23 years with chams-some observations

nick barta

Chameleon Enthusiast
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I would like to share some thoughts about the husbandry of chams, and in the process, share some conclusions based on my experiences and the help of other cham keepers.

Please read this post understanding that not all my perceptions are right, and I believe we all are in a continuous learning journey on how to successfully take care of chams. I think most points have value, even if that value is to challenge your thinking.:D

1) Feeders-Buy what you need. 1,000 crickets at 2.7 cents each does no good if your chameleons only eat 20 a day. Sooo much $ lost!

2) Feeders-Keep Superworms in oats, not bran-they smell better. Use a strainer to sift out the frass (poop) and the worms and oats can go back in the bin.

3) Feeders-Hornworms ensure your cham is being hydrated, so even if the cham does not drink in front of you, no worries. Hornworms are 85% H2O.

4) Feeders-Blue Bottle Flies are the BEST food for developing hunting skills and exercise. Don't feed them, they leave a brown spit on everything. Gutload the other feeders-the BB is for fun!

5) Feeders-Silkworms are the highest protein feeder, great for all sizes of chams, and you MUST hatch some moths for dinner...

6) Feeders-Mealworms are a no for me. Since superworms are softer, I never have used mealworms. Crickets are crunchy enough for roughage IMO.

7) Feeders-Stick Insects are probably one of the most common prey items in Africa and Madagascar; it makes sense to have this as a staple. You can have your own colony, Indian Sticks are the easiest.

8) Feeders-Butterworms are less fat than waxworms, last a lot longer in the fridge, get bigger than wax worms, and smell like oranges. Once Butterworms became available, I quit using wax worms.

9) Feeders-Wild caught insects are probably better than many farmed insects, and probably offer nutritional value beyond our efforts with farmed insects.

10) Enclosures-Create dense habitats where the cham can hide. The ability to hide is more important than me wanting to see him. Who is the habitat for??

11) Enclosures-Think horizontal highways, not vertical. Horizontal branches should be the majority of the branches. Have a top and mid level, and don't do a low level where the cham may easily hunt for food items on the floor who are eating cham poop and drinking nasty plant water. Exception for female chams; a branch down to the floor for egg laying.

12) Enclosures-Create a feeding container like the Sunny Delight bottle. This will reduce the number of feeders that fall to the floor, and enough escape to still have hunting occur.

13) Enclosures-Best automatic watering system is a Mist King (or other) pump, with 1/4 inch soaker hose from Lowes, zip-tied off to the upper branches. Nothing on the top of the screen, no nozzles spraying water on the floor. 22 inches of soaker hose RAINS 5 gallons of water over 6 days(If misting works for you in eye washing, keep it).With ANY watering system, you need 12 inches of a barrier along all sides of the bottom of the cage to stop splatter onto your floor (I use plexiglass so I can still see into the cage).

14) Enclosures-Lighting is critical, have the experts help you. At the writing of this, Todd at Light Your Reptiles is the best. You need a temperature gun to measure the temps in your cage, especially the basking spot. Chams with low temperatures for basking will not survive. Check the basking temperature weekly, and daily look to see if the basking bulb is burned out.

15) Myths..."Chams cannot be kept successfully in anything but a screen cage." Why do we Americans assume we are always right??

16) Myths..."Only feed wild caught insects you are sure are from a pesticide free zone." That would mean NO wild insects could be fed to chams. If the friggin insect is flying, leaping, crawling, etc, it is lunch. Paranoid parrots IMHO....

17) Myths..."The superworm needs its' head cut off before feeding it to your cham, or the superworm can eat a hole in the chams stomach/intestine." This is ridiculous, a cham does not suck the food down, they crunch it up.

18) Myths..."You should clip off the back legs of crickets because they will stab into the chams mouth/tongue." Really? who cuts off insect legs in Madagascar? That being said, I wouldn't give my cham a StickleBack stick bug, but cricket legs? Me thinks we cham keepers are a bit anal.

19) Myths...If it is on the Internet, it MUST be true...

20) Myths...Humanizing a lizard is unhelpful. "He likes me!" "He is angry because I ____." "He climbed right up my arm, he is beginning to trust me."

21) Myths..."I fed my cham ____ and he got sick from it" "I used Perlite and all my panther eggs didn't hatch. Perlite doesn't hold moisture." Sometimes we act like we are doctors with degrees, making assumptions and diagnoses that are unfounded, and by posting them here, take the chance of influencing new keepers who don't know how to separate the mushrooms from the bull.... It's kind of like watching Doctor House on TV and thinking 'Hey, i can figure stuff out like House can!' Don't believe something based on an experience, it rarely holds true when you compare to true studies, and in our case, to the collective experiences of the truly experienced cham keepers who not only have lots of green by their name, but have proven success in many species, in many vet visits, are able to breed and raise generations to F3 and beyond, and have many years of this hobby. BTW, I really only qualify in the years spent category.:D

Finally, get a mentor who you trust to ask your questions, to point you in the right direction. This hobby is not like many other reptile hobbies, it requires more than most people entering realize.

CHEERS!:D

Nick Barta
 
I agree with the 'Likes/Loves' me thing.

I think it's more of a sentimental thing when people say 'my cham loves me' but, really, we should start using 'tolerate' more.
 
I have only a few years of chameleon experience but I've come to 90% of those conclusions myself......and all without a mentor ;)..... A few little details I do differently (haven't got round to temp gun yet, using digital probes and double checking though). I haven't yet used butterworms or hornworms. And I use mealworms for about 2% of diet currently but it was more when my current chams were young......
I keep Veileds only so far, so not needed automatic misting.
I am so glad I found this forum, it has refined what I do so much, thanks to the great experience of people like you. It gives me more confidence that I am on the right track to read excellent posts like this.

I agree with the 'Likes/Loves' me thing.

I think it's more of a sentimental thing when people say 'my cham loves me' but, really, we should start using 'tolerate' more.
One of the wisest 14 year olds around, you are Sonny :)
 
Hi I'm new n have a ? Are there any species of Cham I can keep w full grown cresteds in a 200 gal terr?
Sorry, it would probably look nice but it's just impractical.......chameleons in general are solitary animals which get 'stressed' when kept in close quarters with other animals.
Pygmy chameleons can often be kept in small groups if you have done a lot of research about what they need.
 
I have only a few years of chameleon experience but I've come to 90% of those conclusions myself......and all without a mentor ;)..... A few little details I do differently (haven't got round to temp gun yet, using digital probes and double checking though). I haven't yet used butterworms or hornworms. And I use mealworms for about 2% of diet currently but it was more when my current chams were young......
I keep Veileds only so far, so not needed automatic misting.
I am so glad I found this forum, it has refined what I do so much, thanks to the great experience of people like you. It gives me more confidence that I am on the right track to read excellent posts like this.


One of the wisest 14 year olds around, you are Sonny :)

Haha thanks. :)

Kinda like you, I've only kept this chameleon for about a month and a half/two months and since I joined this site I learned soooooo much about them.

Definitely 70% better keeper since being on here. So many different opinions and theories and they all mesh into one and improve each other over time with different people trying new stuff and reporting with feedback.

This site is exploring the chameleon frontier!
 
Haha thanks. :)

Kinda like you, I've only kept this chameleon for about a month and a half/two months and since I joined this site I learned soooooo much about them.

Definitely 70% better keeper since being on here. So many different opinions and theories and they all mesh into one and improve each other over time with different people trying new stuff and reporting with feedback.

This site is exploring the chameleon frontier!

Not exactly like me though......I got my first anole at the age of 12 and was gutloading pretty good considering.......
I got my first cham at 18 and she lived to about 3 (she had bad MBD from the shop) . Then I had several years years break from new lizards 'cos I had other things to do......
I'm about 20% better since I found the forum........maybe lol.
'The chameleon frontier' hahaha. I really like your posts man :)
 
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Not exactly like me though......I got my first anole at the age of 12 and was gutloading pretty good considering.......
I got my first cham at 18 and she lived to about 3. Then I had several years years break from new lizards 'cos I had other things to do......
I'm about 20% better since I found the forum........maybe lol.
'The chameleon frontier' hahaha. I really like your posts man :)

I know I'm not exactly the same, that's why I said kinda. :p

And I'm sayin' 70% better because when I started I didn't mist.. And had substrate. And didn't have branches. And ect ect.
And reading this stuff, I was like "oh crap". I didn't want a dead lizard! :( So I learned everything I possibly could in about 2 hours and forced my dad to help me make his cage better. Now he is doing much better! And I am still learning new things about the different species every day. AND people post some pretty bad ass pictures of DIY enclosures. I get pretty jealous of them sometimes!

Thanks David, haha.
 
Thank you-thank you-thank you!!!!

Especially for the myth section. Nice to know, that I am not alone in my thoughts/conclusions. These forums are fantastic and full of useful knowledge, but I am often reluctant to post here myself because I am afraid of being eaten alive for e.g. not tearing rare legs of my crickets or keeping my chameleon in a glass terrarium.

Again, thank you for sharing.
 
Good to hear you've found wild caught insects ok to feed. I've seen the warnings not to (from suppliers mostly, go figure) but my common sense told me this was malarkey.

This summer I look forward to finding him some variety from the yard
 
Do you have any advice on crickets by the way?

I took a plastic container, and in addition to screening an air hole in the top, I screened the bottom with plastic grating found at Joannes Fabrics, they look like a plastic table placemats, and I believe are called plastic canvass. There are 2 sizes, the small one has holes 1/8" by 1/8." Use the small grid, hot glue on the whole bottom, and now all frass will fall through to a tray you can dump. This solves the cricket stink and you don't' have to transfer them for cleaning...:D
Obviously, too small of a cricket can get through a 1/8" hole, so it works for medium size up.
 
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