History - He was found wandering around in the street in Southern California just a few days ago.
Cage Info:
• Cage Type - Cage is about 30" tall and 16" wide in both directions. Screen on all four sides. When I picked the cage up it looked like it had been sitting in a garage for a year or two and was probably never really cleaned properly after it's previous inhabitants moved on so I took it outside cleaned it out as best I could with a hose and a sponge. I've got the bottom of the cage lined with paper towels for now.
• Lighting - The cage came with two lights. Not sure what brands/models they are but one is a red heat light and the other I'm guessing is used to simulate sunlight but I'm really not sure if it's the right kind or not. The guy that sold everything to me had used both lights for chameleons in the past.
• Temperature - The cage came with two thermometers, both of which I'm pretty sure are broken. Need to figure something else out.
• Humidity - Don't really have any way to measure humidity yet.
• Plants - Right now I've just got one fake plant in there. We do plan to get some live plants soon.
• Placement - The cage is up on a table in a space adjacent to our kitchen (we live in a very small apartment). That particular spot barely gets any sunlight so we're planning to move everything into the living room as soon as we can rearrange a bit to make room.
• Location - Southern California, just a couple miles from the coast.
As I said above, from what I can tell the chameleon seems to be doing okay considering the circumstances! I've kept a few reptiles in the past and my girlfriend is a biologist and is very used to working with organisms that require meticulous care both in her job and at home so we're both pretty pumped about having him. But chameleons are new for both of us so any advice or tips you folks can provide would be greatly appreciated! Anyone want to take a guess at it's age?
Here's a picture of the chameleon (We've been calling him Deep Space Nine).... pictures aren't the best quality, all I'm working with is the camera on my phone....
And here's a peek at our set up so far (a work in progress)....
I got a text message from my girlfriend a couple days ago that said "do you like chameleons? I just volunteered to adopt one."
A friend of one of her co-workers found him walking in the road. We figured he was definitely a pet that was set loose or abandoned. We found a cage and supplies for him on craigslist and I went and picked him up from my girlfriend's co-worker yesterday.
From what I can tell, he seems to be in decent enough health considering he was wandering around outside on his own for who even knows how long. I had some reptiles as a teenager (geckos, turtles...) but it's been a while and from what I've been reading chameleons are a little more difficult to keep happy.
Chameleon Info:
• Jackson's Chameleon, I'm guessing a male (but I'm not certain), age is totally unknown. Just adopted it yesterday.
• Handling - I try to avoid it!
• Feeding - I put a few small slices of apple on various branches around the cage along with a snap pea pod. I haven't seen him eat any of the apple slices but one looks like he may have nibbled at it a little. I also have a feeding cup with three small crickets in it (he doesn't seem to have discovered them in there yet) and I also let a couple crickets loose in the cage to see if he would notice those guys (he did! I witnessed him eat at least one of them and I can't find the other one in there anywhere so he may have caught that one as well). I'm feeding the crickets apple slices as well right now (just what I had in the kitchen already, going to pick up some additional fruit/vegetable options for both the chamelson and the crickets asap).
• Supplements - I dusted the crickets with Sticky Tongue Farms brand calcium & mineral supplement, which came with the cage and other supplies I bought on craigslist.
• Watering - the guy that sold me the cage and supplies gave me a Zoo Med Little Dripper, which I've got dripping down onto some fake leaves and ainto a little pool for excess at the bottom. I've also been misting the enclosure a few times a day with a little spray bottle. I did witness the chameleon drinking shortly after I brought him home and put him into the cage (he reached up and was licking drops of water directly from the drip tube).
• Fecal Description - It looks like he did make a few droppings at some point in his new home. One is dark, almost black. There's another right next to it which is white/yellow.
• History - He was found wandering around in the street in Southern California just a few days ago.
Cage Info:
• Cage Type - Cage is about 30" tall and 16" wide in both directions. Screen on all four sides. When I picked the cage up it looked like it had been sitting in a garage for a year or two and was probably never really cleaned properly after it's previous inhabitants moved on so I took it outside cleaned it out as best I could with a hose and a sponge. I've got the bottom of the cage lined with paper towels for now.
• Lighting - The cage came with two lights. Not sure what brands/models they are but one is a red heat light and the other I'm guessing is used to simulate sunlight but I'm really not sure if it's the right kind or not. The guy that sold everything to me had used both lights for chameleons in the past.
• Temperature - The cage came with two thermometers, both of which I'm pretty sure are broken. Need to figure something else out.
• Humidity - Don't really have any way to measure humidity yet.
• Plants - Right now I've just got one fake plant in there. We do plan to get some live plants soon.
• Placement - The cage is up on a table in a space adjacent to our kitchen (we live in a very small apartment). That particular spot barely gets any sunlight so we're planning to move everything into the living room as soon as we can rearrange a bit to make room.
• Location - Southern California, just a couple miles from the coast.
As I said above, from what I can tell the chameleon seems to be doing okay considering the circumstances! I've kept a few reptiles in the past and my girlfriend is a biologist and is very used to working with organisms that require meticulous care both in her job and at home so we're both pretty pumped about having him. But chameleons are new for both of us so any advice or tips you folks can provide would be greatly appreciated! Anyone want to take a guess at it's age?
Here's a picture of the chameleon (We've been calling him Deep Space Nine).... pictures aren't the best quality, all I'm working with is the camera on my phone....
And here's a peek at our set up so far (a work in progress)....
