Husbandry review

[_Julian_]

Cham info:
Age: around 4 months
Species: male veiled chameleon
He's been in my care for exactly one month
I handle my chameleon little to none
Feeding:
So far I have feed him small crickets, waxworms, dubias (I have super worms coming in the mail)
I feed him at around 10 AM as many bugs as he will eat I try and feed him 10-15 bugs a day.. I mostly give them apples but I do give them carrots sometimes and I also sprinkle in some bee pollen to gutload.
Supplements:
I'm using bee pollen, reptivite and pangea calcium without D3
Reptivite twice a month, calcium without D3 every time I feed him and bee pollen twice a week
Watering:
I hand mist his enclosure twice a day (once at 5:30 AM before lights come on at 6 and 6:30 PM after lights go off at 6). I mist his enclosure for 2-3 minutes. I do not see him drinking. (I sometimes use a homemade dripper and use a fogger at night to bring up humidity levels)
Fecal:
He hasn't been tested for parasites but he came from good hands (frams chams). His urate is white and his poop is brown.
Cage info:
Screen enclosure 24 x 24 x 48
Lighting- arcadia 6% HO (what was recommended for them)
Heat bulb - arcadia 75W
Temps- under his basking spot I believe it is 80-82 around that range. Cage floor is around 68
At night I believe it is around 65-70 I keep two fans on to try and make it a bit colder since I don't know if I can rely on my house's air conditioner. I use a temp gun but I don't know if it's accurate
Humidity-
I believe it is 50% during the day.. I'm not sure about night time but I do use a fogger at night to try and raise up the humidity and I do plan on getting a humidifier for extra precaution. I bought a hygrometer but I don't know if it's accurate or not.
Plants- I use all live plants
Nerve plant (2)
Cheese plant (1)
Pathos (1)
Majesty palm (1)
Money tree (1)
Polka dot belgonia (1)
Sword fern (1)
philodendron (1)
Cage placement:
It's near a window that is currently covered with shades. Sort of under an air vent. I have one small fan pointing at it but it's sorda at a distance.

I am mostly worried about weither my hygrometer and temp gun are reading correctly. Other than that I just want to know if I can improve on this enclosure at all and what I can do to make it better.

 

[Stephh]

I just came to say I love your branch networks!

 

[naterowley]

Hi! Welcome to the forums! With your hygrometer worries, I use this awesome device and get some great charts from it! You can set alerts for humidity / temp and check it remotely!

https://a.co/d/0dApL36q

Here is my chart for my panther to show an example of how it looks!

I found the other sensors don’t really compare to this one! This can give you a better idea to what’s actually happening over night too!

I have never used reptivite personally so I’m sure someone else can weigh in on supplements! Lots of veiled keepers here will be able to help on the fine details like @Beman

You’re off to an awesome start!

I also use a probe thermostat style basking setup! It’s wonderful too!

https://a.co/d/0aRhY1NO

You offset the probe to the basking branch and it will regulate the temp to what you set

 

[Beman]

Hi welcome to the forum. I am going to go through everything for you. See my feedback in red bold. Let me know if you have any questions.

Cham info:
Age: around 4 months
Species: male veiled chameleon
He's been in my care for exactly one month
I handle my chameleon little to none... Start working on trust building. You will need it as he matures. https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/building-trust-with-your-chameleon.2396/
Feeding:
So far I have feed him small crickets, waxworms, dubias (I have super worms coming in the mail)
I feed him at around 10 AM as many bugs as he will eat I try and feed him 10-15 bugs a day.. I mostly give them apples but I do give them carrots sometimes and I also sprinkle in some bee pollen to gutload. So a baby this young should be easily taking down 2 dozen feeders a day minimum. You will want to add more green veg to your gutload see the gutload image I have attached.
Supplements:
I'm using bee pollen, reptivite and pangea calcium without D3 Careful with the bee pollen. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing. We have seen issues of edema when too much is given orally to a chameleon. I would stick to adding it to your gutload to be safe. If you have reptivite with D3 version this one is a multivitamin that should be used 2 times a month say the 1st and the 15th of the month. then your calcium without D3 would be used at all other feedings. If you do not have the reptivite with D3 you want to replace your multivitamin. I prefer Repashy Calcium plus LoD version as they do not add phosphorus like reptivite does. The main point of supplementing is to balance the phosphorous to calcium ratio of the insects being fed. So it has never made sense to me to use a supplement that contains phosphorus like reptivite does.
Reptivite twice a month, calcium without D3 every time I feed him and bee pollen twice a week
Watering:
I hand mist his enclosure twice a day (once at 5:30 AM before lights come on at 6 and 6:30 PM after lights go off at 6). I mist his enclosure for 2-3 minutes. I do not see him drinking. (I sometimes use a homemade dripper and use a fogger at night to bring up humidity levels) I would look into getting a mistking for automated misting sessions. This way he has his schedule of misting regardless of your schedule. It also has an extremely fine spray that they really like.
Fecal:
He hasn't been tested for parasites but he came from good hands (frams chams). His urate is white and his poop is brown. So your off to a good start with a great breeder parasite risk is lower but this does not mean he will never pick anything up from insects you feed him. I would avoid buying insects from a petstore and my direct from someone like rainbowmealworms or dubia.com.
Cage info:
Screen enclosure 24 x 24 x 48 perfect.
Lighting- arcadia 6% HO (what was recommended for them) Perfect, make sure your distance from bottom of fixture to the closest branch below it is 8-9 inches this will put him in the correct UVB level. If he screen climbs the top panel let us know because you have to actually raise lights off the top to keep him safe.
Heat bulb - arcadia 75W Might be a little strong if sitting right on the cage.
Temps- under his basking spot I believe it is 80-82 around that range. Cage floor is around 68 So with a temp gun you are not going to get accurate temps. I would get a thermastat with probe for basking if that is too pricey then buy a regular temp guage with probe hook the probe in at basking branch with a zip tie. This will give you real levels for basking. Then buy the govee gauges that work with the app that were linked above for you. You want 2 of them. One placed around the front at the highest basking level and one place mid cage or a bit lower. This is going to give you ranges so you know where your temp/humidity are. Only thing about these is they should not be in a direct water path or they will stop working.
At night I believe it is around 65-70 I keep two fans on to try and make it a bit colder since I don't know if I can rely on my house's air conditioner. I use a temp gun but I don't know if it's accurate You want as accurate as possible because you should not be fogging if it is 70 they need the temp drop and your really wanting at least 65 to give them more of a cool down. But fogging in heat will actually increase risk of a respiratory infection.
Humidity-
I believe it is 50% during the day.. I'm not sure about night time but I do use a fogger at night to try and raise up the humidity and I do plan on getting a humidifier for extra precaution. I bought a hygrometer but I don't know if it's accurate or not. Again daytime humidity you need to know if it is on point too high for long periods of time during the day when temps are highest will increase RI risk.
Plants- I use all live plants. Ok this is where you may get frustrated because your using a ton of plants but they are not veiled tested meaning they technically should not be used with veileds due to them eating their plants. Veiled tested means they have been consistantly used with veileds without any known issues from them eating them. See image for veiled tested plants.
Nerve plant (2) Not veiled tested however this one is considered non toxic to dogs and cats, might be ok then with a veiled just not actively used with them so not considered veiled tested/safe.
Cheese plant (1) Not Veiled tested and I would remove. This one can cause buring and mouth irritation to dogs and cats. So I would not risk use with a veiled.
Pathos (1) Pothos in all varieties are safe just keep in mind types like the satin pothos do not like their leaves constantly wet so they tend to do poorly in cages.
Majesty palm (1) Not veiled tested See feedback for nerve plants same applies here.
Money tree (1) This one is veiled tested and fine to use.
Polka dot belgonia (1) Not veiled tested and can cause irritation in animals. I would not risk having this one in the cage.
Sword fern (1) Not veiled tested see nerve plant feed back same applies here.
philodendron (1) Not veiled tested however these tend to be used along side pothos frequently. I personally have never risked using them though.
Cage placement:
It's near a window that is currently covered with shades. Sort of under an air vent. I have one small fan pointing at it but it's sorda at a distance. IF the window gets direct sun I would move the cage. Even with the blinds closed this is going to heat up the ambient temp which you want in the low 70's. Winter time this can be a problem as well because it will cool the ambient temp more in that area. With it being under an air vent. You want to buy one of the air vent redirects. These are plastic and are magnetic to hook to your vent this will direct the air so it does not blow on the cage but out into the room.
I am mostly worried about weither my hygrometer and temp gun are reading correctly. Other than that I just want to know if I can improve on this enclosure at all and what I can do to make it better.

 

[dinomom]

Cham info:
Age: around 4 months
Species: male veiled chameleon
He's been in my care for exactly one month
I handle my chameleon little to none
Feeding:
So far I have feed him small crickets, waxworms, dubias (I have super worms coming in the mail)
I feed him at around 10 AM as many bugs as he will eat I try and feed him 10-15 bugs a day.. I mostly give them apples but I do give them carrots sometimes and I also sprinkle in some bee pollen to gutload.
Supplements:
I'm using bee pollen, reptivite and pangea calcium without D3
Reptivite twice a month, calcium without D3 every time I feed him and bee pollen twice a week
Watering:
I hand mist his enclosure twice a day (once at 5:30 AM before lights come on at 6 and 6:30 PM after lights go off at 6). I mist his enclosure for 2-3 minutes. I do not see him drinking. (I sometimes use a homemade dripper and use a fogger at night to bring up humidity levels)
Fecal:
He hasn't been tested for parasites but he came from good hands (frams chams). His urate is white and his poop is brown.
Cage info:
Screen enclosure 24 x 24 x 48
Lighting- arcadia 6% HO (what was recommended for them)
Heat bulb - arcadia 75W
Temps- under his basking spot I believe it is 80-82 around that range. Cage floor is around 68
At night I believe it is around 65-70 I keep two fans on to try and make it a bit colder since I don't know if I can rely on my house's air conditioner. I use a temp gun but I don't know if it's accurate
Humidity-
I believe it is 50% during the day.. I'm not sure about night time but I do use a fogger at night to try and raise up the humidity and I do plan on getting a humidifier for extra precaution. I bought a hygrometer but I don't know if it's accurate or not.
Plants- I use all live plants
Nerve plant (2)
Cheese plant (1)
Pathos (1)
Majesty palm (1)
Money tree (1)
Polka dot belgonia (1)
Sword fern (1)
philodendron (1)
Cage placement:
It's near a window that is currently covered with shades. Sort of under an air vent. I have one small fan pointing at it but it's sorda at a distance.
View attachment 356936
View attachment 356937
I am mostly worried about weither my hygrometer and temp gun are reading correctly. Other than that I just want to know if I can improve on this enclosure at all and what I can do to make it better.

Do you only use temp gun to measure? The Govee monitors are very accurate and can give alerts if outside your parameters. It should help keep track of conditions at night and then the fans may not be needed. as they can be blowing your fog out and drying things too much.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Y36FWTT/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[_Julian_]

Do you only use temp gun to measure? The Govee monitors are very accurate and can give alerts if outside your parameters. It should help keep track of conditions at night and then the fans may not be needed. as they can be blowing your fog out and drying things too much.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Y36FWTT/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I am planning on getting the govee monitors. I was actually worried about the fans making things too dry.

 

[dinomom]

I am planning on getting the govee monitors. I was actually worried about the fans making things too dry.

Good, this will help take one worry away! Knowledge is everything.