Baby Veilds questions

[Square]

Alright im totally new to owning a chameleon...or a reptile for that matter. About a week or two ago someone gave me two baby veilds and ran away while I was at work (I work at stupid Petco, its a sin I know). Well anyway ive been doing alot of research on them lately and am building them an all screen cage 36in high x 30in wide x 18in front to back. I know they need alot of different foods but I can only get them to eat crickets and was wondering what else I could try? Also what kind of plants should I put inside the cage? They are only 2 inches in length. Right now they are together in a 10gal. tank and are doing fine...from what I can tell. Ive been misting them 3x a day, giving them really small crickets and letting them sit in the sun for about an hour everyday. any help would be great.

-Brian

 

[Fidel]

A lot of people get by on just crix, as long as you gutload them well. Be carefull not to over heat them in that 10 gallon, the little ones are more sensitive.

 

[Julirs]

Don't let them sit in the sun in the aquarium-they will bake. Little chams cannot take high temps. After they are a few months old, you will need to separate them as they cannot live together. Essentials for now would be UVB lighting and calcium supplementation. Misitng them 3X is great-mist for about 5 minutes a pop or until you see them drinking. I am sure others will give you some great advice also.

 

[Fidel]

oh yeah, they will eventually need to be separated, the size cage your building is suitable for only one. And live plants like pothos and ficus are good, vields will eat some plant matter.

 

[Square]

oh yeah, they go outside and sit in a small ficus tree. The temp. in the aquarium is about 85F to 90F during the day and drops to around 70F at night. How old do you think they might be? (About 1 1/2 to 2 inches long). And how do I tell male/female? By the way you guys are faast with the replies

 

[Julirs]

Males will have a little bump on the back of their heal on the back feet. 1 1/2 to 2" total or body lenghth (snout to vent). If total they could be about a month old or less. They grow at different rates depending on husbandry. 85-90 all day in the whole cage is a little warm for babies. They will need cooler parts of the cage, and warmer parts.

 

[Square]

Here are some pics of them and their cage. I looked and one is a male and the other is female

 

[Julirs]

You should be able to modify that cage to work out well for now. They look pretty good but I would be feeding them all they can eat for the near future. Pothos plants and Schefflera and Ficus work well for chams.

 

[Square]

I put about 10 small crickets a day in their cage, I also dust the crickets with calcium stuff(I think its called jurasi-cal or something like that)

 

[Julirs]

Rep-cal is a good calcium-read some of the posts about supplementation schedules. One of them could easily eat 10-15. Depending on how much you are going to keep them in the sun you will need UVB lighting and basking lighting.

 

[Square]

I have a 75watt basking bulb and a 10.0? UVB bulb thank you so much julirs!!

 

[Hempa]

75 Watts sounds to much for those little ones. As mentioned in this thread younger chams don´t handle to high (or low) temps.

Good info about chams can be found here:
http://www.chameleonsdish.com
http://www.chameleonnews.com
http://www.adcham.com