Yemen advice needed :)

[xHex]

Hello
Just wondering if anyone can give me some answers to my questions! They're just random & in no particular order, just things I need to clear before buying a cham. Any advice is greatly appreciated!


-I am most likely be going to use a glass terrarium with a mesh lid, will this allow for enough circulation of fresh air? If not, is it possible to use a deskfan or i've head that Exoterra sell mini-fans for this reason, would it be suitable?

-Do female chameleons have to mate and become fertilised before they lay eggs? Or does it happen whether the female has mated or not?

-What veggies do they eat? I've heard that some kinds of lettuce can be toxic. Is there a list of some sort which I can be linked to?

-What is the humidity level needed within the terrarium?

-How many crickets should I feed per day for adults and juveniles? and how often?

-What bulbs and lighting do I need in terms of the Exoterra ones (http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products/lighting.php)

-Does a heatmat need to be used? What size would be recommended to keep the terrarium at optimum temperature/humidity?

Thanks for having the patience to read & thankyou for any replies

 

[Brad Ramsey]

This should answer all of your questions and more:

http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/

-Brad

 

[jannb]

Welcome to the Chameleon Forums. Where do you live? Most of us here in the US use a screen cage for a veiled. You need a Reptisun 5.0 tube light. You can get one here: http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog/...n-50-uvb-bulb/

How old will you new cham be? You MIGHT need a basking light which can be a household bulb (40 watt or so)

Your lights need to be across the top of the cage and you need allot of vines and branches 8 inches or so down from the top.
You can make a homemade dripper. Take a plastic cup or bowl and poke a couple of very small holes in the bottom. Fill it with very warm water and make sure it drips very slow over a vine with leaves so your little guy can drink form the leaves. Also mist for a pretty long time. It takes awhile for them to start drinking. I would mist 3 or 4 times a day for 5 minutes or so. You will need drainage for your cage. Maybe some holes in the bottom with a bucket sitting under it to catch the water.

Branches from outside are ok from most trees. Clean them well and some member bake them in the oven. Cut the branch the size you need and thumb tacks can be use on each end to hold the branches up.

You have to have the 5.0 UVB bulb like the one in the link. It has to be the tube style. A must to keep you guy from having MBD. If it's fairly warm in your house at 2 months old you will not need a basking bulb older than two you probably will. How will you measuring the heat and humidity? This will be very important. At 2 months he should be 80 in his basking spot. At night he needs to be dark, no light, and cool so he can rest. He should be 10 degrees cooler at night than in the daytime but not below 65.

The feeders have to be "lightly" dusted with 3 kinds of supplements. Plain calcium (no d3) at just about every feeding. Calcium with d3 twice a month and a multi. vit. once a month. In this link I use the 1st, 3rd and 5th one.
http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog/...cage-cleaners/

You need to gut load the crickets with collard greens they are excellent. You can also use kale, carrots, squash and orange. You can also buy a premixed gut load. One of the members here sales it. https://www.chameleonforums.com/cricket-crack-sale-23533/
Looking forward to seeing pictures of your little guy!

The link that Brad gave you on keeping veileds is excellent. I still refer to it from time to time. http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleo...max-results=11

 

[justjumpit621]

By the sounds of it I believe you are thinking of an aquarium, not a terrarium. A terrarium looks like this:

If this is what you have then no you should not need anything else, the vents on the bottom and top circulate air. But I would advise against a glass aquarium that you would hold fish or rodents in, they have very poor air circulation and can cause URI's and bacterial/ fungal growth.

 

[justjumpit621]

Also, females do not need to be bred to lay infertile eggs, I compare them to chickens sort of =P it seems to be the easiest thing for people to relate to. Also, no need for undertank heaters, the lamps will do just fine. One more thing, if you can't afford a terrarium, I use a metal birdcage. You just have to make sure you mist it a lot to keep up humidity.

 

[xHex]

Thanks guys The advice is much appreciated.
I wasn't thinking of an aquarium, sorry if it sounded that way!
I'm trying to weigh up the pro's & con's of males/females as the males grow bigger & don't lay eggs but the females are smaller but lay eggs, confoodling! Although I think I will end up settling for the male - I wanted to call her Cupcake too haha

Jannb - Thanks for the welcome, I live in the UK. I'd prefer to get a cham at juvenile stage so he will be pretty established. I'll be measuring temperature & humidity with digital thermometers/hydrometers.
Why does the lighting specifically have to be tube kind? Just curious

 

[jannb]

Thanks guys The advice is much appreciated.
I wasn't thinking of an aquarium, sorry if it sounded that way!
I'm trying to weigh up the pro's & con's of males/females as the males grow bigger & don't lay eggs but the females are smaller but lay eggs, confoodling! Although I think I will end up settling for the male - I wanted to call her Cupcake too haha

Jannb - Thanks for the welcome, I live in the UK. I'd prefer to get a cham at juvenile stage so he will be pretty established. I'll be measuring temperature & humidity with digital thermometers/hydrometers.
Why does the lighting specifically have to be tube kind? Just curious

The coil light causes eye problems that leads to blindness.

 

[justjumpit621]

observe:

 

[graydon]

Thanks guys The advice is much appreciated.
I wasn't thinking of an aquarium, sorry if it sounded that way!
I'm trying to weigh up the pro's & con's of males/females as the males grow bigger & don't lay eggs but the females are smaller but lay eggs, confoodling! Although I think I will end up settling for the male - I wanted to call her Cupcake too haha

Jannb - Thanks for the welcome, I live in the UK. I'd prefer to get a cham at juvenile stage so he will be pretty established. I'll be measuring temperature & humidity with digital thermometers/hydrometers.
Why does the lighting specifically have to be tube kind? Just curious

coiled uvb bulbs cause blindness. That leaves you with the linear bulb. reptisun 5.0 18" is what you want for a standard cage.

 

[justjumpit621]

and the compact bulbs do too, don't forget

 

[graydon]

and the compact bulbs do too, don't forget

Coiled bulbs are compact..