Enough foliage? Does my Cham look healthy?

[Dannnyboy]

Hey guys, I was just wondering if this is enough foliage for my little girl to hide in, she's been a darker color than when I first got her and I've noticed when I completely cover her cage with towels, her colors get very vibrant and blue but whenever I take everything off, she's gets dark. I hate having my chams cage all ugly full of towels -.- and I also thought she had to lay eggs so I put a laying bin in the bottom, had for about a week with no luck. Noticed she was eating the Eco earth so I immediately took it out. She's been eating like a beast, and her urates look nice and white. So let me hear your guys opinion

 

[alphakenc]

Hi Dannnyboy,it looks good on your cage,and u have a beautiful female cham,my friendly suggestion to you is add little more branches for her to climb thru out the top cage , but be sure to lower the distance between your heat lamp and the basking spot on the branch,this way she won't get burn from it,bye now

 

[Dannnyboy]

Hi Dannnyboy,it looks good on your cage,and u have a beautiful female cham,my friendly suggestion to you is add little more branches for her to climb thru out the top cage , but be sure to lower the distance between your heat lamp and the basking spot on the branch,this way she won't get burn from it,bye now

Thank you so much!

 

[alphakenc]

Thank you so much!

You are more than welcome !!

 

[chameleons707]

I think its enough foliage and yes she looks happy and healthy

 

[LindsayG]

Hi, my suggestion would be similar to alphakencs and make sure that she's not getting too close to those lights. Also, it looks like she's having an issue with her eye? Has it been looking like that for a while?

 

[trickedoutbiker]

In my opinion, I'd take out the green substrate pieces at the bottom. From the looks of the brown twig vine, the cage, the big black vine, and the Mandarin plant you have, I'm going to take an educated guess and say that you bought the Zoo Med Chameleon Starter Kit.

Now, assuming I am correct, those pieces of substrate are made of cloth. Cloth holds water. Held water, soaked into a piece of groggy wet substrate, is just asking for bacteria to come call that place home. I personally would remove them. No dirty, soggy mess to clean that way, and nothing for food to hide under. Otherwise, I'd DEFFINITELY make sure you are cleaning that cloth with soap and water every couple days. just IMO

 

[jajeanpierre]

Is it just me or the photo? Her eye looks a little puffy and she gives me the impression of having a slight edema.

 

[jpowell86]

Is it just me or the photo? Her eye looks a little puffy and she gives me the impression of having a slight edema.

I was thinking the exact same thing.

 

[Dannnyboy]

Is it just me or the photo? Her eye looks a little puffy and she gives me the impression of having a slight edema.

I'm new to chams, I haven't noticed any weird with her eyes. I can post a couple pics and let me hear you guys opinion. What is edema btw?

 

[Dannnyboy]

In my opinion, I'd take out the green substrate pieces at the bottom. From the looks of the brown twig vine, the cage, the big black vine, and the Mandarin plant you have, I'm going to take an educated guess and say that you bought the Zoo Med Chameleon Starter Kit.

Now, assuming I am correct, those pieces of substrate are made of cloth. Cloth holds water. Held water, soaked into a piece of groggy wet substrate, is just asking for bacteria to come call that place home. I personally would remove them. No dirty, soggy mess to clean that way, and nothing for food to hide under. Otherwise, I'd DEFFINITELY make sure you are cleaning that cloth with soap and water every couple days. just IMO

Yes I did buy the starter kit, I've read around and also read that it is a bacteria breeding ground. So I might just take it off completely. What do you guys put as a substrate for the bottom?

 

[SocialNumb]

Is that one those water fountains? If so, ditch it unless you're going to wash it over and over again everyday and keep looking in it to make the cham doesn't take a dump in it as well.

The eyes do look puffy but I know nothing about edema in chams beyond a google search. This makes it sound scary: http://www.uvma.org/chameleon/edema.htm

Like I said. I don't know.

 

[Dannnyboy]

Is that one those water fountains? If so, ditch it unless you're going to wash it over and over again everyday and keep looking in it to make the cham doesn't take a dump in it as well.

The eyes do look puffy but I know nothing about edema in chams beyond a google search. This makes it sound scary: http://www.uvma.org/chameleon/edema.htm

Like I said. I don't know.

Yeah it's a Cham bubble drinking fountain, he hasn't pooped in it or anything and it does have a filter. I might just it take it out completly.

 

[trickedoutbiker]

Yes I did buy the starter kit, I've read around and also read that it is a bacteria breeding ground. So I might just take it off completely. What do you guys put as a substrate for the bottom?

Yea deff take out that green substrate. As for the bottom, most people just have the typical black square plastic insert piece as their bottom. The piece that came with your starter kit. If you always have standing water at the bottom from misting, make sure to wipe it up daily. Don't leave standing water in there. Lots of people will drill holes into that plastic piece, and have some sort of drain tray under the cage for the water to seep into. Easy clean up and no bacteria that way. As for me, I have an all-screen bottom. I just bought me a piece of Stainless Steel .020 Wire Mesh Cloth Screen online and cut it to size for my cage, then I used some clear, non toxic, weather-proof caulking to caulk it into the bottom of my cage. That way, all my water drains out of my cage and into my drain tray, yet, no crickets or any other insects can escape. His feces also stays on top of the mesh screen and that allows me to check it for problems of illness or dehydration.

Yeah it's a Cham bubble drinking fountain, he hasn't pooped in it or anything and it does have a filter. I might just it take it out completly.

Those have been known to have the pumps go out after a short time. And I've heard that they get contaminated easily. You'd have to make sure no insects are able to get down inside of it at all, and you'd also want to make sure that your chameleon isn't pooping in it. That could be bad. Although it has a filter, those don't do the job 100% of sanitizing the water. You'd have to change the water in it quite frequently and take the unit apart and clean it from time to time as well. Otherwise, it's the same water re-circulating over and over in the same fountain. Although any type of waterfall and such is usually not recommended, I believe that with daily or at least every-other-day cleanings you could be okay. You want to get your chameleon used to drinking droplets off of the leaves and such in the cage though because as with all things mechanical, that cantina won't last forever. Your cham will need another water source at some point. Also, eventually you will want a bigger cage and live plants are deff recommended as they hold water really well and provide extra humidity within the enclosure. What you have right now for starters is okay. Just keep adding to it and saving money for things. Chameleons are expensive! And don't ever hesitate to ask the community here for help. Lots of really good and knowledgeable people on these forums.

 

[Decadancin]

I'd also add a bit more foliage across the top. You've got a lot on the sides, but if you give her more in the center I think she would be better off. Do you have plans for a laying bin in that enclosure?

 

[Dannnyboy]

Yea deff take out that green substrate. As for the bottom, most people just have the typical black square plastic insert piece as their bottom. The piece that came with your starter kit. If you always have standing water at the bottom from misting, make sure to wipe it up daily. Don't leave standing water in there. Lots of people will drill holes into that plastic piece, and have some sort of drain tray under the cage for the water to seep into. Easy clean up and no bacteria that way. As for me, I have an all-screen bottom. I just bought me a piece of Stainless Steel .020 Wire Mesh Cloth Screen online and cut it to size for my cage, then I used some clear, non toxic, weather-proof caulking to caulk it into the bottom of my cage. That way, all my water drains out of my cage and into my drain tray, yet, no crickets or any other insects can escape. His feces also stays on top of the mesh screen and that allows me to check it for problems of illness or dehydration.




Those have been known to have the pumps go out after a short time. And I've heard that they get contaminated easily. You'd have to make sure no insects are able to get down inside of it at all, and you'd also want to make sure that your chameleon isn't pooping in it. That could be bad. Although it has a filter, those don't do the job 100% of sanitizing the water. You'd have to change the water in it quite frequently and take the unit apart and clean it from time to time as well. Otherwise, it's the same water re-circulating over and over in the same fountain. Although any type of waterfall and such is usually not recommended, I believe that with daily or at least every-other-day cleanings you could be okay. You want to get your chameleon used to drinking droplets off of the leaves and such in the cage though because as with all things mechanical, that cantina won't last forever. Your cham will need another water source at some point. Also, eventually you will want a bigger cage and live plants are deff recommended as they hold water really well and provide extra humidity within the enclosure. What you have right now for starters is okay. Just keep adding to it and saving money for things. Chameleons are expensive! And don't ever hesitate to ask the community here for help. Lots of really good and knowledgeable people on these forums.

Yeah even tho I had the fountain I still did daily sprayings, I ended up taking out the green carpet and the fountain all together. I never seen her drink from the fountain either way. And I'm planning on buying her a bigger cage anytime now, would you know what's the best size reptibreeze?

 

[Dannnyboy]

I'd also add a bit more foliage across the top. You've got a lot on the sides, but if you give her more in the center I think she would be better off. Do you have plans for a laying bin in that enclosure?

I might just do that! Thanks a lot for your opinion. I want to buy some bamboo sticks so I can lay them horizontally but I can't seem to find them anywhere

 

[Decadancin]

I would try some pet stores for bird perches. You might find some that would do the trick. Just make sure they are not too smooth and try to get a few different diameters. I found ones called Wacky Wood that are awesome!
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/images/Categoryimages/larger/lg-19464-71171-38159.jpg
I like to see them in person to pick them out, but you could always order them online.

 

[jajeanpierre]

I'm new to chams, I haven't noticed any weird with her eyes. I can post a couple pics and let me hear you guys opinion. What is edema btw?

Here eye is very puffy. If it is always like that, something is amiss. It might be the edema causing the puffy eyes. Chameleons do all kinds of funny things with their eyes when they clean them. It is possible the camera caught the eye in an odd position.

Edema is basically fluid retention. In chameleons, it tends to show up around the throat area. Gravity dictates where edema tends to accumulate, and the throat is where it often shows up. Sometimes the edema will be so bad, the animal will appear bloated and the eyes will pop out somewhat. Gular (throat) edema has many many causes, ranging from low protein in the blood so the fluid from the blood seeps out of the blood vessels, organ failure or some unknown reason associated with supplementing. Veileds are not one of the species that is particularly susceptible to get gular edema from over supplementing.

Also, the jaws don't look right either. take a look at some of JannB's veileds and you will see what I mean both for the gular edema and the way the two jaws meet. I hope that what I see in the photo is just that the photo caught the mouth in a way that is not the normal way they are. I'm pretty confident that your chameleon has gular edema, though. You can see the fluid between the front legs.

Look very carefully at your supplementing schedule and stop all the supplements except calcium until you figure out what is causing the edema.