My handmade chameleon cage

[oligny]

The chameleon asked me for a bigger cage.. so I built one !

It's my first try making a cage.. the next version would have a taller door (will help with plants); and more spacing between the door and the doorframe. It takes two full day of work to build this... and 60$

I got this chamelon from a reptile show at a low price... It's my first adult Panther chameleon. After a few days I figured out why it was being sold.. it is sick. It has an ill mark under his neck and is very skinny. The guy said it is 1.5 years old and didn't want to breed anymore.

 

[Kansascity]

Lovely job on your cage what kind of plants did you decide on? I also think the keeper just wanted to get rid of the poor guy! Good luck with him and congrats.

 

[mld9373]

Cage

Nice cage,sorry about the sick chameleon.

 

[carol5208]

Nice cage build! Do you have all the necessary lighting and supplements you need for him? His colors look kinda washed out but overall his limbs look good (no mbd) and he looks to be hydrated. Hopefully with proper nutrition and care you can get him on the right track! The spot under his neck....you didn't notice it then when you got him? Can you post some more pics of under his neck. It looks like he could have a little edema(fluid) in his lower neck also, but it could just be the picture.

 

[oligny]

I only got it two weeks ago, it already had this a wound under the neck, and another one that looks like a cut on the right hand.

This morning El-Fato (that's how I named him!) seemingly accepted to pose for us showing his wounds (!):

He has two large Exo-Terra ReptiGlo UVB 10.0 lights during the day. I removed last week the other heat lamp as it is already 28 Celcius inside the aparment. For supplements I use Reptivite from Zoo Med

I also started organic Kelp powder that I give him very lightly every 2 days in case his neck wound is related to Iodine deficiency (just a guess). And I'm giving him source water from northern Quebec in case he has been accumulating a toxic substance from water (there's like a thousand toxic substances detectable in tap water from St-Lawrence river where I live!).

I don't have plants strong enough to hold him. I'm still at the stage of shopping around with a list of safe plants.

 

[Texas Panther Man]

You need 3 supplements. You already have one of the three that you need. Youve already picked up his multi vitamin dust. Give that 1x a month. Then give him calcium with d3 2x a month. Then get some plain calcium without d3. That should be given at every other feeding for an adult his size. The rest of the time dont dust. He's a adult he doesnt need calcium at every feeding. And you dont want to overdo it with the multivit or the d3 both can build up in their system and cause issues. Lightly dust feeders when dusting do not coat them. Remember err on the side of caution dont oversupplement. Real natural sunshine UVB and a good misting/hydration system are your best friends. Make sure you mist him at least 3x a day. And make sure that the cage is dripping wet so he has ample oppurtunity to drink his fill.

 

[FredChameleon]

replace the 10.0 lights with 5.0 lights... 10.0 are for desert lizards like Bearded Dragons

 

[Hoj]

neat cage design, different but i like it

 

[Texas Panther Man]

Went back and looked at his pics again. That spot on his gular area. Is that a raised lump or is it just a dark area of scales? If it is a skin issue I'd get that thing looked at immed by a vet. He'd prob want to take a sample of it and have it tested by a lab to see if its a viral infection or a bacterial issue. I really hope that its just a burn or something. Viral skin infections are a b---- to get rid of and hard to treat.

 

[bigcappa]

Nice job with the cage! Good luck with the cham!

 

[oligny]

That spot on his gular area. Is that a raised lump or is it just a dark area of scales?

It's a dark area on his skin.

BTW thanks for your comments and suggestions everyone!

 

[oligny]

El Fato is still doing good even with the skin disease. He gained a little weight. The vet found no parasites in his stool.

 

[carol5208]

So he has a skin disease? Can you tell us what it is called and what you are treating it with for education purposes? Thank you!!!

 

[Meow Kitty]

that doesnt look like a burn.... did the vet say anything about him or have u not taken him yet?

 

[oligny]

The vet has no idea. I didn't pay for the full exam with biopsy and etc. I just took the parasites test - in which nothing came up.

After a couple of days he refused to take his antibiotics, even if I was putting it with his regular food, whenever he detected the presence he would regurgitate it out of his mouth.

I bought him already sick. In a few days it's going to be (edit: 6 months) he's with me So far he's the most friendly cham I have. He has good energy levels. He's also a big water-drinker.

 

[heartben]

The vet has no idea. I didn't pay for the full exam with biopsy and etc. I just took the parasites test - in which nothing came up.

After a couple of days he refused to take his antibiotics, even if I was putting it with his regular food, whenever he detected the presence he would regurgitate it out of his mouth.

I bought him already sick. In a few days it's going to be a year he's with me So far he's the most friendly cham I have. He has good energy levels. He's also a big water-drinker.

it hasnt been a year if when you posted this you only had him for 2 weeks. i dont know what to say about the skin problem but thats really sad, if he is eating/drinking and acting well thats good, i wish i could help.

 

[oligny]

Ah you are right... I bought him at the last reptile trade show, and the next one is in a few days. It must be a bi-yearly reptile show then - I though it was yearly.

 

[bechsgaard]

lovely cage, you should get a 5.0 UVB but the 10.0 will be fine for a while as long as he has someplace to avoid it. dont use reptivite as a vitamin supplement, the vitamin a is very easy to overdose, i would recommend reptivite which has beta carotene which means they can manage how much vitamin a their body intakes. Get a D3 free vitamin supplement that you dust with daily such as rep cal, and get a calcium with d3 supplement to dust with every 2 weeks, you may want to consider cup feeding, since crickets will be hard to find and can escape out of that screen you used. Screameleons.com has a good cup feeding article. Good plants for him are the dward umbrulla tree, ficus benjimina, hibiscus and pothos. Another thing you need is a spotlight, that creates a basking spot of 90 degrees F. Good luck and welcome to the forum

Edit: you should also think about investing in a misting system, good ones are Mist King and Habba Mist

 

[bechsgaard]

Its good to give sick chameleons more protein, you should probably feed your cham a staple of silk worms with some crickets 60/40% until he starts getting better

 

[Chris Anderson]

dont use reptivite as a vitamin supplement, the vitamin a is very easy to overdose, i would recommend reptivite which has beta carotene which means they can manage how much vitamin a their body intakes.

Bechsgaard,

I'm sure you mean well but why do you insist on making misinformed blanket statements in every one of your posts? Are you aware that there is scientific evidence that F. pardalis may not be able to fully utilize beta-carotene and are known to exhibit vitamin A deficiencies when only provided with beta-carotene and no preformed vitamin A? While vitamin A and other fat soluble vitamins can be overdosed if provided in excess, what is your basis for claiming that it is easy to do so if reasonable amounts of supplements are provided? Please be more careful with the information you post because you've been posting a lot of very questionable information recently!

Chris