Thanks from a new owner!

Michael Morsette

New Member
Hello all! I've had a love of reptiles my whole life but never kept a "pet" long term. I use to catch every snake and lizard I could find as a boy, keep them in cages and aquariums for a bit then release them.

Well 30 years later my wife and kids surprised me with a veiled chameleon and basic setup for my birthday. I have always admired and been fascinated with chameleons so they decided to get me one... Well I wasn't prepared for it and I've been scrambling to get up to speed so I can care for this little guy (well actually a girl I believe). This forum has been a fantastic resource and I just wanted to take a minute to send out a huge thanks from me and Baxter (my daughter named the chameleon James Baxter, if you have kids you probably know the reference ;) )
 
I'll definitely post some pics and fill out that questionnaire relatively soon. At this point there is too much to criticize I know I need to fix lol.

No it's pretty good now actually thanks to tips from here but I am still working on it.

Baxter has med. sized mesh cage from one of the box stores, from Reptibreeze I believe. There is an auto mister from monsoon, that is a painful bugger to set up! Humidity and and temp sensors; temp. is around 80 in the basking area, drops to 72ish at the bottom of the cage. Humidity gauge I just installed last night, it measured 40ish, it will take some playing with that finicky mister to get humidity right.

Food at this point is most all crickets, calcium power once a day and the multivitamin once a week. I was reading conflicting info on how often to give the calcium and multivitamin so that will probably be adjusted. The crickets are gutloaded with what ever fruit is leftover from the day, apples, bananas, peaches etc.. Last night I set up a second small bug housing unit, so soon I get a second staple type to alternate for feeding.

Lighting is a combo mini dome, UBV and heat bulb. I don't think I like this lamp, the area that gets hot enough for basking is really close to the top so that I have the support sticks so close to the ceiling.... I'll have to work on that. The ambient room temp stays around 72, so I feel the lamp should be able to perform better.

Plants and sticks/vines are all artificial plastic/waterproof. I'd like to get some real foliage at some point to help with humidity but this will have to do for now.

Well that's it for now. I'll get around to posting pics later so you guys can properly criticize ;) all in good humor of course.
 
Welcome to the forums and I can tell you your lighting needs to be changed
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Alright let's see about that questionnaire. For some reason copy and paste won't work on my ancient phone right now, so we'll see how this works.

Chameleon:
Baxter is a Veiled chameleon, I would guess between 3 and 4 months old, most likely female, and has been in my care about a week.

Handling:
I handle Baxter very little. Most all feeding is hand feeding, and Baxter is held if there is a lot of work being done on the cage but for the most part she isn't picked up.

Feeding:
Currently crickets are the primary food source. They are gut loaded with left over fruit, apples, bananas, nectarines etc. Weekdays Baxter has been primarily been fed around 3pm, weekends it has been 8a and 3p. Amount being eaten varies widely she has eaten at least two medium crickets every feeding with a high end of 6 yesterday.

Supplements:
Zoo Med Repti Calcium without D3 I've started giving Baxter at every feeding. Zoo Med Reptivite multivitamin I've been giving twice a week.

Watering:
I am using the Monsoon mister with two nozzles. The cycle is currently set to every 8hrs for 12 seconds. I've seen Baxter drink one time, she looked dehydrated to me and I manually turned on the mister. She drank quite a bit from the leaves and I doubled the frequency and duration of the misting to its current setting. I haven't seen her drink since but she also hasn't looked dehydrated to me.

Fecal description:
I haven't tested for parasites though I assume the pet store did. The feces have been soft pellets primarily brown/orange with a little whitish bit.

History:
Unknown, gift that was bought from a pet store, Petco or some similiar store.

Cage:
Screen cage roughly 16"x16"x30"

Lighting:
Double mini dome with a basking light and a UVB light. I believe it is all from Zoo Med. the basking light is a 60w, the UVB is a Reptisun 5.0 (2U-13w). Light goes on at about 5:30am when I leave for work and goes off between 6 and 7 pm when the family gathers for supper.

Tempature:
Basking area has been staying around 80F, floor around 72F. Nights drop to 68F. Temp is measured with a Zoo Med thermometer with a temp probe placed in the basking zone.

Humidity:
Humidity has been fluctuating between 42ish to 62ish measured with a hydrometer by eco terra placed inside the cage near the basking area. Humidity is introduced through the misting system.

Plants:
So far all vines and plants are plastic/waterproof fake foliage.

Placement:
Currently the cage is in the living room floor until better spot is fixed. There is a vent a few feet away but it has been shut off. There are no free roaming pets in the house.

Location:
Geographically we are in the state of Virginia area.

Current problems:
No current problems that I'm aware of.
 
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