New baby veiled chameleon!

[ju5t1n]

So yesterday i just got my 1st veiled chameleon! the reptile store i got him from just had calcium with d3. I was wondering if i needed to go online and get just plain calcium. the guy at the reptile store said calcium with d3 every other feeding and multi vitamins once a week.
Oh and i made my cage too and it has a screened mesh but the crickets can fit threw the holes in it what's another way to feed them?

Here's a pic of the little guy Yoshi!!!!!! (3months YOUNG)

 

[carol5208]

yes you can cup feed him. Get a somewhat shallow container that is not see through(so you cham does not shoot at the crickets from the outside) and put your crikcets in there. You can try and angle it so they can't jump out or you can pull off their back legs (ewww) As far as the supplementing, do not give that much d3. Get yourself a plain calcium with no d3 and use that to dust your feeders at every feeding. The calcium with d3 use a couple of times a month and the multivitamin as well. you can get the cal without d3 on line at lll Reptile. I use Sticky Tongue Farms Minerall. It is a phosphorus free calcium with no d3. Make sure it is the outdoor one, not the indoor! The indoor formula contains the d3. Seeing that you got your cham from a petshop, unforunately they are not always well educated and sell the incorrect lighting. He was wrong on the supplements. Please tell us what kind of lightting you are using. You should have a uvb light, preferably a tube, not the compact kind and a basking bulb. Your cage temps should be in the low to mid 70's and you basking area around 80 degrees. Do you know about misting your cage and gutloading your feeders?

 

[ju5t1n]

Its a florescent tube 15W Exo Terra Repti Glo 18" 10.0 UVB light with a 100 watt black light bulb spot light lamp. right under the heat lamp its about 90 degrees.
I can't remember the calcium with d3 and multi vitamin brand names. (im not home right now)
And i mist that thing pretty well from 7am-12 i did sprayed it like 3 times all over the cage and i will do few more when i get home today.
Yeah i tried to gut load the crickets before feeding him i only had broccoli in the refrigerator and ice burg lettuces but i heard lettuces doesn't to anything.

and thank you carol5208 I've seen a lot of your post and you know your chameleons

 

[jannb]

Welcome to the chameleon forums. Congrats on your new baby. He/she is such a little cutie! I have three veileds Luie, Camille and their baby Elly. Veileds are such a pleasure to keep. Below I'm attaching my blog for new keepers. I hope you will find it helpful.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...-keepers-young-veiled-panther-chameleons.html

 

[Ekaj13]

You should get rid of the black light. I'm not familiar with that UVB bulb, but 10.0 is too high generally. Use a 5.0 tube bulb and a regular lightbulb for basking.

 

[ju5t1n]

Wow thanks jannb most of that stuff I knew from research but that was an awesome summary refresher
bookmarked!!!!

 

[ju5t1n]

ok just an update.
I put a feeding cup in, it works great! But it was clear so i just put masking tape all over it.
The Calcium with no d3 is ordered and hopefully will arrive soon.
The Light is a "Zilla Night Black Heat incandescent spot."
Here's a picture of exactly what it is.

I keep it on 24hours under it is about 90 degrees and when He sleeps he finds a little hiding spot under the leaves or on the vines.
And UVB light is "Exo Terra Repti Glo" 10.0 UVB 15W 18". here's the UVB light.

 

[Echoezra]

I would recommend taking out that taped cup - I remember reading other posts about bad stuff with duct tape getting stuck to the chams and it being awful. No tape in or on cages, I learned from that.
That black bulb - no. You don't want to have any colour light bulb on 24 hours. They need a temperature drop at night. If it gets crazy cold in your house and you have to have a nigt heat source, you want to go with a ceramic heat emitter or something, not a colour bulb.
You want their daylight heat bulb to have light so they know that's where to go to warm up. A lot of people just use a normal house light bulb for this. If you use a reptile bulb, make it a basking one, but you dont need it very strong wattage.
As for the UVB, that one you picture is actually designed more for desert species like beardies, usually chameleons go for a 5.0, and the preferred brand is repti sun not reptiglo, better output ratios and are effective longer supposedly. Do not get a compact spiral kind though, make it the tube.

 

[Apl3jck]

I made my own cage too (and boy was that a project) how big did you make it? I made mine 4ft by 3ft by 2 ft in hopes of giving him lots of room to roam... he mostly sits near the top... time well spent eh? but at least he has the option to go where he wants.

 

[ju5t1n]

Aw dang that dude at the pet store sounded like he knew what he was talking about...
Oh well... I just changed the feeding cup to a "beer pong cup" cut in half with hot glue around the edges. I do have the ceramic heat spot lamp fixture. Ill stick the heat lamp on a timer and get a different bulb soon. I did notice him going towards the uvb light to heat up I'm guessing.
Do you think the 10.0 uvb light is ok for now?
Yeah busted the cage out in a week I'm super stoked on how it came out ill post a few pictures when I get on the computer. On my phone right now lol

 

[Silkyslim]

You can save yourself some money and just use regular household incandescent light bulbs. They are waaayy cheaper because they don't have all those pretty reptiles on the package. Most will recommend a bulb between 40-60W. That should be enough to get a basking spot as hot as it will need be. I use a 40W bulb that sits about 8" from the basking spot and it never gets above 86.

Some of those big wattage bulbs can really heat those cages up, and since your guy is so young he doesn't need all that heat; he is learning to thermo-regulate his body.

The 10.0 is kind of a mixed call. I use a 10.0 in my free range but the lamp is on average 1.5 feet away from my cham. With a bulb that strong in a cage you are going to be running the risk of the cham getting burnt so you will want to make sure the cham isn't able to get too close to the light.

It's like going out to the beach on a sunny day but say...the 10.0 is like being on the beach in south Florida, while a 5.0 might be like being in North Carolina. The analogy isn't perfect but hopefully you can get the idea as the intensity of the sunlight at those beaches is going to vary.

Edit: Ditch the lighting at night, chams need darkness to sleep and that black light will interrupt their sleep pattern. Also having a temp drop at night is a good thing too. If your house dips down below 60 you might want supplemental heating but it really isn't necessary until then.

 

[bradley]

I would keep the 10.0 for a veiled. Aslong as there is a place for the cham to escape the light then it will be fine!

 

[ju5t1n]

I have an adjuster on the heat lamp i just turned it down for now. I'm on my way to get a new house hold bulb for it.

The cage was built in a week about 2 hours a day till Saturday-Sunday all day. Most of the time was spent running to the hardware stores lol
Here's some pictures of the cage.
the last picture was on a dresser i didn't want my chameleon to get to high from the spray paint on the stand. lol
also theirs now vines wrapped around the bottom of the cage where the Plexiglas is just in case he fell he can climb back up.
I'm pretty stoked on how it came out but wish i used a smaller screen/mesh so I don't have to use a feeder cup :/

 

[PrettyInInk87]

Aw dang that dude at the pet store sounded like he knew what he was talking about...
Oh well... I just changed the feeding cup to a "beer pong cup" cut in half with hot glue around the edges. I do have the ceramic heat spot lamp fixture. Ill stick the heat lamp on a timer and get a different bulb soon. I did notice him going towards the uvb light to heat up I'm guessing.
Do you think the 10.0 uvb light is ok for now?
Yeah busted the cage out in a week I'm super stoked on how it came out ill post a few pictures when I get on the computer. On my phone right now lol

Oh yeah, they will do that. Their job is to sell their supplies and sound like they know everything. I got suckered into spending 100 dollars full of the wrong stuff and in the end took most of the stuff back and saved 50 dollars... I was able to purchase some extras for the cage with that.

 

[ju5t1n]

BOOOOOOOOOOOOO lol i duno I figuared he knew what he was doing cause he said he did breeding chameleons Veiled and Panthers =/. but Bleh I know better now.

 

[ju5t1n]

I got rid of the black light and put a 60W bulb in the heat lamp I noticed a big difference in the morning. As soon as he woke up he went to the basking spot under the light. Before he was kinda wondering around looking for heat or sit by the window or UV light.