Need some c&c on my setup....pics and also a few questions

[adam]

Just got this setup together in the past few days for my Veiled juve male that will be here tomorrow from FLChams.

Setup consists of:

roughly 20x20x42 screen cage
umbrella plant
two fake leaf assortments
lots of branches (properly dried and cleaned)
basking lamp
uvb 5.0 18" tube light
18" plant and aquarium tube light
dripper system

disregard the thermo and hygro readings....havent misted yet and need to get a higher wattage bulb.

im picking up some crickets and calcium w/o d3, i already have a multivitamin and calcium w/ d3

some questions i have are:

is there anything special i need to do when he gets here? should i feed him right away? wait till the evening? i know i need to give him time to adjust and adapt to his new cage.

how often should i water my umbrella tree? i mist multiple times a day, but im sure it needs watered also....

i know that until my guy is fully matured i should feed him daily. how many crickets should i give him?

should i leave my dripper going 24/7?

thats all i can think of now. what do you guys think?

 

[Ryan Jarosek]

is there anything special i need to do when he gets here? should i feed him right away? wait till the evening? i know i need to give him time to adjust and adapt to his new cage.

how often should i water my umbrella tree? i mist multiple times a day, but im sure it needs watered also....

i know that until my guy is fully matured i should feed him daily. how many crickets should i give him?

should i leave my dripper going 24/7?

thats all i can think of now. what do you guys think?

Very good job on the cage. Looks great.

Water the umbrella plant when it looks dry.

10-15 crickets a day. No bigger than fit between his eyes.

Only have the dripper on during the day.

Again, nice work. !

Oh yeah, when he gets there , there are two things you have to do. #1 post a pic #2 enjoy. Good choice with FL Chams!

 

[Nicodemayo]

Adam, your cage looks fantastic. Looks like you really did your research! Once you receive your new cham, take him out of the box and put him in his cage right away, then give him a good misting with warm water. He'll probably be thirsty, and you can offer him food right away, but don't offer but a few crickets on the first day. He might not eat right away. It could take a few days for him to really start eating like veileds know how. I would offer him 8 or so crickets a day, make sure they are an appropriate size for his mouth. After you feed and mist, let him be for a few days. Mist him and feed him as usual, but its always best to let them settle in for a few days. I tell people to wait about 5 days until they attempt any handling. As far as watering goes, I would just water when the topsoil of the plant feels dry. To much water will cause them to drop leaves or droop. You can also aim the dripper into the plant so any extra water will go into the scheffelera. I would just keep the dripper on during the day, and shut it off at night. Chams are deep sleepers, and wont wake up to seek water. Make sure his cage is completely dry before you shut off the lights to prevent the possibility of respiratory infections. Great job and happy keeping!

 

[adam]

wow thanks for the quick replies

 

[nick barta]

Best Newbie setup yet!!
Where will the excess water drain into?

Nick

 

[draetish]

I like your set up. My only advice right now is to make sure you watch his poop. This tells alot about chams when you are starting out. It should be brown with white urates. If you start to see a lot of orange in his urate, he may be dehydrated. Don't be alarmed if he doesn't poop everyday, but be worried if he is eating a lot and not pooping. Also make sure you check his eyes for any signs of them sinking in, this is a sign of dehydration. Other than that, google everything you can about his kind and keep learning everyday.

 

[lucky]

looks really great. good job. i like the branches! what kind you using?

 

[adam]

i got the branches and cage from a lady that owns a floral shop so i have no idea what kind of branches they are. her veiled died a while back and she was getting rid of all her supplies. this isnt my first chameleon though, i raised a juve male veiled when i was in highschool until it was about 4 or 5, but it got a terrible eye infection and was too stubborn and aggresive to let me properly apply the medicine the vet gave me and it died shortly after. im hoping my new guy will be a little more tolerant of me.

 

[Luckys Gurl]

The set up looks great! The only other suggestion I can make is that you may want to cover up the loose soil of your umbrella plant. A paper towel tucks in nicely around the base. Our cham ate a piece of bark (right in front of me!) one day. We did manage to remove it from his mouth before he swallowed it but…. lesson learned! Congrats on your new baby.

 

[beeze]

Looks great! Did did a really nice job.

 

[jake01]

Well done on the enclosure. He'll definetly have no trouble getting around .

 

[adam]

good input on the plant soil, ill check that out

 

[Puppy]

The set up looks great! The only other suggestion I can make is that you may want to cover up the loose soil of your umbrella plant. A paper towel tucks in nicely around the base. Our cham ate a piece of bark (right in front of me!) one day. We did manage to remove it from his mouth before he swallowed it but…. lesson learned! Congrats on your new baby.

OMG! pooor lucky, how did you get it out so fast?

 

[adam]

well he came this morning at about 10:15. ordered him from flchams yesterday. seems that hes getting settled in pretty well. he was more than eager to eat some crickets and immediately head towards his schefflera and took 3-4 bites of a couple leaves.

a question i have though is that when his basking spot is dry its about 100 degrees and when i mist it goes to about 90-91. is this a good basking temp?

also, after a heavy misting im only getting the humidity to about 65% max, and after it fully dries out it goes all the way down to around 20-25%. is there a way to get the ambient humidity up so when i mist it goes up even more? im thinking that if i at least let my dripper go at a quicker rate 24/7 it might bump the humidity up some....







o and of course.....some pics

and heres some a pic of whats left of his desert

 

[adam]

after reading more i put a lower watt bulb in and am keeping his basking spot at low to mid 80s until hes matured a bit more.

im still working on getting the humidity up though. thinking about adding another schefflera

 

[pssh]

A humidifier works well, but a lot of members just mist 5 times a day for at least 5 minutes when they live in dry areas. Another thing that might help a little is if you tie a shower curtain on two sides of the cage so that there are less areas for the water to escape from.

 

[Ryan Jarosek]

after reading more i put a lower watt bulb in and am keeping his basking spot at low to mid 80s until hes matured a bit more.

im still working on getting the humidity up though. thinking about adding another schefflera

A humidifier works well, but a lot of members just mist 5 times a day for at least 5 minutes when they live in dry areas. Another thing that might help a little is if you tie a shower curtain on two sides of the cage so that there are less areas for the water to escape from.

Plants are my number 1 recommendation to raise humidity. Kara's recommendations are awesome as well. I do the shower curtain thing on some of my montain species. Works Great!

 

[adam]

i think im going to add another schefflera and my mom told me she has a spare humidafier, so ill do that too. if it still remains low, i might add a pothos. i just dont want his cage being crammed with plants...

 

[pssh]

Make sure the clean the humidifier often! They can get gross and bacteria-ey, which is bad...

 

[adam]

good point, will make sure to keep it clean.