jajeanpierre
Chameleon Enthusiast
You experienced chameleon keepers must just love getting all these frantic pleas for help....
I have little experience with reptiles but have read a lot, mostly online.
Five days ago I bought a young female veiled chameleon from Petsmart. I think she is doing well. I've started weighing her and she is gaining weight. The first weight I have on her was 26 grams a few days ago. This morning before she woke up (and ate or drank), she weighed 29 grams. I'm using a good scale that parrot breeders would use. She seems to be gaining about a gram a day.
What is a "good" weight gain for a veiled chameleon of her size?
I'm not happy with my temperatures or humidity levels. I keep my house very cold, the ambient temperature of the room is in the mid 60s but will be colder at night.
She is caged in a 16" x 16" x 26" tall mostly glass terrarium. It has a screened top which is mostly covered by a variety of four lights, which is all that will fit on top of the screen. On one side, there is a screened section for ventilation 3.75" x 15.5" tall that goes to the top.
I've furnished the cage with live plants, a couple of branches and a bendy fake vine from the pet shop. Against the vertical screen I have placed a live bamboo plant to try to keep the humidity up. She mostly sits on the fake vine that is wound through the pseudo-bonsai ficus.
The bottom is now just paper towels. I was sold some shredded substrate, but removed that yesterday.
I have yet to find a bowel movement. Until yesterday, I had never seen her eat, although the dish with a few meal worms was emptied and crickets seem to be disappearing. I don't think she ate for the first couple of days or longer since I could easily find many of the original five or six crickets crawling around the branches and having the nerve to bask in the heat/light right in front of her.
She looks hydrated and round. Her long bones are straight. The sales rep, who seemed to be quite knowledgeable, told me they were fed crickets that were dusted with calcium.
I bought Zoo Med's Repti Calcium with D3 and Fluker's Orange Cube for the crickets. I also put Kale leaves in for the crickets and the meal worms. I have a big meal worm farm (for my chicks) that are fed chicken grower feed supplemented with veggies. I read somewhere that you shouldn't feed too many meal worms, I think because they had too much chitin. Would feeding meal worms that had just shed solve that problem? I dust the crickets and meal worms with calcium powder before I put them in the cage.
I've had a heck of a time finding a thermometer and hygrometer that works well. I have two in the cage now. I'm not sure I'm getting the basking perch warm enough.
Right now, I have four lights on over the cage.
At the back over the basking area: a double unit made by Zoo Med called "Tropical UVB and Heat Lighting Kit." The bulbs are Reptisun 5.0 UVB and a 60w Daylight Blue. Right now, the top of her casque is about 3 inches from the screen. The Reptisun bulb is almost on the screen, the Daylight Blue bulb is about 1.5 inches higher than the screen top.
I also have two other bulbs to increase the heat. Both are infrared spot bulbs made by All Living Things, 50w and 75w.
My thermometers are on the glass held by suction cups in the corner at about the same height as she basks. They register in the 70s to 80s during the day. At night, I turn off the Reptisun and the 60w Daylight Blue, leaving the 50w and 75w infrared spot bulbs on.
I don't think the cage is warm enough during the day. I think she spends too much time on the basking perch. How do you get an accurate temp on the basking area?
I have another question about her nostrils, hopefully picture attached. She has some dry white stuff around the nose, and near her eye. Is this just normal scale shedding? To me, she looks healthy, hydrated and is gaining weight.
I'm trying to upload a picture but think I failed.
Thanks for any help and advice from yet another person who knows next to nothing about the creature she is trying to care for.
I have little experience with reptiles but have read a lot, mostly online.
Five days ago I bought a young female veiled chameleon from Petsmart. I think she is doing well. I've started weighing her and she is gaining weight. The first weight I have on her was 26 grams a few days ago. This morning before she woke up (and ate or drank), she weighed 29 grams. I'm using a good scale that parrot breeders would use. She seems to be gaining about a gram a day.
What is a "good" weight gain for a veiled chameleon of her size?
I'm not happy with my temperatures or humidity levels. I keep my house very cold, the ambient temperature of the room is in the mid 60s but will be colder at night.
She is caged in a 16" x 16" x 26" tall mostly glass terrarium. It has a screened top which is mostly covered by a variety of four lights, which is all that will fit on top of the screen. On one side, there is a screened section for ventilation 3.75" x 15.5" tall that goes to the top.
I've furnished the cage with live plants, a couple of branches and a bendy fake vine from the pet shop. Against the vertical screen I have placed a live bamboo plant to try to keep the humidity up. She mostly sits on the fake vine that is wound through the pseudo-bonsai ficus.
The bottom is now just paper towels. I was sold some shredded substrate, but removed that yesterday.
I have yet to find a bowel movement. Until yesterday, I had never seen her eat, although the dish with a few meal worms was emptied and crickets seem to be disappearing. I don't think she ate for the first couple of days or longer since I could easily find many of the original five or six crickets crawling around the branches and having the nerve to bask in the heat/light right in front of her.
She looks hydrated and round. Her long bones are straight. The sales rep, who seemed to be quite knowledgeable, told me they were fed crickets that were dusted with calcium.
I bought Zoo Med's Repti Calcium with D3 and Fluker's Orange Cube for the crickets. I also put Kale leaves in for the crickets and the meal worms. I have a big meal worm farm (for my chicks) that are fed chicken grower feed supplemented with veggies. I read somewhere that you shouldn't feed too many meal worms, I think because they had too much chitin. Would feeding meal worms that had just shed solve that problem? I dust the crickets and meal worms with calcium powder before I put them in the cage.
I've had a heck of a time finding a thermometer and hygrometer that works well. I have two in the cage now. I'm not sure I'm getting the basking perch warm enough.
Right now, I have four lights on over the cage.
At the back over the basking area: a double unit made by Zoo Med called "Tropical UVB and Heat Lighting Kit." The bulbs are Reptisun 5.0 UVB and a 60w Daylight Blue. Right now, the top of her casque is about 3 inches from the screen. The Reptisun bulb is almost on the screen, the Daylight Blue bulb is about 1.5 inches higher than the screen top.
I also have two other bulbs to increase the heat. Both are infrared spot bulbs made by All Living Things, 50w and 75w.
My thermometers are on the glass held by suction cups in the corner at about the same height as she basks. They register in the 70s to 80s during the day. At night, I turn off the Reptisun and the 60w Daylight Blue, leaving the 50w and 75w infrared spot bulbs on.
I don't think the cage is warm enough during the day. I think she spends too much time on the basking perch. How do you get an accurate temp on the basking area?
I have another question about her nostrils, hopefully picture attached. She has some dry white stuff around the nose, and near her eye. Is this just normal scale shedding? To me, she looks healthy, hydrated and is gaining weight.
I'm trying to upload a picture but think I failed.
Thanks for any help and advice from yet another person who knows next to nothing about the creature she is trying to care for.
