Evil Crickets??

[spartybassoon]

Hi everyone! I am new to this forum and to chameleons in general. I come from a background of mostly tarantulas and a couple cresteds. My friend dumped his new veiled into my lap yesterday due to some rather ridiculous circumstances. In any event, I would rather try and keep him than dump him on someone else. Here's what I know: it's male, and that's about it. I have spent nearly the entire day online racking these archives and learning SOO much! You all are very knowledgeable and I appreciate what you have to offer. I also am no noob when it comes to forums, and I understand some of you may hate me for trying to keep the guy rather than putting him up with someone else who knows better. Rest assured, I did a TON of homework (and spent more than I could afford) to get this guy into the setups recommended by Brad Ramsey (cool page, btw.)

Anyway, sorry for the preamble. Here's the question. Coming from the tarantula world, we know that crickets are possibly the most evil things on Earth because they can bite, injure, and kill molting and weak spiders. Is this a problem with chams? I have been putting the crix into an opaque feeder dish, but one got loose, and its now night and the cham is sleeping. Should I go get the cricket, or let the cham deal with it when it gets the chance? Thanks for all your considerations!!

Josh

 

[sharkey]

if your cham is a baby you might want to risk waking up the cham to retrieve the crix. if it is an adult.... well i leave the uneaten crix in their cages - the crix seem to go to a corner and hang there, not roam around the cage in the dark. i've never seen any crix bites on my adults or babies (i have left crix in the babies' cages when i was overwhelmed).

congratulations on your veild - i am sure you will provide a wonderful permanent home for him/her..

ps once things have settled down a bit i would suggest looking in to silk larvae as a feeder instead of crix

 

[spartybassoon]

Shoot, I forgot to mention, he is about 8 inches long. I have no idea as to what his age is, I am trying to contact the breeder.

 

[Cally95]

Hey Josh,

The first thing people are going to want to know is more specifics on the chameleon and its set up. Its age, (if you dont know at least it's size or weight). Cage specs too, we need to know.... cage type (screen,glass), size, your lights and the type,uva,uvb, wattage, temps,misting schedule,insects you are feeding. People are very nice here and helpful, it's good that you have been researching and I am glad you found this site. Take everyones advice they really know there stuff. People are probably NOT going to give you a hard time for keeping the cham as long as you are giving him the best care, that's all that matters to us.

As far as the cricket goes, if its just 1 it probably wont hurt, but I guess that depends on how big the cricket and the chameleon are. If it's not to difficult get it out or at least give it something to nibble on other then your chameleon, like a piece or carrot or apple.

Dell

 

[desultadox]

Just like Dell said, 1 cricket isn't gonna take down a chameleon... leaving too many to bite on a cham, especially one trying to sleep, WILL stress the cham out quite a bit. Escapee crickets are inevitable, I wouldn't lose sleep over it.

 

[spartybassoon]

Ok, I will give the specifics

He was given to me yesterday, and is about 8 inches. Here is a pic in his current TEMPORARY SETUP

He is currently in a 10 gal with one of those "safety mesh" screen ids that opens in half. He has a basking light w/reflector that we have adjusted so he gets about 95 F. He also has a repti glo 10.0 compact, which i have just found out is a no-no, so tomorrow I will be getting him a repti sun 5.0 tube. He has grapevine and fake plants in there now and he sits and basks. He has eaten 17 crickets that are about .75" each. They were dusted with miner-all and herptivite (blue label, multivitamins). He has a makeshift drip system made from a small cup with a pinhole in it. We will be trying to make a better one as soon as I can get him into a mesh setup that will hopefully be built in the next week so long as I can find good enough plans. He is sprayed three times a day, but since he isn't in a mesh setup yet, the humidity stays longer (so we don't overdo it w/the water). The substrate is paper towel. The cricket in question is chillin', and the cham is sleeping.

 

[ken2414]

Hi welcome to the amazing world of chameleons. I wouldnt make a cage because of the time it takes and the factor that your cage might be warped when your done. i would buy a nice cage from lll reptiles or somewhere else. it sometimes cost just as much to build one and it takes out the stress of building one.

 

[spartybassoon]

Really? I thought that most of you guys built their own. Hmm.

Is it possible to guess the age of a chameleon, or is it a fruitless effort because temps and food can change it?

 

[AFH]

I would put him at about 4-5 months. Building a cage is kind of a pain in the butt and time consuming. Since your guy is about half the size he's going to get, I would go with a store bought medium size cage. In the meantime, you can build his adult cage - at least 2'x2'x4'. Or you can just buy one of those, too.

 

[spartybassoon]

Thank you all for your great advice! I am very giddy about all this - you can be so much more creative with these guys and their cages than other herps! Now to find some plans for a cage...or just buy one (rather not, though, I like to work with my hands)....

 

[Brad Ramsey]

He looks really good!
Very healthy.
It appears to me that you are well on your way to becoming a great keeper of chameleons. I love how excited you seem about it.
They are really amazing creatures.
If you leave a little carrot or sweet potato ... or something for the cricket to eat in the bottom of the enclosure, you needn't worry about leaving it in over night.
I generally try and remove them at night ... mainly so I can gut load them again.
Welcome!

-Brad Ramsey

 

[spartybassoon]

Thanks, Brad! There is some squash for the cricket to munch on. This whole business was quite daunting at first, though. We've all been there with some sort of animal - trying to get the good information through all the bad that you find on the net, and knowing which is which. It's difficult, but part of the fun I just ordered him a sweet lookin' cage from reptilesuppply.com, so I am so eager to get it!!

 

[quikdrummer]

he looks just like my Littlefoot! little bits of leftover shedded skin and all! lol

 

[chamlover]

You can also buy wood and screen cages from Beeger Boxes. Their prices are reasonalble and they stand by their product. I have all my chams in their cages. Their website doesn't really show all their products. Send them an email and tell them what ya want and they willl give you a price.

Debby

 

[grubbsgrub]

If you have any carpentry/framing or wood working experience im sure you can build your own I did even without any.