My New Yemen Chameleon (beginner sorry!)

[zfcmike1986]

Ok. well alvin the chameleon has settled in very nicely to his new viv and seems very very happy with his new home, i tried to phone my local reptile shop today (cold blooded Rainham Essex) to ask a few questions but have so far been unsuccessful.

I fed him earlier this morning (about 7 crickets, dusted with vitamins and fed with gutload? yesterday) i saw him successfully eat 2 crickets but the rest jumped to the bottom of the tank, he does not seem like he wants to go down low, although maybe he is still settling in. Should i remove these crickets tonight if they have not been eaten yet?

If anyone please has any hits or tips i would be very grateful to know.

Cheers,


Michael

 

[lucky]

dont leave too many crickets in the cage as they will chew on your lizard while he sleeps. also you could just use a deep sourcream tub or something similar and cup feed. the tub will be tall enough to contain the bugs.

 

[zfcmike1986]

another silly question, how the hell do i get the uneatten crickets out? they just seem to jump everywhere lol

Mike

 

[pssh]

Gotta chase em. When you dust, you need calcium powder w/o d3 more than a vitamin supplement.

 

[jannb]

Congrats on your new chameleon and welcome to the Chameleon Forums. Below is a great link to help you get started with your new veiled. http://raisingkittytheveiledchamele...-max=2008-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=11

 

[Pumpkinface]

my rule with excess crickets, if you can't catch them, CRUSH THEM!!! actually thats more because i'm clumsy and crush the crickets i try and catch ):

 

[warpdrive]

I personaly use a mini scooper that comes with most powdered iced tea mix.
I use it both to catch small crickets and to hand feed smaller then I feel like holding in my fingers.

Harry

 

[panthercham]

Put a small piece of fruit in the bottom on the cage. The crickets will go down to it to eat and then just catch them with a carboard tube (like the ones you get in the middle of papertowels) and then shake them back into their container.

The benefit of the fruit is that if any are hiding or missed then they will usually eat this instead of a sleeping cham.

 

[bradley]

hey im brad and i bought my male veiled from cold blooded its a great shop. i cup feed my male as he has a heavely planted cage so if he dont eat then they stay in the cup and i dont take them out cold blooded dont open till 11 each day have u been to thereptile reserve its awsome also go in to my profile and look at my pics and u will see how ur on will turn out as our chams may be related although coldbloodd breeds from 3 groups

 

[kinyonga]

Welcome to the world of chameleons!

Here's the short course on keeping them...
Appropriate temperatures allow for good digestion which plays an indirect part in nutrition absorption. You can use a regular incandescent household bulb in a dome hood for heat/basking. The wattage used is determined by the temperature produced in the basking area and cage.

Exposure to UVB allows the chameleon to produce d3 which allows it to use the calcium in its system. The UVB can come from direct sunlight or from a UVB light. The most often recommended light is the long linear fluorescent tube Repti-sun 5.0. Some lights can be dangerous for your chameleon so be careful that you chose a good one. The UVB either from the light or sun should not pass through glass or plastic.

Many of the feeder insects have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorus so its important to dust the insects before you feed them to the chameleon with a phos.-free calcium powder at most feedings.

I also dust twice a month lightly with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder. D3 from supplements can build up in the system, so don't overdo it.

I dust twice a month with a vitamin powder that has a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A. Vitamin A from beta carotene will not build up in the system like prEformed sources can. However, there is controversy as to whether all/any chameleons can convert the beta carotene so some people give a little bit of prEformed once in a while. Excess vitamin A can interfere with the D3 and push the chameleon towards MBD...so be very careful with it.

Gutloading/feeding your insects a nutritious diet is important too. You can gutload/feed crickets, superworms, roaches with a wide assortment of greens (dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, zucchini, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, etc.).

Watering can be done with a mister and a dripper...but I don't start using a dripper until the chameleon is several months old.

Calcium, phos., D3 and vitamin A are all important players in bone health and play parts in other systems too and they need to be in balance. To attain a balance you need to look at the supplements, what you feed the chameleon and what you feed the insects.

Here are some sites that you might like to look at...
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
http://adcham.com/
http://web.archive.org/web/20060502...rnals.com/vet/index.php?show=5.Vitamin.A.html
http://chameleonnews.com/?page=article&id=102
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/

Good luck!

 

[zfcmike1986]

thank you all very much for your help, managed to get all the uneaten crickets out last night eventually lol! Alvin seemed to spend pretty much all night up the vine at the back of the tank last night. Question about spraying, when i spray the leaves on the plants should i spray him too? he doesnt seem to mind it too much he i get him wet, should i avoid it or try to spray him?

Sorry about all the questions but i just want to make sure we give him a good start in life.

Michael

PS also we are going to try a washed out sour cream pot tuck inbetween 2 sticks in the tank for feeding today to see how that works.