Advice on Pygmy chameleon setup.

[Maximus52]

My first Pygmy chameleon, but not first chameleon. My setup is shown below:

• Exo Terra 12x12x18
• Zoo med fixture with 20 watt blue bulb hooked to thermostat set to 68F. The temp bulb is at the lower part of the brush above the soil.
• Exo Terra 15 watt day/ night LED
• 3 inch deep mix of soil and Zoo Med Eco Earth mix. The bedding is kept damp, not soaked.
• Living pothos planted with a mix of random yard sticks.
• Misting in the morning and evening.

 

[aeolis23]

- I would add more climbing possibilities in the upper part of your viv. There is a whole area they can't use.
- 68F = ok, but they don't need a basking lamp. Just keep general temps in the viv around roomtemp (Absolute maximum around 77F).
- They don't need daylight bulbs, only a soft UVB (f.e. 2.0 or 5.0 Exo-terra). If I understand correctly, you don't have UVB yet? But you can use the UVA/daylight lamp to keep your live plants healthy though. Also night lamp isn't necessary, as they just want darkness during the night. I notice my pygmies just won't go to sleep untill it's completely dark.
- Have you added a drainage layer underneath your soil layer? 3 inch of soil is definitely more than enough. You can even go less then 3 inch (up to 2 inch) as they put they eggs underneath the moss. They don't dig deep in the soil to lay their eggs.
- Damp soil is good, but as humidity of the viv should be quite high, the soil can get very moist. Drainage layer could be necessary. Most important is that you keep an eye on general humidity in the enclosure... 2 times misting sounds good, but depends on the vivs humidity..
- I wouldn't put more than one pygmy in a 12x12x18. I think 15x15x24 is the minimum for a trio (1.2).

Could be good if someone else could confirm what I'm saying here. As I always doubt with all those different kinds of lamps.

You can find more info about bioactiv vivs on the facebook group "Reptile and Amphibian Bioactive Setups". They give great info about clean-up crew, how to set up soil layers, how keep plants alive and give great inspiration for beautiful viv set-ups.

 

[bryantt]

- I would add more climbing possibilities in the upper part of your viv. There is a whole area they can't use.
- 68F = ok, but they don't need a basking lamp. Just keep general temps in the viv around roomtemp (Absolute maximum around 77F).
- They don't need daylight bulbs, only a soft UVB (f.e. 2.0 or 5.0 Exo-terra). If I understand correctly, you don't have UVB yet? But you can use the UVA/daylight lamp to keep your live plants healthy though. Also night lamp isn't necessary, as they just want darkness during the night. I notice my pygmies just won't go to sleep untill it's completely dark.
- Have you added a drainage layer underneath your soil layer? 3 inch of soil is definitely more than enough. You can even go less then 3 inch (up to 2 inch) as they put they eggs underneath the moss. They don't dig deep in the soil to lay their eggs.
- Damp soil is good, but as humidity of the viv should be quite high, the soil can get very moist. Drainage layer could be necessary. Most important is that you keep an eye on general humidity in the enclosure... 2 times misting sounds good, but depends on the vivs humidity..
- I wouldn't put more than one pygmy in a 12x12x18. I think 15x15x24 is the minimum for a trio (1.2).

Could be good if someone else could confirm what I'm saying here. As I always doubt with all those different kinds of lamps.

You can find more info about bioactiv vivs on the facebook group "Reptile and Amphibian Bioactive Setups". They give great info about clean-up crew, how to set up soil layers, how keep plants alive and give great inspiration for beautiful viv set-ups.

I agree with aeolis23 !

 

[Maximus52]

- I would add more climbing possibilities in the upper part of your viv. There is a whole area they can't use.
- 68F = ok, but they don't need a basking lamp. Just keep general temps in the viv around roomtemp (Absolute maximum around 77F).
- They don't need daylight bulbs, only a soft UVB (f.e. 2.0 or 5.0 Exo-terra). If I understand correctly, you don't have UVB yet? But you can use the UVA/daylight lamp to keep your live plants healthy though. Also night lamp isn't necessary, as they just want darkness during the night. I notice my pygmies just won't go to sleep untill it's completely dark.
- Have you added a drainage layer underneath your soil layer? 3 inch of soil is definitely more than enough. You can even go less then 3 inch (up to 2 inch) as they put they eggs underneath the moss. They don't dig deep in the soil to lay their eggs.
- Damp soil is good, but as humidity of the viv should be quite high, the soil can get very moist. Drainage layer could be necessary. Most important is that you keep an eye on general humidity in the enclosure... 2 times misting sounds good, but depends on the vivs humidity..
- I wouldn't put more than one pygmy in a 12x12x18. I think 15x15x24 is the minimum for a trio (1.2).

Could be good if someone else could confirm what I'm saying here. As I always doubt with all those different kinds of lamps.

You can find more info about bioactiv vivs on the facebook group "Reptile and Amphibian Bioactive Setups". They give great info about clean-up crew, how to set up soil layers, how keep plants alive and give great inspiration for beautiful viv set-ups.

I appreciate the advice. I added more climbing and got a female to go with the male. Added springtails and they must be keeping any fungus down. When I change the substrate, I will add a drainage layer.