Boogiedog
New Member
I am new to the forum. A couple of weeks ago I adopted/rescued a gorgeous 1 yr old male veiled. His owner had gotten over-extended/overwhelmed with animals and was wise to reach out to re-home him. Although his cage was a little small, and he had no live plants, (and was tucked away in cluttered room) he is in decent health and a very handsome boy who tolerates handling very well.
I have been reading this forum top to bottom daily. There is some great information here! I also greatly appreciate that a single question can get dissenting answers - it really illustrates how there is no one, exact, correct answer for anyone and that you, as a responsible owner, need to be very aware of your own specific environmental factors that WILL impact your chameleon's existence.
Armed with lots of info I tried different lights, different combos of lights, existing habitat modification - and ultimately hit on what works for my big green guy. And wow, his energy level and color is now fantastic! Retrospectively I think he was "existing" - now he is absolutely "thriving". I am thrilled!
I will spare you the expenses on the trial and errors - but I ended up with a 2' x 2' x 48' screen cage from LLL (I did also buy the 2' extension but alas, my ceilings are too low and I am not comfortable lowering his cage further. That will be saved for what inevitably will be my next chameleon
). I tried and scrapped a zilla light and landed on a 24" T5. I added a 6500 lumens round gro-lamp as well. Also some nice big sticks from a vivarium store, and 4 2' horizontal 3/4' width dowels attached with large push-pins from the outside of the screen. Draped fake vivarium vines to ensure all levels were connected so he could make it up to his ceramic heater (8" above his basking spot).
Added largish potted plants - schflerra, ficus (river stones covering the soil to prevent ingestion); hanging plants - button fern, Boston fern and Staghorn fern (modified a plastic bathroom cup holder with lots of drainage holes - hung from the top frame with 6x fishing line down the outside of the screen, entering in at the holder top and tied through the holder holes. We'll see how long they stay hanging...)
Girded my loins and went deep on the Dubia roaches (definitely takes some getting used to) so I can start to add some variety to his diet (the previous owner fed only crickets and advised that was "all he needed"). Will soon be adding silkworms and hornworms to mix it up.
Currently hand-misting and using a cup drip system - did invest in the Monsoon that I will fire up when I can be home the whole on-cycle to ensure no flooding. From what I've read I'm hoping this wasn't a waste of money. But if so, Mistking here I come.
So, people of the forum, THANK YOU. Tremendous insight and honesty. I look forward to attending my first reptile show outside of Sac in late September and perhaps will meet some of you in person. Elliot is my first chameleon and I suspect far from my last. Amazing beings.
Again, thank you all.
I have been reading this forum top to bottom daily. There is some great information here! I also greatly appreciate that a single question can get dissenting answers - it really illustrates how there is no one, exact, correct answer for anyone and that you, as a responsible owner, need to be very aware of your own specific environmental factors that WILL impact your chameleon's existence.
Armed with lots of info I tried different lights, different combos of lights, existing habitat modification - and ultimately hit on what works for my big green guy. And wow, his energy level and color is now fantastic! Retrospectively I think he was "existing" - now he is absolutely "thriving". I am thrilled!
I will spare you the expenses on the trial and errors - but I ended up with a 2' x 2' x 48' screen cage from LLL (I did also buy the 2' extension but alas, my ceilings are too low and I am not comfortable lowering his cage further. That will be saved for what inevitably will be my next chameleon
). I tried and scrapped a zilla light and landed on a 24" T5. I added a 6500 lumens round gro-lamp as well. Also some nice big sticks from a vivarium store, and 4 2' horizontal 3/4' width dowels attached with large push-pins from the outside of the screen. Draped fake vivarium vines to ensure all levels were connected so he could make it up to his ceramic heater (8" above his basking spot).Added largish potted plants - schflerra, ficus (river stones covering the soil to prevent ingestion); hanging plants - button fern, Boston fern and Staghorn fern (modified a plastic bathroom cup holder with lots of drainage holes - hung from the top frame with 6x fishing line down the outside of the screen, entering in at the holder top and tied through the holder holes. We'll see how long they stay hanging...)
Girded my loins and went deep on the Dubia roaches (definitely takes some getting used to) so I can start to add some variety to his diet (the previous owner fed only crickets and advised that was "all he needed"). Will soon be adding silkworms and hornworms to mix it up.
Currently hand-misting and using a cup drip system - did invest in the Monsoon that I will fire up when I can be home the whole on-cycle to ensure no flooding. From what I've read I'm hoping this wasn't a waste of money. But if so, Mistking here I come.
So, people of the forum, THANK YOU. Tremendous insight and honesty. I look forward to attending my first reptile show outside of Sac in late September and perhaps will meet some of you in person. Elliot is my first chameleon and I suspect far from my last. Amazing beings.
Again, thank you all.
