austin1125
Member
I purchased my first chameleon on Monday after a year long venture of research and purchasing all of the supplies. I bought a beautiful male Veiled Chameleon and named him Kendrick. I purchased him from a pet store where he was hatched at and he's about 9 months old and a little over a foot long including. I'm a first time chameleon owner and I've spent a year doing some research so I'm relatively confident that I'm doing everything properly. I would just like to post this and see if anyone has any comments/concerns/tips/etc.
First and foremost, he is being housed in my room, minimal traffic by humans as I am the only one who comes and goes, and I work long hours during the day. I'm trying my hardest not to take him out as I know he needs to adjust to his new environment... I've taken him out twice. His enclosure is a Large X-tall Exo-Terra terrarium (36 inches long, 18 inches deep and 36 inches high). Yes I do realize that a screen terrarium is ideal due to the ventilation but I don't think I should be too concerned with stagnant air with this much space for one chameleon??
I have a substrate bottom (yes when I thoroughly clean the terrarium I will switch over to something thicker because i have read that chameleons will end up eating the substrate) but since Kendrick has spent most of his time at least 20 inches off of the bottom I'm not too concerned for that.
Kendrick gets his water from a Zoo Med Repti Rapids Led Skull Waterfall. I've woken up to him drinking from it and have seen him burying his head under the stream on a few occasions. The running water really does seem to entice him to drink.
I also mist the cage like 3 times a day to maintain over 50% humidity and spend a little extra time spraying him softly (I've figured out he doesn't like being sprayed full throttle so I go easy on him).
I bought the mist king ultimate system with the hygrostat but I haven't found the time to properly and adequately install it so for now a spray bottle seems to be sufficing.
He has plenty of vines and all of his plants are fake right now. I want to get good at caring for him and making sure he's okay before I even start to worry about live plants. He has about four separate levels of the terrarium where Ive seen him spend time. Starting from like 10 inches off of the ground, then to about 18 inches off the ground, followed by his bridge where his food bowl is which sits about 29 inches off the ground and then his basking spot which is up to about 32 inches from ground and 4 inches from the top of the terrarium.
I went a little crazy with the lighting, Kendrick has the following fixtures and lights
Exo Terra Large (36 inch) Linear Top which holds 2 Repti Glo 5.0 25W bulbs and Exo Terra Large (36 inch) Compact Top which currently has the following bulbs: 2 Exo Terra 25W Intense Basking Spot bulbs in the right two niches which provide Kendrick with a basking area of 88 degrees Fahrenheit. On the left side, the other two niches in the Compact top have an Exo Terra 25W daytime heat bulb and a 25W UVB bulb. I leave these two fixtures on for 10-12 hours a day (more on the side of 12).
Mounted on the sides of the terrarium are two Exo Terra Terrarium Fixtures each containing an Exotic Terra 75W blue nighttime heat bulb which stands about 7 inches away from the top of the terrarium, keeping the nighttime temperature to about 72-73 degrees and I leave those on for duration of the night until the daytime bulbs come back on.
I'm probably going to switch the night time bulbs into the compact top and lower the wattage and move higher wattage intense basking lamps into the terrarium fixtures to prevent any thermal burns as the terrarium fixtures stand a little farther away from the top and the compact top sits right on top of the terrarium.
If anyone sees anything wrong with what I'm doing currently do not hesitate to yell at me hahaha.
As far as feeding goes, I fed him three times this week, and plan to stick to that schedule. Monday, Wednesday and then again today. I bought a dozen crickets and a dozen super worms each time. The crickets I dust with some calcium and feed to him by hand in the hopes that he will learn that my hand means food and compassion. I've heard and read that over time chameleons and their owners can form some sort of bonb and feeding is the easiest way to strengthen that bond...and then I set up a little bridge about 28-29 inches high that extends from each end side to side of the terrarium. In this bridge is a food bowl where I throw the super worms in because they cannot escape and I get to watch Kendrick pick them apart one by one... Today he even snagged two worms with one flick of the tongue! Monday and Wednesday he ate all 24 insects and today he stopped eating the crickets after about like 8 crickets after eating all 12 super worms. My goal is for him to eventually recognize that the bowl means food and to start throwing in some fruits and veggies in due time. I clean the bowl daily as to make sure no bacteria forms and just as a caution to keep it clean.
As far as questions go, am I feeding him too much? Should each cricket be dusted with calcium or just a few? Are there any other repti-vitimans that I should know about?
Overall Kendrick looks to be in great health and seems to be taking full advantage of the tons of little vines and climbing spots offered. he can even climb the backdrop of the terrarium.
So excited to hear from you guys and thanks in advance to anyone who can help lending a hand or a word. It's been 6 days and I'm already madly in love with the little guy. I just want to make sure that everything that can be done right is being done right.
