Mistakes

[Elizadolots]

I listened to the dealer at the reptile show who said "Sure you can put this female Fischer's in with your male..." I listened to the first store I bought from when she said "This little jar contains all the nutrition your chameleon will ever need, just coat all his crickets with this every day."

 

[FFSTRescue]

Remember that fluorescent UVB bulbs stop emitting UVB after about 6 months or less. A UVB meter is a must. I didn't know they faded so fast, especially back in the day when I started with chameleons, I think the bulb emitted UVB for about 2 months, but I figured since it was still lit, it should be fine. UVB METER!

 

[Tputtwhatwhat]

tell us your story about CFLs

Oh sorry, I was answering the question from the previous post " what are cfl's?" no personal experience

 

[justjumpit621]

Oh sorry, I was answering the question from the previous post " what are cfl's?" no personal experience

I have a personal experience with CFLs, my first cham, a sickly female veiled I rescued from petsmart, went blind from one that besides already being bad was also supposed to be recalled because it emitted UVC instead of UVB and was responsible for many reptile deaths.

 

[chamlover]

I have to admit when i first started with chams i made some of the same mistakes others have made. My biggest mistakes were:using those darned coiled bulbs and feeding my females too much. As a result i did have chams suffer some consequences. Thank God, I eventually found the Chameleon Forum where i got tons of support for all my "stupid" noobee questions. I remember years ago when one of my female panther was egg-bound for a month. Yes a month. Neither of us would have made it through that horrible dilemna without all the help from forum members. Thanks guys.

 

[elle628]

-When I looked into getting a cham I took the advice of a local pet shop that was heavily into reptiles, but probably know nothing about chameleons. The pet store used the situation to get me to buy the largest exo terrarium made, at a cost a little over $200. In the end I spent I don't know how many hundreds on equipment that had to be replaced in the end in order to configure an appropriate cham home.

-I did not know that the cricket keeper needed to be kept clean and swapped out between batches (I think that in the end that is what specifically killed my first cham).

-I bought my first cham from a reptile show vs. a reputable/ known breeder, when I called the number for help and advice, no one ever picked up or returned calls. I did get a cool free T-shirt though.

--My subsequent chams have only been purchased from members of our sponsor list, and I can't think of a single complaint. Only positive experiences. (thanks Sandy).

why do you need to swap the cricket keeper between batches? How many do you need?

 

[fishinmyhead]

Remember that fluorescent UVB bulbs stop emitting UVB after about 6 months or less. A UVB meter is a must. I didn't know they faded so fast, especially back in the day when I started with chameleons, I think the bulb emitted UVB for about 2 months, but I figured since it was still lit, it should be fine. UVB METER!

were do u find one of those? n what should the reading b? whats normal range?
thanks!!!!!!!

 

[draetish]

My Senoir Rico was my first and he did fine and was heathy, eating, drinking. I had the right lights, temps, water drip and all. I bought him at a really nice family owned pet store that knew their cham stuff. I then got Rocko as he was sold to me as a female (Rosie was his name) and I wanted to breed Rico and make money off of the babies. I put Rosie aka Rocko in with Rico and they seemed to do the mating ritual. Well, I never took Rosie/Rocko out and left them together. I guess Rosie/Rocko was the more dominate one even though he was younger, and Rico stopped eating, drinking, pooping and one day looked really bad. So I took both of them to the vet and he gave Rico some oral stuff and he started thrashing around and then he gave him a shot and he was dead 30 min later. Looking back now, if I had not had them together I would have noticed Rico not eating, drinking and pooping and could have maybe saved him. More than likely he was too stressed and severly dehydrated. I found this forum by searching online for info on chams and I can honestly say that everyone's help here, is the reason I have healthy chams today.

 

[Olimpia]

My biggest mistake - trying to save money stupidly. The best thing you can do if you're really serious about keeping any animal is to buy exactly what it needs, and nothing less. I tried to keep my first chameleon in an old, large ferret cage for months, and despite the fact that I'd wrapped the cage in mesh, we still had insects escaping. In the end poor Othello lost several grams in weight. And at the same time, providing water in such a difficult cage to drain water from made watering a hassel.

The happiest day in both our lives was when I finally got him his 2x2x4 mesh cage. And then when I got him the mistking. They are investments in their well being, and I don't regret having learned that for my subsequent chams.

 

[FFSTRescue]

were do u find one of those? n what should the reading b? whats normal range?
thanks!!!!!!!

If you go to www.ReptileUV.com, they explain it well, they also sell them there

 

[lisagr07]

I used this site before I got my first cham. I learned from everyones mistakes here and for that I'm thankful. It has saved my chameleons from having to experience a lot of painful, expensive, and possibly life threatening issues. I am guilty of oversupplementing with Frogg, my adult veiled. The complications of this are yet to be seen, but I know it's coming .

oversupplementing?? can you elaborate on how this was done ????

thanks,, lisa

 

[justjumpit621]

oversupplementing?? can you elaborate on how this was done ????

thanks,, lisa

Over supplementing a chameleon is unfortunately very easy to do. Different species need different amounts of supplements. For a veiled, the recommended schedule for supplements is calcium powder w/o d3 or phosphorous every other day(every feeding for adults who only eat every other day), calcium powder w/ d3 twice a month, and a multivitamin supplement once a month. Fortunately with veileds it is easy to tell if you are over supplementing with calcium because the excess calcium comes out their nostrils. another way people over supplement is by dusting so heavily their crickets look like little ghosts. There should only be a little bit of powder on them, just enough to see a slight powdered look.

Another form of oversupplementing and even undersupplementing for that matter is vitamin A, or beta carotene. If you oversupplement your vitamins this can happen and requires immediate veterinary attention. Some symptoms of vitamin A toxicity are lethargy, eyes closed, and anorexia(not eating). This leads to MBD and toxicity of organs because Vitamin A in conjunction with vitamin D3 cancels it out so they can not absorb the D3. In conjunction, Vitamin A deficiency can also lead to these symptoms but is easier to treat.

Another problem of oversupplementing is vitamin D3 toxicity. High levels of Vitamin D3 and calcium can lead to toxicity of organs and gout.

Another problem is also too much protein in the diet. Some people like to gutload their feeders with cat and dog food. This is a big no no. Cat and dog food is very high in protein and too much given to the chameleon over a period of time will cause gout and kidney failure. Feeders should be gutloaded with fresh fruits and veggies and a specially made dry feeder diet such as cricket crack. This also gives the chameleon essential vitamins and minerals such as vitamin A and calcium/phosphorus.

It is also important to know the nutrition value of your gutload so you do not feed them too much fresh foods with high oxolates. Feeding food high in oxolates cancels out the calcium and can also cause kidney failure. Here is a blog that one of our members made that is very helpful with this aspect: https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/nutritional-information/

It is very important to learn exactly how to supplement your species and learn about which supplements to use. Repcal and Herptivite are the recommended supplements to use. Here is another blog by Sandrachameleon that compares different supplement brands:https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/174-whats-supplements-brand.html

That's all I have for now, there are probably more ways to oversupplement but I can not think of them at the moment.

 

[lisagr07]

Over supplementing a chameleon is unfortunately very easy to do. Different species need different amounts of supplements. For a veiled, the recommended schedule for supplements is calcium powder w/o d3 or phosphorous every other day(every feeding for adults who only eat every other day), calcium powder w/ d3 twice a month, and a multivitamin supplement once a month. Fortunately with veileds it is easy to tell if you are over supplementing with calcium because the excess calcium comes out their nostrils. another way people over supplement is by dusting so heavily their crickets look like little ghosts. There should only be a little bit of powder on them, just enough to see a slight powdered look.

Another form of oversupplementing and even undersupplementing for that matter is vitamin A, or beta carotene. If you oversupplement your vitamins this can happen and requires immediate veterinary attention. Some symptoms of vitamin A toxicity are lethargy, eyes closed, and anorexia(not eating). This leads to MBD and toxicity of organs because Vitamin A in conjunction with vitamin D3 cancels it out so they can not absorb the D3. In conjunction, Vitamin A deficiency can also lead to these symptoms but is easier to treat.

Another problem of oversupplementing is vitamin D3 toxicity. High levels of Vitamin D3 and calcium can lead to toxicity of organs and gout.

Another problem is also too much protein in the diet. Some people like to gutload their feeders with cat and dog food. This is a big no no. Cat and dog food is very high in protein and too much given to the chameleon over a period of time will cause gout and kidney failure. Feeders should be gutloaded with fresh fruits and veggies and a specially made dry feeder diet such as cricket crack. This also gives the chameleon essential vitamins and minerals such as vitamin A and calcium/phosphorus.

It is also important to know the nutrition value of your gutload so you do not feed them too much fresh foods with high oxolates. Feeding food high in oxolates cancels out the calcium and can also cause kidney failure. Here is a blog that one of our members made that is very helpful with this aspect: https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/nutritional-information/

It is very important to learn exactly how to supplement your species and learn about which supplements to use. Repcal and Herptivite are the recommended supplements to use. Here is another blog by Sandrachameleon that compares different supplement brands:https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/174-whats-supplements-brand.html



That's all I have for now, there are probably more ways to oversupplement but I can not think of them at the moment.

thanks justjumpit621,, that's lots of good info...... now i'll get to reading.... lisa

 

[warpdrive]

You want to know the truth?

My biggest mistake was getting Splat, my first and clearly the easiest first chameleon you could get.
So what is so bad about that?
Well because of him I now have 4 chameleons...5 as of tomorrow.

I'm so hooked that in a month it will be 6.

My friends think I'm crazy, and my shrink agrees.
Oh well, its a cool sickness.

Harry

 

[laurie]

You want to know the truth?

My biggest mistake was getting Splat, my first and clearly the easiest first chameleon you could get.
So what is so bad about that?
Well because of him I now have 4 chameleons...5 as of tomorrow.

I'm so hooked that in a month it will be 6.

My friends think I'm crazy, and my shrink agrees.
Oh well, its a cool sickness.

Harry

Are you saying the baby I just sent to you is part of you being crazy!! What will you blame on your sweet little chams next?

 

[justjumpit621]

Are you saying the baby I just sent to you is part of you being crazy!! What will you blame on your sweet little chams next?

Hahahahaha!

 

[Texas Panther Man]

Back in the stone age 1997 I got my first panther. It was our second cham. I tried to "rescue" a 2-3 week old baby from some so called breeder i found in a local ad. I learned very quickly even with a good setup its almost impossible to save a cham that young when its been cared for improperly from the start.
He passed 2 days after i brought him home. I now only buy from reputable breeders or members of this forum. If it werent for the Cin i would have lost many more. Ardi and others helped me immensly.

 

[CAsnakws]

Help

well i am new to this site and new to chams but i just bought 2 pymgy chams at the san deigo reptile show i thought everything was good i misted them yesterday and left for about 3 hours to go watch a movie to come home and check on them to find my male had passed so i started doing the check of what went wrong well my temp gauge was off i thought so i checked it using one of the other reptiles temp gauge the temp was almost 90f so i found the prob the humity is about 70 to 75 %so i think that is good but i have prob with the temp still i got it cooled down some but i think it is still a lil high it is around 77f i put a fan on the top to suck some of the hot air out but i dont want to keep it there because it will pull the humity out to and cause more stress on the female that is a morning tempp of 77 so as the day goes on it will get hotter any ideas on how to get it cooler without flooding her out or what should i do i know i have come to the right place for some help maythe wrong area but the right site

 

[CBPanther]

Dont try to make the chameleons living space visually appealing. Make it what the chameleon NEEDS, for example: I know that substrate and maybe even a cage that has 3 closed sides can look cool, but that isnt what is important. Your chameleons health is important. Screen cages with atleast 3 open sides are whats most important.

 

[justjumpit621]

well i am new to this site and new to chams but i just bought 2 pymgy chams at the san deigo reptile show i thought everything was good i misted them yesterday and left for about 3 hours to go watch a movie to come home and check on them to find my male had passed so i started doing the check of what went wrong well my temp gauge was off i thought so i checked it using one of the other reptiles temp gauge the temp was almost 90f so i found the prob the humity is about 70 to 75 %so i think that is good but i have prob with the temp still i got it cooled down some but i think it is still a lil high it is around 77f i put a fan on the top to suck some of the hot air out but i dont want to keep it there because it will pull the humity out to and cause more stress on the female that is a morning tempp of 77 so as the day goes on it will get hotter any ideas on how to get it cooler without flooding her out or what should i do i know i have come to the right place for some help maythe wrong area but the right site

Use a lower wattage bulb. Use a regular house bulb too, maybe a 45w?