elizaann2
Chameleon Enthusiast
You can also raise the lamp higher so the temps aren’t too hot.
Sounds great just let us know if you have any questions!
Veiled chameleon enclosure help
- Thread starter cammo01
- Start date
Sounds great just let us know if you have any questions!
MissSkittles
Chameleon Enthusiast
Hi and welcome! You’ve been given fantastic input so far and I’m not sure that I need to add any more to it…but I will. 
I’m not all that experienced…I just have learned from the best. You’ll need to make some of the changes immediately to help ensure your little sweetie has no issues with egg production or laying. Getting the correct uvb and supplements is the priority. I don’t see that your cutie has developed her big girl colors yet, so there is a bit of time before she starts producing and laying eggs. At any time you’ll start seeing some teal and mustard colors or dark patterns forming and not going away, like the spots she may show when ‘fired up’ stressed. Usually around the same time that her colors are coming in, she’ll start becoming very active and restlessly moving all around and up and down her enclosure…she’s ready and looking for a boy. This is the time to get your lay bin ready and in.
You want to provide lots of little roads for her to travel on and exercise. I’m afraid that black vine which you have is known for shedding tiny particles that always seem to make their way into sensitive little googly eyes. The Fluker’s foam vines are a much better alternative. https://www.amazon.com/Fluker-Labs-...s+vine&qid=1716725615&sprefix=,aps,165&sr=8-1 I prefer to use natural branches as much as possible and have different thickness of them to properly use all of those mitten feet muscles. To attach, never attach directly to the screen as it will tear. You want to use the frame to bear all of the weight. There are Dragon Ledges https://dragonstrand.com/dragon-ledges/ which are awesome. Last year I needed to set up and enclosure and didn’t have time to order dragon ledges, so I used scrap garden lattice. It worked so well, that I bought a panel for setting up more enclosures. I drill tiny holes in the lattice where I need to attach it to the frame and in the frame, will attach a couple of small screws. Using thin wire, I then attach to the screws, which will prevent the lattice from sliding down and at other sites of the frame to secure. This is strong enough to hold a good amount of branches and even some plants. The lattice is a nice aesthetic too. You do want to keep the floor of the enclosure bare, which is easiest to keep clean and hygienic. You’ll need to figure out a way to manage excess drainage. Often a good substrate tray and a wet vac works well and is the simplest. Once you get the basics down, then you might want to set up bioactively, which is easier than it sounds, but does need to be done correctly. We’ve thrown enough at you for now though, so concentrate your efforts on making your sweetie a beautiful little forest edge with lots of safe live plants and branches and vines. It is a process of always learning and improving until we get it all as perfect as we can. We’ve all started at the beginning and are here to help however we can.
You’ve been given fantastic input so far and I’m not sure that I need to add any more to it…but I will. I’m not all that experienced…I just have learned from the best. You’ll need to make some of the changes immediately to help ensure your little sweetie has no issues with egg production or laying. Getting the correct uvb and supplements is the priority. I don’t see that your cutie has developed her big girl colors yet, so there is a bit of time before she starts producing and laying eggs. At any time you’ll start seeing some teal and mustard colors or dark patterns forming and not going away, like the spots she may show when ‘fired up’ stressed. Usually around the same time that her colors are coming in, she’ll start becoming very active and restlessly moving all around and up and down her enclosure…she’s ready and looking for a boy. This is the time to get your lay bin ready and in.You want to provide lots of little roads for her to travel on and exercise. I’m afraid that black vine which you have is known for shedding tiny particles that always seem to make their way into sensitive little googly eyes. The Fluker’s foam vines are a much better alternative. https://www.amazon.com/Fluker-Labs-...s+vine&qid=1716725615&sprefix=,aps,165&sr=8-1 I prefer to use natural branches as much as possible and have different thickness of them to properly use all of those mitten feet muscles. To attach, never attach directly to the screen as it will tear. You want to use the frame to bear all of the weight. There are Dragon Ledges https://dragonstrand.com/dragon-ledges/ which are awesome. Last year I needed to set up and enclosure and didn’t have time to order dragon ledges, so I used scrap garden lattice. It worked so well, that I bought a panel for setting up more enclosures. I drill tiny holes in the lattice where I need to attach it to the frame and in the frame, will attach a couple of small screws. Using thin wire, I then attach to the screws, which will prevent the lattice from sliding down and at other sites of the frame to secure. This is strong enough to hold a good amount of branches and even some plants. The lattice is a nice aesthetic too. You do want to keep the floor of the enclosure bare, which is easiest to keep clean and hygienic. You’ll need to figure out a way to manage excess drainage. Often a good substrate tray and a wet vac works well and is the simplest. Once you get the basics down, then you might want to set up bioactively, which is easier than it sounds, but does need to be done correctly. We’ve thrown enough at you for now though, so concentrate your efforts on making your sweetie a beautiful little forest edge with lots of safe live plants and branches and vines. It is a process of always learning and improving until we get it all as perfect as we can. We’ve all started at the beginning and are here to help however we can.
Hey Everyone!
I just want to make sure I understand you correctly on the lighting, so I'm attaching my plan below from all the helpful information provided. Please let me know if you have any further notes or suggestions as I want to make sure I get it right this time !
- replace 75 watt bulb with 65 watt bulb
- get dimmer to make the basking spot less than 80 and the ambient 73-78 dimmer
- get this hood
- with this bulb - replace every 6 months
Its not in the budget to get a Solarmeter as of right now but I am going to get better temp and humidity sensors and eventually a Solarmeter!
Also Currently soaking sticks and have removed the fake plants and are getting real plants from the list you mentioned ! Also reading about lay bins now with that helpful link !
Thanks again everyone your help is much appreciated!
I just want to make sure I understand you correctly on the lighting, so I'm attaching my plan below from all the helpful information provided. Please let me know if you have any further notes or suggestions as I want to make sure I get it right this time !
- replace 75 watt bulb with 65 watt bulb
- get dimmer to make the basking spot less than 80 and the ambient 73-78 dimmer
- get this hood
- with this bulb - replace every 6 months
Its not in the budget to get a Solarmeter as of right now but I am going to get better temp and humidity sensors and eventually a Solarmeter!
Also Currently soaking sticks and have removed the fake plants and are getting real plants from the list you mentioned ! Also reading about lay bins now with that helpful link !
Thanks again everyone your help is much appreciated!
Thank you very much for all of this !! I will be removing the vines as you suggested an replace with real wood until I can order those vines ! The lattice approach would be nice given the urgency I feel around this, but don't believe I can drill into the frame of my cage without breaking it. I will instead rush order several of those dragon ledges and some magnetic vine holders I have seen. You mention the bottom of the cage should be bare, would reptile carpeting be preferred or do you mean just straight glass ?Hi and welcome!
You want to provide lots of little roads for her to travel on and exercise. I’m afraid that black vine which you have is known for shedding tiny particles that always seem to make their way into sensitive little googly eyes. The Fluker’s foam vines are a much better alternative. https://www.amazon.com/Fluker-Labs-SFK51019-Branch-Habitat/dp/B0009YEB52/ref=sr_1_1?crid=HP08LPJS2OXT&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.-XlFzIZ5Jnh4SXtT3jGHyb4jSWV0h3ekdvi-Fgcsp391UexpdSHkWTx8wtOWtubvVb-SdA0cD4-6eIUCbJ-VcJWiH61R9OPYHNUUsQeNIEKB8wyqi2NSrkeMNDm1VBLunFWfGTX4WCFwao-TWmjOqXcRN80jv-sI08GiyAPP8eOS3zZqF2VbxSLZdhjWZ633vHMONtS1JwWLxD9PgeY7N5oaaXIU0mLNKNa0cfkDeFTX97-AID1Xpt0WSb5WjApwspwT0sOT6IvAhwtDstYTKvAhqBgG07poPRJtBghoVq4._G4R79hfteFFtR7nzVZ3LOeivAW9JhffKafaQd12j_Q&dib_tag=se&keywords=fluker's+vine&qid=1716725615&sprefix=,aps,165&sr=8-1 I prefer to use natural branches as much as possible and have different thickness of them to properly use all of those mitten feet muscles. To attach, never attach directly to the screen as it will tear. You want to use the frame to bear all of the weight. There are Dragon Ledges https://dragonstrand.com/dragon-ledges/ which are awesome. Last year I needed to set up and enclosure and didn’t have time to order dragon ledges, so I used scrap garden lattice. It worked so well, that I bought a panel for setting up more enclosures. I drill tiny holes in the lattice where I need to attach it to the frame and in the frame, will attach a couple of small screws. Using thin wire, I then attach to the screws, which will prevent the lattice from sliding down and at other sites of the frame to secure. This is strong enough to hold a good amount of branches and even some plants. The lattice is a nice aesthetic too. You do want to keep the floor of the enclosure bare, which is easiest to keep clean and hygienic. You’ll need to figure out a way to manage excess drainage. Often a good substrate tray and a wet vac works well and is the simplest. Once you get the basics down, then you might want to set up bioactively, which is easier than it sounds, but does need to be done correctly. We’ve thrown enough at you for now though, so concentrate your efforts on making your sweetie a beautiful little forest edge with lots of safe live plants and branches and vines. It is a process of always learning and improving until we get it all as perfect as we can. We’ve all started at the beginning and are here to help however we can.
Thank you for your help and I appreciate any advice at all !
M&M
Established Member
You can also raise the lamp higher so the temps aren’t too hot.
Sounds great just let us know if you have any questions!
Can't recommend this enough!!! Raising my bulbs was one of the best additions I made to my enclosures (as well as the most relieving as my little guy screen walks). I use a 75w bulb for my larger enclosures and having the stand allows me to fine-tune exactly how much heat is on their basking spot. I just picked up one that was well rated on Amazon and I've had good results with 3 of them.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BYS18WKN?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1
Still might be worth keeping a lower bulb on hand also, I have 50w bulbs just in case the temperatures seemed like they were climbing too high.
MissSkittles
Chameleon Enthusiast
Is your enclosure all glass or does it have screen sides? If it’s all screen, you should be able to install some small screws to the frame. All of mine are screen with aluminum frame. If you have glass sides, the dragon ledges won’t work either. In that case maybe you could use some command hooks to secure trellis or another system, like creating a little scaffolding with branches. It may not be strong enough to hang plants from though.
Bare floor, as in nothing but the floor. Reptile carpet becomes a bacterial mess no matter how well you keep it clean and without the proper drainage, clean up crew and all else of bioactive, a substrate will become a wet muddy mess also with bad bacteria. Here’s a blog about setting up bioactively if you are interested. https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/intro-to-bio-activity.2429/ As I said previously, it looks much harder than it is, but it does need to be done correctly and we can help you through.
I’m adding some pics of enclosures I’ve set up for my panthers just to give you some inspiration maybe. The first is with dragon ledges and is a standard 2x2x4’ enclosure. The others are how I attached the trellis and screws and set up a double sized Bio-Active enclosure. Like just about everyone, I bought my share of fake plants when I was new. Rather than throw them away, I like to attach them to the doors of my enclosures to give my chameleons a little extra privacy.
This reminds me…it is very nice for our chams to give them a feeding station. There are several commercial ones or you can craft your own. I use the Shooting Gallery https://tkchameleons.com/products/shooting-gallery?variant=30018608595032 some like the Full Throttle design https://www.fullthrottlefeeders.com/ and a cute variant of that is the Lunch Log https://sunsetchameleons.com/product-category/chameleons/chameleon-feeders/ plus if you look on Etsy, you’ll find other variations of these styles. The advantage of using one is your cham always knows where the food will be and it’s sweet when you catch them running to it as soon as they see you.
My enclosure has screen sides, so that might work ill take a closer look, Otherwise ill go the command strip route! Thank you for all the information ! Going shopping today for plants and a way to hang them! I'm definitely interested in bioactive, but feel I need to make sure the girl has everything she needs first as I'm already a little overwhelmed. But I will definitely save that link and come back to it once the enclosure is setup pretty well and the lights/ misting station arrive ! Will also be getting one of those feeder stations !
elizaann2
Chameleon Enthusiast
Fantastic! Reach out with any questions! And no rush on the bio active. I’ve had chams for about 2 and a half years if I remember correctly and am just getting to the point where I feel comfortable with the idea of making their enclosures bioactive. Take your time
