Going out of state

[Ares05]

Me and my family are going on a ski trip soon, and obviously I would've to take all of my animals with me, but you know.. I cant. Ive written out care sheets and printed them out. Sort of gotten myself into a pickle because I haven't been able to test my beardies for coccidia, so ive got to make it clear that no cross contamination can happen. Ive been reading alot of threads on how people go on vacation and then come back and their chameleon isnt doing so hot. Im probably just going to call every morning and go through the steps with them. We don't go skiing often ( because its freaking expensive to get there from here) so I really can't miss the trip. We will be gone for about 5 days. What do you guys do when you are away for a little while?

 

[Thehippie]

can you board them or have an in home pet sitter?

and where are you skiing?? (sorry im a big snowboarder and i love hearing where others ski)

 

[Coop]

I have left for vacation twice when I had flower, and left a care sheet. The first was a school trip, and my parents followed the care sheet, and the last we went camping for a week. My neighbor took care of Flower, and followed the care sheet exactly and she was fine. As long as the person taking care of them you trust and know will follow the care sheet, they should be fine.

 

[Ares05]

Somewhere around Lake Tahoe.

Cant board them, and there's no way we would feel comfortable with a stranger in the house while we are gone. The person thats going to be taking care of them (close family) has no reptile experience whatsoever. They have taken care of my reptiles before but I cant say they did an outstanding job. We dont leave for another week, so I have time to get it through their skull the every detail on the sheets are important.. Honestly leaving with one chameleon is stressful (along with 9 other animals) , how do the people with 8+ chameleons do it, along with other pets?

 

[cyberlocc]

How long are you going? Dont you have misters and such?

 

[Ares05]

Yes I have an automatic mister. But my fogger has to be filled every day (small tank), supplements, feeding the crickets, avoiding cross contamination, watching out for signs of illness, etc. If you knew nothing about reptiles, some of that might be confusing.

We will be gone for about 5-7 days. Last time we almost got stuck in a huge blizzard so lets hope thats doesn't happen.

 

[cyberlocc]

Yes I have an automatic mister. But my fogger has to be filled every day (small tank), supplements, feeding the crickets, avoiding cross contamination, watching out for signs of illness, etc. If you knew nothing about reptiles, some of that might be confusing.

We will be gone for about 5-7 days. Last time we almost got stuck in a huge blizzard so lets hope thats doesn't happen.

Well that's why I was asking, the time frame.

Honestly I wouldn't even weigh them down with all of that. Missing a couple calcium dusts will not be the end of the world. Nor will being without the fogger for a few days, (as long as you mist during the day).


If I were you, I would feed alot of heavily dusted food the day before. Make cups, like small deli cups with some more crickets (few more than your typical every other day feeding) and put them in the cups with some gutload. Write the cage descriptor on the cups, or put them on top. Have them feed the 1 time halfway through your trip.

You could have them fill the fogger if your really worried if your really worried about that.

 

[The Wild One]

What I did when I had a mission trip in terms of food was pre-dust the roaches and separated them with gutload by day so there was no confusion on the size or dust amount. I printed out a very detailed care sheet and told them what to look out for and if they saw anything from orange-tinted urates to gaping to call me.

 

[Ares05]

Amaro still gets fed every day, he's only 6 1/2 months old. He will be fine with just one feeding? ( I know he'll be fine but he wont lose weight or anything?)

Im only worried about the fogger because he has had dehydration problems in the past.

A few animals must be fed everyday. Some only get fed every other day, and some get fed every 4 days. Again, im sure everyone would be fine with just one feeding (except maybe the baby leopard gecko.. hes so tiny) but I just hate leaving them, you know? Im very excited for this trip as we don't go often, but still.. I worry.

@The Wild One I feed crickets. They wont die in the cups?

 

[The Wild One]

Amaro still gets fed every day, he's only 6 1/2 months old. He will be fine with just one feeding? ( I know he'll be fine but he wont lose weight or anything?)

Im only worried about the fogger because he has had dehydration problems in the past.

A few animals must be fed everyday. Some only get fed every other day, and some get fed every 4 days. Again, im sure everyone would be fine with just one feeding (except maybe the baby leopard gecko.. hes so tiny) but I just hate leaving them, you know? Im very excited for this trip as we don't go often, but still.. I worry.

@The Wild One I feed crickets. They wont die in the cups?

I haven't used crickets in a long time but Id thinks so It's just with the roaches I don't want them to feed the pregnant ones so they can reproduce. You could place a camera in there if you worry that much so you can check on him.

 

[cyberlocc]

Amaro still gets fed every day, he's only 6 1/2 months old. He will be fine with just one feeding? ( I know he'll be fine but he wont lose weight or anything?)

Im only worried about the fogger because he has had dehydration problems in the past.

A few animals must be fed everyday. Some only get fed every other day, and some get fed every 4 days. Again, im sure everyone would be fine with just one feeding (except maybe the baby leopard gecko.. hes so tiny) but I just hate leaving them, you know? Im very excited for this trip as we don't go often, but still.. I worry.

@The Wild One I feed crickets. They wont die in the cups?

Ya, its tough leaving lol.

I was saying 1 feeding before you leave, a big one. Then have a Cup, with crickets for the mid gone feeding, and then feed again when back. Reptiles can go a couple days and will be fine, they do alot in the wild. Just feed extra for the one feeding and extra when you get back.

For the leo, cant they eat gecko diet? Maybe give some of that for when your away and not adding insects. Give the beardies a tad extra food, for free ranging and some greens. Maybe through a couple extra crickets to the 6 month old cham that can be free ranged. Our US crickets dont tend to mess with chams in my experience, its the bigger crickets that usually do that.

Crickets will be fine, just put a bunch of holes in the top of the cup.

 

[Ares05]

The Leo is very young. Like, 2 months. The gecko diet is kind of like the freeze dried crickets/canned crickets people sometimes ask if they can feed, you technically can but its very unhealthy.

My adult male beardie will normally only eat when handfed (ever since he had two surgeries back-to-back, he has gotten very lazy. ) but he mainly eats greens so im not worried about him.

My younger beardie an eat up to 40+ crickets a day, but he loves hunting so they can just throw them in. He gets greens every 2 days.

My other leopard geckos only eat every 3-4 days, but the older of the two one is blind in one eye and can have trouble catching her food. I Normally hand feed, takes forever for her to even catch one when its right in front of her. Hoping she can manage while I am gone. Just a little worried, but she's got a nice fat tail.

My frogs are easy, just throw a cricket into the tanks along with some fish pellets, and your good (they are fully aquatic)

Fish tank is all easy, just feed once a day.

Amaro is my main concern (chameleon). Its my first time leaving while having him. There so many specific things I do for him that I cant really translate onto paper. I swear, chameleons live to stress us out!

 

[JoXie411]

The chameleon breeder has a podcast about vacations. I followed the advice when I didn’t live with my chams. I would feed them good b4 I took off for 3 days and would leave extra feeders in the “shooting gallery” I made them


Check out episode: "Ep 3: Vacations & Chameleons at Home" http://j.mp/3bHmVdI

 

[absolutbill]

I have 2 thoughts on this - 1. You could tell your sitter to feed the chameleon first then give them the order you want everything else fed, ending with the beardies. Or, 2. you could have a box of latex gloves and just have them put on a pair to feed each animal. Not the best option for the environment I understand, but that MIGHT help save from cross-contamination. For what it's worth I have 3 chams, 2 dart frogs, and 2 cats. When my husband and I go on vacation we have a pet sitter who I have trained to come to the house every 3 days (all of my animals are old enough to handle feedings that far apart). I have a detailed list for her and only worry about 1 feeder and 1 type of dusting - we don't go away for more than 2 weeks at a time, so the animals are all fine and she's not overwhelmed. When I had a beardie I had her feed that girl last without any issues.

 

[Char333p]

Me and my family are going on a ski trip soon, and obviously I would've to take all of my animals with me, but you know.. I cant. Ive written out care sheets and printed them out. Sort of gotten myself into a pickle because I haven't been able to test my beardies for coccidia, so ive got to make it clear that no cross contamination can happen. Ive been reading alot of threads on how people go on vacation and then come back and their chameleon isnt doing so hot. Im probably just going to call every morning and go through the steps with them. We don't go skiing often ( because its freaking expensive to get there from here) so I really can't miss the trip. We will be gone for about 5 days. What do you guys do when you are away for a little while?

I go away for a week. Auto mister on solves water issue.. and food.. I just gorge him up day or two before leaving and then put a Tupperware container of dubia and superworms.. he goes for worms first my guy. But anyways 1 week would be fine.. as long as lights are on auto timer

 

[Gingero]

 

[JuniorC]

Amaro still gets fed every day, he's only 6 1/2 months old. He will be fine with just one feeding? ( I know he'll be fine but he wont lose weight or anything?)

Im only worried about the fogger because he has had dehydration problems in the past.

A few animals must be fed everyday. Some only get fed every other day, and some get fed every 4 days. Again, im sure everyone would be fine with just one feeding (except maybe the baby leopard gecko.. hes so tiny) but I just hate leaving them, you know? Im very excited for this trip as we don't go often, but still.. I worry.

@The Wild One I feed crickets. They wont die in the cups?

 

[ZEROPILOT]

That's tough.
I had to leave my Chameleons and other animals for 4 days and 3 nights.
I already had my lights and MISTKING on timers. The MISTKING hopper has a 5 day water supply.
In each cage I placed 12 crickets into their usual feeder cups. Let another 12 loose to free range the cages and placed another feeder cup containing 6 Superworms on the bottom to be found later.
It worked. Thank God.
Otherwise, I have no plan B.
The few people that I trust have very busy lives too.

 

[salty dog]

The serpentarium boards chams and reptiles, serpentarium in elk grove few miles from the 50 freeway that goes to tahoe

 

[cyberlocc]

The serpentarium boards chams and reptiles, serpentarium in elk grove few miles from the 50 freeway that goes to tahoe

No concern of parasite risk? You trust them to not cross contaminate?