Just a little help

[tyla vancookie]

I am not too sure on how old my chameleon is, I think she's under three months. I have a temporary cage for her, it's a thirty gallon. It's wider than it is tall. By now you can tell why it's temporary. I just got her today. I started off putting in about 5 crickets, dusted. She chomped those down, even though I didn't get to see any of it. :-( I put in about six more and decided to let them wander around and let her pick them off as she goes. She has a lot of vines to climb on, and she seems happy enough. I have a ball python, and I was wondering, do I need to have her chill and get used to her new enclosure before she can "handle" holding? Also, is she at any danger from impaction from small crickets. One last thing, I was told by a pet store employee I had to breed her when she was sexually mature or she would get impacted from the eggs or something? Sounds like hogwash to me. Thanks!

 

[CleanLineChameleons]

No you don't have to breed her when she is sexually mature but you do have to provide an egg laying area if she becomes gravid. She can become gravid without even mating so you must know the signs...pacing the bottom, dark green with yellow or purple spots, and of course weight gain. She will not get egg bound if she has a place to lay. But impaction can occur if you have some sort of substrate on the bottom of your cage. Also, for your next cage I would suggest a screen cage.

Do you have the basics:
heat lamp
UVB lamp
branch about 5" under the heat lamp for basking
some kind of greenery (live or fake)
calcium with D3
calcium without D3
multivitamin

-chris

 

[tyla vancookie]

Yes, I do have all of those things, I was a little worried about night time temps so I'll be monitoring that. The only thing about screen cages is the whole I live in Michigan thing...You can depend on the weather half as much as you can depend on the Lions winning the super bowl..haha.

 

[CleanLineChameleons]

Haha...well if it is a veiled chameleon it can get down in the 60s and they will be fine at night. Don't provide any heat for them at night if it is over 60 F.

Chris