baby mediterranean chameleons

N

natural

New Member
My daughter was fascinated by chameleons she saw on the market in Marrakesh, Morocco. I could not resist her wish so I bought two of them. They kept a dozen of them in a small jar of glass. Two days ago we took them home to Croatia where we live. I immediately read on internet about chameleons because I don't know anything about these animals. Yesterday I purchased a proper cage about 1.5' x 2' and borrowed another one from a friend. They have a proper day bulb and night bulb and crickets.They don't eat whatever we do but we saw one of them licking water drops today. They are very small, about 2" without tail, and I am affraid they are not going to make it if they don't start eating. What should we do. Please help. She sprays them a few times per day with tiepid water. (I wanted to paste their a picture but I don't know how)
They seem to be northern African or mediterranean chameleons, chamaeleo chameleon.
 
make sure the crickets are small enough. if they are only 2" long then you should make sure that they have pinheads or fruit-flies. give them a few days. they will take a little while to get used to their new environment. congratulations on your new babies!

good luck!
Graeme
 
Thank you both for answering. I would very much like to post a photo but I still need to figure out how. However, they look very much like this one.
http://www.adcham.com/images/images-...n/ccfemale.jpg. Colors I've seen where grey-green, brown, dark brown, yelow

I hope tomorrow morning they are still alive. They look so tiny, helpless and harmless. It would make me happy to see them eat.

I thank you Kinyonga for publishing articles. I still need to study them adn I'll look elsewhere too.
All suggestions are highly appreciated!
 
Natural, congrats on your little ones! What type of bulbs are you using? This is very, very important for their health and creating an appetite. You'll have lots of research to do to raise them. They can be very difficult to raise at this young age and is usually attempted by only very experienced cham owners. Please fill out the thread on how to ask for help. This will let everyone know what your setup is like so people can help you better. This site is great and everyone will help you as much as they can. No question is stupid. Keep us posted. David
 
We use two kind of lamps. On the 40W lamp box it says: Neodymium Daylight lamp. Sun Glo, Desert & Tropical lamp. Broad spectrum daylight bulb for terrariums. Art.#PT-2104, Stimulates natural behavior through UVA rays. Can be combined with Night Glo or heat glo for 24h cycle. Distributor seems to be Exo Terra and of course, it is made in China (what isn't).

Here is the page with the lamp:
http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products/sun_glo_neodymium.php

For the next 12 hours we use art.#PT-2120 on this page
http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products/night_glo.php
 
I think you'll want to ditch the sunglow. This is for more desert type lizards and puts out too much UV. Others that are more knowledgable about lighting will chime in I'm sure. The one reccommended the most is the rept-sun 5.0 flourescent tube. Don't use the compact type flourescents as they are known to cause problems. I'll keep an eye on this thread and will give you a name to PM on the lighting if he doesn't respond to this thread himself. Your forty watt basking bulb is fine. David
 
Howdy Natural,

The lamps that you mentioned do not produce any UVB, only UVA. Consider those lamps to be mostly just sources of heat. You won't need a night heat source unless it gets colder than around 60F at night. Generally speaking (not necessarily specific to your species) daytime basking temps should probably be around 80-90F, at least not much hotter than that would be my educated guess. As was mentioned, a ZooMed Reptisun 5.0 linear tube would be a good choice for UVB. If you don't have that brand and model available, let us know what you find instead (before you buy it :eek:).

Figure out a way to mist them with 10-20 minutes of water at a time. At least that will ensure that they have had a good chance to drink and rinse their eyes etc. Hydration is often the weak link in the chain of husbandry for chameleons. A handheld, pump-up mist bottle with warm water works well.
 
Dave Weldon said:
Howdy Natural,

The lamps that you mentioned do not produce any UVB, only UVA. Consider those lamps to be mostly just sources of heat. You won't need a night heat source unless it gets colder than around 60F at night. Generally speaking (not necessarily specific to your species) daytime basking temps should probably be around 80-90F, at least not much hotter than that would be my educated guess. As was mentioned, a ZooMed Reptisun 5.0 linear tube would be a good choice for UVB. If you don't have that brand and model available, let us know what you find instead (before you buy it :eek:).

Figure out a way to mist them with 10-20 minutes of water at a time. At least that will ensure that they have had a good chance to drink and rinse their eyes etc. Hydration is often the weak link in the chain of husbandry for chameleons. A handheld, pump-up mist bottle with warm water works well.
Click to expand...

Thank you for your advices that I intend to follow. I am afraid that the lamps I mentioned are the best I can find but I'll look around on Monday because I did see linear tubes in pet shops.
Day temperature is within limits you mention, night temperature is close to 70F. BTW, in their homeland at this time of the year you can expect 60F on a sunny day and 40F after sundown and it hasn't been raining for two weeks. Usually it doesn't rain from July to October.
I hope you don't mind a few questions.
Can we spray them with tap water or not and how often?
I see that people use dripping water. Should we do it? If yes, how often and how long?
Can we force feed them because I think they don't eat?
Can they be kept in the same cage?
Here is their picture:
http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/5269/chameleonsla2.jpg
 
Last edited:
You need a UVB light on them so that they can produce vitamin D3 and thus be able to use the calcium in their diets. Sunlight provides UVB...so if its warm enough outside you can take them out for a while each day. The UVB must not pass through glass or plastic. The most recommended UVB bulb is the Repti-Sun 5.0...so it would be best if you could get one of those. For a basking light all you really need is a regular household incandescent bulb in a hood. The bulb should be of a wattage that makes the basking area in the mid 80's F.

I would recommend that the crickets (or other insects) you use to feed them be of an appropriate size that they fit into their mouths easily. The insects should be gutloaded and dusted just before feeding them to the chameleons with a phosphorous-free calcium powder. Most feeder insects have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorous so this helps to balance it.

I also dust the insects a couple of times a month with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene source of vitamin A. Beta carotene won't build up in the system like the preformed vitamin A will. Excess preformed vitamin A can prevent the D3 from doing its job and lead to MBD.

If they don't get direct sunlight, then its recommended that you also dust lightly twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder.

C. chamaleons do fine if misted a couple of times a day and if you run a dripper at least once a day. (I use a litre container with a very tiny hole in the bottom for a dripper.) I use tap water that has been left out overnight to allow the chlorine to dissipate. I don't know whats in your water.

You said..."Can we force feed them because I think they don't eat?"...they won't eat if they are not warm enough...and they will likely need a day or two to adjust to their new surroundings. Force feeding should be a last resort.

You said..."Can they be kept in the same cage?"...the ones in the picture look old enough that they should be in separate cages. They shouldn't be able to see each other either for now. If you leave them together now as soon as they reach sexually maturity, they will mate and that will put a drain on the female's body.

If you post a picture of them from the side so I can see the whole body and the base of the tail, I may be able to tell you if they are male or female.

Sorry...I have to go for now...but if you need any more information, I will be back later!
 
wait till kinyonga tell exactly what are they.
but to me both of them look like male.. i am not sure though.
 
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