Beignet’s home (The Cafe Du Monde)

Howdy y’all! I’ve decided to make a build thread for my girl Beignet the pied veiled Cham! Due to her being absolutely tiny we decided to start her out in the medium Reptibreeze (16”x16”x30”) and we plan on upgrading her very very soon. We would love to make her enclosure Cafe Du Monde/ Mardi Gras themed since our name (Roll Reptile) is because we met at Tulane (Roll Wave!) in New Orleans and the city is very special to us even though we are living in Houston TX where we were both born.
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We are not new to reptiles but we are new to chams! We currently have about 50 other lizards (mostly crested geckos). The number fluctuates a lot with breeding! We are currently producing crested geckos and are starting Chahoua and Leachianus next year when these babies are old enough to safely breed.
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Beignet is our first Cham and we are so excited to start our lovely new lives with her! Respectful criticisms and comments are always welcome and we are trying to learn as much as we can to give this girl a long, happy life. Pics of us and Beignet for tax!
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@elizaann2 lets continue our convo from the show off thread here :)

I’m planning on wrapping the bamboo sticks with some sphagnum moss to reduce slipperiness and allow plants to actually grow into them. Is this plan okay?

The 5.0 UVB is a screw in bulb, would a bar light be better? Here’s a pic of it.
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I thought the fake vine would be okay since I couldn’t break chunks of it off with my hands and there are no leaves. She seems to enjoy climbing on it, I found her there this morning. Lol I tried so hard to not bother her while taking this pic
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Last, do you have any websites you’d recommend for feeders? We’re already feeding mealworms, crickets, dubia roaches, and occasionally waxworms to all our other reptiles and we do gut load them with some of the vegetables you recommended in the other thread. I don’t believe our current supplier offers silkworms though so a good source for them would be great!

Also, what kind of feeding bowls are people using for their chams? I was thinking about buying this one but I want to make sure it’s actually gonna be useful/appropriate before spending $30 on it.
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Howdy y’all! I’ve decided to make a build thread for my girl Beignet the pied veiled Cham! Due to her being absolutely tiny we decided to start her out in the medium Reptibreeze (16”x16”x30”) and we plan on upgrading her very very soon. We would love to make her enclosure Cafe Du Monde/ Mardi Gras themed since our name (Roll Reptile) is because we met at Tulane (Roll Wave!) in New Orleans and the city is very special to us even though we are living in Houston TX where we were both born. View attachment 349183

We are not new to reptiles but we are new to chams! We currently have about 50 other lizards (mostly crested geckos). The number fluctuates a lot with breeding! We are currently producing crested geckos and are starting Chahoua and Leachianus next year when these babies are old enough to safely breed. View attachment 349185View attachment 349186View attachment 349187

Beignet is our first Cham and we are so excited to start our lovely new lives with her! Respectful criticisms and comments are always welcome and we are trying to learn as much as we can to give this girl a long, happy life. Pics of us and Beignet for tax! View attachment 349184View attachment 349188View attachment 349189
LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!!! Thank you for sharing!!!

Knowing you are new to chameleons, I'll share a couple great resources for you to look into in the meantime :)

Chameleon Academy Website & YouTube
Neptune the Chameleon Website & YouTube

This is the care sheet I use for my veiled

Check all these out and let me know what questions you have :)
 
@elizaann2 lets continue our convo from the show off thread here :)

I’m planning on wrapping the bamboo sticks with some sphagnum moss to reduce slipperiness and allow plants to actually grow into them. Is this plan okay?

The 5.0 UVB is a screw in bulb, would a bar light be better? Here’s a pic of it. View attachment 349191

I thought the fake vine would be okay since I couldn’t break chunks of it off with my hands and there are no leaves. She seems to enjoy climbing on it, I found her there this morning. Lol I tried so hard to not bother her while taking this pic View attachment 349192

Last, do you have any websites you’d recommend for feeders? We’re already feeding mealworms, crickets, dubia roaches, and occasionally waxworms to all our other reptiles and we do gut load them with some of the vegetables you recommended in the other thread. I don’t believe our current supplier offers silkworms though so a good source for them would be great!

Also, what kind of feeding bowls are people using for their chams? I was thinking about buying this one but I want to make sure it’s actually gonna be useful/appropriate before spending $30 on it. View attachment 349193
I honestly am not sure about the sphagnum moss on the bamboo, I'll let @Beman and @MissSkittles respond to that as they have more experience than I do.

Regarding your light, unfortunately the screw in bulbs are not very effective in pushing UVB down into the enclosure. You'll need a T5HO linear uvb with either a 5.0 ReptiSun UVB or 6% Arcadia UVB.
A couple great places to order the correct hood & UVB would be lightyourreptiles.com OR sometimes I get my stuff from Pangeareptile.
I would recommend getting this ASAP as your darling veiled is currently not getting proper UVB. Make sure she has a branch that runs 6 inches directly BELOW the linear light once you get it installed :)

I'll attach some documents with great feeders and gut load options. Great places to get bugs are rainbowmealworms and dubia.com. A good place to get silkworms is framschams or costal silks and a good place to get grasshoppers is feedmychameleon.com

That looks like a shooting gallery, if it will attach to the screen well then its perfect :). I personally use a lunch log from sunset chameleons but many on here use shooting galleries and love them :)

Sorry its so quick! I'll be back on as soon as I possibly can to give you more info and help as much as I can :) :)
 

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LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!!! Thank you for sharing!!!

Knowing you are new to chameleons, I'll share a couple great resources for you to look into in the meantime :)

Chameleon Academy Website & YouTube
Neptune the Chameleon Website & YouTube

This is the care sheet I use for my veiled

Check all these out and let me know what questions you have :)
I’ve already read the whole “Basics” section of Chameleon Academy! I’ve followed him on Instagram for years I’m so glad my situation finally stabilized enough for me to get a chameleon :). Most of what I’m doing is from the Chameleon Academy basics section but obviously all of his resources aren’t geared towards veiled specifically so I’m trying to learn as much as I can. I don’t think I’ll be able to handle a bigger species for a few years (need to buy a house lol) so I’m happy to become an expert in just veiled for the time being
 
I honestly am not sure about the sphagnum moss on the bamboo, I'll let @Beman and @MissSkittles respond to that as they have more experience than I do.

Regarding your light, unfortunately the screw in bulbs are not very effective in pushing UVB down into the enclosure. You'll need a T5HO linear uvb with either a 5.0 ReptiSun UVB or 6% Arcadia UVB.
A couple great places to order the correct hood & UVB would be lightyourreptiles.com OR sometimes I get my stuff from Pangeareptile.
I would recommend getting this ASAP as your darling veiled is currently not getting proper UVB. Make sure she has a branch that runs 6 inches directly BELOW the linear light once you get it installed :)

I'll attach some documents with great feeders and gut load options. Great places to get bugs are rainbowmealworms and dubia.com. A good place to get silkworms is framschams or costal silks and a good place to get grasshoppers is feedmychameleon.com

That looks like a shooting gallery, if it will attach to the screen well then its perfect :). I personally use a lunch log from sunset chameleons but many on here use shooting galleries and love them :)

Sorry its so quick! I'll be back on as soon as I possibly can to give you more info and help as much as I can :) :)
Great! Just placed the order for the shooting gallery (such a cool name omg. All my other reptiles eat the Pangea powder formula so this is so exciting!). Currently looking for a UVB bar, all the stores around me were only selling ones longer than 16” which is the width of the cage
 
Hey there welcome to the forum. The sphagnum moss will be a hard no with a veiled. You will end up with risk of impaction once she starts chewing on it. Which with a veiled is inevitable. THey are like toddlers and everything goes into their mouth. The bamboo is also not recommended for them. It can splinter and is slippery.

The enclosure is beautiful but you will need to add to it to make it suitable for a chameleon. You want all different sized branches or if your going to use fake vines something like the flukers one. You can hook these to your screen with fishing line and tiny tiny zip ties work. You will want to get the linear t5HO fixture 24 inch with a 5.0 or 6% bulb for it. buy the 24 inch now even though you have a smaller cage. Because she will need the 2x2x4 ft cage by the time she is 6 months old and you will need room to incorporate a permanent lay bin in the bottom for her.

With the T5.. Set it on top of the cage. Measure down from the screen 8-9 inches. That is the closest you want the branches below this fixture to put her in the right UVI level.
 
Hey there welcome to the forum. The sphagnum moss will be a hard no with a veiled. You will end up with risk of impaction once she starts chewing on it. Which with a veiled is inevitable. THey are like toddlers and everything goes into their mouth. The bamboo is also not recommended for them. It can splinter and is slippery.

The enclosure is beautiful but you will need to add to it to make it suitable for a chameleon. You want all different sized branches or if your going to use fake vines something like the flukers one. You can hook these to your screen with fishing line and tiny tiny zip ties work. You will want to get the linear t5HO fixture 24 inch with a 5.0 or 6% bulb for it. buy the 24 inch now even though you have a smaller cage. Because she will need the 2x2x4 ft cage by the time she is 6 months old and you will need room to incorporate a permanent lay bin in the bottom for her.

With the T5.. Set it on top of the cage. Measure down from the screen 8-9 inches. That is the closest you want the branches below this fixture to put her in the right UVI level.
Sounds good, wasn’t sure if it was okay if the UVB bar hung over the edges significantly. The bamboo isn’t siliconed in or anything so switching them out should be easy. What kind of branches would be good? I just placed an order for more fluker’s vines so I can get more perch height variety for her
 
Sounds good, wasn’t sure if it was okay if the UVB bar hung over the edges significantly. The bamboo isn’t siliconed in or anything so switching them out should be easy. What kind of branches would be good? I just placed an order for more fluker’s vines so I can get more perch height variety for her
No worries on the overhang and then you do not have to buy another one later. If your going for real branches you can using anything from non sap producing trees. So no pine, cedar, eucalyptus, and avoid grape wood because it will mold over with the water we have to put into their cages.
 
Howdy y’all! I’ve decided to make a build thread for my girl Beignet the pied veiled Cham! Due to her being absolutely tiny we decided to start her out in the medium Reptibreeze (16”x16”x30”) and we plan on upgrading her very very soon. We would love to make her enclosure Cafe Du Monde/ Mardi Gras themed since our name (Roll Reptile) is because we met at Tulane (Roll Wave!) in New Orleans and the city is very special to us even though we are living in Houston TX where we were both born. View attachment 349183

We are not new to reptiles but we are new to chams! We currently have about 50 other lizards (mostly crested geckos). The number fluctuates a lot with breeding! We are currently producing crested geckos and are starting Chahoua and Leachianus next year when these babies are old enough to safely breed. View attachment 349185View attachment 349186View attachment 349187

Beignet is our first Cham and we are so excited to start our lovely new lives with her! Respectful criticisms and comments are always welcome and we are trying to learn as much as we can to give this girl a long, happy life. Pics of us and Beignet for tax! View attachment 349184View attachment 349188View attachment 349189
Hi and welcome! :) Love your little cutie with her long pink gloves.
^^^^^ I agree with MissSkittles here! Welcome to the forum and the pink mittens club! I always love to see other female veiled chameleons with Pink gloves XD.
 
I just want to say hi and welcome to both you and your gorgeous gal! 😍

Hi and welcome! :) Love your little cutie with her long pink gloves.

^^^^^ I agree with MissSkittles here! Welcome to the forum and the pink mittens club! I always love to see other female veiled chameleons with Pink gloves XD.
Thank y’all for the warm welcome!! We’re so happy to be here and I’m sure Beignet is super thankful for all the wonderful advice :)
 
No worries on the overhang and then you do not have to buy another one later. If your going for real branches you can using anything from non sap producing trees. So no pine, cedar, eucalyptus, and avoid grape wood because it will mold over with the water we have to put into their cages.
Do you think oak or birch would be fine? Lots of those branches available in my area. 2 hours in the oven would be fine? Worked for my other vivs and fish tanks
 
Do you think oak or birch would be fine? Lots of those branches available in my area. 2 hours in the oven would be fine? Worked for my other vivs and fish tanks
Oak is perfect and I would think that birch would be too. No need to bake. I give my natural branches a little scrub with a plastic brush and dish soap, just to remove dirt and debris. Then I rinse, rinse, rinse and dry in the sun. Things like lichen that don’t come off with a scrub get to stay and they do look really nice.
 
I’ve already read the whole “Basics” section of Chameleon Academy! I’ve followed him on Instagram for years I’m so glad my situation finally stabilized enough for me to get a chameleon :). Most of what I’m doing is from the Chameleon Academy basics section but obviously all of his resources aren’t geared towards veiled specifically so I’m trying to learn as much as I can. I don’t think I’ll be able to handle a bigger species for a few years (need to buy a house lol) so I’m happy to become an expert in just veiled for the time being
I think that’s lovely! Just stick with what you have space for and give it a really good life :)
 
Great! Just placed the order for the shooting gallery (such a cool name omg. All my other reptiles eat the Pangea powder formula so this is so exciting!). Currently looking for a UVB bar, all the stores around me were only selling ones longer than 16” which is the width of the cage

Oh boy a chameleon eating is literally the coolest ever. Geckos are adorable eaters but a chameleon is a whole other thing. :)
 
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