Gender/age/setup

[Milliethechameleon]

hi guys! I just got a veiled chameleon this week and I have some questions. First, I believe this is a male because I think I’ve spotted a spur and his colors are quite vibrant. He is nine inches long..any guesses on the age? And what do you think of my setup? I have two fake plants and five real plants, some moss rocks and branches.. and a home made drip system set up. I spray the cage three times a day. Any recommendations or comments on my little dude? Thanks!

 

[nightanole]

Male
six-eight months

Kinda crappy layout, thats why hes on the screen alot.

you have basically and under brush setup, and chams hang out at the end of high foliage.

So if you could move the leafy stuff to the very top of the cage, and put in some much thicker branches,

https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/upgrading-nosy-bes-cage.138807/

I also dont know if you will be able to shoe horn an adult male into your repibreeze medium. You will end up with a 18" cham in a 18x18x36 setup.

Also you need a linear uv light, that cfl is going to do very little for cages 18" or taller. Its not putting out any uvb past 12".

 

[Milliethechameleon]

Thanks for your feedback! I’m new to chameleons. How do you suggest I move plants to top? I feel like I’m restricted with what I can do because of the screen cage (vs glass). also, what is shoe horn? And cfl? Thanks!

 

[nightanole]

Thanks for your feedback! I’m new to chameleons. How do you suggest I move plants to top? I feel like I’m restricted with what I can do because of the screen cage (vs glass). also, what is shoe horn? And cfl? Thanks!

I linked to a proper layout of your style of cage. you can use push pins and fishing line to mount wood, vines, and plants higher.

That style of cage is the most used on the site, however you should be planning on getting the XL size in the future. It is 24x24x48 and is the most used on the site (I even have have 2, one for outdoor fun).

Shoe horn is when you are trying to fit a 18" long chameleon into a 18" wide/deep cage, and all it can do is rotate.

CFL is compact fluorescent bulb. the curly bulbs do not work well in tall cages. They are meant for gecko "tanks" etc that are only 12-18" tall.

I would check out T5HO 5.0/6% bulbs from either lightyourreptiles or zoomed(reptisun). You should be able to fit a 22" accross a reptibreeze XL, and you can just have it hang over your current setup. You can keep your hood and just use it for basking bulbs.

 

[Milliethechameleon]

Thanks for the help! I’ll definitely be rearranging

 

[Stone Marshall]

For my setups, I poked holes in the corners at the top of the cage and about 1/2" down the vines. I use plastic zip ties to keep them attached to the top. When its time to clean, I just cut the zip ties, and use new ones when reattaching the vines. I also bought side holders from DragonStrand. These are a must for having stability near the top of the screen cages.

 

[Graves923]

If you get a umbrella plant (Schefflera arboricola) that is tall but not too wide, it may fill out the top end of the cage enough so all youll need to add is vines for extra climbing holds and paths. Otherwise, you can hang a couple small pothos plants in the upper portion of the cage. Pothos grow like crazy and will spread their vines out to fill any space with adequate light.

When you upgrade to the larger cage, which will need to be in the next two- three months, it will be easier to fill the top of the cage with live plants. I used a tall dracaena fragrans ( not sure of the common name) which is tall enough to fill out pretty much the whole cage and added an umbrella plant to fill in the bottom half of the cage.

 

[Milliethechameleon]

Thanks for the feedback! I added some more branches and have more being delivered this week. I also plan to add a tall plant this weekend. How do you attach plants (real and artificial) to the screen cage? And what are the best tall plants for enclosures Incase I can’t find the two mentioned. I was thinking about some sort of bamboo but haven’t don’t my reasarch yet to make sure it is safe for my little dude.