He is always so dark. Help
- Thread starter Kam0408
- Start date
Yep that is what I use at the basking branch below the heat fixture. Use a zip tie to hook it to the branch with the probe on the top of the branch.
Fchamel
Chameleon Enthusiast
I use that one too, it works great!
C0nwayy
Member
Hello! Not an expert but I’m here to help since I’ve been doing research on these wonderful animals.
You seem to be doing everything just fine. Maybe make sure to gutload your crickets very very well, give him less mealworms and when you do give them to him, make sure they’re gutloaded well. Ok so, I’m guessing the issue could be with the temperature, if not, maybe you’re handling him too much?
Let’s go with the temperature thing first, you’ll tell us what temperatures you got. In case this is not the issue, maybe it’s the handling. You’ve been nearly a month with your cham. Understand that petco and petsmart chameleons ofter come home stressed since, well, you know these aren’t the best places to get a cham. If I were you I’d go maybe a week or two without handling him or bothering him too much and then see how things go. It’s what I’m doing with my cham and it’s going well. Sometimes I do have to handle him to put him back on a branch since I haven’t fixed some stuff in my enclosure and I don’t want him hurt. Other than that, I don’t touch him. Especially since he’s so tiny.
Forgot to mention, your enclosure is so pretty! I’d only recommend using fake plants if they’re really really hard and impossible to break. If you want to keep them, maybe add a pothos? Any live plant that’s not dangerous. I have a tradescantia in mine. Make sure they don’t have any chemicals that can hurt your cham if he tries chomping on some leafs!
As for the Mbd, not all chams are the same. I don’t use T5 bulbs yet, but, somehow, I noticed that chameleons that come from Petco or Petsmart or most places in the USA are the ones that most need the T5HO. I don’t know why but I kinda noticed that. In my country we rarely see T5 bulbs. The breeders that use it often order them from other countries. My cham’s breeder has like, the spiral bulb that’s 10.0 and he’s been using them for years and his chams are pretty fine. Same with the breeder that sold me my ballast, he used T8 bulbs that were 5.0 or 10.0. Remember that, before T5 were added in the game, spiral bulbs and T8s were used before them!. Don’t take this as a, “Your cham does not need a T5HO bulb”. In fact, he really does. He’s lacking UVB and that’s what will work best for him. I’m just telling you that, your cham’s leg does seem to have MBD but with calcium and that good T5HO bulb, he’ll do just fine in a couple of weeks.
Maybe to save you some money, instead of buying a T5 hood for your bulb,get an aquarium ballast for T5 bulbs, It will save you some money. Arcadia and Aqualux have some good ones.
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Kam0408
Established Member
Thanks on the advice, I actually just bought the T5ho stuff but for the future that would work.
also what do you think about upgrading his cage to a 2 by 2 by 4.
I would put his old one outside as an outside cage.
And I am putting a umbrella plant and pothos in his new cage.
bbyoda
Chameleon Enthusiast
You'll need to upgrade to 2x2x4 eventually, the sooner the better since chameleons love their space. My little man got so much happier when I moved him to his big boy cage.
C0nwayy
Member
If you want to save up a bit before changing his enclosure again, know that the enclosure he’s in is good enough, maybe when he’s 7-8 months old you can upgrade again. I wouldn’t change him right now, he’s a bit weak because of the MBD and stress he’s going through, and changing him again could lead to more stress since he’d have to adapt again. Not to mention, he’s only 5 months old and has a bit of MBD, if he falls from such a tall cage, he can hurt himself.
On the other hand, if you do want to change him, you have to put something soft at the bottom in case he falls, that way he won’t damage himself. And make sure he’s eating well and hydrating himself. I suggest you wait for him to recover before changing his enclosure. Not everything people will tell you, you have to do it ASAP (except when it’s about your cham’s health). So waiting seems like the best option in my opinion. He’s lovely, btw!
C0nwayy
Member
Ooooh I see! It’s understandable tho. Maybe in a future you can look at online pages? I found mine from this second hand page where people post what they sell so they can be contacted. My local pet stores had them at $80 or more. The breeder I contacted sold me mine for $40 and he gave me a box of crickets as well!
While chams from breeders tend to handle stress easily, are cheaper, and strong if I may say, petco and petsmart chams are not recommended because of the abusive breeding chain and bad care, they deserve to have a good life as well. The ones that don’t get bought end up dead. It’s true that by buying them you support these shops but, can we think for the animal lives being sold? While your cham may be more sensitive, you’re saving it’s life and that’s wonderful to think about <3
Kam0408
Established Member
Thanks
MissSkittles
Chameleon Enthusiast
Sweetheart, don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m going to have to discourage you from giving advice like this. You have just gotten your chameleon and are still needing to worry about making your own upgrades and learn why they are so very important. The advice you are giving is not so good. Mealworms are not good feeders at all and shouldn’t be given. Live plants are best and fake is not ok. For uvb, T5 is the standard because it is the best at providing adequate uvb levels.
I love that you are wanting to help others...I really do! But please, make sure you learn all of the basics yourself first and give advice only on those things that you are 100% sure of. @Beman has been advising this op and she really knows her stuff!
I suggest you go to https://chameleonacademy.com/ and learn all that you can. Read, listen to the podcasts, really explore all that the site offers. Read every post here, whether it relates to you or not. Be a sponge and soak up all of the learning you can.
C0nwayy
Member
Ty for the advice on not giving advice, but there isn’t just one way only to keep chams, yeah there are better ways and worse ways but I’ve been informing myself from breeders around where I live and seen their chameleons and little to no breeders I know use the T5 bulbs and their chameleons are fine :,)) Yeah I got my first chameleon and yadda yadda and I do care about him, of course I do, I’m always watching his behaviour and stuff. I just doubt on little facts as the anxious person I am if you know what I mean, haha! I did not just read online, I also met chameleon owners and breeders from my zone and places I’ve been to and that’s the stuff I witnessed. Also I posted that before reading the rest thinking it had only two pages, my mistake!
MissSkittles
Chameleon Enthusiast
Yes, there are very many ways to keep chameleons and each breeder has their own routines. However, unless one duplicates ALL of the breeder’s husbandry precisely, the results will not be the same. Some don’t use any uvb or calcium with D3, however they regularly give their chams a great deal of natural unfiltered sunlight. So if you had met with breeder X who says they don’t use uvb at all, you can’t assume this is ok and tell another to do this unless you are going to tell them the entirety of breeder X’s husbandry that they must follow precisely. To pick out just bits and use that to advise others is irresponsible and can lead to serious issues with the chameleon.
C0nwayy
Member
if you look further, I think page 5, I told this person that they needed the T5HO in this case because their chameleon was not doing well with a T8. So the best option for their cham to recover and heal was the T5HO. And yeah that reminds me one breeder I know didn’t use calcium without d3, only with d3 and multivitamin on his chams, but the one I got my cham from did use all of the supplements, while another one only used calcium and multivitamins.
I happen to agree with @MissSkittles here. We are consistently seeing brand new members giving advice when they themselves have husbandry issues or are still learning and really do not know enough to be advising another member. It is better to read and learn rather then jump in on a thread where more experienced members are already involved and giving feedback. I understand you have good intentions but the additional misdirection from new members in threads gets confusing for the OP and hard for those of us that are trying to get exact answers from the OP. There is "book smart" and then there is hands on experience. You currently have neither. You are just getting the details and learning them now.
C0nwayy
Member
I mean, being new in the forum does not mean lack of knowledge. I never kinda felt in need of joining a forum until now.
No, but it does mean that since your new and do not have your own husbandry figured out that giving advice to other members is not recommended. Specifically in threads like this. People coming in and mentioning mealworms this and that does nothing when the more experienced keepers are trying to diagnose serious health issues and give the Original Poster real feedback before the cham declines further.
You see we give very thorough feedback and when someone is new having other brand new people attempt to help them just takes away from us being able to while they answer your questions.
So read tons and learn. Easy topics that you really do know the correct answer to, respond. But understand that your in a position of learning the very basics right now.
C0nwayy
Member
??? ok lets not give the same exact advice everyone is giving because i just joined the forum and i dont have a right to speak
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