Harry938
Member
4 months ago I posted this thread asking for help and wow did you guys help 
,
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/is-this-set-up-right-for-a-yemen-chameleon.192635/
As you’ll see or remember from that thread I basically had no idea how to house a chameleon and not much knowledge on anything chameleon really, this is my update on him now,
He’s in the same Viv currently, it is of suitable size but I’m looking at building a hybrid mesh/wood enclosure that fits on the unit better, plus as it will be a custom build I can make it suit mine and his needs better, it will be fully waterproofed on the bottom to allow it to be bioactive with a drainage layer.
Here is my plan, if you see anything that could be improved please let me know, I’m going to add the fan of his current Viv to the mesh side, I believe @Beman said he’d help once built with light setup.
Now, back to current Viv for the time being, you’ll see from the old thread how barren and bare his Viv was but now it is a fully bio activate Viv, I stripped all the old junk substrate out, waterproofed with prorep resin, added gravel and clay balls (one bag wasn’t enough) for the drainage layer lined with the fiber stuff and added jungle mix for frogs along with coir fiber for the substrate, added spring tails and isopods, I did have giant orange wood lice and some others but not seen any for a while and think they’ve probably become food
. It’s been like this for about 3 months and seems to be doing well, had slight mushroom and mild issue as beginning but seems to be stable now.
Currently planted is 2 spiderplants up high a pothos that seems to just be taking off and a large weeping fig tree as the main plant, I believe is provides him plenty of shade, cover and hiding spots but also plenty of room to go for light. He has basking uva, uvb strip and LED plant light (no heat)
Now there is some plastic still in there but trying to remove it causes damage to the wood and was glued there by previous Viv owner as it was second hand, I’ve never seen him try to eat leaves and even when offered veg and prickly pear will not touch it
, I feel a little bit of plastic is better than germ breeding grounds in exposed chipboard, and I know your probably reading this seen as I tagged you so I’m sorry the dripper plant is still in the beman but I promise I clean all pipes and filters daily along with water changes, everytime I take it out he gets dehydrated no matter how much the monsoon sprays his tree or the fogger keeps it humid overnight, which I have both, fogged comes on with lights off and off with lights on, it has built in humidistat set at 80% per chameleon academy’s blog. The monsoon is double sprayer and adequately dampens everything down with lights on and off.
As I’m using the fogger I made sure to get a humidity controlled fan to make sure the humidity stays low during the day and doesn’t take to long to go down. It is set to come on when humidity is over 50% and turns on with lights on, it usally takes about 40is min to get humidity down, along with this fan there’s a tiny one that’s is on constantly on low power drawing air out the back vent, between the big one at the bottom thru day and top one on constant there is really good airflow for a wood Viv.
Feeders:
Currently he’s been getting cockroaches, silkworms, crickets and fruit beetle larvae, occasional waxworm. Everything is fed a blended mix from the forums gutloading photo and commercial gut load, gave waterballs for hydration or jelly pot baring silkworms but they get silkworm chow.
My schedule is:
Calcium- every feed (except when giving something below)
D3- 1st/15th each month
Vit-A-Min- 4th feed after D3
Exo terra supplement (no d3)- usally once a month but sometimes twice I feel this is best when he’s been dehydrated to help rehydrate as has electrolytes and stuff.
Below are a few more photos and clips of him and his Viv I hope when I’m doing is better than before and hopefully I’m a better chameleon guardian, thankyou for reading.
, https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/is-this-set-up-right-for-a-yemen-chameleon.192635/
As you’ll see or remember from that thread I basically had no idea how to house a chameleon and not much knowledge on anything chameleon really, this is my update on him now,
He’s in the same Viv currently, it is of suitable size but I’m looking at building a hybrid mesh/wood enclosure that fits on the unit better, plus as it will be a custom build I can make it suit mine and his needs better, it will be fully waterproofed on the bottom to allow it to be bioactive with a drainage layer.
Here is my plan, if you see anything that could be improved please let me know, I’m going to add the fan of his current Viv to the mesh side, I believe @Beman said he’d help once built with light setup.
Now, back to current Viv for the time being, you’ll see from the old thread how barren and bare his Viv was but now it is a fully bio activate Viv, I stripped all the old junk substrate out, waterproofed with prorep resin, added gravel and clay balls (one bag wasn’t enough) for the drainage layer lined with the fiber stuff and added jungle mix for frogs along with coir fiber for the substrate, added spring tails and isopods, I did have giant orange wood lice and some others but not seen any for a while and think they’ve probably become food
. It’s been like this for about 3 months and seems to be doing well, had slight mushroom and mild issue as beginning but seems to be stable now.Currently planted is 2 spiderplants up high a pothos that seems to just be taking off and a large weeping fig tree as the main plant, I believe is provides him plenty of shade, cover and hiding spots but also plenty of room to go for light. He has basking uva, uvb strip and LED plant light (no heat)
Now there is some plastic still in there but trying to remove it causes damage to the wood and was glued there by previous Viv owner as it was second hand, I’ve never seen him try to eat leaves and even when offered veg and prickly pear will not touch it
, I feel a little bit of plastic is better than germ breeding grounds in exposed chipboard, and I know your probably reading this seen as I tagged you so I’m sorry the dripper plant is still in the beman but I promise I clean all pipes and filters daily along with water changes, everytime I take it out he gets dehydrated no matter how much the monsoon sprays his tree or the fogger keeps it humid overnight, which I have both, fogged comes on with lights off and off with lights on, it has built in humidistat set at 80% per chameleon academy’s blog. The monsoon is double sprayer and adequately dampens everything down with lights on and off. As I’m using the fogger I made sure to get a humidity controlled fan to make sure the humidity stays low during the day and doesn’t take to long to go down. It is set to come on when humidity is over 50% and turns on with lights on, it usally takes about 40is min to get humidity down, along with this fan there’s a tiny one that’s is on constantly on low power drawing air out the back vent, between the big one at the bottom thru day and top one on constant there is really good airflow for a wood Viv.
Feeders:
Currently he’s been getting cockroaches, silkworms, crickets and fruit beetle larvae, occasional waxworm. Everything is fed a blended mix from the forums gutloading photo and commercial gut load, gave waterballs for hydration or jelly pot baring silkworms but they get silkworm chow.
My schedule is:
Calcium- every feed (except when giving something below)
D3- 1st/15th each month
Vit-A-Min- 4th feed after D3
Exo terra supplement (no d3)- usally once a month but sometimes twice I feel this is best when he’s been dehydrated to help rehydrate as has electrolytes and stuff.
Below are a few more photos and clips of him and his Viv I hope when I’m doing is better than before and hopefully I’m a better chameleon guardian, thankyou for reading.
