First Chameleon!

[Trumancham]

Hello!! My husband and I got our first chameleon about 2 1/2 weeks ago. His name is Truman and he was born in July he is a Rudis. At first reading these forums I was really worried I would mess up and do something bad with him but I beleve he's doing awesome and would appreciate any input! He has a 18 x18 x 36 reptibreeze. UVB and basking bulb 12 hours on, then a red light for night. Spraying his small crickets with calcium, he eats about 4 a day. Lots of vines and fake plants, I keep his humidity around 70%, his low temperatures at the bottom are 72 and basking in the mid 80's. At first he would turn almost black whenever I opened the cage to spray it down, now he just scurries out of the way. When he is in his cage he stays a green and brown diamond pattern. He has responded very well to handling, I have been careful never to grab him only holding him if he will step into my hand. He always turns a gorgeous yellow when I am holding him and never hisses.

Any advice on how to care for our little guy would be much appreciated!!

 

[unixmiah]

please put in 1 or 2 real plants. they know the difference between a fake and a real one.

you can only get the list of plants that are chameleon safe like how they rest on plants in the wild-- there are certain ones.

these plants are tropical and extremely hard to find. you can get pothos from your local home depot or krogers/supermarket - they drink dripping water from real plants. they also keep moisture around vs. fake ones.

use fake ones to cover areas that real plants can't cover-- fake plants should be given to they can hide and scroll but real plants are way better.

you already have uv-- these plants will live in the enclosure if you mist and water regularly.

 

[Crashbandit05]

Sounds good so far. I would get rid of the night light asap. From what I've read, chams need as dark as possible when sleeping.

 

[Andee]

Ok Rudis chams are a little different than most Chams. I don't personally have one but was originally thinking of getting one so did some research on them. Your cage size is fine, actually larger than it needs to be so that's great ^^ I approve of this <3 larger cages are better most of the time. No night lights at all. Get rid of it, they can handle very low temps at night, I think around 60 degrees F so you shouldn't need any heat, if you feel you do get a ceramic heat emitter they are better as all chams need complete darkness at night to sleep correctly.

I would personally get rid of the spray calcium. It literally is too unpredictable for your chameleon. It's dangerous to over supplement a Rudis and it can also be dangerous to under supplement if your gutload is not good enough. If you supplement your chameleon use a dust and use plain Calcium without D3 twice a week, calcium with D3 once a month and a multivitamin once a month. Please read the instructions when it comes to dusting with D3 and the multivitamin, sometimes depending on what your cham weighs it's best to dust only a certain amount of feeders and I tend to do this with montane species (species that are more sensitive to supplementation) What are you gutloading your feeders with?

Sounds like he's got a very healthy appetite for a Rudis, which is good, most only eat 2 feeders a day which might means he's still pretty young. Humidity sounds good, does it go all the way to 90% when you mist? It should.

Basking temp should only be around 82 degrees F at most, preferably around 80 degrees. And try misting him with warmer water? It might be his water is too cold? Are you misting with a hand pump mister? Like the kind you pump up then squeeze the handle to mist?

 

[Trumancham]

[/QUOTE]
Humidity sounds good, does it go all the way to 90% when you mist? It should.

Basking temp should only be around 82 degrees F at most, preferably around 80 degrees. And try misting him with warmer water? It might be his water is too cold? Are you misting with a hand pump mister? Like the kind you pump up then squeeze the handle to mist?[/QUOTE]


I recently switched to warmer water so that might be why he isn't so angry anymore, I can't get it above about 84% any tips????? I have the Flukers cricket food, also some oranges and greens. It's a misting spray bottle of that makes sense? Just a handheld. Currently saving for a timed one!

 

[Trumancham]

Also I will ditch the light and get a pothos ASAP thanks so much!!

 

[Trumancham]

please put in 1 or 2 real plants. they know the difference between a fake and a real one.

you can only get the list of plants that are chameleon safe like how they rest on plants in the wild-- there are certain ones.

these plants are tropical and extremely hard to find. you can get pothos from your local home depot or krogers/supermarket - they drink dripping water from real plants. they also keep moisture around vs. fake ones.

use fake ones to cover areas that real plants can't cover-- fake plants should be given to they can hide and scroll but real plants are way better.

you already have uv-- these plants will live in the enclosure if you mist and water regularly.

My only concern is how do I make sure the crickets aren't getting away from him? He's so tiny maybe 2 inches. Will they be able to hide in the pot?

 

[Andee]

You could cup feed? How long are you misting for? It might not be long enough. It's usually recommended from 2-3 minutes at least 3 times a day.

 

[Trumancham]

I think it's about that long, I honestly just keep spraying until I get it high enough so probably 3-4 minutes 3 times a day. Okay I'll try cup feeding and see how he does!