health concerns

[sabbott702]

hello, i have a 2 month old veiled veiled chameleon <male> that i got a week ago. i handle it every day.
feeding waxworms and crickets, crickets are eating vegetables like green peppers and zucchini. we use the d3 calcium every other time crickets are put into cage.
water ismisted into cage at least 3 times a day <more usually> and humidity is 75% in morning to 55% in evening, he drinks off of leaves sometimes
poop is medium brown with sometimes yellow/sometimes white, fairly solid

cage is a glass terrarium with a screen lid <thinking about putting a fan on top to circulate air>
lighting is 2 household bulbs, and we have an exo-terra daylight bulb 75 watt
temperature is 80's during the day, 60's at night
no live plants
tank is in living room, in the corner. no fans close by, cage is 2 ft off the ground.
i live in northeast ohio

main concern is pee as well as the best lighting for a juvenile chameleon. way too many different thoughts, just need a good solid way to light the tank. also should i make him drink more water?

 

[carol5208]

You MUST have a UVB bulb! Your chameleon will die without one. You only need one basking bulb which can be one of the household bulbs. You need plain calcium to dust feeders with. Use the d3 one twice a month and also a multivitamin a couple of times a month. The fan is not necessary. Your humidity and temps are ok. Get a Reptisun 5.0 tube bulb for the uvb.

 

[sabbott702]

the reason we took the uvb bulb out was because it was getting the tank to hot and he wouldnt move from the shade, the temps were getting over 90. so how do we stop the tank from getting so hot ? sorry if these are stupid questions we just dont want to kill the poor thing. thanks for replying

 

[AtAllCost]

a uvb shouldn't be making it that hot

 

[sabbott702]

ok, thanks, we elevated the light, seems better. how do we get him to drink more?

 

[Thompson]

I usually use warm water. They love it. Mine usually step right into the mist and start lappin up water. They don't always drink though.

 

[chameleongirl2]

yes you ABSOLUTELY NEED A UVB BULB!!!!!

 

[kinyonga]

The most often recommended UVB bulb is the long linear fluorescent Repti-sun 5.0 tube light. It won't overheat the cage. For a young veiled chameleon the basking area of the cage only needs to be in the low 80'sF. If your cage is too hot it would be better to remove the household lights and the daylight bulb and just use the UVB.

Here's some information I hope will help you with things like supplements, gutloading, etc....
Appropriate cage temperatures aid in digestion and thus play a part indirectly in nutrient absorption.

Exposure to UVB from either direct sunlight or a proper UVB light allows the chameleon to produce D3 so that it can use the calcium in its system to make/keep the bones strong and be used in other systems in the chameleon as well. The UVB should not pass through glass or plastic no matter whether its from the sun or the UVB light. The most often recommended UVB light is the long linear fluorescent Repti-sun 5.0 tube light. Some of the compacts, spirals and tube lights have caused health issues, but so far there have been no bad reports against this one.

A wide variety of insects that have been well fed and gutloaded should be fed to it.

Since many of the feeder insects we use in captivity have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorus in them, its important to dust the insects just before you feed them to the chameleon at most feedings with a phos.-free calcium powder to help make up for it. (I use Rep-cal phosphorus-free calcium).

If you also dust twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder it will ensure that your chameleon gets some D3 without overdoing it. It leaves the chameleon to produce the rest of what it needs through its exposure to the UVB light. D3 from supplements can build up in the system but D3 produced from exposure to UVB shouldn't as long as the chameleon can move in and out of it. (I use Rep-cal phos.-free calcium/D3).

Dusting twice a month as well with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A will ensure that the chameleon gets some vitamins without the danger of overdosing the vitamin A. PrEformed sources of vitamin A can build up in the system and may prevent the D3 from doing its job and push the chameleon towards MBD. However, there is controversy as to whether all/any chameleons can convert the beta carotene and so some people give some prEformed vitamin A once in a while. (I use herptivite which has beta carotene.)

Gutloading/feeding the insects well helps to provide what the chameleon needs. I gutload crickets, roaches, locusts, superworms, etc. with an assortment of greens (dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, zucchini, etc.)

Calcium, phos., D3 and vitamin A are important players in bone health and other systems in the chameleon (muscles, etc.) and they need to be in balance. When trying to balance them, you need to look at the supplements, what you feed the insects and what you feed the chameleon.

Here are some good sites for you to read too...
http://chameleonnews.com/07FebWheelock.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200605020...Vitamin.A.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200406080...d.Calcium.html
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
http://web.archive.org/web/200601140...ww.adcham.com/
If you can't access the sites above that have the word "archive" in you can do it through the WayBackMachine.

 

[carol5208]

UVB bulbs really do not give off any heat. You have a glass enclosure which holds the heat more than screen. Get the linear UVB bulb as suggested and try a 20 watt household bulb for basking. You can get a dripper for extra hydration besides the misting.

 

[sabbott702]

thank you for everyone who replied i will be getting a new bulb and a little dripper today.