HELP!

[oceaneyes_2390]

Ok so long story short... I just ended up with two baby chameleons my ex bought my daughter for her bday. He had been keeping them at his place until we broke up and now they’re at my place and so here we are....
I have a 3mo female and a 3mo male veiled chameleons. He was an idiot and didn’t know they couldn’t be together in the same habitat. He also had a regular household lightbulb for light so my babies haven’t been getting any UVB rays for the last two months. I’ve been reading and researching a lot and I need some help here... they’re in a 36” x 22” x 18” corner aquarium. The set up isn’t bad but he had plants growing in there which idk if they’re poisonous or not . There’s also a small waterfall, some sticks, Moss, and foliage. Clearly they can’t be in the same cage but have somehow managed to so far but I noticed some agression towards the female tonight and she’s been hiding and not eating as much. As a temporary fix I separated the aquarium with cardboard since I read they need to not be able to see each other. ASAP I’m going to go drop a ton more money on a new set up for her. I put a uvb/heat light (Mercury) type in the dome fixture, bought some calcium/vit D3 powder to powder the crickets with and bought the crickets some nutrient gut loading food.
What else do I need to do for my babies? I want them to be healthy and I’m worried about the poor little girl. I’m also worried about MBD in both of them. Any help/suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks!

 

[CamrynTheCham22]

First, check and see what kind of plants they are. That is important. Can you post a few pictures of the chameleons, the plants, and the temporary enclosure setup? The calcium D3 should only be used every few feedings, maybe twice a month. Other than that it should be the standard D3-free calcium. The size of the enclosure isn't too bad for one chameleon, but they are getting older and definitely should be separated soon, as you addressed already. Once you get everything settled, you should try gutloading your crickets with fresh, healthy ingredients instead of the storebought stuff, if that is what you're using at the moment. I made a list of some good ingredients here: Gut Loading Ingredients
Pictures are going to be important. Keep a close eye on them. Also, do you have a misting system or is it purely hand-misting?

 

[Remkon]

they’re in a 36” x 22” x 18” corner aquarium

Can you share a picture?
If its an actuak aquarium better ditch it and buy some proper enclosures, full mesh enclosure is probably your cheapest, simplest and easiest way to go.

Here's the caresheet that should contain all info you need: https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/veiled/

 

[Brodybreaux25]

First, good job on stepping up and identifying the bad situation your babies were in, even more so for not wasting time to fix it.

The pictures requested above would help us to help you a lot more!

Before we go any further, understand that chameleons are not pets, they are a hobby, an expensive hobby that requires a lot of troubleshooting and work.

If you want to do this right(sounds like you do, that’s why your here!) your going to have to rebuild both enclosures from the bottom up.

Chams are aborieal animals and can not be kept in an aquarium long term. They will each require their own separate enclosures. You can start with two small ones but they will outgrow it in the next 4-5 months. If you are truly committed to keeping them I’m going to say just go with the full size 2’x2’x4’ reptibreze now.

Lighting- The Mercury bulb you have now is really more for desert dwelling reptiles, like bearded dragons. All the UVB is focused into a small, intense spotlight and that’s the exact opposite of what your trying to accomplish here. You want the UVB to be evenly distributed through the top section of your viv. Best way to do this is with a linear UVB bulb, I have listed some entry level ones below. Linear UVBs don’t put out a lot of heat so you will need a basking bulb, a regular incandescent bulb will work just fine.

If you can’t identify the plants in the tank, replace them with some of options on the safe plant list. Just search it in the tool bar, should come right up.

The waterfall needs to go, they are biological time bombs. 90% of chams won’t(and shouldn’t) drink from standing water. This means they need multiple mistings a day. You can do this with a spray bottle but the best way, by far, is to install an automatic misting system. I recommend the Mistking starter set, worth every penny. Or the entry level option is a dripper and hand spraying multiple times a day.

May I ask how old your daughter is? Just trying to gather if she is old enough to care for a Cham.

To set your chams up correctly I’d say the minimum your looking at is $175 per Cham.

 

[oceaneyes_2390]

View media item 48436View media item 48435View media item 48434
Female Cham is on top, 2nd pic is the male, and the last pic is the setup I was left with.

Also, right now I’m hand misting... someone asked that earlier. So is there a way to build a custom screen enclosure where I can house both of them but maybe could use the same linear uvb light and misting system? It looks like from what I’ve seen, they prefer tall habitats vs long

 

[#Chams4life]

The female looks like she may have the start of MBD, but I think the male looks okay. Is the female holding herself up when she walks or is she kinda dragging her face a little? Her left front arm looks a little bowed at the elbow.
BSFL is a good feeder, they have lots of calcium in them and it changes up the diet (which is important!).
Glad that they have you and you are able to help them

 

[oceaneyes_2390]

Here’s another pic of the female. Does she look Gravid? She’s dark brown/black with green and tan spots

 

[oceaneyes_2390]

The female looks like she may have the start of MBD, but I think the male looks okay. Is the female holding herself up when she walks or is she kinda dragging her face a little? Her left front arm looks a little bowed at the elbow.
BSFL is a good feeder, they have lots of calcium in them and it changes up the diet (which is important!).
Glad that they have you and you are able to help them

Yea she’s kinda shaky and doesn’t push herself all the way up on her legs
What is BSFL?

 

[CJ's Exotics]

Here’s another pic of the female. Does she look Gravid? She’s dark brown/black with green and tan spots View attachment 213911

She does not look gravid, but can post some more pictures of her? I agree, she may have the start of MBD.

 

[CJ's Exotics]

Yea she’s kinda shaky and doesn’t push herself all the way up on her legs
What is BSFL?

BSFL is Black soldier fly larvae.

 

[oceaneyes_2390]

Here’s another pic of the female

 

[oceaneyes_2390]

First, good job on stepping up and identifying the bad situation your babies were in, even more so for not wasting time to fix it.

The pictures requested above would help us to help you a lot more!

Before we go any further, understand that chameleons are not pets, they are a hobby, an expensive hobby that requires a lot of troubleshooting and work.

If you want to do this right(sounds like you do, that’s why your here!) your going to have to rebuild both enclosures from the bottom up.

Chams are aborieal animals and can not be kept in an aquarium long term. They will each require their own separate enclosures. You can start with two small ones but they will outgrow it in the next 4-5 months. If you are truly committed to keeping them I’m going to say just go with the full size 2’x2’x4’ reptibreze now.

Lighting- The Mercury bulb you have now is really more for desert dwelling reptiles, like bearded dragons. All the UVB is focused into a small, intense spotlight and that’s the exact opposite of what your trying to accomplish here. You want the UVB to be evenly distributed through the top section of your viv. Best way to do this is with a linear UVB bulb, I have listed some entry level ones below. Linear UVBs don’t put out a lot of heat so you will need a basking bulb, a regular incandescent bulb will work just fine.

If you can’t identify the plants in the tank, replace them with some of options on the safe plant list. Just search it in the tool bar, should come right up.

The waterfall needs to go, they are biological time bombs. 90% of chams won’t(and shouldn’t) drink from standing water. This means they need multiple mistings a day. You can do this with a spray bottle but the best way, by far, is to install an automatic misting system. I recommend the Mistking starter set, worth every penny. Or the entry level option is a dripper and hand spraying multiple times a day.

May I ask how old your daughter is? Just trying to gather if she is old enough to care for a Cham.

To set your chams up correctly I’d say the minimum your looking at is $175 per Cham.View attachment 213905View attachment 213906View attachment 213907

Thanks! That’s really helpful! She’s 6, I imagine not quite old enough to care for the chams

 

[Brodybreaux25]

Yea she’s kinda shaky and doesn’t push herself all the way up on her legs
What is BSFL?

Thanks! That’s really helpful! She’s 6, I imagine not quite old enough to care for the chams

My son is 6 next week, he definitely isn’t ready either!

Yes to a Cham, height = security. You should set your vivs up as high as you can in the room. You can either buy two vivs and just set them up side by side or you can by a viv with the two separate compartments. Check out DragonStrand.com. You could have 1 UVB that serves both vivs but it would need to be one of the larger ones. UVB is something you really can’t cut corners with, it must be done right. Go check out Lightyourreptiles.com. I just bought a 48” Quad T5 for one of my customers, very happy with it. If your not sure which to get, email them explaining what your doing, they usually answer quickly.

 

[King4Zerg]

Hope you can make this work sorry about your Ex Stupid man for thinking putting a fountain was going to work for chams He should have done proper research