I wanted to introduce my cham and I

[Forever1337]

My name is Will and I just wanted to take a second to introduce myself and my first ever Chameleon Rango. He is a Veiled Chameleon and approximately 4-5 months old according to the store I got him from. They had him and another girl in a small cage together and would take them out to feed them. I have continued to take him out of his cage to feed him, he seems to be ok with it. He actually will hang from my fingers and eat from the bowl I have his food in. I know everyone says that they don't like to be handled and I can see that in his skepticism of not wanting to go on my hand when I do take him out, but I can only assume like any other animal if you get them accustom to something young then they will adapt to it(and once he is on my hand he doesn't seem to mind). It also seems that there are quite a few people on here who do handle and go into the cage on a regular basis and seem to think it does help them get used to contact. I have done A LOT of reading on this site on setting up a proper cage and properly taking care of a chameleon, so thanks to you all who have unknowingly helped me already. I went out and ordered a cage off DIYcages.com because I just didn't have the time or means to build one (I was kind of on a time crunch because I was not told about all the things needed to keep a Chameleon happy at the time of purchase so he was in a fish tank for about a week) it is a 2'-2'-4' so a pretty decent size cage. I built my own rain dome system out of a 5 gallon bucket, a pond pump, some drip line, 360 sprayers for the drip line and a little Rubbermaid container it actually works quite well and I got to see my cham drink for the first time when I used the system for the first time. I got a UVB 5.0 18" bulb that fit in a existing fish tank light that fits perfectly on the top of the cage and a 75watt basking bulb that keeps his basking spot around 85-90F. The place I got him from was feeding him cockroaches so that is the diet he is on now and he seems to like it (eating around 10 once a day) and I went and got EXO Terra Multi-Vitamin which does not have Vitamin A in it because I read a few things on here that said to stay away from Vitamin A that I am giving him twice a week. I am not done with his cage by any means, I still need to hang the Pathos plant in there so it can drape it's vines down when it gets bigger, get some branches in there for him and set up a drip cup for him to have constant dripping water to drink from. There are live and fake plants in his cage and I did go through the process of washing everything and re potting the plants with proper soil. I have a temp/humidifier gauge that has a In and Out reading so I have the In part which reads humidity and temp on the bottom of the cage and then the little probe which would read out side and only does temp is directly under his basking light so I can see what he is getting hit with at all times. His cage has a high and low from the top being around 85-90F and the bottom of the cage being 70-75F. I have his lights on from 8 am to 8 pm on a timer and run the rain dome twice a day for 30 seconds which gets the cage pretty good and wet. I am really excited to have my first cham and would love to hear from all of you on what you think I can improve on.

Rango hanging in his basking spot:



Rango's cage set up:

 

[MattGian]

Welcome to the forums! It's sounds like you've been doing your research well. There are a couple things that I would do if I were you. First off, his cage needs a lot more horizontal branches near the top this way they can have different temperature levels to adjust to as needed. Also, the cage looks really empty. It needs a lot more foliage, especially near the top. Most of the time all of my chameleons don't even go in the bottom half of their cage. Also, what are you gutloading your roaches with? And are you dusting them with vitamins/calcium before feeding?

 

[SipeCsus]

Welcome to the forums!! Definantly need more branches nd foilage so ur chamm has more surface to climb on..

 

[Forever1337]

Thanks for the info. I know that I need more foliage the pothos that's on the floor now will be hoisted up by fishing line here shortly. Just since I posted this I made some adjustments. The fake fern looking thing that was going from top to bottom of the cage is just on the bottom of the cage now (just thinking whille typing this I think I will wrap the fake fern foialage around the two new branches I just added) and then I had a fake pothos vine that is going from top to bottom now.

 

[jannb]

Welcome to the forums and congrats on your new Cham Rango. I agree with the others that your enclosure needs more plants, vines and branches for little Rango. I'm attaching my blog below for new keepers and a couple of threads where the members here posted pictures of their enclosures so you can look through them and get some ideas for your cage.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...-keepers-young-veiled-panther-chameleons.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/official-enclosure-picture-thread-49688/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/official-enclosure-picture-thread-2-post-your-pics-94781/

 

[Psychobunny]

Hi Will, welcome to the forum

I agree with the others, you are off to a good start, but your cage is empty!!

Chams like to have lots of branches (I use cut and cleaned tree branches) and leafy vines to climb on and hide from view.
Open spaces stresses them because they feel exposed to potential predators.

Also, don't forget that veiled chams like veggies and fruit.
Esp, leafy greens, like romain, mustard greens, kale, etc.
I recommend that you buy ONLY USDA certified organic produce.
Lots of members have experienced dead feeders from pesticides, and the ones that don't die, get transferred to your cham!
It's an important part of their diet, and they get a lot of the water they need by eating them.

 

[Forever1337]

Hi Will, welcome to the forum

I agree with the others, you are off to a good start, but your cage is empty!!

Chams like to have lots of branches (I use cut and cleaned tree branches) and leafy vines to climb on and hide from view.
Open spaces stresses them because they feel exposed to potential predators.

Also, don't forget that veiled chams like veggies and fruit.
Esp, leafy greens, like romain, mustard greens, kale, etc.
I recommend that you buy ONLY USDA certified organic produce.
Lots of members have experienced dead feeders from pesticides, and the ones that don't die, get transferred to your cham!
It's an important part of their diet, and they get a lot of the water they need by eating them.

How do I feed him the greens? how big of chunks do I feed him? I also moved the vines around in the cage so now they are pretty much all up top and covering the branches that I put in there so he has some coverage. I will take more pics later once I have the pathos plant hanging in the cage.

 

[Forever1337]

Also do you guys do anything in the cage while he is in there or should I put him in something else while I hang the pathos?

 

[Forever1337]

So here is the changes I have made today. I wrapped the sticks in the vines and made the top a lot more full of foliage. I also added a drippier made from a water bottle so he has a constant source of water rather than just the rain dome and I got the pathos plant hanging in the back corner. I do plan on adding more branches lower in the cage and getting more vines.