Dehydrated Veiled?

[Michael Roth]

This is Gene, he is an approximately 6 week old veiled. His eyes are always 'sleepy' looking, and he refuses to eat at all, having offered him pinhead crickets and small mealworms.

Gene is in a wire-screen topped 17 gallon tank, lit by a 100w powersun UVa/uvb/heat lamp, temps ranging from the basking spot 91 to 72 in the bottom left corner. Flora includes hibiscus, spider plants, swedish vine, and wandering jew. We use a DIY drip for the drink station, and several mistings a day. I have seen Gene drink his fill, then get annoyed by further misting.

So basically, I am wondering if my concern is without merit, that perhaps he is just ticked at being uprooted from the seller's enclosure, thus hungerstriking... or if he is in trouble. Any help would be appreciated!
-M.

 

[Champhibians]

He needs to be out of that tank asap. He needs air movment. I would get an all screened encloser for him.

 

[Julirs]

Way, Way too hot. Powersun is a really bad idea for a small glass tank, or any glass tank. I would keep temps in the mid 80's--switch to a flourescent tube /separate basking light configuration.

 

[Michael Roth]

ok. raised the light, lowering the temp to 85, and pm'd a guy in town selling this.

One reptile cage (wire mesh) with front opening door. Measures 30" x 30" x 18"


he won't get lost in it will he?

 

[Michael Roth]

made a call to a great breeder, his assesment is that Julirs is seeing the main problem... that bulb is unhealthily hot for gene. I shut it off and will be replacing my lighting/heat setup after supper

 

[JoshCrane1]

yeah i would save that powersun for the bigger enclosure, way too hot for glass or any small enclosure. and that 30x30x18 will be good for a little while, but your still gonna need a larger enclosure.

 

[Michael Roth]

for sure, I won't be ditching it :> It will come in handy when the big cage gets built.

 

[JoshCrane1]

i use a similar bulb, sunforce 100w, and my chams love it. but its above a 2x3x4' cage.

 

[Michael Roth]

Yeah, I'm planning a 6 foot tall, 24x36 wide, when it is big enough to move. I just hope this is fixable before it is too late.

 

[JoshCrane1]

good luck, im sure he'l be ok.

 

[jannb]

How long has is been since Gene ate anything?

 

[Michael Roth]

He last ate on Sunday. The powersun is put away, and I am now running a 40 watt reptasun and a 13 watt reptiglo compact.

 

[JoshCrane1]

eek, sorry but compacts are bad news for us chameleons owners, some emit dangerous levels of uvb and many compacts have killed chameleons, better no uvb than compacts.srry. reptisun 5.0 linear bulb is the recommended uvb bulb for any enclosure.

 

[Dave Weldon]

Howdy Michael,

Sounds like things are getting pointed in the right direction.

What part of the world are you located?

 

[Michael Roth]

I'm in Calgary, alberta. The funny thing is this compact puts out WAY less UVB than the powersun did, but the powersun is ok in a large enclosure? I must admit this doesn't quite jive....

The powersun is also a mercury-vapour lamp.... thats a pretty nasty byproduct too...

 

[JoshCrane1]

I'm in Calgary, alberta. The funny thing is this compact puts out WAY less UVB than the powersun did, but the powersun is ok in a large enclosure? I must admit this doesn't quite jive....

The powersun is also a mercury-vapour lamp.... thats a pretty nasty byproduct too...

its not really how much necessarilly, but how much in what wavelength, some compacts are in the uvb wavelength of sterilization, which obviously is bad, but there is an article around here about compacts and how bad they are for our chamys.

and as far as the powersun, mercury is not emitted from the bulb, but the gas in the filament being arced by high voltage which makes the light. i use mercury vapor bulbs with success but they must be used in large enclosures due to their high heat generation.

i would save the powersun for the big enclosure and get a 5.0 for your small one.

 

[Michael Roth]

yeah, the powersun is boxed already, and it seems that the fluker is the way to go?

I would not use a spiral compact fluorescent UVB period.
Way too much bad press recently and animals with serious eye problems.
It's not worth the risk.
I also don't care for the Repti-glo lights.
The Zoomed Repti-sun 5.0 is THE fluorescent tube to use for chameleons. It is by far a superior product (search on the forums for the testing that has been done ... probably posted by Dave Weldon)

-Brad

 

[Julirs]

I would avoid the compacts also, and go with a flourescent tube. Zoomed Reptisun 5.0 is the most recommended.

 

[Michael Roth]

Gene today:


eyeballing me after a misting

And yelling his hatred for me

he has come a little ways...

 

[jannb]

So glad that he's doing well and looking good!!!!! Jann