Transportation and Eating Tree roots..

Frosty274

New Member
I going to be on Christmas break from college and i am driving back home which is a 2 hr drive and wanted to take my cham with me. I live in MN and right now its about 5 to 10 below 0 out! :mad: I wanted to know your guys opinion on the best way on transporting them. I have been looking on some past threads and they say putting them in a shoe box with with some paper towels and a most rag possibly, so they the came will fall asleep on the ride home. and wont even remember it. i was wondering if thats the best way or i have a smaller tank i could put him in also but then you have to worry about him falling and etc... Whats your guys opinion?

Another ? is it normal for a cham to eat roots of a plant? When i fed him today i fed him 3 large crickets which he eat those as soon as they where in the cage. I usually feed him about 10 small but the cricket and some repti worms. The size of the small crickets have shrunk even smaller than normal and he seem to not like them ones because i put some in their and ignored them. So when he was done eating the 3 bigger ones he ignored the small crickets and the repti-worms i had in a cup and stated "hunting" for more i think. He went to the base of the ficus and started eating the roots of the plant. Which leads me to think that he thinks that they are super worms. I give 1 to 2 of them a day as a teat because he loves them! After i seen him do that i held a super worm in front of him and ran to it and eat it instantly. Was he thinking the roots where worms and is that normal?

My cham is around 5-7 months old now and seems to be eating alot and wanting more food, if he like the big crickets how many should he be eating?

Thanks for your help! :)
 
I going to be on Christmas break from college and i am driving back home which is a 2 hr drive and wanted to take my cham with me. I live in MN and right now its about 5 to 10 below 0 out! :mad: I wanted to know your guys opinion on the best way on transporting them. I have been looking on some past threads and they say putting them in a shoe box with with some paper towels and a most rag possibly, so they the came will fall asleep on the ride home. and wont even remember it. i was wondering if thats the best way or i have a smaller tank i could put him in also but then you have to worry about him falling and etc... Whats your guys opinion?
QUOTE]

I would not worry to much about the temps I have had chams shipped in these temps! And the UPS truck is not heated! your car is (I hope) ;) I actually just recieved one this past Thursday. I would just insulate him in a box of sorts maybe throw a heat pack in there until your car is nice and toasty. I live in MN too and its not that big of an issue.
 
Okay sweet! ill just wait and warm-up my car before i go so its already warm! he will be alright in a box for 2 hrs with just clothes in it?

And do you know anything about him trying to eat the roots of the plant?
 
He, should be fine in the box for a couple of hours as long as you feed him and hydrate him good the day before.
About the plant, it might have to do with him missing nutrients and minerals from his food. You should look at your dusting schedule, perhaps it's not done constantly and he's looking to get those minerals somehow. How often do you dust the feeders? and are they well gut loaded?
 
That might be the case with dusting because i just started dusting everyday with zoo med's reptivite without d3. Before that it was about 3 times a week with reptivite with d3. I gut load my crickets with Flukers high calcium diet and flukers orange cube, then i mist there watering pact with calcium supplement. By Gut loading you mean put that those food and vitamins for the crickets to eat right?

And are you suppose to dust feeders everyday every feeder or just some of them?
 
If he can get to the roots he can get to the soil. You should prolly cover the soil with big river rocks cuz alot of chams like to eat dirt and that cam cuase impacting. Plus if your not using organic soil a lot of soil plants come in have added things in it that can harm a chameleon.
 
That might be the case with dusting because i just started dusting everyday with zoo med's reptivite without d3. Before that it was about 3 times a week with reptivite with d3. I gut load my crickets with Flukers high calcium diet and flukers orange cube, then i mist there watering pact with calcium supplement. By Gut loading you mean put that those food and vitamins for the crickets to eat right?

And are you suppose to dust feeders everyday every feeder or just some of them?

For me a normal dusting schedule is calcium with no d3 every other feeding (which for my chameleons is every other day) calcium with d3 twice a month and herptvite once a month. The size of the crickets should increase as the size of the chameleon increases. When most of us talk about gut loading our feeders like crickets, superworms, & roaches, we use things like kale, collard greens, squash, mustard greens, carrots (lot a lot of carrots), oranges, apples, etc. do a search on gutloading and you will get lots of information past what I have told you. I don't provide water for my feeders, I made them get it from the food the eat. I lot of people do give them some type of water or water crystals.
 
The river rocks sounds like a good idea. Thank you! :)

Thanks for the tips on gut loading Laurie i will get on the first thing in the morning! When do you switch you cham from eating everyday to every other day? Right now it seems as if he is always hungry and eats everything that goes into the cage!
 
I try to cut my kids down to every other day at somewhere around 6 months. I feed then good sized - not small - crickets 7 or 8 a day or 3 or 4 worms. i am not as good as I should be, I have 2 quads who have hit 6 months and are still eating every day. But I am working up to cutting them back.:confused:
 
Alright thanks! Then i probly should cut it to every other day within the next month or to. He seems so hungry all the time! I would hate to cut him off if hes hungry!
 
Back
Top Bottom