Some question, Pleaeaese help !

[Squamata]

Hello everyone !
How are you ? I hope you all are fine, and your chameleons are too

I'm really obsessed of chameleons
And I think I know enough about them

But I need to know about care because I haven't kept a chameleon before (except a common chameleon)

Anyway, these are my questions and I really need answers but I didn't find better than you guys

Q1: I want to keep a Veiled Chameleon, and I don't have much money for this hobby, and accessories here are really expensive!
So can you please tell me the cheapest and easiest way to setup a Veiled's cage ?

Q2: They don't sell feeder insects around me, but there are some desert beetles (I don't know what there name is) and I want to breed them to get worms
Can I give the chameleon only and exclusively worms ?

Q3: The reason why I want a chameleon is to handle it
Can I handle it all the time ? or the most time ?

Q4: You know that Veiled chameleons are from Yemen and southern Saudi Arabia
I'm from southern Saudi Arabia too so they can be my neighbors
But I don't live there, I live in a desert area which is really hot an humid too

Is there a difference in difficulty of keeping the chameleon here and in the south ?

--

Thank you very much and sorry if my English is bad but it's not my mother tongue

 

[snipeusa14]

Hello everyone !
How are you ? I hope you all are fine, and your chameleons are too

I'm really obsessed of chameleons
And I think I know enough about them

But I need to know about care because I haven't kept a chameleon before (except a common chameleon)

Anyway, these are my questions and I really need answers but I didn't find better than you guys



Q1: I want to keep a Veiled Chameleon, and I don't have much money for this hobby, and accessories here are really expensive!
So can you please tell me the cheapest and easiest way to setup a Veiled's cage ?

Q2: They don't sell feeder insects around me, but there are some desert beetles (I don't know what there name is) and I want to breed them to get worms
Can I give the chameleon only and exclusively worms ?

Q3: The reason why I want a chameleon is to handle it
Can I handle it all the time ? or the most time ?

Q4: You know that Veiled chameleons are from Yemen and southern Saudi Arabia
I'm from southern Saudi Arabia too so they can be my neighbors
But I don't live there, I live in a desert area which is really hot an humid too

Is there a difference in difficulty of keeping the chameleon here and in the south ?

--

Thank you very much and sorry if my English is bad but it's not my mother tongue

Q1:easy way if either to make a woodframe with chicken wire your could make a nice cage for around $50



To answer Q3 the answer if NO maybe keepers will handle their chameleons 1 or 2 times a week or if they like being out of the cage like mine do 1 or 2 times day but your cant handle them ALOT like bearded dragons or snakes chameleons are mostly to look at their amazing colors and such feeding is also fun


Q4: only dificulty would probably keeping your cham cool and humidity levels

 

[Squamata]

Thanks

btw I already have a cage but I don't know if it's good or not

And I need more answers please

If anyone can help please help even with answered question

snipeusa14 Thank you again

 

[ShortStack]

Thanks

btw I already have a cage but I don't know if it's good or not

And I need more answers please

If anyone can help please help even with answered question

snipeusa14 Thank you again

He pretty much answered everything.

You need to feed wayy more than just worms.

You should NOT handle a chameleon as much as your wanting to. Limit to only handling when cleaning the cage.

 

[Squamata]

Ok then thanks very much

But you said the I need to feed more than just worms

Is this an advice or I mustn't use worms exclusively ?

 

[snipeusa14]

Ok then thanks very much

But you said the I need to feed more than just worms

Is this an advice or I mustn't use worms exclusively ?

well if your dont have a store that sells food for reptiles then i dont think if would a good idea : / where would u get the light fixtures and UVB?

BUT if you find some store feed it silkworms/horned worms as treats and crickets discoid roches,and ever so often mealworms

 

[Carlton]

Ok then thanks very much

But you said the I need to feed more than just worms

Is this an advice or I mustn't use worms exclusively ?

The chameleon will not be healthy if it is fed only one type of insect. If the beetle larvae are the only ones you will be able to get you will have health problems. Chameleons hunt a lot of different flying insects such as flies and moths, terrestrial insects such as crickets and roaches in addition to beetle larvae. Be careful about the beetles. Many beetles produce bad tasting chemicals to protect themselves from predators. The chameleon may taste one once, and refuse to eat them.

 

[Squamata]

Thank you all

Thank you very much

 

[Banders675]

care

I have had 5 veileds mist them a couple times a day, mail order your crickets and silk worms (horn worms are good too as well as meal and wax worms) you can breed crickets it's easy, you can build a cage pretty easy and cheap. They do not like to be held but some do he will let you know if he likes it or not. get a male they are easier to care for and have more color. watch him if his eyes sink or he spends a lot of time with his eyes closed he is sick act fast they don't last long once something is wrong.

 

[Squamata]

Thank you very much

Crickets can be found of course

So if I bred beetle worms and crickets is that enough ?

And there is an important question : There is a store that sells reptiles canned food and calcium/vitamins stuff

I read in the can of insects that the expiration date was before years !

Do canned insects ( Can O' , from zoo med ) expire ?
And the calcium and vitamins do they expire ?

 

[kinyonga]

Q1: I want to keep a Veiled Chameleon, and I don't have much money for this hobby, and accessories here are really expensive!
So can you please tell me the cheapest and easiest way to setup a Veiled's cage ?
You said you have a cage already. can you post a photo of it and give its dimensions please? You need A UVB light if you are keeping it indoors. Sunlight will provide the UVB if the chameleon is kept outdoors or at least taken out every day when the temperatures are appropriate. UVB light must not pass through glass or plastic. You also need a mister and a dripper...both can be simple/cheap or expensive/more sophisticated. You also need 3 kinds of supplements....phosphorus-free calcium, phosphorus-free calcium with D3 and an appropriate vitamin powder. You need branches and (non-toxic) plants.

How long did your C. chamaeleon live?

Q2: They don't sell feeder insects around me, but there are some desert beetles (I don't know what there name is) and I want to breed them to get worms
Can I give the chameleon only and exclusively worms ?
Crickets are the most often used insect since they are easy to gutload/feed a nutritious diet and can be raised without too much difficulty too. They can be fed superworms, silkworms, hornworms (not from your tomato plants since tomato leaves are toxic), certain grasshoppers, once in a while, waxworms. Without seeing a photo of the insectr you are talking about, I don't know if it can be given to the chameleon or not...and even then I might not be able to tell you.

Q3: The reason why I want a chameleon is to handle it
Can I handle it all the time ? or the most time ?
As was already said....its advised not to handle chameleon a lot. Some will TOLERATE it and others won't.

Q4: You know that Veiled chameleons are from Yemen and southern Saudi Arabia
I'm from southern Saudi Arabia too so they can be my neighbors
But I don't live there, I live in a desert area which is really hot an humid too
Do you have air conditioning?


Is there a difference in difficulty of keeping the chameleon here and in the south ? If you provide the chameleon with what it needs it shouldn't be...but that includes being able to keep it in the right temperature range and humidity.

If you do not make the husbandry good, the chameleon will almost certainly develop health issues.....MBD, gout, infections, etc.

Chameleons are not a cheap pet to keep, so if you don't have much money it might be better to get a different reptile.

Here's some information that explains supplements, gutloading, etc...
Appropriate cage temperatures aid in digestion and thus play a part indirectly in nutrient absorption.

Exposure to UVB from either direct sunlight or a proper UVB light allows the chameleon to produce D3 so that it can use the calcium in its system to make/keep the bones strong and be used in other systems in the chameleon as well. The UVB should not pass through glass or plastic no matter whether its from the sun or the UVB light. The most often recommended UVB light is the long linear fluorescent Repti-sun 5.0 tube light. Some of the compacts, spirals and tube lights have caused health issues, but so far there have been no bad reports against this one.

A wide variety of insects that have been well fed and gutloaded should be fed to it.

Since many of the feeder insects we use in captivity have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorus in them, its important to dust the insects just before you feed them to the chameleon at most feedings with a phos.-free calcium powder to help make up for it. (I use Rep-cal phosphorus-free calcium). Not sure how to tell you to dust WC insects if that is what you will be doing.

If you also dust twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder it will ensure that your chameleon gets some D3 without overdoing it. It leaves the chameleon to produce the rest of what it needs through its exposure to the UVB light. D3 from supplements can build up in the system but D3 produced from exposure to UVB shouldn't as long as the chameleon can move in and out of it. (I use Rep-cal phos.-free calcium/D3).

Dusting twice a month as well with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A will ensure that the chameleon gets some vitamins without the danger of overdosing the vitamin A. PrEformed sources of vitamin A can build up in the system and may prevent the D3 from doing its job and push the chameleon towards MBD. However, there is controversy as to whether all/any chameleons can convert the beta carotene and so some people give some prEformed vitamin A once in a while. (I use herptivite which has beta carotene.)

Gutloading/feeding the insects well helps to provide what the chameleon needs. I gutload crickets, roaches, locusts, superworms, etc. with an assortment of greens (dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, zucchini, etc.)

Calcium, phos., D3 and vitamin A are important players in bone health and other systems in the chameleon (muscles, etc.) and they need to be in balance. When trying to balance them, you need to look at the supplements, what you feed the insects and what you feed the chameleon.

Here are some good sites for you to read too...
http://chameleonnews.com/07FebWheelock.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200605020...Vitamin.A.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200406080...d.Calcium.html
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
http://web.archive.org/web/200601140...ww.adcham.com/
If you can't access the sites above that have the word "archive" in you can do it through the WayBackMachine.

 

[Squamata]

I just don't know what to say

Thank you very much

And I will upload photos for the cage and the beetles ( they haven't bred yet )
But I can't upload them these days because I'm too busy

Thank you again