Beginner

[Enortep]

Hi im new here.

Im looking into buying a Veiled Chameleon. I just want to be sure i have everything before i go out and buy him/her.

Also i have a question, Should the UV bulb & Basking Bulb be on at the same time, or is it better to have one on at a time? If so, in what order?

Here is my inventory on amazon, I will pick up a live plant or two as well.


I see most people on here just have one potted plant that drains out of the cage. Is one pretty decent sized plant enough?

http://chrome-extension://alelhddbbhepgpmgidjdcjakblofbmce/edit.html

 

[Enortep]

just realized that image is tiny, the link wont work lol.

But I have a 24x24x48 cage, 1 large fluker labs bend a branch, 10.0 13 watt fluorescent desert terrarium lamp, 75 watt basking lamp, and the small little dripper.

I am debating the dripper, as i can just lay an ice cube on top for drips or spray the plants.

 

[Littlechameleonlover]

i would not recommend a real life plant, even though they do enjoy it because i had one, and it attracted bugs that bit my chameleon and caused him to get a very ad infection and sadly, die.

 

[Pazuzu]

Hi im new here.

Im looking into buying a Veiled Chameleon. I just want to be sure i have everything before i go out and buy him/her.

Also i have a question, Should the UV bulb & Basking Bulb be on at the same time, or is it better to have one on at a time? If so, in what order?

Here is my inventory on amazon, I will pick up a live plant or two as well.


I see most people on here just have one potted plant that drains out of the cage. Is one pretty decent sized plant enough?

http://chrome-extension://alelhddbbhepgpmgidjdcjakblofbmce/edit.html

Thy both need to be on for 12 hrs a day or when the sun rise and sun set and get the dripper cus the ice cube Are to cold for thm and dont buy a baby get a grown one loke 4 o 5 moths old cus babys are really hard to take care of trust me i learned that the hard way

 

[Devokid]

It depends on what kind of tree and how big. I know in my Jackson's cage there is just one large tree, but my panthers all have multiple trees. Whatever it takes to fill the cage from bottom to a couple inches below the top.

Both lights should be on at the same time and I would highly recommend going with the tube style UVB. It gives better coverage. Repti sun 5.0 or 10.0 bulbs work great and are not too expensive.

For the water, I highly recommend that you get some kind of an automated system. The automation will allow your chameleon to have access to water when you are not there. This is especially when you are not in town or are busy at work. For a veild, I would set up an automatic dripping system using a timer and an aquatic pump. Toms aqua lifter works great.

 

[Enortep]

It depends on what kind of tree and how big. I know in my Jackson's cage there is just one large tree, but my panthers all have multiple trees. Whatever it takes to fill the cage from bottom to a couple inches below the top.

Both lights should be on at the same time and I would highly recommend going with the tube style UVB. It gives better coverage. Repti sun 5.0 or 10.0 bulbs work great and are not too expensive.

For the water, I highly recommend that you get some kind of an automated system. The automation will allow your chameleon to have access to water when you are not there. This is especially when you are not in town or are busy at work. For a veild, I would set up an automatic dripping system using a timer and an aquatic pump. Toms aqua lifter works great.

Thank you.

Is the ZOOMED Little Dripper no good? Or does it continuously drip?

 

[jamjam]

as mentioned linear uvb bulb would be a better choice, live plants are fine. Ive seen alot more people have several rather than just one. For my big boy enclosure when my little guy gets bigger i have a wide variety of plants that will be going in depebnding if it will be too full or not. I have a wandering jew, pothos, schefflera, 2 baby tears, a ficus, bromeliad and a ficus. obviously as some of those get bigger might become a free range plant. Another thing you should be fine getting a younger one as long as your ontop of everything but a few months older might be a smarter idea for your first but doesnt really matter.

Lastly, on your inventory list I dont see anything about vitamins or heard you mention them, they are essential. The vines you may need more or have soem sort of other branches some how for them to climb. thermometer and hygrometer are great investments. depending on your schedule an automated system may be needed but def need more than just a dripped I have spray mine mostly and use dripper if I know im gone for most of the day.

Welcome to the forums came to the right place to learn, read lots and check out the caresheets on the page.

 

[BKFritz]

You will want to think about how you are going to house your feeder bugs. You could use a small tote with a hole cut out on the top and filled in with window screen or a glass fish tank with a screen top. You will also need to decide how you are going to gut load your feeders. Bug Burger and Cricket crack are a couple good commercial gut loads, but you can gut load them with any chameleon safe fruits and veggies. If you keep the feeders in a cooler part of the room, such as a basement you may also need to get an under tank heat mat or heat lamp.

You will also, definitely need more than one branch. You can use branches that you find out side or inexpensive dowels from the hardware store. If your plants aren't mature enough to sufficiently fill the enclosure, you can purchase artificial ones. Flukers Reptivines are nice and just a couple of them fill a 24x24x48 nicely.

You can make a dripper cheaper than you can buy one. If you have a large plastic cup (I used an ice-cream pail). Poke a tiny hole in it and it will drip nicely.

You will probably also want to invest a timer for your lights so they come on and turn off at the same time every day.

Like someone else mentioned, you will also have to get supplements:

Phosphorus free calcium (without D3) - dust feeders every feeding
Phosphorus free calcium (with D3) - dust feeders twice each month
Multivitimin - dust feeders twice each month

 

[Enortep]

as mentioned linear uvb bulb would be a better choice, live plants are fine. Ive seen alot more people have several rather than just one. For my big boy enclosure when my little guy gets bigger i have a wide variety of plants that will be going in depebnding if it will be too full or not. I have a wandering jew, pothos, schefflera, 2 baby tears, a ficus, bromeliad and a ficus. obviously as some of those get bigger might become a free range plant. Another thing you should be fine getting a younger one as long as your ontop of everything but a few months older might be a smarter idea for your first but doesnt really matter.

Lastly, on your inventory list I dont see anything about vitamins or heard you mention them, they are essential. The vines you may need more or have soem sort of other branches some how for them to climb. thermometer and hygrometer are great investments. depending on your schedule an automated system may be needed but def need more than just a dripped I have spray mine mostly and use dripper if I know im gone for most of the day.

Welcome to the forums came to the right place to learn, read lots and check out the caresheets on the page.

Yes I just stopped at petsmart to check out the vitamins because I couldn't find it online. I picked up a pretty big hibiscus plant.

The veild chameleon at my petsmart is approximately 2 months old. Would a 24x24x48 be too big for him?

 

[jamjam]

you will get a variety of answers with that question. finding food is the biggest problem in an enclosure that size so would have to probably cupfeed. with my panther I was advised to get something smaller so im using a 95L rubbermaid bin for the first few months.

 

[Enortep]

Are these the supplements and gut loaders I'm looking for?

I don't want to spend the money on 2 cages, they are pretty expensive.

But I also read that I can use household incandescent light bulbs over a basking bulb?

 

[jamjam]

yeah thats another reason i went with the bin only 10$ plus the DIY adult enclosure ran into complications. Ideally those are the 3 kinds you want. Not sure about that specific brand though. hear alot of people using reptivite, sticky tongue, repashy, and few others. Those are not your gut loaders though, gut load will be things like leafy greens fruits and veggies for wet gutload. different seeds and dried fruit and what not for a dry *sandrachameleon is like a guru with her blogs for it** could also use things like bug burrger, cricket crack, dinofuel

 

[Enortep]

yeah thats another reason i went with the bin only 10$ plus the DIY adult enclosure ran into complications. Ideally those are the 3 kinds you want. Not sure about that specific brand though. hear alot of people using reptivite, sticky tongue, repashy, and few others. Those are not your gut loaders though, gut load will be things like leafy greens fruits and veggies for wet gutload. different seeds and dried fruit and what not for a dry *sandrachameleon is like a guru with her blogs for it** could also use things like bug burrger, cricket crack, dinofuel

So i need a calcium with D3, Calcium without D3, and multivitamin?

 

[Enortep]

You will want to think about how you are going to house your feeder bugs. You could use a small tote with a hole cut out on the top and filled in with window screen or a glass fish tank with a screen top. You will also need to decide how you are going to gut load your feeders. Bug Burger and Cricket crack are a couple good commercial gut loads, but you can gut load them with any chameleon safe fruits and veggies. If you keep the feeders in a cooler part of the room, such as a basement you may also need to get an under tank heat mat or heat lamp.

You will also, definitely need more than one branch. You can use branches that you find out side or inexpensive dowels from the hardware store. If your plants aren't mature enough to sufficiently fill the enclosure, you can purchase artificial ones. Flukers Reptivines are nice and just a couple of them fill a 24x24x48 nicely.

You can make a dripper cheaper than you can buy one. If you have a large plastic cup (I used an ice-cream pail). Poke a tiny hole in it and it will drip nicely.

You will probably also want to invest a timer for your lights so they come on and turn off at the same time every day.

Like someone else mentioned, you will also have to get supplements:

Phosphorus free calcium (without D3) - dust feeders every feeding
Phosphorus free calcium (with D3) - dust feeders twice each month
Multivitimin - dust feeders twice each month

Thanks for replies everybody! I appreciate it.

When you say dust feeders, do feeders mean the crickets?

Also does that mean i would dust every single cricket during that meal?

 

[jamjam]

feeders are what you feed so mice for snakes are feeders as crickets and such are for chameleons, yeah you would dust without d3 almost every or feeding, its not as hard as you think to dust them all. they would go in a plastic baggy or something similar and add a pinch of supplement and shake

 

[Enortep]

Whats a good thermometer and hygrometer?

 

[Djturna4thakidz]

i would not recommend a real life plant, even though they do enjoy it because i had one, and it attracted bugs that bit my chameleon and caused him to get a very ad infection and sadly, die.

Yes, you want as many live plants as possible. They keep up the humidity and can be eaten. If you fallow FL Chams safe plant list you will have no problem. I have never had a problem with bugs as was previously stated. Go live, no fake

 

[BKFritz]

feeders are what you feed so mice for snakes are feeders as crickets and such are for chameleons, yeah you would dust without d3 almost every or feeding, its not as hard as you think to dust them all. they would go in a plastic baggy or something similar and add a pinch of supplement and shake

What JamJam said! I use cup with tall sides. Put in a very small amount (a small pinch will due) of powder then put in the crickets. Swirl it around (don't shake it they can die, lesson learned ) and they get nicely coated.

To get the crickets in the cup I keep empty toilet paper tubes in the tote, (they like to hide inside) and just shake them off. Easy Peasy!

 

[Enortep]

Yes, you want as many live plants as possible. They keep up the humidity and can be eaten. If you fallow FL Chams safe plant list you will have no problem. I have never had a problem with bugs as was previously stated. Go live, no fake

Just bought a Hibiscus Red from walmart earlier, its huge, it just needs some love. Hopefully before i get all my gear and chameleon it will be back in good shape.

 

[Juliaf3]

What JamJam said! I use cup with tall sides. Put in a very small amount (a small pinch will due) of powder then put in the crickets. Swirl it around (don't shake it they can die, lesson learned ) and they get nicely coated.

To get the crickets in the cup I keep empty toilet paper tubes in the tote, (they like to hide inside) and just shake them off. Easy Peasy!

another thing I find that works nicely, is getting the crickets a little damp before dusting. It helps the supplements stick to them better.