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.
