NEED HELP! About to upgrade baby chameleon to new terrarium, need tips!!!!

[CeeMesha]

Hi all!!

I am BRAND new to reptile care, and realize that a chameleon is probably not the best species to start with... HOWEVER I recently rescued an 6-8 month old male veiled chameleon from a pet store that was going to throw him into the garbage because his tail was bitten off and he therefor was "defective". SO I took him home, determined to give him all the love and care he needs to thrive and be happy.

He is very small, I assume to due to being underfed, so I currently have him in a ten gallon aquarium with a couple of fake plants and vines, with basking and UVB lights, and I have been manually misting two - three times a day, and keep a close eye on humidity and temp. I am feeding him a mix of gut loaded crickets and different types of worms, including wax worms, butter worms and super worms (I dust all in a calcium powder). I try to change it up, but am open to feeding suggestions if you have any, and suggestions about lighting misting etc. (sorry if this isn't the right place to mention this type of thing, I'm mostly looking for help with terrarium set up but this is part of my spiel).

ANYWHO, I recently bought a 36” x 18” x 36” terrarium for him and would like to put real plants in with him as opposed to fake plants. I have a ficus, a dracaena, and baby's tears (because he doesn't have a tail he sometimes has problems with climbing, so I thought this might be good to give him some cushion if he falls). I would LIKE to plant the terrarium, but a lot of what I see has the plants inside the cham's enclosures planted in pots. What is better? What are the pros and cons of each? Can anyone tell me the best way to PLANT the terrarium itself, and how do I maintain the enclosure/ keep it clean when it is planted with soil. I do have the clay balls to line the bottom of the terrarium for drainage, and I have an organic soil mix to plant with. Any and all tips are appreciated. If there is any more information I can provide ask away and I'll get back as soon as I can. Thanks in advance!!!

-Cee

 

[sharp229]

Welcome to the forums! I am glad you were able to rescue your chameleon.

Could you post pictures of him and his enclosure and fill out the help form? This will allow people to better help you and find any potential issues.

To answer your questions, a planted enclosure can be done but the maintenance is much higher. So it depends on what your goals are, whether you want something that provides a good environment with the minimum maintenance, or something that looks more natural with higher maintenance.

I actually had my veiled in the same Exo-Terra 36x18x36 terrarium until just recently. It was heavily planted and I seeded the soil with springtails to naturally clean up mold and bacteria. I also had a fan on one side of the top to increase ventilation, although I know people have also used this terrarium without added ventilation.

The main difficulties are getting the right combination of misting so your chameleon will not be thirsty while also not flooding the terrarium. I was able to get this to work for the most part although it can be a challenge at times.

I finally ended up changing him to a screen cage with potted plants because it was becoming too difficult to find his droppings in all the foliage, and moving stuff around was very difficult without disrupting plants or branches. This is not to say it couldn't be done, I just didn't have the time for it since I have other chameleons in screen cages that were much lower maintenance.

If you want to see a really good example of a planted enclosure, see this thread (it is much better than what I had ) :
https://www.chameleonforums.com/enclosure-wall-130279/

Here is a good article about glass terrariums for chameleons:
http://www.chameleonnews.com/10JulAndersonGlass.html

If you do want a lot of plants, you will need a lot of powerful 6500k fluorescent lamps in addition to UVB lamps for your chameleon.

 

[CeeMesha]

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon- 6 to 8 month old male veiled chameleon. His name is Zant/Xant (debating on how I want to spell it).
Handling- Three to five times a week. He usually crawls up my arm when I put my hand in the tank, but sometimes he doesn’t feel like it, so when he doesn’t show an interest I leave him be.
Feeding- Alternating crickets, butter worms, wax worms and super worms
Supplements- Currently dusting food with calcium with D3 powder. Chameleon does NOT have access to natural sun light ATM.
Watering- Spraying water manually 2-3 times a day depending on humidity.
Fecal Description- Brown in colour with white urate.
History- Recently rescued from an un-reputable pet store that was going to throw him away because a large part of his tail had been bitten off. I don’t know for sure, but he seems to be very small for an 8 month old veiled chameleon, I believe they were not feeding him properly. He has yet to have any vet work done, but there is not any indication based on my research to suggest that he requires a vets attention. I am in the process of researching herp vets in my area.

Cage Info:
Cage Type: CURRENTLY he is in a ten gallon fish tank with a wire mesh top. I am planning on moving him to a 36” x 18” x 36” glass exo-terra terrarium ASAP.
Lighting- basking bulb and UVB blub, not sure on
Temperature- 80-86 degrees F during the day, usually about 74-76 degrees F overnight
Humidity- stays between 75% and 85%
Plants- CURRENTLY all fake made for reptiles plants and vines. I do have a ficus, baby’s tears, a dracaena, and some wooden sticks that will be his primary vegetation once he is moved into the bigger tank.
Placement- (within the house?) His tank is and will continue to be located in my office against the wall opposite the window. Very little foot traffic other than me. The top of the terrarium reaches about 5 ½ feet high.
Location- Ontario, Canada

NOTES ABOUT THE ABOVE INFORMATION:
I have based the supplements I have been giving based on research and a friends methods for caring for his Chameleon. I am willing to invest in an automatic mister, but so far manual misting has been working fine for me. Open to suggestions on both these issues.

I have gone back and forth on the mesh enclosure vs. glass enclosure and I am aware of the benefits and cons of both. I have settled on the glass enclosure because I believe it best fits where I live, especially since we are coming into winter. This being said, I am opening to hearing from people regarding enclosure type, and if it ends up being better for him that I get a mesh enclosure, I will do so, but my focus right now isn’t so much on the type of enclosure, it is more important to me right now, to determine how to plant said enclosure properly so Zant/Xant is safe, healthy and happy.

ALSO, I know you asked for pics, but I don't have any where I am at the moment, I will post some when I return home.

 

[sharp229]

Based on the info provided, the main things I would change is to raise the basking temp to 90-95F and keep ambient temps in the 75-80 range, and dust with PLAIN calcium (NO D3) every feeding, calcium with D3 twice a month, and multivitamin twice a month. Also, do you turn all the lights out at night? It should be completely dark.

If set up properly either glass or mesh can work, glass just tends to be trickier because drainage and ventilation. If you end up changing your mind and going with mesh, you can cover three sides with plastic to increase temps/humidity.

 

[RyU]

I recently rescued an 6-8 month old male veiled chameleon from a pet store that was going to throw him into the garbage because his tail was bitten off and he therefor was "defective".

I would like to know the name of the pet store, as I'm from Ontario too, and it is quite disturbing to hear.

 

[Lovereps]

Welcome to the forum!

How cruel that the owners of that petshop would discard a live animal like trash.

Your new cham is certainly very fortunate that you came along when you did.

It's not unreasonable to think that a newcomer to reptiles can be a great chamkeeper.
The most important things to keep in mind is that chams have very specific needs and people typically run into problems by failing to provide all of the things their cham needs.
Chams will hide all signs of illness until they are very sick, so it is wise to get to know what is normal for your cham and to find a good vet with cham experience before you need one.
Your cham may already need a vet for his tail injury, so an infection doesn't set in and overwhelm him.
You can apply some dilute povidone iodine to the wound or dilute Hibiclens ( also sold as chlorhexidine gluconate).

You are obviously very compassionate and are interested in learning about your cham and what he needs, so I expect that you'll be an excellent chamkeeper.

There is an excellent Resources section of the forum where you will find a huge amount of reliable info that can be difficult to find elsewhere.
On the left side of each resource page are links to more info about things like enclosures, feeding, health, caresheets about specific kinds of chams, etc.
Here's the intro page https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/chameleons/[/QUOTE]