New Cham, looking for advice on a few topics
- Thread starter April McGregor
- Start date
April McGregor
Established Member
Snails! I didnt know they could eat those? Are they nutritious for him?
ERKleRose
Chameleon Enthusiast
Extremely!
April McGregor
Established Member
Wow that's good to know!
ERKleRose
Chameleon Enthusiast
Just be careful of their source, i.e. buy them from a reptile shop
April McGregor
Established Member
No that's OK you've been great, the website has nice variety I can order, much better than my local one.
April McGregor
Established Member
Will do, hes got a ways to go yet anyway, can't wait for him to be bigger so I can spoil him with variety. Also don't want him to grow up! Haha
April McGregor
Established Member
Just ordered some Silent brown crickets (micro)
April McGregor
Established Member
*Update*
Pickle is doing great, I only caught him closing his once yesterday, misted him to stop it and he's been back to awake and active.
Also he has pooped! Never thought I'd be so happy and relieved to see some poo There was a tad of orange so I am eagerly awaiting the next one.
Pickle is doing great, I only caught him closing his once yesterday, misted him to stop it and he's been back to awake and active.
Also he has pooped! Never thought I'd be so happy and relieved to see some poo There was a tad of orange so I am eagerly awaiting the next one.
April McGregor
Established Member
April McGregor
Established Member
Thank you for your feedback its much appreciated.
I have a lower wattage bulb and a themometer gun coming as I don't trust the temps the analog is giving me and I'll see how I go from there. I do also have his highest basking spot about 12" away from the lamp so it usually doesn't get higher than 30-32°C, hopefully the lower wattage bulb will lower that.
I am going to order another live plant for the middle area so it's more covered for him and possibly more fake ones as well if you think he needs it?
Goose502
Chameleon Enthusiast
This is absolutely wrong. There is no reason to ever use an enclosure that is smaller than the recommended size for an adult. Glass enclosures work well, as long as there is a vent near the bottom of the cage. I don’t see one in the pictures, unless there is, your enclosure can cause a respiratory infection. Anytime a chameleon closes their eyes during the day, that is a huge red flag. They are on the bottom of the food chain, they should always be alert and looking around during the day. I recommend seeing a good exotic vet immediately. More live foliage is always a good idea, it should be difficult for you to find him when you first look in. This will help hold humidity, create different temperature/humidity pockets, and make him feel much safer when giant humans try to look at him.
Almost always, but I get what you mean
. I agree though about the larger enclosures. You just need to find the balance. There doesn't need to be a constant temperature, just needs to be in the optimal range most of the time. More plants could also help, as stated, but that would generally aid with humidity and places to get out of the light.
Brodybreaux25
Chameleon Enthusiast
I’m not trying to scare you, I just want you to understand what I think your up against here.
Your reptile shop has set you up for failure but that doesn’t mean it’s going to happen.
Your Cham was WAY too young to be sold, any breeder/shop selling them at younger than 3 months isn’t doing you or your Cham right.
Almost all hatchling chams are fed a diet of almost exclusively fruit flies and pin head crickets. Fruit flies do not cause constapation, I think they were confusing them with BSFL. I’ve herd keepers mention this before but never experienced it myself.
In my experience healthy young chams do not sleep during the day, period. They are extremely fragile at 5 weeks which is why they should never be sold at this age. The simple interruption of their daily routine/schedule caused by being re-homed is enough to start them in a downward spiral. On top of that it is not unheard of for a 5week old Cham to just suddenly die for no apparent reason. Him sleeping during the day is a sign that that spiral has begun.
Glad to hear he pooped and only slept once during the day yesterday, hope this trend continues. But if it doesn’t your going to be in a tough spot. Even if you brought him to an exotic vet with Cham experience I doubt they would be able to do anything for him because he is so small and fragile.
You are going to have to be 100% on top of your game to get him to adulthood, I’m talking about flawless husbandry here. Keep doing what your doing, ask lots of questions on anything you are not 100% sure on, and keep us posted daily even if nothing changes.
You have an uphill battle ahead of you but it can be done, we are here for you day or night. Good luck!
Your reptile shop has set you up for failure but that doesn’t mean it’s going to happen.
Your Cham was WAY too young to be sold, any breeder/shop selling them at younger than 3 months isn’t doing you or your Cham right.
Almost all hatchling chams are fed a diet of almost exclusively fruit flies and pin head crickets. Fruit flies do not cause constapation, I think they were confusing them with BSFL. I’ve herd keepers mention this before but never experienced it myself.
In my experience healthy young chams do not sleep during the day, period. They are extremely fragile at 5 weeks which is why they should never be sold at this age. The simple interruption of their daily routine/schedule caused by being re-homed is enough to start them in a downward spiral. On top of that it is not unheard of for a 5week old Cham to just suddenly die for no apparent reason. Him sleeping during the day is a sign that that spiral has begun.
Glad to hear he pooped and only slept once during the day yesterday, hope this trend continues. But if it doesn’t your going to be in a tough spot. Even if you brought him to an exotic vet with Cham experience I doubt they would be able to do anything for him because he is so small and fragile.
You are going to have to be 100% on top of your game to get him to adulthood, I’m talking about flawless husbandry here. Keep doing what your doing, ask lots of questions on anything you are not 100% sure on, and keep us posted daily even if nothing changes.
You have an uphill battle ahead of you but it can be done, we are here for you day or night. Good luck!
April McGregor
Established Member
Thanks for the advice!
I do have 2 ventilation holes on the bottom back panel and 2 on the top and also the roof of the viv is screen. Would you advise this is enough ventilation?
He has not closed his eyes once today and is back to being very active so I'll keep an eye him but he seems fine now.
April McGregor
Established Member
Thank you so much for your help, as mentioned in my previous response he seems to doing fine today, hopefully this continues!
Would you suggest just keeping him on fruit flies for now then? As I have just got my micro silent brown crickets that are currently gutloading?
Brodybreaux25
Chameleon Enthusiast
Fruit flies and micro crickets are fine. Again, not trying to scare you, hopefully he keeps improving!
April McGregor
Established Member
No of course, I understand, you've been a great help! I was really worried getting him so small but he does seem to be quite Hardy and the tiny horrible cage he had him in made me think he might be better off with me, I don't think they ever watered him, just had a water bowlin there.
Im going to do the best I can for him and with the help of the forums hopefully he'll be ok
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