Marty needs a little help please...

[jglefler]

Hi, and welcome. Lowes and Home Depot (or Walmart or Meijers) are probably going to be best for the prices; if you live around the Lansing area, I've often bought plants at Van Atta's - more variety, but pricier. Almost any plant you buy is going to have the risk of pesticides, but the general workaround for that is to wash the plant in the shower (maybe 20 minutes) and repot in fresh soil, covering soil with river rocks (something big that Marty can't accidentally ingest).
Also, if you live around Lansing (or anywhere in mid-Michigan) and if it comes to it, Cedar Creek Veterinary Clinic in Williamston has certified reptile vets with chameleon experience - Dr. Wayne Beasley and Dr. Nolan are both good with chams.
My panther chameleon slowed down a good deal between two and three years old, just from getting older (think a thirty or forty year old vs. a teenager), and he also began slowing down much more dramatically in the winter, which hadn't phased him before. He defecates approximately once a week. I guess I'd be most concerned about hydration and orange urates; some chams can be "trained" to drink from a dripper or an eyedropper, and sometimes people have had luck injecting feeder insects with water immediately before feeding.
I use the Nature Zone Cricket Bites, too; they are a sufficient gutload, but I do offer carrots and other things when I have them around (chopped grape, bee pollen, etc.). And my guy stayed on his "baby" supplementation schedule of calcium with D3 every other day 'til he was about two and the vet told me to cut back.
Good luck with Marty and, again, welcome!

Thanks. You folks are the GREATEST! I live close to Clarkston (about 45 min north of Detroit). Fortunately there is a rep vet in downtown Clarkston. These little critters are a mystery. Once, and only once, Marty put his head under his dripper tube and let the water run down the ridge in his forehead and lapped the water up for a long time. I got a video of it I was so excited. I thought he was all set and would be well hydrated from there on. Amazingly, he never did it again??? These little guys just don't seem to be able to have an awareness of when they are thirsty.

 

[pssh]

He probably drinks when you don't look. Some are a little secrative qbout it. Keep the dripper going though. Fresh greens hydrate the feeder insects well and worms like cultured hornworms and silkworms are great for hydration!

 

[summoner12]

I see an issue in your lighting. You are using heat emmitters and not lamps. Use a normal household lamp. This provides UVA and UVA is what makes reptiles happy.... give them the urge to go eat. and move about. without the light source he won't know where to bask. They can feel heat, but the brain is wired to look for a light source, like the sun.

I am in a hurry so I just looked at your pics, I will review the thread a bit later.

 

[jglefler]

He probably drinks when you don't look. Some are a little secrative qbout it. Keep the dripper going though. Fresh greens hydrate the feeder insects well and worms like cultured hornworms and silkworms are great for hydration!

His dripper runs all day long. That is working out quite well. How do you tell a cultured hornworm from an uncultured hornworm??? I guess you look for a book under their arm.

Thanks.

 

[pssh]

It just means don't use the wild ones. Only the ones that have been raised on hornworm chow. Hornworms eat tomatoes in the wild and tomatoes are poisonous.

 

[jglefler]

I see an issue in your lighting. You are using heat emmitters and not lamps. Use a normal household lamp. This provides UVA and UVA is what makes reptiles happy.... give them the urge to go eat. and move about. without the light source he won't know where to bask. They can feel heat, but the brain is wired to look for a light source, like the sun.

I am in a hurry so I just looked at your pics, I will review the thread a bit later.

Thanks for the input. He has two incandescent basking lights and a 10.0 UVA UVB tube. The heat elements you see are only for night time heating when the lights are out. I have the two heating elements and an auxiliary radiant heater hooked up to two ice fishing shanty analog thermostats to maintain constant heat levels. The whole system is analog instead of digital so there won't be a reset problem if power is temporally lost. I also have an automatic standby generator for him incase the power goes off. You can't take any chances in Michigan.

 

[jglefler]

It just means don't use the wild ones. Only the ones that have been raised on hornworm chow. Hornworms eat tomatoes in the wild and tomatoes are poisonous.

Thanks. I was just joshing you about the cultured thing. I get centipedes in my basement from time to time. There are two kinds. One kind grossed Marty out. They have longer legs that stick out to the side. The kind I get most often are like Twinkies to him. They are more like a round hard string with short legs that go straight down. He goes nuts when I offer one to him. I can barely get it into the cage before he grabs it up with his tongue.

 

[jglefler]

I called the local nursery. They have version of the umbrella plant. He called it a variegated Arbicola. He says it is the same as an umbrella plant but two tone in color. Is this OK?

 

[jglefler]

Lowes and Home Depot don't have anything left in the garden department at this time of year but this http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053 is available online. Would this dwarf umbrella tree be OK. The size looks good and the "rock" planter pot looks cool for a cam cage.

 

[jake01]

I pay like $3-5 for my umbrella plant and pothos from HD/Walmart. Seems way pricey just for a rock pot.

 

[jglefler]

I pay like $3-5 for my umbrella plant and pothos from HD/Walmart. Seems way pricey just for a rock pot.

Our HD/Walmarts say no plants till spring. My local nursery says they have a variegated Arbicola for about $5.00. Is that OK for chameleons. I assume the only difference is coloring but don't want to do the wrong thing for my cham. Do you know if it is basically the same thing as a regular umbrella plant?

 

[hallenhe]

Lowes and Home Depot don't have anything left in the garden department at this time of year but this http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053 is available online. Would this dwarf umbrella tree be OK. The size looks good and the "rock" planter pot looks cool for a cam cage.

The size may be misleading; that one is a bonsai, and I can just picture Marty stepping on it and knocking it over. Pothos and spider plants are common as dirt, good for chams, and the easiest things to grow/keep alive.

 

[jglefler]

What a run that was. I had to try 4 pet stores before I could find calcium powder without D3. Zoo Med Reptivite was the ONLY one I could find. I will only dust with D3 every two weeks from now on.

The nursery wound up having the solid colored umbrella plant I wanted for $10.00 and I was thrilled to find it. No one else around here had one.

The artificial plant also arrived today. Tomorrow I will start Marty's warm showers on the artificial plant and get the umbrella plant set up. Thanks again to everyone for the excellent advice. I truly appreciate it.

 

[summoner12]

OK finally home.....

I read you are using linear incondescent lamps... I would still put in a basking spot lamp. use a 50w lamp. I don't know much about linear incondescent lamps..... I remember when I was a kid the church I went to had one on the podium... but that is as much as I know about them lol.

I think you should also step your UVB lamps down to the 5.0.

What kind of temps do you get at night in the house? You don't want to maintain heat really... you want heat swings. Chams need a cool down time at night. Dropping his temp into the mid (even lower) 50's is ok. I was keeping my chams outside for a bit and they were doing just fine with night temps in the 50's.

The gaping you speak of is prolly over heating... or... it can be him trying to equalize his body temp. My Melleri will move into a basking lamp and gape at first... once warm they close the mouth and sit for a bit... then more on. If you have a laser heat gun and can take readings of his body to get a good reading of his skin temp you can determine if you are providing too much or too little heat. If he only gets a body temp of 85 under his lighting... there is an issue. He needs to get a good bit warmer... like 100-110 skin temp. This is only under a basking lamp. He should be able to move away and find himself in a cooler space if he chooses.

 

[Montium]

Our HD/Walmarts say no plants till spring. My local nursery says they have a variegated Arbicola for about $5.00. Is that OK for chameleons. I assume the only difference is coloring but don't want to do the wrong thing for my cham. Do you know if it is basically the same thing as a regular umbrella plant?

They work fine but for $5 it might not be very big.

 

[jglefler]

I got Marty's new umbrella plant cleaned, added new soil, and installed in his cage. He has been very quiet but I brought him out for a warm shower and he is moving around a bit now that he is back in his cage. If he doesn't perk up over the weekend I will be taking him to the Vet. He ate a couple wax worms today and seems to like his new plant.

 

[summoner12]

I got Marty's new umbrella plant cleaned, added new soil, and installed in his cage. He has been very quiet but I brought him out for a warm shower and he is moving around a bit now that he is back in his cage. If he doesn't perk up over the weekend I will be taking him to the Vet. He ate a couple wax worms today and seems to like his new plant.

when I got the email update this bit was also the email message:

I wanted to install a new UVB tube light today. I have been using I have been using ReptiSun 10.0 24" T12, 20 watt tubes. The last one I ordered online a guy told me the T12, 18 watt was being replaced by T8, 18 watt bulbs. When I installed it in the light hood it wouldn't start up. I thought I had received a bad bulb so I went to a local pet store and purchased a ReptiGlow b T8 bulb which seems to be 20 watts. It wouldn't start either. When I re-installed the old bulb it started right up. Both of the new bulbs were smaller diameter than the old bulb. The length and contact pin configuration on the new bulbs is exactly like the old bulb and the pins are making contact with the light socket. If the new bulbs were higher watage I would guess that the starter was unable to generate enough power to fire the bulbs up. But, since the watage is the same or lower, I am at a loss. I wonder if anyone has experience with this?

Were you able to figure it out? If not here is a little info. The T8 lamps require an electronic ballast. You also need to match the wattage of the lamp to the ballast. A higher wattage ballast will damage a lower wattage lamp.

A ballast regulates current to the lamp. Having a lamp that isn't matched causes more current flow... or not enough. Magnetic ballasts have no brain to determine these issues. Electronic can balance to some degree.... It is just best to match them up correctly.

 

[jglefler]

when I got the email update this bit was also the email message:



Were you able to figure it out? If not here is a little info. The T8 lamps require an electronic ballast. You also need to match the wattage of the lamp to the ballast. A higher wattage ballast will damage a lower wattage lamp.

A ballast regulates current to the lamp. Having a lamp that isn't matched causes more current flow... or not enough. Magnetic ballasts have no brain to determine these issues. Electronic can balance to some degree.... It is just best to match them up correctly.

Yep. That's why I deleted the part about the light. Hoped I'd get it before anyone bothered. I saw info on the net about the new T8 and T5 specification. Drat. Now I will need to go to Home Depot, buy a T8 fixture, and install the guts in Marty's hood light. I got him a new pump-up spritzer, live plant, artificial plant, bag of potting soil, and UVB tube this week. Now the light needs upgrading. Good grief! It never ends. But, he is definately worth it. I hope I didn't reck these two new T8 UVB tubes in the 90 seconds I had them installed in the T12 light. Thanks for the help.

 

[summoner12]

You can buy just the ballast to replace the one in your fixture. How long are the tubes? 36"? Look at the specs carefully on the ballast itself. You wanna be sure you are matching the lamp to the ballast.

It might be cheaper to buy a fixture like you said you might do

my signature has a DIY for changing a ballast out in a 48" fixture.

 

[pssh]

Chameleons aren't cheap! But we love them so it doesn't matter