CRITIQUE my husbandry and enclosure pretty please!

codiwatkins

codiwatkins

New Member
Hey guys! I would love if yall would take a look at the information provided below and ease my mind that I am doing everything correctly! Thank you in advance!

Also my light fixture has these blue lights on it. Are they ok to use at night time?

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Ty is a 3.5 month old Male Ambilobe Panther that was hatched on 2/2/14 by sunshine chameleons. He has been in my care for 2 days now.
Handling - I am refraining from handling him until the weekend. I want to give him time to get used to his new environment and relax from the stress of shipping. I plan for him to be awesome and held like my old panthers once he is adjusted though! :rolleyes::D
Feeding - He is eating 1/2 inch crickets that came from joshs frogs which were gutloaded before I bought them and are being feed the cricket food from joshs frogs as well all various veggies from my fridge. He has super worms but isn;t interested at this point. I have some silk worms heding our way and would like to buy a dubia colony if anyone has one for sale! So far he has eaten 11 crickets. I am putting 10-12 crickets in at lights on around 7 am and removing the extras I find at lights out around 9.
Supplements - repitcal without D3 daily, reptical with D3 will be used 2 times a month as well as herptivite multivitamin.
Watering - I am using the good old fashioned hand spray method. I spray about 2-3 minutes 3-4 times a day personally and then my boys will randomly give him a spray when they feel like helping out. I have seen him drinking on several occasions.
Fecal Description - I have not seen any dropping thus far. No he has not been tested for parasites
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - XL reptibreeze 24x24x48. I realize this is a large enclosure for a baby chameleon but I will monitor his intake and output to ensure he is getting enough food!
Lighting - 24" Quad fixtures (1) 6% UVB Arcadia Bulb (22″, 24w)
(3) 6.5K Day Light Bulb (22″, 24w) &Moonlight LEDs. He also has a basking bulb which is a soft 60 watt. Lights on at 7am and lights out at 9pm.
Temperature - His basking spot stays around 82 degrees. My other temp gage is out of battery juice so I don't know what the bottom of the cage is averaging. At night my house stays around 65-70 degrees.
Plants - All live plants- 3 pothos, 1 orchid, 2 ferns, 1 scheffela, and 2 succulents, one is a Echeveria and I can't remember the name of the other one but it is not toxic. I checked!
Placement - The cage is in my living room. The top measures at just over 6 feet.
Location - I am in Texas

This is Tie-Dye AKA Ty





The moon light, first is without house lights on, second is with living room light on...Is this ok??

http://s147.photobucket.com/user/codiwatkins/media/Mobile Uploads/image-34.jpg.html?o=3


His Viv from various angles






Back wall out of cage so you can see everything on it better
 
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as much as I love your back wall been following it, and your cham is gorgeous I feel like you have far to much un-used space in the enclosure and that he is always forced to be wandering on the wall. Imo can use a a highway of vertical banches and tiny bit of foilage i get you probably may want the wall and all its beauty to be seen but feel he can use a bit more
 
Codi you have a lot of work in your Ty's home, and it shows. My first two comments are lose the blue lights. Chams need darkness, complete darkness. It looks like there is moss on the orchid, if so you need it To be completely secured such that the Cham can't possibly eat any of it.

There are a few other things I will touch on. But I am watching a movie, so I will get to it later.

Ty is stunning.
 
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second the blue lights if they are on all night, bad idea. however what some people do to easy into brightness/darkness and try to i guess replicate sunrise/sunset. might turn on/off the blue half hour before/after the rest of the lights
 
Thank you for y'all's input! I agree on needing more stuff in the cage! When I put the wall in, I thought wow it's still so bare in here... :eek:

I think I might wait a little to add anything just so I can monitor his food for about a month or so. I have a few exoterra vines that I can add in and a small hibiscus tree to fill in some space. At the bottom, in the very middle, is a VERY small scheffela. I planted in there in hopes that as he gets bigger so will it and that will add much more foliage as well!

I'll stop using the blue light too!
 
If you put lights on a cheap $4 timer, the blue lights will no longer be an issue. Some come on when reg lights are turned off and others have an individual switch for them. Depends on the fixture.
 
junglefries said:
If you put lights on a cheap $4 timer, the blue lights will no longer be an issue. Some come on when reg lights are turned off and others have an individual switch for them. Depends on the fixture.
Click to expand...

I am going to get a new timer this weekend. This one is a switch so I'll just keep it turned off.
 
biffle said:
I see a lot of places for crickets to hide. Are you planning on cup or hand feeding?
Click to expand...

I am planning to do both. No luck so far on the hand feeding though. I am putting the crickets in a sort of deep dish. A few usually get out but for the most part they are all staying inside it. Do you think I should take some stuff out until he gets older?
 
I like the concept but there seems to be a lot of open space in the middle. I personally think that the back wall of your habitat should just be the jewel of your enclosure. I still think you should have something on the sides and vines and sticks going across the middle of the cage. That's just my opinion though. I still think you did a kick *** job though.
 
hpc1979 said:
I like the concept but there seems to be a lot of open space in the middle. I personally think that the back wall of your habitat should just be the jewel of your enclosure. I still think you should have something on the sides and vines and sticks going across the middle of the cage. That's just my opinion though. I still think you did a kick *** job though.
Click to expand...

Thank you. I am debating on adding more stuff now or waiting until Ty is a little older and I am confident in his hunting skills. The wall seemed huge when I made it but after putting it into the cage it got VERY small!:rolleyes::eek:
 
micwheelin said:
Looks like you've done tones of work and clearly know stuff about chameleons ! You've been on here awhile !!
Click to expand...

A ton has changed since I had my chameleons before! Lots of new stuff and tips. I just want to make sure I am picking up what everyone in putting down on here!
 
Hello, Looks beautiful, however, I would also say you need more branches so that Ty can reach all areas of the cage easily. I put 3 month old panthers in cages that size without any issues because the cage has plenty of climbing opportunities. He should be able to shoot a prey item fairly easily at any spot in the cage with out climbing the screen. I use crepe myrtle branches since they have a natural twist to them and they seem to last forever without molding or deteriorating at all. I have had biovine fall apart right next to my natural branches put in cage at the same time. I tie the branches together using plastic zipties. I started using black ones since they dont seem to show as easily. I have plenty of examples here if you want to take a look.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/....1073741831.291375457582672&type=3&uploaded=5
 
reptoman said:
Hello, Looks beautiful, however, I would also say you need more branches so that Ty can reach all areas of the cage easily. I put 3 month old panthers in cages that size without any issues because the cage has plenty of climbing opportunities. He should be able to shoot a prey item fairly easily at any spot in the cage with out climbing the screen. I use crepe myrtle branches since they have a natural twist to them and they seem to last forever without molding or deteriorating at all. I have had biovine fall apart right next to my natural branches put in cage at the same time. I tie the branches together using plastic zipties. I started using black ones since they dont seem to show as easily. I have plenty of examples here if you want to take a look.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/....1073741831.291375457582672&type=3&uploaded=5
Click to expand...

I will keep that in kind. I have a few in my hard now so that makes for easy picking! :) thank you for the feed back. :D

Your enclosures are awesome! And your cover photo is beautiful!
 
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