Apollocham
New Member
Thank you so so much for all the great advice!! I will definitely keep it all in mindHello and welcome!Usually our chameleons will turn dark in order to better absorb heat and/or light. In your little cutie’s situation, he is needing the correct uvb - which you are already aware of and have ordered and others have told you. Until the light arrives, you could try taking your cutie outside for some natural sun and vitamin D...if it won’t cause him too much stress. If you can get him on a small plant that you can then take him outside in, that might be less stressful. Of course, don’t leave him for even a second. They are fast and can disappear before you know it. Your basking temp is a bit high for a little guy. Usually around 80 is good for the little ones. Best way to bring the temp down just a bit is to raise the light off of the screen top, which is something I’d tell you to do regardless. Baby chams love to play monkey and walk upside down along their tops. This opens them up to risk of getting burns. I use cheap wire baskets from Dollar Tree to raise my lights a few inches. Also, I believe it’s been said, but colored lights aren’t good for sensitive cham eyes. Honestly, they need to stop making the red and blue lights as most reptiles are sensitive to them.
Your enclosure looks great! Love all the live plants and natural branches! Yes, it will need to be bigger when he becomes an adult, which happens quicker than we’d like. I keep my boys in 4x4x2’ (2 XL ReptiBreezes joined) and they do use all of the space.
From the limited info that you provided, I do have a couple of other recommendations. 1st is to add more variety of feeders and make sure to feed the feeders well. I don’t specifically ‘gutload’. Instead I just keep my bugs well fed a variety of fresh produce along with some Bug Burger. Whether I’m feeding a leopard gecko at midnight or a chameleon at 9AM, my bugs are always healthy and nutritious for my animals. Attaching graphics below.
The other thing is your misting. Do give your enclosure a chance to dry out during the day. Generally a good 2+ minute misting right before lights go on and off is good. At mid day you could either do another 1-2 minute misting or run a dripper for 15-20 minutes. Besides keeping your humidity in the ideal 50-60% range for daytime, letting things dry out will prevent possible issues. @Gingero has videos for just about everything and then some. Do check them out. https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-husbandry-program-getting-started-with-chameleons/ is a great source of info and you’ll always learn something new fro the podcasts. Of course, continue to ask questions and we’ll do our best to help.
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