I recommend buying an IR temp gun instead of wasting money on a bunch of stationary thermometers. I just bought an IR gun on Amazon for about $12, and it works great. You can get fancier ones for more money, but for chameleon temp monitoring, I prefer this one. It measures to 1/10th of a degree...
Yeah, I thought I was doing something wrong when half my crickets died in the first day or two! Then I ordered some crickets on Amazon, and they actually showed up at my house 90% dead. That's when I found out lots of suppliers don't think it's worth their time to feed them. Crickets are...
I don't own a panther, but I've seen several panther owners and for sale ads mention the same problem... Perhaps its a known issue with panther chams? I've also heard that frequent cup feeding can cause them to lose the "shooting ability" of their tongue, and it won't go out very far.
A...
I order crickets from www.backwarerreptiles.com and I've been very happy with them. However, I think their other feeders are kinda expensive.
I get silkworms from www.coastalsilkworms.com and hornworms from www.greatlakeshornworms.com. Both of those companies also have selections of other...
My veiled Louie is going through the same stage and he looks the exact same way... Dull brown compared to his normal pretty self. He's only eating about half as much as normal, and pacing up and down and across the bottom of the tank. He's also grouchy, but he was grouchy before...
Your guy...
I agree with what everyone else says about the 2' cage... Not really good for any arboreal species.
I also wanted to add that pygmy chameleons are better kept in a vented glass tank, like the ExoTerra tanks, unlike any other type of chameleon. This is because they need high humidity. I wasn't...
To my knowledge, tomato plants are only toxic if ingested. So technically, sitting on the plant wouldn't be toxic, but if he takes a bite OR zaps a bug that's been eating the tomato plant, it IS toxic. This is the reason you can only feed chams hornworms that have been feed an artificial diet...
If you figure out a way to keep your veiled tame and calm during handling, please let me know! I thought maybe I was doing something wrong because, although mine will tolerate me now without getting stressed, gaping or "firing up" during feeding/cleaning, they are not friendly or tame in any...
Dechlorinator products made for fish or aquariums aren't safe for reptiles... They have extra stuff added to build up the slime coat in the tank. Not sure about products made for tree frogs because I don't have any.
I order ReptiSafe on amazon. It's like $8 for an 8 oz bottle that lasts...
What are you using for the sides? I've been thinking about diying an enclosure but I'm clueless what you can use for sides besides window screen and hardware cloth.
The smallest enclosure I've used for a baby chameleon is also 16x16x30. A 12x12x18 does sound rather small and I've personally never heard anyone recommend them, but if you're girlfriend has experience raising has baby chams in the small enclosures (and your better recommended it), by all means...
Discoids are very similar to dubias and one isn't any better or worse than the other. I think dubias are more popular just because you hear more about them, but lots of people on here who have raised and fed both say there is little difference.
Leon looks great and it sounds like he has a good family to take care of him . Be careful, chams are addictive! It's hard to just have one.
My girl Xena does the turns-sideways-and-gets-dark thing too and it totally scared me at first because my first veiled chameleon Louie never did that...
I think you're probably right. My chams sit in their basking spot and gape occasionally, and they're fine. I think occasionally it's fine as long as they aren't doing it all the time or at the bottom of the cage gaping. My veiled chams yawn too and occasionally do weird stretches.