Cage setup
- Thread starter Ricardopalma12
- Start date
Multivitamins
Chameleon Enthusiast
Generally speaking you will want more real estate in the upper areas of the enclosure so that your Chameleon can get into a warmer basking area and because uvb light looses much of it's strength simply passing the screen.
More importantly
You will want swap your lights asap to a linear uvb bulb. Grab an infared temp gun and monitor your basking temps and adjust the heights of your branches and vines.
You may want to consider lifting the basking bulb off the screen top to avoid burns as well.
Live plants are always a plus too.
More importantly
You will want swap your lights asap to a linear uvb bulb. Grab an infared temp gun and monitor your basking temps and adjust the heights of your branches and vines.
You may want to consider lifting the basking bulb off the screen top to avoid burns as well.
Live plants are always a plus too.
CamoChameleonsHuman
Chameleon Enthusiast
Needs a proper linear T5HO UVB light. Needs at least 1 real plant to help with humidity and give cover and sleeping spots. Needs horizontal branches at different levels in the middle of the enclosure for basking and thermoregulating.
CamoChameleonsHuman
Chameleon Enthusiast
Grrrr you beat me to my favorite meme.
Rlc1994
Chameleon Enthusiast
- Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
- Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
- Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
- Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
- Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
- Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
- History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.
- Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
- Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
- Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
- Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
- Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
- Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
- Location - Where are you geographically located?
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Please Note:
- The more details you provide the better and more accurate help you will receive.
- Photos can be very helpful.
Rlc1994
Chameleon Enthusiast
Hello can you please fill out the form so we can see what your working with. Right off the bat I can see your going to need to upgrade your lighting to a T5HO fixture. Those compact uvb fluorescent bulbs do not give no where near enough uvb output. Also I see reptile carpet on the bottom this is another red flag and shouldn’t be used. The carpet from the moisture of water and waste from the chameleon is a bacteria haven.
Ricardopalma12
Member
- Your Chameleon - veiled chameleon, male, around 14 months. 8 months ok my care I think maybe more
- Handling - once a week
- Feeding - I'm feeding him crickets. 5-7. Every other day.
- Supplements - rep calc for both calcium and multivitamins. Calcium everyday and multivitamins once every 2 weeks
- Watering - misting system. Every 3 hours for 15 seconds (only from 8 am to 8pm) I do see him drink sometimes.
- Fecal Description - mostly brown with white yellowish end, never been tested for parasites
- History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.
- Cage Type - screen cage 24"x24"x48"
- Lighting - solar brite 100 W. 12 hours from 8am to 8pm
- Temperature - 92-87 at baking and around 74-72 at the lowest of the cage. I measure with thermometers.
- Humidity - 50-57%. The house usually stays at 50's. Humidifier.
- Plants - no live plants for now
- Placement - cage is located in corner of my room. Not near fans, airvents and only traffic in the room is me coming everyonce in a while. Highest of the cage is 6.5 ft away from floor
- Location - Im located at Austin Texas
Rlc1994
Chameleon Enthusiast
- Your Chameleon - veiled chameleon, male, around 14 months. 8 months ok my care I think maybe more
- Handling - once a week
- Feeding - I'm feeding him crickets. 5-7. Every other day.Your going to want to add more variety than just crickets. He needs at least a couple staples such as a roach species like Dubia, silkworms, black soldier fly larvae, and blue bottle flies, you can feed him hornworms and super worms as treats. No mealworms. These are going to need to be gutloaded. I’ll post picture down below on good gutloading items.
- Supplements - rep calc for both calcium and multivitamins. Calcium everyday and multivitamins once every 2 weeks Does one of your calcuim supplements have D3 in it? Calcuim With D3 should be given only every 2 weeks alternated between your multivitamins. Calcuim Without D3 should be everyday.
- Watering - misting system. Every 3 hours for 15 seconds (only from 8 am to 8pm) I do see him drink sometimes. I would get a Dripper to help with hydration and have it drip throughout the day. This goes with the humidity changes I’ve mentioned below.
- Fecal Description - mostly brown with white yellowish end, never been tested for parasites
- History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.
- Cage Type - screen cage 24"x24"x48"
- Lighting - solar brite 100 W. 12 hours from 8am to 8pm I’m not sure on this but I looked this up and it’s saying it’s a mercury vapor bulb. I’m not very experienced with these types of bulbs. Most cages your size recommend you use a 24” T5HO light fixture. With a 6% Arcadia linear tube bulb or 12% Arcadia linear tube bulb depending on how many bulbs your fixture holds.
- Temperature - 92-87 at baking and around 74-72 at the lowest of the cage. I measure with thermometers.You should lower that down a hair to where your getting 90 degrees for the basking temperature. Take into account the chameleons body will be 2-3 inches closer to the bulb from the basking branch. What are you measuring these temperatures with? It’s recommended you use digital thermometers or temperature guns for accurate readings.
- Humidity - 50-57%. The house usually stays at 50's. Humidifier.Your going to want to try to achieve 100% humidity in the cage at night. We achieve this with fogging the enclosure with ultrasonic humidifiers and misting. You want your cage to be actually dry during the day with around 30-40% humidity. DO NOT FOG during the daytime while lights are on this can cause respiratory infections because of the hot humid air being created.
- Plants - no live plants for now I’d try to get some live plants in there. Pothos, schefflera are pretty easy to take care of. You need more coverage and hiding spots in the cage. If you can easily look in the cage and see your chameleon there is not enough foliage.
- Placement - cage is located in corner of my room. Not near fans, airvents and only traffic in the room is me coming everyonce in a while. Highest of the cage is 6.5 ft away from floor
- Location - Im located at Austin Texas
Your going to want to add a lot more climbing branches for him. Your cage has a lot of empty space that needs to be utilized where he can climb throughout the entire enclosure. Dragonstrand makes ledges that help you achieve this by helping you hang plants and branches on the sides of your enclosure. I’ll give some links and pictures on some things you’ll want to listen too and follow.
https://dragonstrand.com/product/dragon-ledges-24-five-pack/
https://www.chameleonbreeder.com/podcast/ep-89-naturalistic-hydration-for-chameleons/
https://www.chameleonbreeder.com/podcast/ep-110-fogging-and-airflow-with-mario-jungmann/
http://www.lightyourreptiles.com/24...-arcadia-6-and-6-5k-day-light-bulbs-included/
https://www.amazon.com/Marine-Aquar...ocphy=9005993&hvtargid=pla-569583972682&psc=1
Ricardopalma12
Member
Thanks I will improve on this
I just want to add to the above info... The solar bright is a mercury vapor 2 in 1 bulb. These are not recommended for small enclosures only extremely large ones and only with the use of a solarmeter 6.5. They produce very high UVI levels much too strong on that cage. These can cause major health issues for a chameleon. I would get this switched out for the T5HO fixture asap and stop using this bulb.
When using a T5Ho fixture you want your basking level to be 7-8 inches below and the fixture to sit directly on the screen. Fixture should run the length of the cage.
If using a single or dual bulb fixture you need a 5.0 or 6% arcadia bulb.
If using a quad fixture you will need a 10.0 or 12% arcadia bulb.
www.lightyourreptiles.com has fixtures if you want a better fixture with a better arcadia bulb. The arcadia bulbs need to be replaced every 12 months but the zoo med bulbs have to be replaced every 8 months.
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