Meet Miles :)
- Thread starter bombadillo2
- Start date
GoodKarma19
Chameleon Enthusiast
Cutie pie! I love me some babies.
I believe I already said "welcome" on one of your previous posts (my memory is shot, and I'm on my break during a graveyard shift), but welcome!
To ensure that Miles has the best start in life, would you mind taking a few minutes to fill out this form for experienced keepers to review? Just copy paste and fill it in with as much detail as possible.
Chameleon Info:
Cage Info:
Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.
--------------
Please Note:
I believe I already said "welcome" on one of your previous posts (my memory is shot, and I'm on my break during a graveyard shift), but welcome!
To ensure that Miles has the best start in life, would you mind taking a few minutes to fill out this form for experienced keepers to review? Just copy paste and fill it in with as much detail as possible.
Chameleon Info:
- Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
- Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
- Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
- Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
- Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
- Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
- History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.
Cage Info:
- Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
- Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
- Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
- Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
- Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
- 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?
- Location - Where are you geographically located?
Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.
--------------
Please Note:
- The more details you provide the better and more accurate help you will receive.
- Photos can be very helpful.
CamoChameleonsHuman
Chameleon Enthusiast
Just a baby baby. Congrats and good luck. Please fill out the help form if you have any questions about your husbandry. We are here to help 
Kristen Wilkins
Chameleon Enthusiast
Welcome @bombadillo2 , Miles is absolutely adorable , Congratulations . I see that a few keepers have asked you to fill out the how to ask form . Great idea for future reference . The other thing I’m going to recommend for Miles is exotic pet insurance @jannb and I both use Nationwide we have had no issues there are other too depending your location .
https://www.petinsurance.com/birds .
Last edited:
bombadillo2
Member
Thanks everyone! Really appreciated the support! I'll fill out as much info as I can. Question--should I include this questionnaire every time I post? Or can I put it in a "signature" or something?
Chameleon Info:
Cage Info:
Current Problem - Well, I guess I'm concerned because people here are discouraging soil-bottomed enclosures. My enclosure was very expensive, heavy, difficult to set up, and would be nearly impossible to return. Not to mention it is already full of pumice, soil, and growing plants. Essentially I really want it to work! The health of my cham is most important to me, of course. Just dreading that y'all are going to be like "yeah that's not going to work!" *crying face*
Note about first photos I posted -- 1 and 3 are from his smaller enclosure. 2nd is when he fell asleep on the free range.
These photos are of his new enclosure.... work in progress! Appreciate any advice. Feel free to ask questions!
Chameleon Info:
- Your Chameleon - Jacksons, ~1-2 months old, Male, been in my care for ~2 weeks.
I am a newbie. I was told that it's a Jackson's (and that makes sense, since he eats bugs and the vivarium only was selling Jacksons or Veiled at the time). I was also told that he's male... however the guy did NOT sound 100% about this, and obviously it's harder to tell when they're young. So... Miles could be a girl I GUESS! Ha! - Handling - I handle Miles about 3x a week. He likes to climb my hair (long and vine like ), and he likes going on the free range (large pot with 4 dracaena), so I will handle him just to put him there. By handling, I mean that I put my finger in front of him and let him climb on, and then I sit and do something while he climbs on me. He has only tried to eat a bug from my hand once, the other times he didn't seem interested.
- Feeding - I feed my cham small crickets and small roaches. He likes crickets best. I tried feeding silkworms this week and he won't touch them, unless he's eating them behind my back! They might be too big for him. When you say "gut load" feeders, I assume you're asking what I feed them? I usually put fruit in there to offer them water. I drop them onto a log in his terrarium. He'll go there to eat them but if they move around he'll superman off vines to get them from other places.
- Supplements - At the store I was given two supplements. Both Rep-Cal I think :[] One was Calcium + D3. The other was something like Herptavite with multivitamin. The store employee (it's a vivarium -- reptile-only house) told me to put calcium on the cricks EVERY TIME that I feed him. However, he had some calcium buildup on his nostrils and after research I realized that that's way too much. So I took a break for a few days from any supplements, and will start again with a light dusting of the calcium + d3 1x per week. Multi-vitamin maybe 1x per week or per week and a half. At least while he's a baby.
- Watering - I water by spraying plants all over the enclosure. I just saw him drinking for the first time! I believe he's been drinking while I'm gone before that. He licks drops off the plants. He always hated getting wet and ran away from it, but TODAY, for the first time, he headed for my spray bottle and happily stood under it with his head up while I rained it down on him. He loved it! Baby is changing fast! I plan to get some kind of mister that has a timer. I first bought the MistKing starter system, but it was too complex and I have no way to add a reservoir ABOVE the enclosure. So returning it. I just got Exo Terra PT2494 Monsoon Solo System, 3.3 lb. I am gone all day at work so I want to spray during the day. Note: I tried the drip system and it really didn't work for me. All the water dripped off the plants and brought too much moisture in to the cage. Spraying seems to cover things a lot better and Miles has a lot of easy access to it. This might just be because his temp enclosure is so small. Dripping might work better from higher up.
- Fecal Description - Cham has never been tested. He's tiny. His droppings are white and black. Or one or the other.
- History - He's pretty new. Grew up in a vivarium with ~5 other babies.
Cage Info:
- Cage Type - He is currently in a small enclosure while I build his bigger one. I think the small one is a 10 gallon? Glass with screen roof. The bigger one is this one: Carolina Custom Cages Terrarium, Extra-Tall Medium 24Lx18Dx36H Also glass sides with a screen top. I bought some screen material and was thinking about turning one of the walls into a screen wall, just for a tiny bit more air flow. I live in very temperate weather. Never snows, never gets above 90 degrees outside (and those days are very rare - maybe 2 weeks out of the year). The cage is next to the window, so I plant to open it to allow for some air flow.
- Lighting - I think my current lamps are Zoo Med Combo Deep Dome Lamp. I have it on a timer which goes on at 8:30 AM and goes off at 9:00 PM. I have a heat timer as well, which will turn off the heat lamp if his basking spot gets to 90 degrees. I have a standard thermometer in the enclosure which I check to make sure the main temp is around 75 degrees. At all times. For the larger enclosure I recently bought Zoo Med T5 HO Reptisun Terrarium Hood 24" ... not sure if that is too much? He will get some natural light from the window. I also don't know if I should now get a larger heat lamp. I have not set up the roof or lights on the larger enclosure yet because I'm waiting on a replacement door. See pics.
- Temperature - I have a heat sensor, which will turn off the heat lamp if his basking spot gets to 90 degrees. I have a standard thermometer in the enclosure which I check to make sure the main temp is around 75 degrees.
- Humidity - I currently am not measuring humidity!
- Plants - I have live plants in both the temporary enclosure and main enclosure. In both I have a Dracaena variation and a Pothos; I got all of my plants off of this Cham-safe list. I planted babies tears which hopefully will spread and cover at least part of the ground. I've never used it indoors but have gardened with it. I used volcanic pumice as a lower layer (~1 inch), and then organic soil, and on top an organic locally made earthworm compost soil. My other 2 plants I can't remember the name of but you might recognize. One is just a soft delicate fern thing, and the other has little squiggly things coming out of it.
- Placement - The large cage is in the bedroom. It is on top of a dresser thing which is about just below hip-height on me... then the cage is tall so the top of it is about a foot above my head, I'd say. Definitely not high traffic. He's alone most of the day and I hang around him at night and for an hour in the morning. No air vents or noise or movement in general. Next to a window (full height of cage) and there are two other windows in the room. I plan to open the window a crack to get some air flow. It's a moist city and can be windy.
- Other Enclosure Stuff - I have a bird bridge thing which he's loved climbing on when he's out and about (like, he'll climb on it to get to my hair). I set it up in the cage cause I think he'll like it there. I also have fake vines throughout, and will add more. He loves them in his smaller enclosure so I think he'll love them in the bigger one too. I've thought about adding more plants since people mention how they need more hiding space. I'm not sure how to add more, maybe another platform like the current one? Or can I just let the pathos grow more? Get a bigger dracaena for that corner maybe? One big thing is that I didn't know drainage was a thing before I set up my cage. The volcanic pumice will offer SOME but nothing like y'all are doing.
- Free Range - I have a large pot with 4 Dracaena in it, and he loves exploring it. He'll climb up and down, and one time he fell asleep there so I just let him stay there all night. He was not happy with me when I put him back in his cage in the morning. Haha! But he was fine once he realized I'd let him go back there another time. Don't worry he gets plenty of light and heat, as he is in his cage most of the day. One time when he was climbing on me, he also went onto my shoulder under my hair and fell asleep there. It was definitely the cutest thing of my life. When I tried to move him back to his cage, he [dare I say yawned] and immediately fell back asleep on my finger. Heartbreaking that I had to move him! Finally got him back in to his cage!
- Location - San Francisco
Current Problem - Well, I guess I'm concerned because people here are discouraging soil-bottomed enclosures. My enclosure was very expensive, heavy, difficult to set up, and would be nearly impossible to return. Not to mention it is already full of pumice, soil, and growing plants. Essentially I really want it to work! The health of my cham is most important to me, of course. Just dreading that y'all are going to be like "yeah that's not going to work!" *crying face*
Note about first photos I posted -- 1 and 3 are from his smaller enclosure. 2nd is when he fell asleep on the free range.
These photos are of his new enclosure.... work in progress! Appreciate any advice. Feel free to ask questions!
Attachments
Kristen Wilkins
Chameleon Enthusiast
Thanks everyone! Really appreciated the support! I'll fill out as much info as I can. Question--should I include this questionnaire every time I post? Or can I put it in a "signature" or something?
Chameleon Info:
- Your Chameleon - Jacksons, ~1-2 months old, Male, been in my care for ~2 weeks.
I am a newbie. I was told that it's a Jackson's (and that makes sense, since he eats bugs and the vivarium only was selling Jacksons or Veiled at the time). I was also told that he's male... however the guy did NOT sound 100% about this, and obviously it's harder to tell when they're young. So... Miles could be a girl I GUESS! Ha!- Handling - I handle Miles about 3x a week. He likes to climb my hair (long and vine like
- Feeding - I feed my cham small crickets and small roaches. He likes crickets best. I tried feeding silkworms this week and he won't touch them, unless he's eating them behind my back! They might be too big for him. When you say "gut load" feeders, I assume you're asking what I feed them? I usually put fruit in there to offer them water. I drop them onto a log in his terrarium. He'll go there to eat them but if they move around he'll superman off vines to get them from other places.
- Supplements - At the store I was given two supplements. Both Rep-Cal I think :[] One was Calcium + D3. The other was something like Herptavite with multivitamin. The store employee (it's a vivarium -- reptile-only house) told me to put calcium on the cricks EVERY TIME that I feed him. However, he had some calcium buildup on his nostrils and after research I realized that that's way too much. So I took a break for a few days from any supplements, and will start again with a light dusting of the calcium + d3 1x per week. Multi-vitamin maybe 1x per week or per week and a half. At least while he's a baby.
- Watering - I water by spraying plants all over the enclosure. I just saw him drinking for the first time! I believe he's been drinking while I'm gone before that. He licks drops off the plants. He always hated getting wet and ran away from it, but TODAY, for the first time, he headed for my spray bottle and happily stood under it with his head up while I rained it down on him. He loved it! Baby is changing fast! I plan to get some kind of mister that has a timer. I first bought the MistKing starter system, but it was too complex and I have no way to add a reservoir ABOVE the enclosure. So returning it. I just got Exo Terra PT2494 Monsoon Solo System, 3.3 lb. I am gone all day at work so I want to spray during the day. Note: I tried the drip system and it really didn't work for me. All the water dripped off the plants and brought too much moisture in to the cage. Spraying seems to cover things a lot better and Miles has a lot of easy access to it. This might just be because his temp enclosure is so small. Dripping might work better from higher up.
- Fecal Description - Cham has never been tested. He's tiny. His droppings are white and black. Or one or the other.
- History - He's pretty new. Grew up in a vivarium with ~5 other babies.
Cage Info:
Hello @bombadillo2 i have a few suggestions for change .
- Cage Type - He is currently in a small enclosure while I build his bigger one. I think the small one is a 10 gallon? Glass with screen roof. The bigger one is this one: Carolina Custom Cages Terrarium, Extra-Tall Medium 24Lx18Dx36H Also glass sides with a screen top. I bought some screen material and was thinking about turning one of the walls into a screen wall, just for a tiny bit more air flow. I live in very temperate weather. Never snows, never gets above 90 degrees outside (and those days are very rare - maybe 2 weeks out of the year). The cage is next to the window, so I plant to open it to allow for some air flow.
- Lighting - I think my current lamps are Zoo Med Combo Deep Dome Lamp. I have it on a timer which goes on at 8:30 AM and goes off at 9:00 PM. I have a heat timer as well, which will turn off the heat lamp if his basking spot gets to 90 degrees. I have a standard thermometer in the enclosure which I check to make sure the main temp is around 75 degrees. At all times. For the larger enclosure I recently bought Zoo Med T5 HO Reptisun Terrarium Hood 24" ... not sure if that is too much? He will get some natural light from the window. I also don't know if I should now get a larger heat lamp. I have not set up the roof or lights on the larger enclosure yet because I'm waiting on a replacement door. See pics.
- Temperature - I have a heat sensor, which will turn off the heat lamp if his basking spot gets to 90 degrees. I have a standard thermometer in the enclosure which I check to make sure the main temp is around 75 degrees.
- Humidity - I currently am not measuring humidity!
- Plants - I have live plants in both the temporary enclosure and main enclosure. In both I have a Dracaena variation and a Pothos; I got all of my plants off of this Cham-safe list. I planted babies tears which hopefully will spread and cover at least part of the ground. I've never used it indoors but have gardened with it. I used volcanic pumice as a lower layer (~1 inch), and then organic soil, and on top an organic locally made earthworm compost soil. My other 2 plants I can't remember the name of but you might recognize. One is just a soft delicate fern thing, and the other has little squiggly things coming out of it.
- Placement - The large cage is in the bedroom. It is on top of a dresser thing which is about just below hip-height on me... then the cage is tall so the top of it is about a foot above my head, I'd say. Definitely not high traffic. He's alone most of the day and I hang around him at night and for an hour in the morning. No air vents or noise or movement in general. Next to a window (full height of cage) and there are two other windows in the room. I plan to open the window a crack to get some air flow. It's a moist city and can be windy.
- Other Enclosure Stuff - I have a bird bridge thing which he's loved climbing on when he's out and about (like, he'll climb on it to get to my hair). I set it up in the cage cause I think he'll like it there. I also have fake vines throughout, and will add more. He loves them in his smaller enclosure so I think he'll love them in the bigger one too. I've thought about adding more plants since people mention how they need more hiding space. I'm not sure how to add more, maybe another platform like the current one? Or can I just let the pathos grow more? Get a bigger dracaena for that corner maybe? One big thing is that I didn't know drainage was a thing before I set up my cage. The volcanic pumice will offer SOME but nothing like y'all are doing.
- Free Range - I have a large pot with 4 Dracaena in it, and he loves exploring it. He'll climb up and down, and one time he fell asleep there so I just let him stay there all night. He was not happy with me when I put him back in his cage in the morning. Haha! But he was fine once he realized I'd let him go back there another time. Don't worry he gets plenty of light and heat, as he is in his cage most of the day. One time when he was climbing on me, he also went onto my shoulder under my hair and fell asleep there. It was definitely the cutest thing of my life. When I tried to move him back to his cage, he [dare I say yawned] and immediately fell back asleep on my finger. Heartbreaking that I had to move him! Finally got him back in to his cage!
- Location - San Francisco
Lights - I suggest Arcadia . You will need the correct fixture as well . You can get a quad set up . Basking , grow , uvb . Or go separate. I started with the the quad I had issues but not everyone does . Ended just getting separate .
Mister - your reserve does not need to be on or in the condo . It can be next to it . I have ours on a plant stand next to condos . 5 gallon buckets . If your going to handmist , and you can I would suggest going to a hardware store , getting an automatic like what you would use in the garden . Also use a timer to be sure you are misting long enough . Often you think you are but not . I also would add a tripping system .
Bio active are awesome - what other keepers mean is mulch . Is you ha e not chatted with @jamest0o0 i would suggest you do so . He is your man !.
Temps - your basking temp is to hot for a baby . No more the 85 for him at basking . You need a humidity gauge ASAP . I know recommendation is 90+ but it’s to hot . Their skin is thin as babies , they do you hydrate very quickly .
Your doing wonderful job with Miles keep up the good work.
Kristen Wilkins
Chameleon Enthusiast
Hello @bombadillo2 i have a few suggestions for change .
Lights - I suggest Arcadia . You will need the correct fixture as well . You can get a quad set up . Basking , grow , uvb . Or go separate. I started with the the quad I had issues but not everyone does . Ended just getting separate .
.
Mister - your reserve does not need to be on or in the condo . It can be next to it . I have ours on a plant stand next to condos . 5 gallon buckets . If your going to handmist , and you can I would suggest going to a hardware store , getting an automatic like what you would use in the garden . Also use a timer to be sure you are misting long enough . Often you think you are but not . I also would add a tripping system .
Bio active are awesome - what other keepers mean is mulch . Is you ha e not chatted with @jamest0o0 i would suggest you do so . He is your man !.
Temps - your basking temp is to hot for a baby . No more the 85 for him at basking . You need a humidity gauge ASAP . I know recommendation is 90+ but it’s to hot . Their skin is thin as babies , they do you hydrate very quickly .
Your doing wonderful job with Miles keep up the good work ❤.
Lights - I suggest Arcadia . You will need the correct fixture as well . You can get a quad set up . Basking , grow , uvb . Or go separate. I started with the the quad I had issues but not everyone does . Ended just getting separate .
Mister - your reserve does not need to be on or in the condo . It can be next to it . I have ours on a plant stand next to condos . 5 gallon buckets . If your going to handmist , and you can I would suggest going to a hardware store , getting an automatic like what you would use in the garden . Also use a timer to be sure you are misting long enough . Often you think you are but not . I also would add a tripping system .
Bio active are awesome - what other keepers mean is mulch . Is you ha e not chatted with @jamest0o0 i would suggest you do so . He is your man !.
Temps - your basking temp is to hot for a baby . No more the 85 for him at basking . You need a humidity gauge ASAP . I know recommendation is 90+ but it’s to hot . Their skin is thin as babies , they do you hydrate very quickly .
Your doing wonderful job with Miles keep up the good work ❤.
bombadillo2
Member
Thanks for all the advice! I really appreciate it.
Kristen Wilkins
Chameleon Enthusiast
Your more then welcome . Just remember this is your baby . You will get lots of advice and lots is correct but ultimately he’s yours , you know him best .
extrajordinary
Established Member
What a cutie!
Enjoy it while it lasts! They grow incredibly fast!
bombadillo2
Member
Definitely! Every day he does something new. He's going to miss being small enough to fall asleep on leaves aloneWhat a cutie!
