Hello All

[Duq]

Hey all thought i would introduce myself i've been reading your forums gathering info on chams an eventually got my little guy today.

Work in progress on the viv as i cant seem too find a Ficus anywhere! Trying a bigger garden center so hopefully in luck there!

Anyhow a pic of him and his new home.

and his home

 

[Sancho]

You got some work to do.

1.) Get rid of the lights inside the cage they need to be on top where he cannot access them. Otherwise your looking to have a cham that is going to burn himself.

2.) Is that a large water bowl at the bottom? If so get rid of it. They only collect bacteria. Use a mister (auto or hand) and pick up a dripper.

3.) I don't see much if any ventilation in that cage. Chams need ventilation as much as you can give them I would Highly suggest a screen cage.

4.) how long have you had him in there like that? Reason I'm asking cause it looks like his casque is deformed. Did you buy him like this?

 

[Duq]

Have a dripper and was told needed to have a bowel in there? i misted like 5 times today to keep @ 50% humid.

As for the light i was informed that as its grilled it could be placed at the bottom?

But yeah makes more sense to be suspended i guess as the heat from the sun normally comes from above

Thanks for the advice

 

[Duq]

yeah there are 5 ventilation points at the back of the Viv ( 3 at the top 2 at the bottom about 3" in diamater )

 

[Sancho]

Have a dripper and was told needed to have a bowel in there? i misted like 5 times today to keep @ 50% humid.

As for the light i was informed that as its grilled it could be placed at the bottom?

But yeah makes more sense to be suspended i guess as the heat from the sun normally comes from above

Thanks for the advice

No reguardless of grilled or not the cham can still get access to it. Do you have any close up pictures of his head? How long do you mist for? mistings should go for 3-5 minutes 3-4 times a day. Get rid of the bowl no need for it. Chams drink off leaves not bowls.

 

[Duq]

Ok thanks again.

As for the pics i dont have but will get some tomorrow when setting the lights up. so the heater should be suspended as high as possible then correct?

 

[PardalisGirl]

Welcome to the group....

Hi there....Welcome to the group. You will need to move that light to the top. Chameleon eyes are form so that the eyeballs are shielded by natural overhead sun. When you have the light on the side like that it can hit him right in the eyes.

He looks a bit dehydrated. His front legs show the dehydration. The casque issue may partly be due to the dehydration. The slight bending may also be due to beginning stage MBD. The first thing you need to do is get him hydrated by misting foliage so he can drink from it right away. You have to get him hydrated properly or he will start having all sorts of serious issues. After you get him hydrated today come back and start considering some changes like the lighting. Let us know what he is eating and his supplementation schedule. There is a form you can access (someone else, please share the link) to get us the info we need to help you and your little guy.

Please stick with us and at least consider any suggestions we make for change. Hopefully suggestions for change are given with the reasons for the suggestion. Like the reason I gave for putting the lighting on the top. We have all been new to the hobby at one point. We have all bought some things that ended up not being the correct thing to buy. The important thing is to get your little one into a healthy condition. He's a cute little one and will be worth the effort you have to put into caring for him

 

[Sancho]

Ok thanks again.

As for the pics i dont have but will get some tomorrow when setting the lights up. so the heater should be suspended as high as possible then correct?

Heater? I hope that isn't a desk heater. All you need is a regular house bulb for heat. Or you can get a Halogena flood bulb which is perfect.

 

[ChamNovice]

Is that the only light source(heat) there is? Is it a UVB light? They require a UVB light and heat lamp for basking, it can be just a normal incandescent lamp, wattge will depend on placement.

 

[Duq]

Thank you PardalisGirl.

Tad worried now about the dehydration bit but i literraly picked him up today from a store. i've heavily misted his Viv about 5 times today so hopefully that helped.. first thing in the morning when he's awake will change his set up and move his heat lamp to the highest point an his Further up.

As for the water container at the bottom is it ok to have it empty but just have the Dripper above it? or will the heat take care of the excess water?

 

[Duq]

List of Equipment in his Viv.

915 x 408 x 1216 mm Viv
25/30w Lighting Controller
25w 5.0 UVB light
habi Stat Temperature thermostat
250w Clamp lamp with Ceramc infra red heat bulb
Digital Thermometer and probe
Digital Humid Gauge And Probe

 

[Sancho]

Thank you PardalisGirl.

Tad worried now about the dehydration bit but i literraly picked him up today from a store. i've heavily misted his Viv about 5 times today so hopefully that helped.. first thing in the morning when he's awake will change his set up and move his heat lamp to the highest point an his Further up.

As for the water container at the bottom is it ok to have it empty but just have the Dripper above it? or will the heat take care of the excess water?

I'd personally get rid of it. Just use paper towels on the bottom of the cage to soak the water. You have to change it every day or so. Bowls = Bacteria and more problems. Raise the heat and UVB bulbs outside the cage on top and add some real plants that are tall and vines. Where are you located? What store did you by him from?

 

[Duq]

Based in Camberley in the UK

 

[yoza717]

Thank you PardalisGirl.
As for the water container at the bottom is it ok to have it empty but just have the Dripper above it? or will the heat take care of the excess water?

I have seen bowls used to catch the excess water from drippers, they use a screen on top of the bowl to keep chameleons and feeders from getting to the water. IMO as long as you change the water out everyday, clean the container thoroughly and use a screen, it should be safe.

 

[sandrachameleon]

Hello and Welcome!

There is NOTHING wrong with having a collection pan / bowl to catch excess drippper water. Just be sure to empty and clean the bowl frequently. Also as your chameleon is small, you may want to cover with a screen. They can swim, but why risk it.

I agree the lighting ( a UVB tube and a regular white tungsten incandescent bulb for heat) should be at the top of the cage, preferably outside the cage shining in through a wide mesh screen (to keep cham in but allow max UVB and light through).

Looks like you need more vines and branches, in a variety of thicknesses (some thin ones too please!) running horizontally, and diagonal vertical.

A live plant like the fiscus youre looking for or a scheff or pothos (which I use alot) would be great additions.

You may find reading over the entries in this blog entry of interest. https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/82-enclosures-housing.html
Its all links to sites / threads with information about caging.

Also this one has lots of good info about lighting: https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/68-lighting-links.html

 

[PardalisGirl]

You are getting good info....

Looks like you are getting good information here from everyone. Getting the live potted plants will help alot with increasing the overall humidity and expanding the drinking surface for misting. Do you see him drink from the foliage when you mist? Since you just got him he has probably been living in conditions that were not good for long term health at the store you bought him from. He was at the edge of having some real problems. You can easily help him get over that and grow like a weed before long. Proper lighting and heating from above, getting him hydrated every day (actually work at it until you see him drink) and properly gutloaded and supplemented food. These key things will go a long way to making him the macho Veiled he should become. The people in the UK and Canada that use glass caging like yours need to pipe up and give you their tips on making your sort of cage work. What are you feeding him? How are you gutloading the insects he eats? What do you plan to do with supplementation?

 

[Dean Pulcini]

Kind of liking that enclosure I can use it for my humidity lovers. I know alot of Europeans who keep there chameleons that way because of the weather you have. But what worries me the most is ventilation I don't think holes are enough and heat will build up in there so some kind small fan would be in order.

 

[Duq]

hey guys thought would post have moved his heat lamp to the top left hand corner. and bought a 4 foot Ficus benjamina and 3 foot umbrella plant which seems too be doing wonders for the humidity levels.. he smells too be happy chilling in the top right hand corner ( Coolest point in the viv ) and saw him drinking from his dripper system earlyer ( was sooooo cute! )

Question about feeding really i havent seen him eating but i have cleaned up some poop so i guess he is eating? been told too remove the crickets in there and put 1 - 2 in there at a time so he doesnt get bored of them?

 

[Sancho]

hey guys thought would post have moved his heat lamp to the top left hand corner. and bought a 4 foot Ficus benjamina and 3 foot umbrella plant which seems too be doing wonders for the humidity levels.. he smells too be happy chilling in the top right hand corner ( Coolest point in the viv ) and saw him drinking from his dripper system earlyer ( was sooooo cute! )

Question about feeding really i havent seen him eating but i have cleaned up some poop so i guess he is eating? been told too remove the crickets in there and put 1 - 2 in there at a time so he doesnt get bored of them?

Have any new pictures of the setup

 

[Duq]

Working on it now give me 5 mins