HELP me *gulp*

Doxy

Doxy

New Member
I'm a student in Port Elizabeth South Africa and my gf came and fetched me from class and half way home was this lil dude that's in my avatar, on the side of the road, so I've "rescued" him, I have a cage that's about 50cm length by 40cm height, with a glass panel in the front, its filled with rocks and branches and fresh greenery and a bowl of water. The lady at the pet shop gave me a red globe and said to use it when its cold.
So day 1: lil man just wants to sit in our necks and chill, he eats 2 crickets, that we got at the pet store.
He then proceeds to pass out on a leaf, I'm in a state, go crazy, google absolutely everything and here I am.
Yesterday, day 2: he has only eaten 1 cricket and is just chilling in one spot the whole time.
He is very light in colour, so I'm not sure if he is stressed or not.
He won't touch silk worms, he looks at us if we are mad.

I have grown very much attached to him or her!
I just want to know what more I can do for the lil dude!
 
get a bigger cage use clean ice or get a dripping system they dont drink out of water bowls and feed him about 5-7 large crickets and he needs a 5.0 reptisun uvb light and a proper zoo med 100 watt bulb
 
chameleoman said:
a proper zoo med 100 watt bulb
Click to expand...

Why do you suggest a 100 watt bulb? you have no idea what the temps are in his house so a 100 watt could absolutely fry him.

I cant tell from your avatar picture what kind it is. Maybe an experienced keeper could but i'd suggest loading some more pictures that are bigger so someone can help identify what time it is.

Different types of chameleons need different heat temps, etc. Like was mentioned, they do not drink from standing water. You can do the dripper, but i'd also take a spray bottle and mist his cage a few times a day giving him multiples chances to drink.
 
Agree with above, ditch the water bowl, it's an all around bad idea, they'll view it as a toilet. Post pictures of it, and the base of it's tail where it connect to the body close up from the side. If it's a female you'll need a laying bin 12 inches deep, 12 inches wide, damp play sand enough to make a tunnel and it won't collapse. If it does per chance start digging do NOT disturb it, don't even look at it, she'll stop digging and become eggbound. For suppliments you'll need calcium WITHOUT d3 every day, calcium WITH d3 twice a month and twice a month multivitamins. Mist three times a day, temps in basking spot should be around 85, everywhere else cooler to 70 ish to cool down if needed. You'll need alot of plants, real plants keep humidity up, hibiscus, pothos, ficus, etc are fine, there are threads you can find in "Search" if you need more safe plants. You'll be able to feed your cham crickets, hornworms, dubia roaches, etc, mealworms are a bad choice for their lack of nutrition and hard shells make it hard to digest, again Search will be your friend for healthy foods.
 
From what I can tell maybe it's a Carpet, I'm not experiences with those though and seen very few, give us more pics, and a 100 watt is a bit much, fill out the how to ask for help form.
 
If you got him from the wild, that means he was doing well where you got him. Idk what cham it is, but your best bet is to mimic the weather where you got him. temperature and humidity. Also mimic the amount of foliage. Give him plenty to drink using a dripper and mist a lot.
 
Temperatures here are hot and humid, we are in winter now and temps reach 26 degrees celsius.
I have a spray bottle and mist the branches with leaves I put in.

He or she also doesn't have any interest in large crickets, so I have ones that are about 1cm in size, I'll put 3-5 in at a time, but he will only eat 1 or 2.

I am definately going to load more pics because I need to know what species he or she is so I can care properly for him or her.

He she is tiny tho, 7cm maximum. Very docile.
 
Hello, welcome to the forum and chameleon ownership. What are the temperatures where you are at? If it is warm you could take him outside for a while each day as the natural sunlight is better that the best UVB bulb. The larger picture will help us identify your chameleon. Once we know what you have and your weather, we can get some good solid information for you. Currently I would make sure he has lots of soft mistings from you using a spray bottle and a dripper. A dripper can be a cup or plastic bottle wit a tiny hole to let it drip into some leaves for the chameleon to drink from the leaves. Offer him bugs that would fit between his eyes across the top of his head.

Let us know and we will do our best.
 
Here is the pic they posted, figured it would help to have it in the same thread:

40104d1313567931-identifying-my-chameleon-meleon23.jpg
 
Thank you so much... Doing this all from my phone, so its difficult to what's where and how to do what! So much appreciated!
 
Hey Doxy, welcome to the forums :p

Nice to see another South African on the forum.
What you have there is a bradypodion (dwarf chameleon) I wouldnt say it is a cape dwarf chameleon though...I need to freshen up on my bradypodion research so I know which ones are from where...
And it also looks like a full grown female...from what I can see:rolleyes:

It is not an easy task to look after a chameleon and it costs a lot of money in the end, to cover the food costs, caging and lighting.
I wouldnt use those red globes they are not so great for chams...
I would use a spot lamp during the day for a 12 hour period...7 to 7, the wattage should be around 50watts and dont let it sit in the cage because the chameleon will get burnt.
Dwarf chameleons are not really kept in captivity that long so I cannot tell you if that chameleon will do well or not.
 
Shouldnt sound rude but the last thing someone like doxy needing are guesses from people with completely no idea what it is.
 
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