Any Help Would Be Appreicated.....

[brent007]

Right... This may be a long one but any help would be great

I have a 14 week old cham, at the mo he is in an all glass viv with a uv light and a heat bulb, temp is at about 80 during the day and 70 odd over night, He eats crickets at the mo that are fed on freshh veg 24 hours before giving to my cham and also dusted with nutrobal calcium supplement. I spray the viv twice aday and have dark brown wood chippings are the bottom, he has never been to the bottom so am not to worried about him eating the bark. The viv has 6 air vents around it for constant air flow.

Am i doing everything right please guys and girls, i ask as ive seen afew posts about people using all mesh vivs because of air flow, but the thing is, my lounge of an evening gets quit cold, so i thought the all glass viv was better, He seems happy 99% of the time, tail always curled and most of the time he is bright green, unless i go to handle him and startle him.

Can i use anything else as a substrate, ie... tiles, sand or likewise

Thankyou for taking time to read my post, and for any help

Oh and he is not a white elephant, ive wanted one for years (i used to keep gekos), and have been reading and resurching chams for about 2 years

Kind regards
Brent

 

[Julirs]

It is not uncommon for Europeans or extreme Notherners to use all glass Vivs-but ventilation is key. Do you have a UVB light-that is crucial. Your basking spot could stand to be a tad higher for his age-maybe 85-87, increasing to 90 at about 6 months. Remove all substrate or risk impaction, tile would be OK. Nutrobol is a is a vitamin/mineral supplement that should be used less frequently then a calcium dust-I believe called Calypso by brand name there. Research supplementation on the forum here. Any pictures?

 

[Brad Ramsey]

What species of chameleon are you keeping?

-Brad

 

[BocaJan]

All new chameleon owners, regardless of the type, should read this.

http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/

If you have any more questions afterwards, you are encouraged to post here.

Welcome to the forum and congradulations on your new chammi.

BTW, if you could go back to your User CP (see button at the top) and fill in your state / country it would be very helpful for those helping you since every local seems to have different requirements because of their weather situation. Thank you.

 

[brent007]

What species of chameleon are you keeping?

-Brad

Hey, We have a Yemen....

 

[brent007]

All new chameleon owners, regardless of the type, should read this.

http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/

If you have any more questions afterwards, you are encouraged to post here.

Welcome to the forum and congradulations on your new chammi.

BTW, if you could go back to your User CP (see button at the top) and fill in your state / country it would be very helpful for those helping you since every local seems to have different requirements because of their weather situation. Thank you.

Hello

Thank you for that, will have a read through it.

Also have now filled in the State/country bit, sorry about that, as you can see i am new to the site.

Thank you again

 

[BocaJan]

BTW, if you could go back to your User CP (see button at the top) and fill in your state / country it would be very helpful for those helping you since every local seems to have different requirements because of their weather situation. Thank you.

Thanks! That is most helpful.

 

[Brad Ramsey]

Here is another good link for members in the UK:

http://www.ukchameleons.co.uk/

-Brad

 

[sandrachameleon]

Welcome to the forum
You're right, all screen mesh is not essential - what is important is maintaininge the correct environment inside the cage whatever its construction, and ensuring the chameleon feels safe and secure. Assuming the six vents provide the necessary air flow, and that you have a screen or wire top )to let hot air out and to allow UVB to get in, and that your chameleon is not startled or stressed by its own reflection or by movements outside the cage (people walking by, cats or dogs or children or birds anywhere in the room), glass is fine.

What is the humidity in the enclosure like?
The temperature you mention, is that in the basking spot or the ambient general temp all over the cage (they need a gradiant, so that they can move from a hotter basking spot to a cooler normal spot during the day).
How are you watering him (just misting?)? how to you handle drainage of the excess water?
Although you've not yet seen him go to the bottom, eventually he or at least his tongue will - remove the bark. It just harbours bacteria, holds water and poop, and risks impaction (a plain glass floor isnt hard to clean, but papertowels or tile are good alternatives).
What are you feeding the chameleon, besides crickets? (variety is important)

 

[brent007]

Welcome to the forum
You're right, all screen mesh is not essential - what is important is maintaininge the correct environment inside the cage whatever its construction, and ensuring the chameleon feels safe and secure. Assuming the six vents provide the necessary air flow, and that you have a screen or wire top )to let hot air out and to allow UVB to get in, and that your chameleon is not startled or stressed by its own reflection or by movements outside the cage (people walking by, cats or dogs or children or birds anywhere in the room), glass is fine.

What is the humidity in the enclosure like?
The temperature you mention, is that in the basking spot or the ambient general temp all over the cage (they need a gradiant, so that they can move from a hotter basking spot to a cooler normal spot during the day).
How are you watering him (just misting?)? how to you handle drainage of the excess water?
Although you've not yet seen him go to the bottom, eventually he or at least his tongue will - remove the bark. It just harbours bacteria, holds water and poop, and risks impaction (a plain glass floor isnt hard to clean, but papertowels or tile are good alternatives).
What are you feeding the chameleon, besides crickets? (variety is important)

Thanks for your reply, right the temperature is different all over the viv, i at the moment use 4 temp gauges in different places and the hottest place is about 25.5c and the coolest about 19c, at the moment my humidity gauge is not working and will be replaced tomorrow.I only mist at the moment but have just bought a drip system to install (do i still need to mist), i am also removing the bark tonight and replacing with small pebbles as to look good more than function (are these ok). He is eating crickets that are dusted and gut loaded and i have just started him on wax worms, is there anything else i should feed him

Once again thankyou for your help

 

[sandrachameleon]

Thanks for your reply, right the temperature is different all over the viv, i at the moment use 4 temp gauges in different places and the hottest place is about 25.5c and the coolest about 19c, at the moment my humidity gauge is not working and will be replaced tomorrow.I only mist at the moment but have just bought a drip system to install (do i still need to mist), i am also removing the bark tonight and replacing with small pebbles as to look good more than function (are these ok). He is eating crickets that are dusted and gut loaded and i have just started him on wax worms, is there anything else i should feed him
Once again thankyou for your help

That's a good temp gradient - when its older you could go a bit higher in the hotest spot, say 28, but for now what you've got sounds good. Very glad to hear you've got multiple thermetres - I do too, it makes things easier doesnt it
Go easy on the wax worms. Those should be used as treats, as they are fatty. I would say once a month max (though others may say once a week is okay for a young growing chameleon like yours). Other, better options are various types of roaches, kingworms (aka superworms), silkworms, small hornworms, phasmids,moths. Other occassional feeders, like the wax worm, would be meal worms, isopods, butterworms.

 

[brent007]

glad to see im doing it all right, i guess no-one is ever sure, but other peoples input is always better

Many thanks, youve been a great help

 

[BocaJan]

I would nix the rocks. Chams poop and so do crickets. Having rocks on the bottom will make it very hard to keep clean. I don't think you want to remove the rocks every week, wash each one (maybe even put in the dishwasher) and reinstall. Just use paper towels! They are quick, easy and absorb moisture along with catching the poop.

 

[sandrachameleon]

I would nix the rocks. Chams poop and so do crickets. Having rocks on the bottom will make it very hard to keep clean. I don't think you want to remove the rocks every week, wash each one (maybe even put in the dishwasher) and reinstall. Just use paper towels! They are quick, easy and absorb moisture along with catching the poop.

I agree. And yet, I have large smooth rocks in the bottom of a tree frog habitat. They deficate like there's not tomorrow. i have to spot clean as much as possible daily, at least the gosh darn (!#@$!*!) rocks every other day, and scrub the rocks every weekend. For me, in this one habitat, its worth it.

Any rocks in a chameleons cage should also be cleaned well and often. Rocks should also be bigger than large eggs, so that the chameleon will not try to eat them even accidentally.

 

[WelshOneEmma]

I am in the UK too, so was finding talk of all the supplements confusing as they are different to the US ones. I use Calypso Cricket dust every day, and then twice a month i use nutrobal (as it has vitamins and d3). On those days i dont use the Calypso dust. Its also really easy to put too much on (you take a small pinch, and the crickets look like ghosts, which is not what you want) so you will find even small tubs of supplements last a long time.

Do you have any plants in your enclosure?

 

[brent007]

yes i do, ive redone his viv today and put a mix of live plants and fake in, taken out the wood chips on the bottom, installed more temp gauges and humidity gauges in

 

[Grizz]

just a heads up, if rocks are too small they might get ingested and become impacted. my yemen tried eating the rocks i put in his plant. i had to replace with larger rocks.