Too big of a cage and wrong location of a food dish

[John33871]

i had a baby veiled chameleon, it died a month ago, and im still wondering why, i went back to researching, and think i may have come up with the possible problem i had. i had a huge cage for my little guy, he was only around 4 inches long, head to tail. he was in a 65 gallon cage set up, with trees, and branches going all over his cage. i had his feeder cups at the top of the cage, where he always would sit, i read that i should put them at the bottom. is this true do to the fact that they like to hunt and would look down into it, or would this not cause much of a problem. my main problem with my chameleon was that he never ate, so i thought this could have played a part in his death. also his humidity was to low, around the 50%. he started shedding, but was never unable to get a small pieace of dead skin from his head. the vet said this caused an eye infection, but i think the lack of food, lead to this. so when i get my next chameleon, should i place the food dishes at the bottom, get a smaller cage, build my own cage to keep humidity at a good percentage. anyone got any good advice for me, or know if the location of the food dish could have played a part in the death of my chameleon, thanks for any help or advice!

 

[Tygerr]

I'm sorry for your loss.

You didn't give enough detail for anyone to work out exactly what went wrong.

How long did you have the cham before it died?

What lighting did you have set up in the cage? You didn't mention anything about UV or basking lights, and how the cham responded to them.

And also, what were you feeding the cham?

It shouldn't make too much of a difference whether the feeder cup is at the top or bottom of the cage, provided the cham can see that there is food in the cup, and also that the cham has easy access to the food - no good if it can't reach the food from a secure perch.
The reason it is better to put the cup at the bottom, is because it's easier to see into the cup if the cham is above it - it has nothing to do with the chameleon's hunting preferences.

If the average humidity was 50%, that should be fine for a veiled, so long as you are providing ample drinking water through long misting sessions once, or preferably twice a day, and a dripper running most of the day.

A smaller cage is definitely better for a baby cham, since it makes it easier for them to get to all the things they need: food, water, heat and light. But it's not impossible to raise a baby cham in a larger cage - it just takes more planning and monitoring to make sure that the cham gets what it needs.

 

[hybrid]

this I can attest to...........I have three smaller chams in my cages. I just try to get the crickets free ranging on perches near the chams and a could extra here and there. Id rather have dead crickets than dead chams.

I must be doing something right, Ive not see two of the smallest ones actually eat in a few days to a week and they are still going fine. If they are starving, theyll eat the crickets you put near them.

My larger guy...........he is a beast. he is eating out of the bowl I moulded in his cage. He just leans over and tags them one at a time. I cant wait for the other three to get big enough to figure that system out as well.

 

[snk]

I would strongly suggest use a smaller cage for babies, alot of ppl probebly want to save some $ buying bigger cage when the cham grow up but keep a baby cham in a 65 gallons do need some experiences and close monitering. smaller cage would allow the cham to find everything easier.