First baby cham! Setup feedback please :)

[F r a n k]

Hello,

I've just collected my first reptile, a 10 week old male veiled. He's called Frank!

I've been careful in setting up his enclosure and hopefully have got it right... but looking for some general help please!

Feedback:

Please tell me what you think of my setup as I don't know if its the best it could be.

Concerns:

1. He's enjoying climbing along the top of the cage under the UVB. Should I be worried?

2. My heat lamp is sat directly on the cage. Is this an issue? I'm not sure how to keep it off the mesh currently

3. FEEDING! I've read conflicting info about feeding free range or by hand.
- how much should I be feeding him a day a this age?
- I have small crickets at the moment, do I need to gutload them?

4. Plants - I've read he might try and eat the soil, do I really need to cover it all up?


My setup is:

• Reptibreeze XL mesh enclosure (4ft high 2ft wide 2ft deep)
• Pulse thermostat with 80W deep heat lamp (Arcadia)
• 22 inch 24W D3 12% UVB/ 30% UVA lamp (Arcadia)
• Sunlight LED for plant growth/light cycles (Arcadia)
• Lots of suitable live plants plus stripped magnolia branches and fake vines
• Thermometer, humidity gauge etc (averaging about 65% humidity currently)
• Manual heavy duty sprayer and big dripper

Thankyou!

 

[Gingero]

Frank is so cute and welcome to the forums!

To answer your first questions:
1. This is normal for a baby chameleon. Try to give him some branches closer to the top (but not too close) to help prevent this from happening.
2. It's not an issue as long as the basking temps are not too hot. What are they currently?
3. Here are some videos that should answer your feeding questions:










4. Covering up the soil is safest. But IMO it is a minor concern.

Other feedback:
- 65% is quite high for a veiled chameleon. I'd aim for closer to 30-50% humidity.
- I'd add in more branches. Those plants won't be able to support his weight for very long.
- What is your supplement schedule?

 

[Gingero]

If you haven't already, I'd fill out this form for more detailed feedback: https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/how-to-ask-for-help.66/

 

[F r a n k]

Other feedback:
- 65% is quite high for a veiled chameleon. I'd aim for closer to 30-50% humidity.
- I'd add in more branches. Those plants won't be able to support his weight for very long.
- What is your supplement schedule?

Thanks! This is great. I have actually watched all of your videos (SO HELPFUL) but was concerned about feeding as Frank as I wasn't expecting him to be so small.

Basking temperature is around 25ºC.

I was planning on getting a panther hence the humidity, so I will now keep it lower.

Thanks for the tip - I will definitely get some more branches.

Calcium dusted insects every day of the week, alternating between d3 and multivitamin one day of the week is my supplement schedule (I stole your schedule!)

Thankyou

 

[F r a n k]

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - Frank, Male Yemen, 10 weeks old at date of posting, new to me and my first chameleon.
• Handling - Several times a day so far, he's quite comfortable, stays quite still and is happy to explore. Quite reserved.
• Feeding - 10 small dusted crickets a day, varying by free range, from my hand or arm or with insect tongs. Will diversify his diet in the coming weeks and will be gutloading very soon.
• Supplements - ProRep powders mostly. Calcium daily, d3 or multivitamin 1 day a week (alternating).
• Watering - Dripper from top of enclosure only. Mist twice a day but currently humidity around 75% so will reduce. Never seen him drink!
• Fecal Description - Unsure if he's been tested for parasites, but his first poop was black and urate was white.
• History - Came from a reptile shop. Glass enclosure quite small with a water bowl and lots of substrate...

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - 4ft x 2ft x 2ft ReptiBreeze XL.
• Lighting - 12 hours on 12 off (22 inch 24W D3 12% UVB/30% UVA) + plant LED (both Arcadia).
• Temperature - 2x thermometers and 80W heat lamp on thermostat. Basking spot 23-29ºC. Rest of enclosure temp usually 20ºC. Minimum overnight 17ºC.
• Humidity - Humidity guage, averaging 75%. Lots of live plants keeping humidity up. Misting maybe too regularly.
• Plants - A large range that I have checked for toxicity.
• Placement - Enclosure is 2ft from ground, in corner of room. Indirect sunlight, close to hallway with moderate traffic. No air vents or air conditioning.
• Location - South West, UK

Photos are on original post above!

 

[AmandaS]

Frank is adorable! Welcome to the forums. What about feeding him makes you worrierd? I prefer cup feeding so I know how much mine have eaten. I LOVE the feeder cup that fullthrottlefeeders.com provides. It is easy for the chameleons to see the bugs inside, and that entices them.

 

[F r a n k]

Frank is adorable! Welcome to the forums. What about feeding him makes you worrierd? I prefer cup feeding so I know how much mine have eaten. I LOVE the feeder cup that fullthrottlefeeders.com provides. It is easy for the chameleons to see the bugs inside, and that entices them.

Thankyou! Made a simple bowl from a hummus pot and a couple blunt of metal hooks. Frank's eyeing up the crickets I put in already and just ate one.

I think I was worried about not feeding him enough as I've never owned a reptile before and was feeding him free range, but the bowl has solved this

 

[AmandaS]

Thats great! It seems like you're off to a great start with Frank.
Are you going to a second and name him Mike? Or Sinatra? Lol.

 

[Gingero]

Glad you're finding the videos helpful

Some more feedback/questions:
1. 25C is pretty low for a basking temp. See if you can get it closer to 29-30C
2. I'd limit handling to no more than 3-4x a week, 1x day. Multiple times a day is too much IMO.
3. What is keeping you from gutloading your crickets right now?

 

[Beman]

Hi there.

Temp can be about 26C... Not too much warmer for a 10 week old baby. I would not take him up to 29 until he gets to be past the 3 month old mark.

For your UVB... Are you running a 12% in a single fixture? Or does it house two bulbs sharing 1 reflector? If it is in a single then you need a 12 inch drop to basking using a 12% bulb to get the correct UVB level for a Veiled. Otherwise the baby will be over exposed. If you reduce your UVB bulb down to a 6% then you can have basking 9 inches below using a single bulb fixture. This way you do not loose as much of the top of the cage to unusable space.

At 10 weeks old he should be eating 12-15 feeders every day. I would not tong feed if they hit the tong with their tongue and you pull back it can permanently damage their tongues.

Heat lamps directly on the top can be an issue if the baby screen climbs the ceiling this is why most of us will lift the fixture a few inches.

I would cup feed since that is a large cage and you need to be able to track that he is eating enough everyday. Also crickets have been known to bite sleeping babies.

cage looks great but I would get real branches and do away with the jungle vines. The black stuff on them rub off which can be a bad thing if he rubs his eyes on them.

 

[MissSkittles]

Hi. Frank is a little cutie! No one yet has mentioned humidity. 75% is too high for the daytime. You want it to be between 30-50% during the day. At night when it’s cool, it can go all the way to 100%.

 

[F r a n k]

Glad you're finding the videos helpful

Some more feedback/questions:
1. 25C is pretty low for a basking temp. See if you can get it closer to 29-30C
2. I'd limit handling to no more than 3-4x a week, 1x day. Multiple times a day is too much IMO.
3. What is keeping you from gutloading your crickets right now?

Thanks! I have the lamp set to 26ºC just until he gets a little bigger. I will handle him less in that case. I'm gutloading them today

Hi there.

Temp can be about 26C... Not too much warmer for a 10 week old baby. I would not take him up to 29 until he gets to be past the 3 month old mark.

For your UVB... Are you running a 12% in a single fixture? Or does it house two bulbs sharing 1 reflector? If it is in a single then you need a 12 inch drop to basking using a 12% bulb to get the correct UVB level for a Veiled. Otherwise the baby will be over exposed. If you reduce your UVB bulb down to a 6% then you can have basking 9 inches below using a single bulb fixture. This way you do not loose as much of the top of the cage to unusable space.

At 10 weeks old he should be eating 12-15 feeders every day. I would not tong feed if they hit the tong with their tongue and you pull back it can permanently damage their tongues.

Heat lamps directly on the top can be an issue if the baby screen climbs the ceiling this is why most of us will lift the fixture a few inches.

I would cup feed since that is a large cage and you need to be able to track that he is eating enough everyday. Also crickets have been known to bite sleeping babies.

cage looks great but I would get real branches and do away with the jungle vines. The black stuff on them rub off which can be a bad thing if he rubs his eyes on them.

Thankyou for the advice. I've set the thermostat to 26ºC for now. The UVB is 12% in a single fixture. It's the Acradia ProT5 22inch/24W. His basking spot is 12 inches away but he's enjoying climbing further up so I think I will raise both the UVB and heat lamps above the enclosure. I can't send it back now unfortunately.

He's using his bowl now so I'll hold off from tong feeding and thankyou for the advice ont the vines, yes the coating does come off which is disappointing. I'm going to add more natural branches in over the next week so I may remove them.

Hi. Frank is a little cutie! No one yet has mentioned humidity. 75% is too high for the daytime. You want it to be between 30-50% during the day. At night when it’s cool, it can go all the way to 100%.

Gingero mentioned humidity I've now got it resting under 50%. It might be tricky to get the humidity up at night... would you say that's essential? I might have to buy an automatic mister if that's the case.

 

[AmandaS]

Thanks! I have the lamp set to 26ºC just until he gets a little bigger. I will handle him less in that case. I'm gutloading them today



Thankyou for the advice. I've set the thermostat to 26ºC for now. The UVB is 12% in a single fixture. It's the Acradia ProT5 22inch/24W. His basking spot is 12 inches away but he's enjoying climbing further up so I think I will raise both the UVB and heat lamps above the enclosure. I can't send it back now unfortunately.

He's using his bowl now so I'll hold off from tong feeding and thankyou for the advice ont the vines, yes the coating does come off which is disappointing. I'm going to add more natural branches in over the next week so I may remove them.



Gingero mentioned humidity I've now got it resting under 50%. It might be tricky to get the humidity up at night... would you say that's essential? I might have to buy an automatic mister if that's the case.

A spike in humidity at night is essential. A lot of us use foggers or,humidifiers at the peak hours of night. (I fog from about 12-3am)