My jacksons chameleon had babies what do I do?!?!?

[ConfusedHornwormGuy]

 

[JacksJill]

The front is enough for venting but UVB won't pass well through the plastic and you need venting at the top to create a chimney effect. Do what you did to the lid at he top side and you will be on to something.

 

[ConfusedHornwormGuy]

The front is enough for venting but UVB won't pass well through the plastic and you need venting at the top to create a chimney effect. Do what you did to the lid at he top side and you will be on to something.

I used a hot needle and poked 4 holes at the top of each container but I don't know if that is enough for them or not, probably not. I also poked 4 holes at the bottom edge so water doesn't pool up at the bottom. How many holes do you think would be enough to vent?

 

[ConfusedHornwormGuy]

I just heated up a fork and poked 8 additional large holes at the top of the container and in the back of the container I poked 4 large holes.

I feel that needle sized holes are too small for any venting. These additional holes should allow for air and water flow. Let me know if you think I should do more.

 

[ConfusedHornwormGuy]

Rearranged the apartment a bit to make more space in general. Humidifier is set up. I'm just doing bursts of humidity for 2 minutes at 6 minute intervals, the tubes are placed high above the cages to just make the air around them humid, I don't want too much water buildup in there.

 

[JacksJill]

It will need to be the size of the top side covered with screen to let the UVB in. The holes are enough for tonight but you will have more work to do on it tomorrow. It should be more like this opening. Then covered in screen.

 

[bruce the cham]

Is it normal for them to go to bed early? They are all dark in color and most have eyes closed. It's 4:30 here. I can't tell if they are dark because they are cold or if they are dark because they are tired or because something is wrong.

the babys are brand new they change colors alot give them time

 

[kinyonga]

@ConfusedHornwormGuy ... IMHO...having the containers placed in a row the way you do in post #45, the bottom of each container is blocking the airflow into the container next to it. Also...you need a big screened area on the side of the container that faces the UVB light to allow the UVB to enter the container.
Look at the photos in post #13 and you'll see what I mean.

 

[ConfusedHornwormGuy]

Put them back in the cage with their ferns for now until I can add more mesh to the top of the container.

 

[ConfusedHornwormGuy]

Question. Do newborn chameleons know how to hunt? Like if I just dump pinhead crickets into the cage and they land all over the plants are they going to find any? What if they don't find any to eat?

Ive heard they eat like 10 or 15 pinhead crickets a day and I've only seen 2 of them eat like 3 or 4...

 

[MissSkittles]

Question. Do newborn chameleons know how to hunt? Like if I just dump pinhead crickets into the cage and they land all over the plants are they going to find any? What if they don't find any to eat?

Ive heard they eat like 10 or 15 pinhead crickets a day and I've only seen 2 of them eat like 3 or 4...

You can place a small piece of banana in the enclosure which should concentrate the fruit flies, making it easier for the babies to find them. They are natural born hunters…it’s instinct.

 

[ConfusedHornwormGuy]

You can place a small piece of banana in the enclosure which should concentrate the fruit flies, making it easier for the babies to find them. They are natural born hunters…it’s instinct.

Still feeding pinhead crickets at the moment I promise I have a culture on the way, and @ItsMike64 was so kind to send me spare excelsior and culture supplies so I can start more cultures of wingless fruitflies using the culture I purchased, but it may be a couple weeks before I can do that. I would love to get lucky and have fruit flies hatch out of a store bought fruit. I don't necessarily even care if they get wings and start flying around my apartment. Do you know of any fruits that you can buy at stores that are a pretty surefire way of getting fruit flies?

 

[ConfusedHornwormGuy]

I was tired of the containers leaning at an angle so I affixed 4 beads (2 on each side) to the bottom of the containers.

I had used alien tape to affix the screen to the front of the containers previously and removed that this morning when I removed all of the babies from the containers and moved them back to the cage.

I'm an idiot, one of them got stuck to the alien tape, thankfully I was able to get it loose with some water and carefully assisting it in getting loose. The reason I mention that is for anyone else who might look through this thread in the future. DO NOT use an adhesive other than hot glue or a glue that can dry with no sticky residue like tape for example. You all probably could have figured that out yourselves but I honestly just didn't think of it, I didn't have a got glue gun yesterday which is why I went with a strong tape instead, just wasn't thinking, thankfully it's okay and still alive, it was just freaking out because it was stuck . Anyway I digress on that point.

So I bought a glue gun today and affixed the screens to the front of the boxes (so I don't make the same dumbass mistake twice, not my intention to cause these babies undue stress or damage)

I also bought a metal shot cup and heated it up using a blowtorch and used it like a hole punch to cut 5 holes on the top of the boxes and affixed screen under the 5 holes.

So the boxes now sit at a 90 degree angle and have the proper venting and adhesive. Currently finishing up the process, all I have left to do is to affix more beads to the bottoms of the containers.

Thank you everyone for the help and advice for the setup. I hope I don't fail these babies again with my lack of experience in raising newborn chameleons.

3 containers with beads vs. 2 containers without.

The beads

 

[ConfusedHornwormGuy]

All done... looks good

 

[JacksJill]

The beads are a good way to address the leaning issue. That is why I attached the pot saucers or cream cheese cups to mine. It also left more room in the cage with the plant pots recessed into the bottom. I like the idea of melting rather than cutting the plastic. It will prevent any accidental cracking that shears could cause.

 

[ConfusedHornwormGuy]

The beads are a good way to address the leaning issue. That is why I attached the pot saucers or cream cheese cups to mine. It also left more room in the cage with the plant pots recessed into the bottom. I like the idea of melting rather than cutting the plastic. It will prevent any accidental cracking that shears could cause.

Thank you again, you're truly amazing.

 

[ConfusedHornwormGuy]

Beautiful momma Little Foot just had a drink. She's so awesome.

 

[ConfusedHornwormGuy]

Wingless fruit fly culture just arrived in surprisingly great condition from Josh's frogs! Going to give them another 1-3 days to hatch and then I'm going to start dividing out the culture to make more.

 

[bruce the cham]

Beautiful momma Little Foot just had a drink. She's so awesome.View attachment 320868

is her head always up like that

 

[ConfusedHornwormGuy]

is her head always up like that

No, she just finished drinking.