Gusse_Gus
New Member
Hi All,
I am new to Chameleons but not new to reptiles as I grew up owning several large iguanas (over 15 years ago) so it has been a while. I am hoping someone can review my husbandry and let me know how I am doing and what needs to be changed. When we originally got Gus we were unsure if it was a Male or female and my kids named “him" but I am convinced Gus is a female. We are still calling her Gus…maybe Gusse
.
I want to say thanks ahead of time and I can’t thank everyone on this forum enough as I have learned so much in a short period of time about caring for Gus.
Chameleon Info:
• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? Gus is a piebald veiled chameleon who I think is around 3 to 4 months old. Pet store said she was about 2 months old when I bought her 3 to 4 weeks ago. After reading here I think Gus is a female but I am not 100% sure. It is hard to get a good picture of her back feet as she hates the camera.
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? We have handled Gus about once a week for the most part…other than the times I had to fix things in her cage and needed her out of it early on. So far she seems to not want to come out of her cage but is getting more tolerant to my hand going in to feed her and clean things up. She does not hide when I put food in anymore.
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? Since we got Gus, she has been eating between 15 to 20 small to medium sized crickets a day and maybe one or 2 wax works a week (she is not a big fan of the wax works). I ordered some horn worms to try, which will be here in a few days and tried to order roaches but they can’t ship to Florida. She is given crickets in the morning around 7am, more around noon time and sometimes a small snack when I get home from work around 5pm. I gut-load the crickets and wax worms with carrots, collard greens and apples. Getting a sweet potato this week to add to the gut loading. She started out eating from her food bowl hanging on the side by the basking spot but stopped and only eats the crickets if they are roaming around her cage. Seems to like the hunt and chase?
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? Currently dusting all feeders with repti calcium without D3 (came with cham kit) at every feeding and I am alternating every other week on Sundays between Flukers Repta calcium with D3 and reptivite (came with cham kit).
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? Gus has a little dripper on the top of her cage that drips several drips a min and ultimately ends up in one of the plants. I use distilled water. We also hand mist a few times throughout the day (if the kids and nanny remember) and also have a Mishking that mists at 2am for 30 seconds, 7:45am for 45 seconds, 345pm for 1 min 30 seconds and at 9pm for 30s. I see Gus drinking a lot…typically gets several drips from the dripper throughout the day now (at least on weekends when I am home and can watch).
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? Poops are fairly consistent about once a day oval in shape, brown in color and a white urate. Has not been tested for parasites.
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. I now have a large cricket cage too..haha. Surprisingly not a peep out of the crickets yet.
Cage Info:
• Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? I bought the cham kit because I didn’t know any better so Gus is in a 16x 16 x 30 reptibreeze screen cage. I guess it works for now. I have a 24 x 24 x 48 reptibreeze XL cage being delivered this week so I can plan and start building out her cage when she outgrows this one in a few months. This enclosure should also accommodate a lay bin too.
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? Originally started out with the kit lights but it only took a few days to upgrade. I am still using the daylight blue reptile bulb 60w for basking because my regular 45w bulb gets too hot. I quickly got a 24 inch linear t5 5.0 reptisun uvb bulb and I plan to replace every 6 months. Lighting schedule is on a timer from 7am to 7pm. I worry about the UvB getting to our eyes and skin causing skin cancer and eye damage so I wrapped and blocked areas the uvb bulb is exposed to people with tin foil (front side and cage overhang area). Any thoughts on this? The lights sit about 8 inches above the branches she mostly sits on. The lights are not hot on the back of my hand while underneath them and the screen is not hot to touch either.
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?. Basking site temp is 80 to 85ish. At night temp there was about 75 (just checked). I have the kit thermometer probe at the basking site. I am unsure about the floor temp but I am working on upgrading my thermometer and hygrometer so I will have two to play with.
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? During the day humidity is about 50 to 60% during non misting. Goes up slightly after misting but the cage dries out (other than the dripper) between misting during the day. It is measured by the cheap repti gage I wire attached to the back at the basking level. At night humidity seems slightly higher. I am considering a fogger for night too but have not gotten one yet.
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? My live plants are limited by space right now but they consist of a small pathos and a larger fiddleleaf fig (ficus lyrata) that she likes to sleep in and chase crickets around on. I have the fake stick type vines for climbing and basking on and 2 small fake vine type plants. The fake plants are used for her dripper to drip down. I see her drink off it all the time but I will eventually remove them as she gets bigger over the concern of eating them.
• Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? Cage is in a playroom that is not used too often by the kids on top of a bookshelf cabinet about 3 to 4 feet off the floor. No fans, one air vent on the other end of the room, top of the cage is about 6 feet off the floor. The cage is by a non direct sun window. Not a high traffic room but the hallway outside leads to the garage so I tend to keep the room door mostly cracked.
• Location - Where are you geographically located? I am on the west coast of Florida in the Bradenton/Sarasota area.
Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.
I don’t have a current problem but I do have a few questions.
1. Am I feeding her too much at this point? I know I need to significant decrease around 6 months but should I start decreasing sooner?
2. Do you think there are any problems with my tin foil placement around the UvB bulb?
3. Do I want to change cages before she starts producing eggs to get her use to her new environment?
4. What is the best way to transition from one cage to the other when she outgrows it? Leave the doors open and see if she will explore by herself or just remove her and place in the new enclosure when it is time?
5. Does anyone know any experienced chameleon vets in the Bradenton/Sarasota area of Florida incase they are needed?
6. Any recommendations for a quality fogger if I really need one?
7. If I can get good pictures of her back feet, confirmation she is female would be appreciated.
Attached are pictures of current enclosure and a few pictures of Gus from the last couple days except the last picture is from the day we got her.
I am new to Chameleons but not new to reptiles as I grew up owning several large iguanas (over 15 years ago) so it has been a while. I am hoping someone can review my husbandry and let me know how I am doing and what needs to be changed. When we originally got Gus we were unsure if it was a Male or female and my kids named “him" but I am convinced Gus is a female. We are still calling her Gus…maybe Gusse
.I want to say thanks ahead of time and I can’t thank everyone on this forum enough as I have learned so much in a short period of time about caring for Gus.
Chameleon Info:
• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? Gus is a piebald veiled chameleon who I think is around 3 to 4 months old. Pet store said she was about 2 months old when I bought her 3 to 4 weeks ago. After reading here I think Gus is a female but I am not 100% sure. It is hard to get a good picture of her back feet as she hates the camera.
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? We have handled Gus about once a week for the most part…other than the times I had to fix things in her cage and needed her out of it early on. So far she seems to not want to come out of her cage but is getting more tolerant to my hand going in to feed her and clean things up. She does not hide when I put food in anymore.
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? Since we got Gus, she has been eating between 15 to 20 small to medium sized crickets a day and maybe one or 2 wax works a week (she is not a big fan of the wax works). I ordered some horn worms to try, which will be here in a few days and tried to order roaches but they can’t ship to Florida. She is given crickets in the morning around 7am, more around noon time and sometimes a small snack when I get home from work around 5pm. I gut-load the crickets and wax worms with carrots, collard greens and apples. Getting a sweet potato this week to add to the gut loading. She started out eating from her food bowl hanging on the side by the basking spot but stopped and only eats the crickets if they are roaming around her cage. Seems to like the hunt and chase?
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? Currently dusting all feeders with repti calcium without D3 (came with cham kit) at every feeding and I am alternating every other week on Sundays between Flukers Repta calcium with D3 and reptivite (came with cham kit).
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? Gus has a little dripper on the top of her cage that drips several drips a min and ultimately ends up in one of the plants. I use distilled water. We also hand mist a few times throughout the day (if the kids and nanny remember) and also have a Mishking that mists at 2am for 30 seconds, 7:45am for 45 seconds, 345pm for 1 min 30 seconds and at 9pm for 30s. I see Gus drinking a lot…typically gets several drips from the dripper throughout the day now (at least on weekends when I am home and can watch).
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? Poops are fairly consistent about once a day oval in shape, brown in color and a white urate. Has not been tested for parasites.
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. I now have a large cricket cage too..haha. Surprisingly not a peep out of the crickets yet.
Cage Info:
• Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? I bought the cham kit because I didn’t know any better so Gus is in a 16x 16 x 30 reptibreeze screen cage. I guess it works for now. I have a 24 x 24 x 48 reptibreeze XL cage being delivered this week so I can plan and start building out her cage when she outgrows this one in a few months. This enclosure should also accommodate a lay bin too.
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? Originally started out with the kit lights but it only took a few days to upgrade. I am still using the daylight blue reptile bulb 60w for basking because my regular 45w bulb gets too hot. I quickly got a 24 inch linear t5 5.0 reptisun uvb bulb and I plan to replace every 6 months. Lighting schedule is on a timer from 7am to 7pm. I worry about the UvB getting to our eyes and skin causing skin cancer and eye damage so I wrapped and blocked areas the uvb bulb is exposed to people with tin foil (front side and cage overhang area). Any thoughts on this? The lights sit about 8 inches above the branches she mostly sits on. The lights are not hot on the back of my hand while underneath them and the screen is not hot to touch either.
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?. Basking site temp is 80 to 85ish. At night temp there was about 75 (just checked). I have the kit thermometer probe at the basking site. I am unsure about the floor temp but I am working on upgrading my thermometer and hygrometer so I will have two to play with.
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? During the day humidity is about 50 to 60% during non misting. Goes up slightly after misting but the cage dries out (other than the dripper) between misting during the day. It is measured by the cheap repti gage I wire attached to the back at the basking level. At night humidity seems slightly higher. I am considering a fogger for night too but have not gotten one yet.
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? My live plants are limited by space right now but they consist of a small pathos and a larger fiddleleaf fig (ficus lyrata) that she likes to sleep in and chase crickets around on. I have the fake stick type vines for climbing and basking on and 2 small fake vine type plants. The fake plants are used for her dripper to drip down. I see her drink off it all the time but I will eventually remove them as she gets bigger over the concern of eating them.
• Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? Cage is in a playroom that is not used too often by the kids on top of a bookshelf cabinet about 3 to 4 feet off the floor. No fans, one air vent on the other end of the room, top of the cage is about 6 feet off the floor. The cage is by a non direct sun window. Not a high traffic room but the hallway outside leads to the garage so I tend to keep the room door mostly cracked.
• Location - Where are you geographically located? I am on the west coast of Florida in the Bradenton/Sarasota area.
Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.
I don’t have a current problem but I do have a few questions.
1. Am I feeding her too much at this point? I know I need to significant decrease around 6 months but should I start decreasing sooner?
2. Do you think there are any problems with my tin foil placement around the UvB bulb?
3. Do I want to change cages before she starts producing eggs to get her use to her new environment?
4. What is the best way to transition from one cage to the other when she outgrows it? Leave the doors open and see if she will explore by herself or just remove her and place in the new enclosure when it is time?
5. Does anyone know any experienced chameleon vets in the Bradenton/Sarasota area of Florida incase they are needed?
6. Any recommendations for a quality fogger if I really need one?
7. If I can get good pictures of her back feet, confirmation she is female would be appreciated.
Attached are pictures of current enclosure and a few pictures of Gus from the last couple days except the last picture is from the day we got her.
. If the back feet have the 2-pc clutching bird-looking foot and a smaller bump/protrusion appearing off the rear of the back feet, Congrats--you got a sweet boy
. That's the easiest aspect of chameleons in the entire world! Plus, some consider the males somewhat more aggressive than the females who need that loose substrate for their regular egg laying. Just never tell the girls that their eggs are for naught.
