MissSkittles
Chameleon Enthusiast
Hi. I’m new to having a reptile and while I’ve gotten tremendous information from reading posts and the help/care sheets, I do need some personalized info please.
- Veiled female age unknown but probably older than 6 mos and less than 1 year old. I’ve had her just shy of 1 month
- handling only when required (twice so far). She hisses and tries to bite so I respect her desire not to be handled.
- feed her 6-8 sm-med crickets daily and few times a week about 4 sm super-worms. Although I suspect she nibbles on her Pothos, she has rejected fresh greens and fruit.
- started 2 days ago dusting crickets daily with Zoo med calcium without D3. Has gotten Reptocal calcium with D3 and Exo terra multivitamin every other week. I had been ignorant of true calcium need.
- spray enclosure min of 3 times daily, up to 5 if able. I do not spray her. Using a dripper for hydration. Tried Little dripper and it broke/ was hard to adjust. As a nurse, I found easiest solution in an enteral feeding bag. All water used is filtered.
- Poo is formed pellets, dark brownish black with white Urates. Has not been tested for parasites.
- I got her from my older teen step daughter who had no significant adult help with her. She got from, “some kid at school” and the Cham was supposedly a baby. I have to assume the poor thing has been thru some poor care and at least some emotional trauma.
- enclosure is 16x16x30. Will be upgrading to 24x24x48 in the next week or two, as budget permits. Just in case, I have put in a lay box with moist organic soil. No digging so far.
-wrongly assumed the Zoo med day/night light provided uvb. Few days ago realized my error and added Zoo med repti sun T5-HO. Both are on approx 12 hrs daily.
- temp stays between 85 - 90
- humidity was between 55 - 70% when I had cage next to open window. Since moving cage and closing window I can’t get it above 40%. Going to try putting a shower curtain at back of enclosure to keep in humidity.
- 1 live Pothos plant and some fake ones. Want to add more live plants.
- I need to keep her out of sight of dog and cats, so she’s in spare bedroom, which I only go in to care for her and her crickets. AC vent is angled away but is closed.
- live in central Florida
- using coconut fiber mat substrate
- crickets are fed fluker’s orange cubes, but they mostly eat fresh fruit and dandelion greens. Also use fluker’s cricket quench.
So, my primary concern is this white patch that’s just appeared and grown larger over the past couple of days. She had completed a shed when I got her and this doesn’t appear to be loose skin.
I was clueless about how much to feed. Guy at small exotic pet store said they stop eating when full. I believe he gave me false info as when I tried this, she never seemed full and kept waiting by food bowl for more. I’ve since learned the truth from reading posts. But is my girl fat now? She seemed overly skinny when I got her. Is the first pic. Step daughter gave her only 4 small super worms daily.
What is a good economical humidifier? Can I use one designed for humans? Is cool mist better?
What are some safe plants that are also as small as Pothos?
Any and all help and guidance will be greatly appreciated.
- Veiled female age unknown but probably older than 6 mos and less than 1 year old. I’ve had her just shy of 1 month
- handling only when required (twice so far). She hisses and tries to bite so I respect her desire not to be handled.
- feed her 6-8 sm-med crickets daily and few times a week about 4 sm super-worms. Although I suspect she nibbles on her Pothos, she has rejected fresh greens and fruit.
- started 2 days ago dusting crickets daily with Zoo med calcium without D3. Has gotten Reptocal calcium with D3 and Exo terra multivitamin every other week. I had been ignorant of true calcium need.
- spray enclosure min of 3 times daily, up to 5 if able. I do not spray her. Using a dripper for hydration. Tried Little dripper and it broke/ was hard to adjust. As a nurse, I found easiest solution in an enteral feeding bag. All water used is filtered.
- Poo is formed pellets, dark brownish black with white Urates. Has not been tested for parasites.
- I got her from my older teen step daughter who had no significant adult help with her. She got from, “some kid at school” and the Cham was supposedly a baby. I have to assume the poor thing has been thru some poor care and at least some emotional trauma.
- enclosure is 16x16x30. Will be upgrading to 24x24x48 in the next week or two, as budget permits. Just in case, I have put in a lay box with moist organic soil. No digging so far.
-wrongly assumed the Zoo med day/night light provided uvb. Few days ago realized my error and added Zoo med repti sun T5-HO. Both are on approx 12 hrs daily.
- temp stays between 85 - 90
- humidity was between 55 - 70% when I had cage next to open window. Since moving cage and closing window I can’t get it above 40%. Going to try putting a shower curtain at back of enclosure to keep in humidity.
- 1 live Pothos plant and some fake ones. Want to add more live plants.
- I need to keep her out of sight of dog and cats, so she’s in spare bedroom, which I only go in to care for her and her crickets. AC vent is angled away but is closed.
- live in central Florida
- using coconut fiber mat substrate
- crickets are fed fluker’s orange cubes, but they mostly eat fresh fruit and dandelion greens. Also use fluker’s cricket quench.
So, my primary concern is this white patch that’s just appeared and grown larger over the past couple of days. She had completed a shed when I got her and this doesn’t appear to be loose skin.
I was clueless about how much to feed. Guy at small exotic pet store said they stop eating when full. I believe he gave me false info as when I tried this, she never seemed full and kept waiting by food bowl for more. I’ve since learned the truth from reading posts. But is my girl fat now? She seemed overly skinny when I got her. Is the first pic. Step daughter gave her only 4 small super worms daily.
What is a good economical humidifier? Can I use one designed for humans? Is cool mist better?
What are some safe plants that are also as small as Pothos?
Any and all help and guidance will be greatly appreciated.
