Hi everyone :)

emilybier

emilybier

New Member
Hi, I'm Emily, I'm new here. I am currently working toward a bachelor of fine arts in drawing at Texas State University. I am from San Marcos, Texas which is between Austin and San Antonio.

I recently had an adult WC Jackson's chameleon die on me and decided that I needed to join a specialty forum for chameleons instead of just watching general forums so I wouldn't make the same mistakes twice.

I currently have a young female high turquoise veiled sired by Newton from FLChams, Lua. She is pictured in my Avatar.
I also have a young female blue bar ambilobe, Perl, sired by Vulcon at Screameleons and her dam was sired by Sirius at Screameleons.
Here are some pictures:
http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hpho...311830654_629645653_20830752_1932179305_n.jpg
http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hpho...311315654_629645653_20830739_1218166860_n.jpg

I think she is female, I'd love confirmation :)

Other than that, I have 2.1 ball pythons and a Pacman frog named Mango. I've owned clown tree frogs and bumblebee toads but I traded them out for the chams!
 
Thanks! Between 3 and 4 months I think. I got her in a trade at a show and things went quick and I forgot the exact date lol :rolleyes: I need to contact the vendor.
 
She's cute but she haaaates me! She isn't aggressive, she just darkens up every time I get near her cage and especially if I talk. She threw herself off of my hand today D: She's fine though. She is an aggressive eater and very hardy.
 
Welcome to the forums, sorry to hear about your jacksons, good luck with your new panthers. She is definitely a female, no bulge :D
 
Welcome to the forum! Sorry to hear that you lost the Jackson's....but hopefully things will go well for you and your new chameleons.

Both panthers and veileds can lay eggs without mating, so when they are about 5 months old I would recommend putting an opaque container at least 12" deep x 12" x 8" filled with washed playsand in the cage (to be left there) for them to dig in to show you when they are ready to lay eggs. Also, when/if they do dig, do not let them see you watching them while they are digging. It will make the abandon the hole and can lead to eggbinding if it happens often enough.

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). Not sure how to tell you to dust WC insects if that is what you will be doing.

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.
 
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Thanks guys for the great reading material :) I'll make sure to get through it all very soon, at least shortly after I finish a project tonight. I appreciate it!
 
Well I read over the care sheets and the only thing I was doing differently was the gutloading and supplementing. I'm relatively new to crickets as I have more background with snakes, very small frogs and my pacman frog who mostly eats nightcrawlers. When I kept several geckos I used mealworms and other feeders. I was using a dry cricket diet and get for gutloading but I started the new crickets on oranges, apples, carrots, romaine and zucchini and left some of the high-calcium dry diet in the keeper as well. I was sporadic with the supplementing as far as D3 or without so I think I was already doing alright. I also need to get some phosphorus-free calcium. I did not know that too much is dangerous for them and I will be picking some up asap. Thanks!!

Dsignrgy, I mostly use drawing and sumi inks for my work as well as charcoal and pastel pencils. I can do graphite but I haven't in a while. I have been doing a lot of pen work lately as well.
To give you an example of what kind of work I do, my thesis will consist of 28 4x4" ink drawings of ball python morphs

Ex:
http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hpho...770353010654_629645653_20392403_5743301_n.jpg

http://hphotos-iad1.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/313645_10150770353115654_629645653_20392405_7718680_n.jpg

16 4x4" micron pen drawings of different frog species
Ex of pen work:
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a312/dragonfire10987/DSCN6286.jpg

and a 6x4' ink/charcoal/pastel drawing of different snake species.

I also do logo and digital mascot design for friends as well as charcoal and ink pet portraits. The Baja Blue Rock lizard pictured was a tattoo commission.

Sorry, I can be a little long-winded :p
 
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