New Chameleon, Wondering if setup is ok

[LizardBoy333]

I got a new chameleon and I'm wondering if his set up is acceptable for him! If there is anything I should change or any tips please let me know.

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Around 1 year old, veiled chameleon, male. Had him about 2 weeks as of writing this.
Handling - I handle him about every day for only a few minutes. I only hold him if he climbs onto me wanting to be held. Some days he doesn't want to be held but he has been coming out at least once every day so far. I will also take him outside for some sun about every day (if he comes out) for a few minutes.
Feeding - 5-6 crickets every other day. Crickets get Repashy Bug Burger.
Supplements - Repticalcium without d3 dusted lightly onto crickets. Repticalcium with d3 once a week. (Has not been eating any of the dusted crickets)
Watering - I mist his enclosure several times a day with a spray bottle. He also has a small water bowl which I HAVE seen him drink out of.
Fecal Description - Color of urates are yellow and white. Fecal matter is a darker brown color. It holds together but seems to have a bit of water to it.
History - Came from other owners who had him since he was small, they never gave him any supplements. Is in a house with a dog but the dog does not bother him and does not care about him. He doesn't seem afraid of the dog at all but I keep him away from the dog when I handle him.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Full screened enclosure with exception of the floor of the cage. Height is about 2 feet with width and depth of 1 foot. It has some small holes in it.
Lighting - T5 linear UVB 7% high output. 60 watt bulb in a small deep dish lamp. Lights on at 8am and lights off at 8pm, lights are on a timer. His enclosure also gets covered with a blanket at night.
Temperature - Range should be 72-80 F. Lowest overnight temp probably 68-69 F. I have a thermometer hung in his enclosure.
Humidity - Humidity is usually around 40-60%. I use the misting spray bottle to keep humidity. The thermometer I have is also a humidity gauge.
Plants - He has two pothos plants and one fern. He does take small bites of these occasionally.
Placement - Cage is near a wall away from windows, vents, and is not in a high traffic area. The top of the cage is about 5ft above the ground.
Location - Central Texas.

Current Concerns - Could be too cold since he always stays by the heat lamp, or does he just like that spot? Also will not eat dusted crickets, they just end up dead in the cage. Finishes off crickets pretty quickly, should I be feeding him more? Also will not eat anything other than crickets, I tried superworms and he ignores them.

 

[elizaann2]

Hello and welcome! Can you post some pictures?

 

[Flick boy]

Hi and welcome to the forum. Hi so you could try adding different feeders to give variety I.e ,locusts, black soldier fly larve, dubia roaches. How old is your t5ho? Is it a shade dweller given its 7%. How are measuring temps and humidity? Is it 80f at basking this is to low needs to be around 89 f . You need to add a multivitamin +d3 , and drop the calcium withd3( you need a plain calcium no phosphorus nod3 which you will give/ every feed then dust with repti vite +d3 twice a month lrts say the 15th and the 30th do you have pictures of your current supplements, your enclosure including lights and your chameleon. Thanks @LizardBoy333

 

[LizardBoy333]

Hi and welcome to the forum. Hi so you could try adding different feeders to give variety I.e ,locusts, black soldier fly larve, dubia roaches. How old is your t5ho? Is it a shade dweller given its 7%. How are measuring temps and humidity? Is it 80f at basking this is to low needs to be around 89 f . You need to add a multivitamin +d3 , and drop the calcium withd3( you need a plain calcium no phosphorus nod3 which you will give/ every feed then dust with repti vite +d3 twice a month lrts say the 15th and the 30th do you have pictures of your current supplements, your enclosure including lights and your chameleon. Thanks @LizardBoy333

For upping the temp would I up the wattage? What do you recommend the wattage to be and what multivitamin do you recommend? I will try to find a higher percent for the T5 what is recommended? Also it is very new I bought it when I got the chameleon.

I will add pics of his current setup

I know the thermometer is sitting at the bottom, getting to hanging it up eventually.

 

[Flick boy]

Hi so baby steps, what size is the enclosure exactly? You will need a minimum of 2x2x4, You need to measure temperature at the basking branch where he is at the top ,before changing the basking light, the UVB % doesn't need to be higher it needs to lower like ( the 6% arcadia) the 7% produces more uvb but less light it is more designed for gekos . But your baby is getting to close the closest branch needs to be around 9/ 10 inches away from the uvb and basking light. There isn't enough branches for your guy to climb to make the most of his space, or plants to hide , as I said you will want a calcium no phosphorus nod3 every feed then twice a month repti vite +d3 twice a month. But first things first get a good digital temp probe at the basking area , to get correct temperatures, there are serious changes that need to be made , in order for your baby to be and stay healthy, chameleon academy is a good resource which you should read through for information.

 

[LizardBoy333]

Hi so baby steps, what size is the enclosure exactly? You will need a minimum of 2x2x4, You need to measure temperature at the basking branch where he is at the top ,before changing the basking light, the UVB % doesn't need to be higher it needs to lower like ( the 6% arcadia) the 7% produces more uvb but less light it is more designed for gekos . But your baby is getting to close the closest branch needs to be around 9/ 10 inches away from the uvb and basking light. There isn't enough branches for your guy to climb to make the most of his space, or plants to hide , as I said you will want a calcium no phosphorus nod3 every feed then twice a month repti vite +d3 twice a month. But first things first get a good digital temp probe at the basking area , to get correct temperatures, there are serious changes that need to be made , in order for your baby to be and stay healthy, chameleon academy is a good resource which you should read through for information.

Alright! I will move his basking light and get a better temp gauge. I just set up the branches today but I will get more for him. The UVB is actually more towards the middle and the heat is more towards the back, the branches don't get very close to the UVB. I'd like to put more plants up higher but I don't really know how to do that and make them sturdy for him. I also do plan on getting him a bigger enclosure when I can, plus the current one has holes in it.
Thanks for the help

 

[Gloriawood]

Alright! I will move his basking light and get a better temp gauge. I just set up the branches today but I will get more for him. The UVB is actually more towards the middle and the heat is more towards the back, the branches don't get very close to the UVB. I'd like to put more plants up higher but I don't really know how to do that and make them sturdy for him. I also do plan on getting him a bigger enclosure when I can, plus the current one has holes in it.
Thanks for the help

To attach plants higher, I poked holes in the plastic pots and ran a zip tie trough them. I used the zip ties to attach to branches. You can also flip empty pots upside down to put plants on to raise them up.

 

[Gloriawood]

Alright! I will move his basking light and get a better temp gauge. I just set up the branches today but I will get more for him. The UVB is actually more towards the middle and the heat is more towards the back, the branches don't get very close to the UVB. I'd like to put more plants up higher but I don't really know how to do that and make them sturdy for him. I also do plan on getting him a bigger enclosure when I can, plus the current one has holes in it.
Thanks for the help

Also thought I would mention, I got a 2x2x4 enclosure on chewy.com. When I purchased it a few months ago they had a coupon for $50 off. I don’t remember if it was for new members or orders over a certain amount. I think I ended up paying just over $100 for the enclosure and a bunch of bendable branches (you can always use branches from outside too. Just nothing with sap and wash them off first)

 

[elizaann2]

For upping the temp would I up the wattage? What do you recommend the wattage to be and what multivitamin do you recommend? I will try to find a higher percent for the T5 what is recommended? Also it is very new I bought it when I got the chameleon.

I will add pics of his current setup

I know the thermometer is sitting at the bottom, getting to hanging it up eventually.

One thing I noticed too is the pothos pole in his enclosure can rip out his nails easily. You’ll want to remove that for his safety.

I attach my potted plants by getting corrugated plastic from the hardware store and putting it on 3 sides of my enclosures. Then I poke holes through the pot and the plastic where I want the plant to be and hold it with a zip tie. It seems to hold up well.

I’ve attached a picture of my veileds enclosure to help give you an idea of what you are needing for your little guy. You need loads of branches and even more plant coverage. My rule of thumb is if I can walk in and easily spot my chameleon (unless she is on the top basking branch), there isn’t enough plant coverage.

 

[LizardBoy333]

Thank you everyone for the tips! I will be getting him some more branches and smaller plants to try and hang up. Although I'm not sure how much I'm going to do right now because I do want to get him a bigger cage soon. The one he has now is 2ft tall and 1ft deep and wide. When I get him a bigger cage would a double bulb heat lamp be better for him? Or would just a bigger lamp dish be better? Right now the small one is a good size for the cage he has now. I haven't been able to fix the UVB as the pet store near me didn't have bulbs for the size of holder I have so I'll have to order it.

How would you recommend getting branches from outside and sterilizing them? I've seen people say to bleach them or bake them. I really don't want to use any chemicals on the branches so other suggestions or more detail on baking would be amazing.

Updates:
I moved his heat lamp and upped it to a 75 watt bulb. I got a temperature gun thing and it gets to about 85-88 in his basking area now, the floor of the cage is about 70. He can't get close to it so it won't hurt him. I also got him liquid multivitamin and calcium since he doesn't want to eat anything dusted in it. I put them in his water bowl (he does drink out of it, I have seen him).
I will continue to try dusting some of the crickets to see if he will take them. I have also decided to start feeding him more as I don't think I was feeding him enough as he ate quickly and still seemed hungry.

 

[Gloriawood]

Thank you everyone for the tips! I will be getting him some more branches and smaller plants to try and hang up. Although I'm not sure how much I'm going to do right now because I do want to get him a bigger cage soon. The one he has now is 2ft tall and 1ft deep and wide. When I get him a bigger cage would a double bulb heat lamp be better for him? Or would just a bigger lamp dish be better? Right now the small one is a good size for the cage he has now. I haven't been able to fix the UVB as the pet store near me didn't have bulbs for the size of holder I have so I'll have to order it.

How would you recommend getting branches from outside and sterilizing them? I've seen people say to bleach them or bake them. I really don't want to use any chemicals on the branches so other suggestions or more detail on baking would be amazing.

Updates:
I moved his heat lamp and upped it to a 75 watt bulb. I got a temperature gun thing and it gets to about 85-88 in his basking area now, the floor of the cage is about 70. He can't get close to it so it won't hurt him. I also got him liquid multivitamin and calcium since he doesn't want to eat anything dusted in it. I put them in his water bowl (he does drink out of it, I have seen him).
I will continue to try dusting some of the crickets to see if he will take them. I have also decided to start feeding him more as I don't think I was feeding him enough as he ate quickly and still seemed hungry.

One heat bulb should still be fine with the bigger cage. When I got my branches from outside I put them in my tub, scrubbed them with hot water and a little dawn, rinsed them really really well and set them in the sun to dry.

The main issue with the water dish is the water being stagnant and gathering bacteria. Bugs can crawl around, step in poo and track in the water. You can make a simple dropper by poking a hole in the bottom of a water bottle and setting it on top of the cage.

 

[LizardBoy333]

One heat bulb should still be fine with the bigger cage. When I got my branches from outside I put them in my tub, scrubbed them with hot water and a little dawn, rinsed them really really well and set them in the sun to dry.

The main issue with the water dish is the water being stagnant and gathering bacteria. Bugs can crawl around, step in poo and track in the water. You can make a simple dropper by poking a hole in the bottom of a water bottle and setting it on top of the cage.

Alright thank you!
I will look into making a dripper for him, but I clean out his water dish frequently.
I will also go collect and clean some branches when I can

 

[elizaann2]

Thank you everyone for the tips! I will be getting him some more branches and smaller plants to try and hang up. Although I'm not sure how much I'm going to do right now because I do want to get him a bigger cage soon. The one he has now is 2ft tall and 1ft deep and wide. When I get him a bigger cage would a double bulb heat lamp be better for him? Or would just a bigger lamp dish be better? Right now the small one is a good size for the cage he has now. I haven't been able to fix the UVB as the pet store near me didn't have bulbs for the size of holder I have so I'll have to order it.

How would you recommend getting branches from outside and sterilizing them? I've seen people say to bleach them or bake them. I really don't want to use any chemicals on the branches so other suggestions or more detail on baking would be amazing.

Updates:
I moved his heat lamp and upped it to a 75 watt bulb. I got a temperature gun thing and it gets to about 85-88 in his basking area now, the floor of the cage is about 70. He can't get close to it so it won't hurt him. I also got him liquid multivitamin and calcium since he doesn't want to eat anything dusted in it. I put them in his water bowl (he does drink out of it, I have seen him).
I will continue to try dusting some of the crickets to see if he will take them. I have also decided to start feeding him more as I don't think I was feeding him enough as he ate quickly and still seemed hungry.

Hello!

I take my branches and scrub them down with hot water and soap in my bath tub, then give them a good rinse and let them dry outside in the sun. I don't know about you but my oven isn't big enough to bake branches in

For his basking area you don't want his basking temp to go above 85, if it goes above you can just turn off the heat lamp.

I am not familiar with the liquid supplements so I'll let someone else speak to that. He may eat dusted bugs better with different bugs other than crickets.

I've attached some feeder suggestions and gut loading options for your bugs to see if that helps!

This is the care guide I use for my chameleon as well, this might be helpful too!

 

[Flick boy]

Hi . I would personally get rid of the water dish as mentioned this harbours germs bacteria no matter how often you clean it all it takes is 1 poop in it one dead bug etc to cause a serious problem which is not a risk worth taking. Chameleon in the wild do not naturally drink standing water but their foliage around them . I would not use liquid supplements as this would be extremely difficult to tell what he is getting, stick to lightly( they should not look snowmen ) dusting insects, with what I have reccomended plain calcium no phosphorus nod3 every feed then twice a month repti vite + d3 . I would stick to feeding every other with the same amount of feeders but try to provide variety I.e dubia ,bsfl, locusts if you can get them , they are all staple feeders , no harm in the occasional waxworm pr hornworm as a treat . I will take a break lol then give some tips on your other questions

 

[MzLaurie11]

Hello and welcome. Flukers makes great vines. And i suggest hormworms. My veiled just loves them. with this heat wave, the extra fliud will combat dehydration. Rainbowmealworms.com has a great variety of feeders and if there is ever an issue they resolve it right away.