I want my baby veiled to have a perfect life!

[scut]

I recently got a 4 month old veiled chameleon, and I want to be sure I have the best husbandry practices.

How long should the light or heat light be left on for veileds?

How often should i 'dust' the crickets with calcium supplement powder?

When feeding, should I let a few crickets roam for him to hunt, or put them in a container within the cage for the chameleon to come down and eat from?

When summer comes, will it be okay for me to go out with my sweep net and catch wild crickets/insects for him to eat?

Also, is it possible to get a chameleon to 'warm up' to your presence? Mine is rather timid.

Thanks!!

 

[Syn]

Not sure about much of this but I can tell you a lot of wild insects will have pesticides on them.

 

[Lille]

I wouldn't be the best person to answer most of your questions, but when it comes to if your cham will warm up to you? My veiled did, it took a little while, and a lot of hand feeding, but know he has no fear of getting on my hand. For a couple of seconds to go somewhere. But hey! Better than getting bit!

 

[alhickabee]

99% of everything you could ever want to know on veiled husbandry is here:
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/

To answer your questions:
1)Your UVB florescent tube light and incandescent heat light should be on for a 12 hour duration during the day.
2)You need three supplements: calcium, calcium w/ D3 and a multi-vitamin. This is the schedule I used/use:
-4-5 days out of the week lightly dust half of the day's worth of crickets with calcium w/o D3 (backed down to 3-4 times a week at 6 months of age)
-once every other week with calcium w/ D3 (backed down to once a month at 6 months of age)
-once every other week with the multi-vitamin supplement (backed down to once a month at 6 months of age)
3)Personally I cup feed as my cage isn't completely insect proof and it makes removing the leftover insects at night easier. Make sure to not use a clear container, I use a red solo cup with screen glued to the bottom for drainage.
4)The only way this would be okay is if you could be 150% certain that there are no pesticides on or in the insect. Better to just play it safe and spend the money...
5)There is a lot of debate on this by the consensus seems to be that these are look don't touch animals. I get my guy out every couple of weeks to look him over and weigh him.

Good luck!

 

[scut]

Thanks!
Do I need all these supplements even if i gut-load the insects with calcium products?
Right now all i have is Zoomed Repticalcium with D3, and I understand it is bad to use too much of that, as well as too little!
Also, the insects I will catch will be from out in the country in some abandoned field, so I am sure there are no pesticides.

 

[Sang]

you can over suppliment, but gutloading is key...


i still reccomend getting those suppliments.

 

[alhickabee]

Thanks!
Do I need all these supplements even if i gut-load the insects with calcium products?
Right now all i have is Zoomed Repticalcium with D3, and I understand it is bad to use too much of that, as well as too little!
Also, the insects I will catch will be from out in the country in some abandoned field, so I am sure there are no pesticides.

Yes you NEED all three supplements and you NEED to follow a strict schedule. What do you mean by gutloading with calcium products? More specifically what do you mean by calcium products? Dark leafy greens are high in many vitamins and in calcium.

 

[scut]

I went out and bought some RepCal vitamin supplement, it doesn't have D3 in it.
However, I'm having trouble finding calcium supplement withOUT D3. I find plenty of vitamin supplements with calcium without D3, but I can't seem to find plain calcium.

Any brand names or suggestions?

Also, i'm feeding my crickets Fluker's Orange Cube which has spirulina and 560ppm calcium.