Final Questions? Feeding, Lighting, Watering Schedules

[Black Panther]

So about a month ago i decided to get a chameleon. I bought all the supplies and had a enclosure set up with a down payment on a faly. For some reason I decided not to get one at the last second and sold everything. I felt i wasn't ready because I was still confused on the feeding, lighting, watering schedules.

Feeding: I had planned on feeding crickets and silkworks but how many? how often? should I dust them with my repashy all in one every feeding?

Lighting: I know that I should just have a 40 or 60w house light and a reptisun 5.0 for 12 hours a day but I couldnt coordinate that into my schedule. I wake up at 6 on weekdays leaving by 7, and usually dont go to sleep until 11 that night. I dont want to have his lights go off at 7 and then I be making noises for the next 4 hours while he is trying to sleep.

Watering: I originally bought a mistking ultimate and I heard longer mistings around 2 minutes were best but im still confused on how long after he wakes up should the misting start and how long before lights off should i stop misting?

And for foliage. I had a ficus, croton, and a pothos in a 24x24x48 cage but it just seemed way to bare. what are good filler plants to put in the cage. I will probally get a 18x18x36 if I decide to get the faly again.

Thank you to anyone who helps with these.

 

[carol5208]

if you are getting a young panther or a baby like 3-4 mos old then they should be fed everyday around 15-20 small feeders. If you are going to feed crickets and silks maybe like a dozen crickets and 4 or 5 silks. Dust all the feeders everyday with the repashy.
Get a timer for your lights. Have them come on at 7 and go off at 7. Dont worry about the noise, they cannot hear. If you have a light or tv on in the room, cover the cage with a blanket or a sheet or something. Lights can distract their sleep.
Misting- let your cham bask and warm up for about an hour or so in the morning. Then mist. You can have your mister go off like every 3 hours for about 3 minutes. No misting after the lights go off and have the last misting go off early enough before the lights go out so the cage can dry out.
Sheffeleras( aka arboricola, umbrella) are good fillers.
Hope this helped some and sorry you went through buying everything only to back out. If you give a go at it again, just come to the forum and you can have all your questions answered if you are unsure or not feeling confident. We all started out just like you. We learn as we go along.

 

[Hdale85]

Yea people here are very willing to answer all questions even if its one that's been beaten to death already.

 

[blackhawk007]

Yea people here are very willing to answer all questions even if its one that's been beaten to death already.

And this is one of the things that makes this forum far superior to others! When your new you don't know how to use the search options. By the time you figure it our most of the questions have been answered.

My cham is just over 4 months old, I feed him as much as he wants at this point. He eats a ton, and is growing so fast. As far as everything else I mostly agree with Carol.

 

[Black Panther]

I have used the search feature and I found alot of posts about the topics but none really answered my questions that i was personally trying to get answered.

 

[Olimpia]

The search function, for whatever reason, isn't as useful as it would seem. For some reason it won't always find threads, for example, even if you search for it by title word for word. A trick is to search through Google, typing something like "chameleon forums feeding schedule" and it'll provide a bunch of thread from this forum that are relevant.

 

[Hoj]

my advise is similar to above.

Feeding, for young chams I feed about 15 crickets a day with worms as a treat a day or two a week and only a few with a few crickets. I use Repashy calcium plus on all feeders at every feeding for panthers and veileds

Lighing, I too use timers, but I copy the time of the sum for the most part. And like Carol said cover the cages with a blaket if you feel there is light bothering your cham.

Watering, I too use a mistking, I like to have a short 30sec blast just as lights come on to simulate the moring dew, I then have frequent mistings throughout the day for a few min. Stopping about 1.5 - 2 hrs before lights out to allow time for the cage to sufficently dry up.

As for plants I like to use a large umbrella tree in a pot on the bottom and a nice big full pothos hanging from the top so the vines can grow down through the sticks and other fake vines.

Hope that helps a bit.

 

[Black Panther]

Ok thanks for everyones input. The sun does come up at 7 and go down around 730 so I can have it on a 7-7 schedule until the time change again. As far as misting goes ill wait until I have the cage with plants in there and see how long it takes to dry out after a misting, so that i know when to stop before lights out. I get different opinions on feeding. SOme say silkworms everyday, some say only a couple days a week. SHould I cup feed, let them free roam, and try to hand feed?

 

[Olimpia]

Feeding is a lot of personal judgement, in my opinion. No two people have the same feeding schedule, probably, and what I do may not work for someone else.

When I order hornworms, for example, I will feed those more or less heavily while I have them, So maybe 1-3 every day or two, depending on the size of the worm and the individual chameleon. And when I run out, it's back to crickets, roaches, and superworms for me until the next time I order them in.

It's up to you. Silkworms are pretty nutritious, but are also a little fatty like all worms, so they shouldn't be more than about 20-30% of the diet. How you offer them and in what quantity is a bit up to you, in my opinion. Just make sure there's a balance between "soft food" like silks and "crunchy food" like crickets. Try to get some superworms and/or roaches - both breed pretty easily and last forever with food and water, so you won't have to order them in as often.

 

[carol5208]

Olimpia I was reading that Horns have 3 g of fat and silks have 6 g in comparison to waxworm at 22g and supers at 18g. I don't think I would consider 6 grams fatty as they are pretty much the same as a cricket. Just thought I would add my 2 cents worth!

 

[Olimpia]

Thanks Carol, I can't keep track of that much detail! lol

Still, Sandra recommends not letting any one feeder be more than about 20% of the diet, if I remember correctly, so that's still something to consider. Although silks are better than crickets, it would be better to feed more of those than crickets, like most people do who feed mainly crickets every meal time.