Just exactly how?

[xoiceox]

I want to make sure I do it completely right this time! My last chameleon died of parasites, in which my vet told me she may have gotten from eating a bad cricket. I used to just toss the crickets in her cage and she'd hunt and eat them all.

For my baby that I just got, I'm trying a new method, but I don't know how efficient or well it will work out. I put a plastic cup (from like the chilis kids cups) at the bottom of his cage with some spinach and crickets in it (the spinach is used to feed the crickets and keep them alive and moving) I also sprinkled calcium on the crickets. I went to work and when I came back i noticed there were fewer crickets, though I haven't SEEN him eat yet (hopefully he ate them and the crickets didn't eat each other)

Do you think this method will work out???

 

[xoiceox]

I just noticed him trying to eat the fake plants in the cage. Whats the healthiest real plant that I can buy for him to munch on??? Or vegetable?

 

[joefarah]

I want to make sure I do it completely right this time! My last chameleon died of parasites, in which my vet told me she may have gotten from eating a bad cricket...QUOTE]



Time to find a new vet.

 

[xoiceox]

why do u say that????

 

[Nicodemayo]

Parasites are completely treatable and if treated properly should not be life threatening unless some sort of reaction arises from the medication.

 

[xoiceox]

He put her on medication and she died 2 days later. I know this vet well, I worked for him and he treats all my other 8 pets. I don't think he woulda let me down (this is in refrence to Joe's comment)

I guess it was just too much for her

 

[Nicodemayo]

Im very sorry. Many chameleons owners have found that chameleon keeping can be trial and error. Best of luck to you.

 

[xoiceox]

thanx! But to my original post, do u have any advice???

 

[desultadox]

Cup feeding seems to be the preferred method of chameleon feeding around here. So yeah, it'll work. The way I do it though is poke a hole on the side on the cup and feed a twist tie from a bag of bread through it. Then I use that to hang the cup from my cham's favorite branch. Just make sure it's secure, because at least my female likes to sit on the cup and torment her crickets and worms all day before sniping them.

 

[xoiceox]

hahaha ok that sounds like a great idea! I also shredded some carrots and put it at the bottom (i read that they like carrots) I just wanna make him happy! lol

 

[Nicodemayo]

i better green alternative to spinich is collard greens. But besides that your method sounds good. Just be sure to set up a good dusting schedual for the feeders. I would do calcium 5 days a week and multivitamins one day a week. and on day off from dusting. Proper dusting is essential to a healthy cham.

 

[xoiceox]

ya the crickets in there are dusted, then i have a cage with about 30 other ones with carrots, spinach, and apples in it.

 

[Justin Carl]

No tomato, spinach, broccoli, iceberg lettuce.
Tomato and spinach are high in oxcylates which keep calcium from be absorbed.

 

[xoiceox]

Ok thank you very much

 

[Cainschams]

Hibiscus is a good plant to munch on for veileds. I figure that is what you got. If it is eating the fake ones it is either hungry or missing something. Ive heard they may eat dirt because of lack of nutrients. If you havent already you need to search this site and the internet to properly care for your cham. If it is a veiled I suggest you read http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/
and Justin Carl has a care sheet im sure he would post or pm to you or just search the net. Good luck and I hope all goes well.

 

[Justin Carl]

Its to long to PM.lol

Veiled and Panther Care sheet

HOUSING- Adult- With Veiled and Panther chameleons their seems to be a standard of 24(w) x24(d) x48(h). One chameleon per cage! These numbers can be tweaked slightly, such as width and depth. A chameleon cage can never be too high. I would try not to make your cage any less than 18x18, and this is if you don’t have any room. The cage should always be made up of screen. At least four sides (top, left, right, back and front) the top must always be screen because your light will be coming in from there. As far as the other four sides any choice off three is sufficient. I have found the best screen material to use is aluminum. It doesn’t rust or melt. It is also easier to see through and UV light enters the cage easier.
Juvenile- An average size juvenile cage is around an 18x18x36. This size cage is good until about the age of one year. If it is a large male you can upgrade sooner. Females can be kept in a cage this size aswell.
BABIES- newly born chameleons can be kept in a glass cage together for 7-8 weeks tops. After the age of two months they should be placed in a fully screened cage, and they can still be kept together. Once they are separated around the age of 2.5-3 months and sold they should be kept in a screen enclosure measuring 12x12x24-30. This should be suffice until the age of 6 months. Now it’s time to upgrade to a juvenile cage.
Safe Plants- Hibiscus-my favorite choice and also requires a lot of lighting to stay alive, Jasmine, Ficus Benjamina, Croton, Scheffelera Arobricola (Umbrella Plant), Photos, and Airplants. I have used all of these personally and I have found them easy to find and care for.
WATERING- most chameleons will not drink from standing water. There are rare cases that this occurs, but is not a substitute for proper watering. Proper watering should be done through a dripper all day and misting. I have found that the “Big Dripper” will go all day long if you have it dripping at one drop per second. Hand or automated misting should be done 2-3 times daily. You can use a spray bottle or buy a Pro Mist set-up for about 200$ and it does it by itself. Chameleons drink by shooting his/her tongue out at water droplets on leaves. Live plants are far superior to fake plants. They hold water droplets at the end of each leaf. Silk plants usually have the water drip off as soon as it makes contact. I have found that fake moss is a great way to supply water. If it is placed right under your dripper the water will run down to the tips of each piece. This is between 30-70 ends. Waterfalls and bowls help to harbor the growth of bacteria some of these bacteria can cause an Upper Respiratory Infection (URI), so they should be avoided at all cost.
HUMIDITY- The ambient humidity in the cage should be in the 40-50% range. With a spike of 70-80% during and after misting. This isn’t as true for Veiled Chameleons; they can be kept at a lower humidity. If you aren’t lucky enough to live in Florida a cheap humidifier from Walgreens will be fine. Try to stay away from foggers, as these can be frightening to your chameleon. Not to mention more expensive than a humidifier. Higher humidity also helps aid in the shedding process for your chameleon. Generally you will see an “explosive” shed when humidity is high. Meaning all the skin will come off at once. In lower humidity it may take days for it to come off. Adult Veiled chameleon can shed for a very long time. It can take a couple weeks to complete a full shed. The entire shedding process usually takes place in certain areas at a time.
LIGHTING- This is a huge area of concern to a chameleon’s health. UVB light helps with absorption of calcium to create strong bones. UVB also aids in the absorption and production of D3. Without proper UVB light a chameleon can develop MBD (Metabolic Bone Disease). The most fool proof light on the market is the Reptisun 5.0. studies have found it superior to the Reptiglo 5.0 for chameleons. Do not purchase the compact bulb. These have been known to cause eye problems, such as photo-kerato-conjunctivitis. Lights should be kept on for 10-12 hours a day. Chameleons can only absorb the UV from these lights close up. The maximum effective range is about ten inches. I have personally used the latest lighting on the market with great success, the Mercury Vapor Bulbs. They are an all in one, both heat and UVB output. The maximum effective range of these bulbs is over 12 inches. As far as temperature goes, Veiled’s are a little warmer about 95 basking temperature or what I call the “hot spot”. The “hot spot” temperature can be acquired using standard house light bulbs ranging from 45-75 watts. A household bulb admits UVA light that stimulates appetite. This should be the temperature in one area on the top of the cage and the rest should be in the 80’s. The rest of the cage should vary, and into the mid 70’s at the bottom. Panther’s should have a basking temperature around 90 degrees. Same goes for the cage having varying temperatures. Babies should always be cooler around 85 degrees max basking for both species. Remember nothing can compare to natural sunlight. The best time to put your chameleon outside is between 10 and 2 o’clock.
SUPPLEMENTING- This is a key factor in the survival of your chameleon. In captivity we do not supply the chameleon with enough feeders to meet the vitamin/mineral demands of a chameleon. So this is taken care of through dusting and gutloading. Most of the feeders we buy today are high and Phosphorous and low in calcium. There is only one way to take care of this problem. I like to use Herpcares cricket duster because it saves supplement and you don’t need to touch the feeder. Not every cricket needs to be dusted either, nor do they need to look like ghost from being covered in so much calcium. Gutloading is a term used when feeder insects are given food to eat that is rich in nutrients. There are several cricket foods on the market today that can be used. Try to stay away from potatoes because they are very high in phosphorous. There are 3 main supplements used today. My schedule looks like: Mondays and Thursdays- Calcium, Tuesdays and Fridays-Rep Cal Herptivite, Wednesdays and Saturdays- T-Rex Chameleon Formula or Mineral-All(outdoor). A lot of people have their own schedule and tricks. I also rotate every week between Calcium with D3 and without D3. A chameleon can overdose and die from too much D3. You need to be very careful when supplementing a baby chameleon. They can eat up to 20+ crickets a day, and I recommend that you only dust 1/3 of the feeders. You don’t want a buildup of deposits around the nostrils, because hameleons excrete excess minerals and vitamins out of their nostrils.
FEEDERS- Chameleons need a wide range of feeders to stay healthy. We as owners will never be able to supply them with what they would get in the wild. That is why having several staple feeders with proper supplements and gutloading is critical to the survival of captive chameleons. Some of my favorite feeders are; Crickets, roaches, super worms, Silkworms, hornworms, phoenix worms, butter worms, wax worms, and mealworms. Crickets will most likely be you main feeder, that being said they are very poor in nutritional value. They need to be gut loaded with a good cricket food and1/2- 2/3 of them should be dusted per feeding. Silkworms and hornworms are fantastic feeders; these can be placed in the cage and don’t need dusting. They are also ferocious eaters, so keep plenty of food available. Phoenix worms are great for juvenile and baby chameleons; they are high in calcium and do not need to be supplemented. They only grow to about ¾” so aren’t much good for adults.

 

[SuperRad]

Spinach is a bad plant to feed to veileds and other reptiles. It blocks calcium absorption.

Edit:: oops, didn't see there was a second page. Justin Carl beat me to it.

 

[kylerenz]

If your chameleon is pretty young still you may want to free range more than cup feed. For baby chameleons as well as juveniles it is important for them to have the exercise of hunting their prey. As they become adults cup feeding becomes more essential with the larger cage. More for the keeper than anything as it is easier to pull out a cup from the cage rather than chase left over crickets around so they don't chew on your cham.

 

[joefarah]

My last chameleon died of parasites, in which my vet told me she may have gotten from eating a bad cricket....

Your chameleon didn't die from the parasites, it died from the medication.

Kinda ironic huh? You give it medication in order to improve its health and it dies from the treatment...

I'm sure your vet didn't mean to "let you down", but if he told you that your veiled died from the parasites then he is either incredibly dumb or he lied to you so that he would not be to blame.

* Please don't take this to mean that I don't support taking chams to vets - I do *

Also, I'm not trying to be insensitive. I'm sorry for the loss of your young veiled.

 

[xoiceox]

If I free range feed him how am I sure that he ate? the crickets can hide and stuff I put some in front of him and he won't eat them.