Keeping a chameleon for the first time

[kratom]

Hey,

I'm kind of new to the chameleon world and I'm thinking of buying a veiled. I've been doing some research about them in the last 6 months, but I still have some questions. I've read both The Chameleon Handbook by Le Berre and The Biology of Chameleons published by the University of California.

I live in Portugal and I'm thinking of keeping the chameleon in my study in a 76x76x122cm screen terrarium. I'm purchasing a juvenile chameleon from a local dealer recommended by my city's exotic pet vet center. I'm buying a cable for heat and a REPTI-GLO 5.0 26W lamp for the UV light.

So these are my questions:

• Can chameleons deal well with common household noises? What about videogame sounds or music?
• At night do they need total darkness and silence? If I stay up late that's not necessarily going to happen.
• Can I keep the crickets in the same room as the chameleon or will they disturb the chameleon?
• How often do I feed the chameleon and how much? I'm getting a lot of different answers to this question.

I want to do the best I can to keep my future chameleon happy, so if you have any recommendation, please just say so.

Thank you!

PS- I'm also thinking of keeping a live plant inside the terrarium, but they seem too big for the enclosure. What can I do?

 

[Psycomenace]

Good questions to ask, I was going to post about the same. So Im hoping someone could help us out thanks.

 

[Lazy Boy]

I have heard that for the most part chameleons hear by vibrations more then noise itself, so as far as music and video games you should be fine unless you crank it up. I play my Xbox in the same room as my cham. Night time just cover the cage so the are blacked out and you should be good to watch TV or play games. Cricket tubs can be kept in the same room but I keep mine in my snake/Leo room as it doesn't need night temp drops. Bugs love being warm all the time. Baby and juvenile chams can be fed as much as the will eat. Don't leave feeder in the cage over night as the can bite him or keep him up. As a adult they get fed every other day as much as they will eat in about 5-10mins or 10 crickets or so. You will get a feel for how your cham eats and will have a better idea then.

 

[ShaneXD45]

I have a baby Jackson and he is in my living room. I have a lamp on and the TV pretty much every night and it doesn't keep him awake. Most of the time he will find a spot on a branch where he is going to sleep, usually an hour before I turn his light off, and he will stay there all night.

 

[eat2muchrice]

It's great hearing people researching before purchase, that alone tells me how responsible you will be with your new pet.

From my understanding chameleons don’t have ears, they sense vibration like snakes. I would think music is fine, but I wouldn’t recommend bumping bass remixes at the middle of the night.

As for total darkness, just like us we like the lights out when we sleep. I do stay up late at night and sometimes see my cham peeping at me, but for the most part I make sure all lights are out and he can get 6-8 hours of total quiet and darkness. If you are worries you can just cover your cage.

Keeping crickets would be fine in the same room, butI think people here recommend to removing them out of your chameleon cage as they can bite at night while your little guy is sleeping.

At a young age let them eat as much as they want, if it’s a female you will want to monitor its diet. Here is a care sheet that most of us seem to follow by, its good reading https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/veiled/

Live plants are great, I see that mine prefer them and keeps him happier. I although do not have a green thumb so use fake.

 

[kratom]

Night time just cover the cage so the are blacked out and you should be good to watch TV or play games.

As for total darkness, just like us we like the lights out when we sleep. I do stay up late at night and sometimes see my cham peeping at me, but for the most part I make sure all lights are out and he can get 6-8 hours of total quiet and darkness. If you are worries you can just cover your cage.

Doesn't that disturb the humidity levels inside the cage? Can I just do so by covering it with a blanket or something like that?

Live plants are great, I see that mine prefer them and keeps him happier. I although do not have a green thumb so use fake.

Today I got an Epipremnum aureum so that I can make sure there are no pesticides in it before the chameleon arrives. I'm purchasing the chameleon next week.


Thanks a lot!

 

[eat2muchrice]

Doesn't that disturb the humidity levels inside the cage? Can I just do so by covering it with a blanket or something like that?

Don't worry about it, once you get him I'm sure you will find out if your habbits are disturbing him or not. Live your life style and in a few days or week your new chameleon will setting in and most likely adjust to you and its new habitat without a problem. Mine is passed out right now as his lights are off but fell asleep facing me at my computer screen, our lights are on, two kids running around, T.V is on, dog is butt streaking arcoss the floor, all this going on and he is K.O.