First shed

[fordxL68]

Damien had his first shed today, Thanks to all who gave me answers about the subject.

 

[westcoastchameleons]

Congradulations ford, im happy you are taking care of your cham.

 

[Frank Castle]

I have had my cham for almost 3 weeks now (Veiled). I can see the milky collor skin and some yellow strips down his body under it. This will be his first shed since I got him. The little guy isnt going to be all green any more. I am so proud.

 

[westcoastchameleons]

I have had my cham for almost 3 weeks now (Veiled). I can see the milky collor skin and some yellow strips down his body under it. This will be his first shed since I got him. The little guy isnt going to be all green any more. I am so proud.

im very happy for you, just keep taking good care of him

 

[Frank Castle]

im very happy for you, just keep taking good care of him

No Doubt. I did research on the care of him for about 2 weeks before I even started thinking about buying him. I have him in a 2'x2'x4' cage, screened on 3 sides, 2 live ficus trees, 95* basking temp, 75* low end temp. Automatic Mist system sprays the cage for 30 sec every hour for 8 hours a day. Humidity is around 60-65%. I feed him daily currently Crickets for 2 days with 2:1 Calhos supliments, then meal worms w/ 1 wax worm with Reptivite vitamin supliment. He has an 18" UVB bulb. The lights are on timers. I took out the Night light as per the info I have read around. He is in a low trafic area with good air circulation. So I think (From what I have read) that I have his husdbandry up to par? I know there is always room for improvement though.

Thanks for the intrest

Frank

 

[westcoastchameleons]

No Doubt. I did research on the care of him for about 2 weeks before I even started thinking about buying him. I have him in a 2'x2'x4' cage, screened on 3 sides, 2 live ficus trees, 95* basking temp, 75* low end temp. Automatic Mist system sprays the cage for 30 sec every hour for 8 hours a day. Humidity is around 60-65%. I feed him daily currently Crickets for 2 days with 2:1 Calhos supliments, then meal worms w/ 1 wax worm with Reptivite vitamin supliment. He has an 18" UVB bulb. The lights are on timers. I took out the Night light as per the info I have read around. He is in a low trafic area with good air circulation. So I think (From what I have read) that I have his husdbandry up to par? I know there is always room for improvement though.

Thanks for the intrest

Frank

Were did you get that misting system?And how much did it cost?

 

[Brad]

congrats ford


Frank,
Always good to read someone has done their research before purchasing a chameleon. Sounds like you are off to a good start.

Automatic Mist system sprays the cage for 30 sec every hour for 8 hours a day.

You may want to increase the length of time the cage is misted to at least a couple minutes, especially if the chameleon is not responding. How are you dealing with drainage?

 

[Frank Castle]

The Mist system is a HabbaMist. I got it for $40 off of Ebay. I have it pluged into a timer, so it only gets power for that 8 hours. The Habbamist automaticaly has a timer for 1,3,6,12 hour delay times. It can only mist up to 1 min. I will look at increasing it to the full minute, but it soaks things pretty well. The Drainage isnt an issue (This is where I might have meesed up with the cage) I have the Ficus Planted in the bottom. So the bottom of the cage is a planter. I will try and get some pics.

Frank

 

[lowendfrequency]

The Mist system is a HabbaMist. I got it for $40 off of Ebay. I have it pluged into a timer, so it only gets power for that 8 hours. The Habbamist automaticaly has a timer for 1,3,6,12 hour delay times. It can only mist up to 1 min. I will look at increasing it to the full minute, but it soaks things pretty well. The Drainage isnt an issue (This is where I might have meesed up with the cage) I have the Ficus Planted in the bottom. So the bottom of the cage is a planter. I will try and get some pics.

Frank

I hate to tell you, but you wasted your money on the HabbaMist. I realize you did it in the best interest of your chameleon, but there are several major problems with the HabbaMist unit. It's recommended that most species of chameleons recieve 15-30 minutes of misting per day. Since the habbamist can only spray for 1 minute every hour, on a 12 hour cycle thats only 12 minutes spread throughout the entire day. Not only is that not enough, but even those 12 minutes are somewhat useless. Many chameleons need a good 5 to 10 minutes of misting to trigger a drinking response, and then additional misting time to actually drink. Don't simply assume that your chameleon will lick the drops from leaves. Another important factor is that a chameleons cage needs to dry between mistings to prevent bacteria growth. That can't happen if you're misting every hour. On top of all that, if your habbamist pump runs dry, it will burnout and possibly melt.

I'd go back to hand misting twice a day for 15 minutes each until you can purchase an adequate misting unit like the rain maker I or the pro-mist. Make sure the pump can run continously and that it can run dry as well. Don't skimp on cheap units, you'll be wasting your money.

 

[Frank Castle]

I hate to tell you, but you wasted your money on the HabbaMist. I realize you did it in the best interest of your chameleon, but there are several major problems with the HabbaMist unit. It's recommended that most species of chameleons recieve 15-30 minutes of misting per day. Since the habbamist can only spray for 1 minute every hour, on a 12 hour cycle thats only 12 minutes spread throughout the entire day. Not only is that not enough, but even those 12 minutes are somewhat useless. Many chameleons need a good 5 to 10 minutes of misting to trigger a drinking response, and then additional misting time to actually drink. Don't simply assume that your chameleon will lick the drops from leaves. Another important factor is that a chameleons cage needs to dry between mistings to prevent bacteria growth. That can't happen if you're misting every hour. On top of all that, if your habbamist pump runs dry, it will burnout and possibly melt.

I'd go back to hand misting twice a day for 15 minutes each until you can purchase an adequate misting unit like the rain maker I or the pro-mist. Make sure the pump can run continously and that it can run dry as well. Don't skimp on cheap units, you'll be wasting your money.

Thanks For the info, I will look at changing it out as soon as I can. I think for now I am going to turn it on for the full minute, every 2 hours (I can set the timer on the plug to turn on every two hours and the mister will automatically come on) The 12 hour means it comes on for only 1 minute every 12 hours. I currently have it set to spray for 30sec every hour. Then give him a good misting when I get home from work. I have seen him drink after the mist system has gone off. I also can set up a drip system for when I am gone. I am at work for anywhere from 9-11 hours a day. I thought this would help while I was gone.

I knew going in to this that there is a lot of information to go through from all the diffrent resources out there to determine which would be the optimum set up. I made an educated guess on my set up and finding out now that it is not optimum. The one thing I do know now is that the climate is almost right and I am going in the right direction.

Thanks for all your help.

Frank

 

[Heika]

Hi Frank,

I think that all of us go through that learning curve, some more so than others. When I got my first chameleon, I thought I had it all figured out. I bought a habba mister, "humidity" pads, and a load of other crap that I soon discovered was just that.. crap. The cage I built myself didn't take drainage into account, and I was syphoning water from the bottom of the cage every night. It didn't take long for me to discover that my cage was too small for an adult chameleon, and that I would have to get him a larger one as he grew older. Trial and error.. I feel like I am finally getting a handle on it.

Heika

 

[Frank Castle]

Hi Frank,

I think that all of us go through that learning curve, some more so than others. When I got my first chameleon, I thought I had it all figured out. I bought a habba mister, "humidity" pads, and a load of other crap that I soon discovered was just that.. crap. The cage I built myself didn't take drainage into account, and I was syphoning water from the bottom of the cage every night. It didn't take long for me to discover that my cage was too small for an adult chameleon, and that I would have to get him a larger one as he grew older. Trial and error.. I feel like I am finally getting a handle on it.

Heika

True True. I had actually made this cage I am using fom my cham 10 years ago when my brother had a veiled. I never let him get rid of it after the cham passed. When I first made it it was solid on the 3 sides. Only the Front and Top were screened. When I started doing the research I found out the needed more Ventalation and went through cutting out the sides and screening it. I also put the lights inside, which now I know is a NO, NO. I wired everything and put them all on Automatic Timers (Which is a Plus). But I am now Looking to build a new cage. The size of this one is adequate though 2x2x4. I liked the way you set yours up and am looking at designing something similar. I just have to get the funds together to do it the way I want. And do it right the first time now.

Thank You for all your guys/gals Help.

Frank