Can you guys help me get the "OK" that I'm all set to care for my baby veiled? :)

[szpond]

This is my first Veiled, but I have had Jackson's before and do now. I brought him home today but I want to double check that everything is right, please help me out!
(Sorry in advance for how long this is...)


Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Juvenile male veiled. I think about a month, but what do you guys think (picture below)?
Handling - Just the once today to get him into his new home. Other than that I will only handle him when necessary - cleaning, etc.
Feeding - Flightless fruit flies - I am going to start with 10 a day and see where we are from there. Also the x-small crickets sparingly.
Supplements - See photo below - Calcium without D3 daily, and every other week a multivitamin dust and every other week a calcium WITH D3 dust. So alternating weeks. Does this sound good?
Watering - I will use a combination of hand-held mister, my repti-fogger (on a timer), and also my Little Dripper so he can see the droplets moving.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Screen - until he gets a bit bigger he will be in my 18 x 18 x 36 all-screen cage. I am going to upgrade to 2 x 2 x 4 in the future.
Lighting - I currently have a 75 watt Halogen for his basking and a 5.0 UVB. I am thinking this will keep the temperature where I need it.
Temperature - I have two thermometers - one near the top and one at the bottom. I only had them functioning today, but I saw 90 degrees at the top and 80-82 at the bottom. There are also shady areas.
Humidity - Humidity seems to be 50% without me doing anything - but I also have the repti-fogger for the winter months here when humidity will be a problem. I'll be spraying so the percentage is higher.
Plants - One big golden pothos! See picture!
Placement - In my bedroom - door and windows are always closed, it's always high humidity high temperature. Not in direct sunlight and about 4 feet from my air vent (I am going to find a way to redirect the air).
Location - Livonia, Michigan.


My main questions:
How is the supplementation looking? Is that correct?
At about what age should I expect to switch him over to only crickets?
Should I feed him in my little 10-gallon aquarium until he gets bigger? I feel like he won't be able to find the food in this large thing!
About what age should his supplementation change? When should he not get Calcium without D3 daily?

Here are some photos:

 

[BeBoSON]

Congrats on your cham!

As far as your enclosure, you should def put a couple of vines, so your cham has more ways to get around. Also, make a solid spot for him to have a basking area.

Supplementation:
You will always give your cham feeders dusted with Calcium W/O D3 no matter his age.
When my cham was younger it was once a week Calcium D3 and Herp.

Feedings:
You can switch over to Pinhead crickets. As he gets older, you can introduce different feeders. You don't have to switch him over to a smaller container to eat, you can try cup feeding. When they are younger, I notice they catch on a lot quicker to it then adults.

 

[Banders675]

Plants

I would put a small ficus in there so he has more hiding places and so the water drains to it and not on the floor. I also would wait 2 weeks to handle him put put him someplace he will be around you a lot, computer desk, where you sit to play video games or read, this will get him to trust you. Other then that you loom like your going good. I used calcium with d3 every other day with my veileds but they were big enough for crickets when I got them. My panthers get rapashy superfood daily supplement.

 

[lausnordah]

Hi!

I think your chameleon is probably older than a month - if I had to hazard a guess I'd say 3-4 months.

I would recommend adding a lot more foliage to the cage. What I did for my 4 month old panther (also in an 18x18x36 cage) to prevent injuries from falling, was add a giant pothos at the bottom of the cage. I had another pothos suspended directly above it that he climbed on and slept in.

I don't have any pictures at the moment but I suspended the pothos via the typical hanging plant pot from the top of the cage by creating several loops of 30 lbs test fishing wire, twisting it so it became a "single" strand, and threaded it through the top of the cage where it was attached to and supported by the bamboo you can buy at Home Depot.

 

[lausnordah]

Another recommendation I had was to create a bamboo platform at the top of the cage so he can get around to all corners of the top... I did this because all the crickets I've bought (and it has been numerous) immediately start climbing the sides of the cage.

Once they get to the top they tend to rest there where my chameleon picks them off in rapid fire mode.

I'll try to remember to take some pictures and post them here to give a better idea.

 

[szpond]

You are all so helpful! Thank you so very much! I have two of those bendable vines at the moment and I am going to install them (I figured I would do it tomorrow when I was going to put him in another tank to eat - but I am going to try cup feeding (I have two cups, one for my jackson's and one for him!). I agree on the adult/juvenile cup-feeding...Max didn't catch on too quickly (my Jacksons). He'll watch the crickets in the cup instead of go for them...weird, huh? He likes to hunt.

But yes I'd really like my new veiled to cup-feed his whole life...a lot safer and easier! And I know exactly how much he ate.

As far as more vines goes - how many inches do you guys recommend underneath the basking spot? I really am worried about him getting a burn - what with it being a 75 watt basking (halogen) bulb. What do you think?

 

[BeBoSON]

About 6inches from the basing area, about the screen because young chams like to climb on the screen and hang upside down!

 

[szpond]

I completely forgot to mention that I have a lot more foliage coming! This is the quick-ten-minute set-up. He needed a place to go once I got him home - I strung the pothos up the sides and that's where I'm starting so far. I have two hibiscus as well that are in growing. A couple more pothos as well but again they aren't too large. Then I have those two vines I was talking about - because I got him home after his bedtime, I figured I'd do the minimum of the pothos and install the vines tomorrow.

Now just realizing how empty the cage looks and how bad that probably looks...my mistake!

 

[szpond]

About 6inches from the basing area, about the screen because young chams like to climb on the screen and hang upside down!

So do you think I should mount the light above the cage by 6 inches because he'll hang on the top? Or is the light okay to be sitting on top of the cage like it is?

I've heard that the back is the major area for burn but not so much the stomach. is this true?

 

[BeBoSON]

So do you think I should mount the light above the cage by 6 inches because he'll hang on the top? Or is the light okay to be sitting on top of the cage like it is?

I've heard that the back is the major area for burn but not so much the stomach. is this true?

Not so sure about the stomach and back theory. I know if you keep the heat lamp laying on the aluminum it will heat up, and can burn your cham. Also, since your cham is so young he can climb the mesh with no problem.

 

[szpond]

Any mounting strategies you could hook me up with? I could hang from the ceiling...

 

[BeBoSON]

Any mounting strategies you could hook me up with? I could hang from the ceiling...

Depending on where you cage is located, you'll just have to come up with a "interesting" solution...lol. Just look around and see what's available to you.
My chams cage was against a wall, so I put a nail into the wall and wrapped the cord to the lamp to wrap it around the nail.

 

[Banders675]

burn

Not so sure about the stomach and back theory. I know if you keep the heat lamp laying on the aluminum it will heat up, and can burn your cham. Also, since your cham is so young he can climb the mesh with no problem.

yes DO NOT leave your light on the cage I just burned my cham doing that it was 140 degrees where the light was.

 

[Banders675]

hanging lights

I got cheap chain (for hanging house lights) from OSH and I put a hook in the ceiling and have the light hanging about a foot away from the top of the cage. cheap and it takes about 10 minutes to set up.

 

[Lathelia]

Chams at this age should eat as much as they want. I think 10 FFs isn't enough for a baby.

 

[szpond]

Chams at this age should eat as much as they want. I think 10 FFs isn't enough for a baby.

I gave him roughly 15 flightless and 5 pinheads. So far he has eaten about 6 flightless and 2 crickets. I will definitely offer more given he needs more. Thank you!

Also I will try the chain idea...sounds perfect!

 

[Lathelia]

I gave him roughly 15 flightless and 5 pinheads. So far he has eaten about 6 flightless and 2 crickets. I will definitely offer more given he needs more. Thank you!

Also I will try the chain idea...sounds perfect!

There is another recommendation you can use when he is a bit older: people give as much food as a baby can eat is 5 min about twice a day.
I'm not an expert, but I hope someone will back me up

 

[szpond]

This is my first day observing him. After we fed (between 8-9) he found a comfy spot on the cage wall. I'm about to leave for class and I notice that he is fast asleep. It is only 11:30 AM. Can you guys guess why? Or perhaps he is sleeping off the stress of the big move here? His appetite seems wonderful and I see that he had some water on the edges of his mouth, must be a big drinker also!

Do the babies tend to need more sleep? His color is good, no indication as to why. I would say the spot he is at should be 87 degrees or so. Not too close to the basking spot.