new driskel bloodline veiled baby. is this setup ok?

[zoemarcelinoxx]

Hi! I'm somewhat new to the cham world and got my first baby a few days ago. I did about two months of research before getting him so I know a lot but not everything. I just want to make sure I'm doing it right because I want him to be healthy and happy!

I have a reptibreeze 18' 18' 36' screen cage
a big dripper
zoo med basking bulb 75 watt
reptisun 10 ubv mini bulb
both in a mini deep dome combo
i have two vine branches in the cage with the basking spot around 85f
i have 2 vines with fake leaves one large and one medium
i have one baby ficus plant as well

I feed him 1/4 in crickets gutloaded with oranges, cantaloupe, cucumbers, carrots, and spinach as well as some sprinkled calcium.

I feed him about three times a day, once in the morning before i leave for school, once when I get back, and latter on in the day if he wants food he eats about 20-25ish a day. i use calcium at every major feeding, and i switch every week using herptivite multivitamin or calcium with d3 every thursday.

i spray the cage 2-3 times a day and he is kept in my bathroom and I shower every night with hot water, giving him some nice humidity.

He used to hide every time i went into the bathroom, however i took him out of his cage very gently and let him crawl on my hand for about half and hour, after about 5 min he went back to resting color and relaxed! now whenever i come into the bathroom he doesnt run away!

I have a driskel bloodline from fl chams, is there anything else I should be doing? thanks!

I have added pictures of my new baby and of the set up and things that i use!

 

[MissLissa]

I have a reptibreeze 18' 18' 36' screen cage

This is fine as long as you know you will have to upgrade to something like a 3'x2'x5' cage later

zoo med basking bulb 75 watt
reptisun 10 ubv mini bulb
both in a mini deep dome combo

Make sure your temps are on point in the basking area; 75W seems a bit high to me for a baby. Make sure you are using a reliable thermometer probe or gun: those analog dial thermometers are functionally useless in my experience.

The CFL UVB bulb you have would be better switched for a 5.0 or maybe 8.0 tube light. 10.0 in a reflective dome is a little tooo strong in my opinion for a 36" cage and a baby cham. The reflector can effectively almost double the UV output. Tubes are much preferred over CFL coils as the tubes spread the UV over a greater area, meaning your cham will more easily absorb all they need. The tubes also do not have the history of eye problems associated with them that the CFL bulbs do.

i have two vine branches in the cage with the basking spot around 85f
i have 2 vines with fake leaves one large and one medium
i have one baby ficus plant as well

Your enclosure looks pretty bare: the entire top and center had absolutely no cover and few branches. You should definitely put more "stuff" in there. More branches, more plants. Stuff it FULL until it looks entirely over crowed, and it will be just about perfect. Chams need a lot of foliage and perching options to feel secure and to allow them plenty of options for thermoregulation, UV exposure, visual screens from scary things, exercise for their feet and tails, etc. Once you really have to work hard to find your chameleon at all, you might have enough foliage

I feed him 1/4 in crickets gutloaded with oranges, cantaloupe, cucumbers, carrots, and spinach as well as some sprinkled calcium.

I feed him about three times a day, once in the morning before i leave for school, once when I get back, and latter on in the day if he wants food he eats about 20-25ish a day. i use calcium at every major feeding, and i switch every week using herptivite multivitamin or calcium with d3 every thursday.

IMHO every feeder should be dusted with calcium WITHOUT D3 right now (but not the ones being dusted with D3 or multivitamin, of course) since he is a growing boy. I'm not a fan of using spinach for gutloading due to the amount of oxalate it contains, which binds to calcium and make it unavailable to the cricket or your cham. Instead of spinach, take a look at this great gutloading resource and mix it up every week:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/entry/feeder-nutrition-amp-gutloading.75/

He used to hide every time i went into the bathroom, however i took him out of his cage very gently and let him crawl on my hand for about half and hour, after about 5 min he went back to resting color and relaxed! now whenever i come into the bathroom he doesnt run away!

Make sure you give him lots of time to adjust; I know it's so hard, but refraining from handling him until he really settles into his environment (2-4 weeks or more) is very important. It's great that you gave him the choice about interacting or not (never force a cham lol) but he doesn't know what's best for him, so it's your job to protect him from himself until his stress level is low enough to handle the casual stress that's caused by being handled. It's great that he isn't running away, though- baby steps!

I have a driskel bloodline from fl chams, is there anything else I should be doing? thanks!

Definitely look into bringing in a fresh fecal sample to your reptile vet for a parasite check. Parasite infections are very common with chams- even wonderfully bred captive chams fed nothing but farmed food- and are better off if caught early before they start causing serious problems. Just call your vet and let them know you'd like to bring one in first! lol

Holy moly is he cute though! Congratulations and welcome to the wonderful world of constantly worrying about your chameleon

 

[zoemarcelinoxx]

This is fine as long as you know you will have to upgrade to something like a 3'x2'x5' cage later



Make sure your temps are on point in the basking area; 75W seems a bit high to me for a baby. Make sure you are using a reliable thermometer probe or gun: those analog dial thermometers are functionally useless in my experience.

The CFL UVB bulb you have would be better switched for a 5.0 or maybe 8.0 tube light. 10.0 in a reflective dome is a little tooo strong in my opinion for a 36" cage and a baby cham. The reflector can effectively almost double the UV output. Tubes are much preferred over CFL coils as the tubes spread the UV over a greater area, meaning your cham will more easily absorb all they need. The tubes also do not have the history of eye problems associated with them that the CFL bulbs do.



Your enclosure looks pretty bare: the entire top and center had absolutely no cover and few branches. You should definitely put more "stuff" in there. More branches, more plants. Stuff it FULL until it looks entirely over crowed, and it will be just about perfect. Chams need a lot of foliage and perching options to feel secure and to allow them plenty of options for thermoregulation, UV exposure, visual screens from scary things, exercise for their feet and tails, etc. Once you really have to work hard to find your chameleon at all, you might have enough foliage



IMHO every feeder should be dusted with calcium WITHOUT D3 right now (but not the ones being dusted with D3 or multivitamin, of course) since he is a growing boy. I'm not a fan of using spinach for gutloading due to the amount of oxalate it contains, which binds to calcium and make it unavailable to the cricket or your cham. Instead of spinach, take a look at this great gutloading resource and mix it up every week:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/entry/feeder-nutrition-amp-gutloading.75/



Make sure you give him lots of time to adjust; I know it's so hard, but refraining from handling him until he really settles into his environment (2-4 weeks or more) is very important. It's great that you gave him the choice about interacting or not (never force a cham lol) but he doesn't know what's best for him, so it's your job to protect him from himself until his stress level is low enough to handle the casual stress that's caused by being handled. It's great that he isn't running away, though- baby steps!



Definitely look into bringing in a fresh fecal sample to your reptile vet for a parasite check. Parasite infections are very common with chams- even wonderfully bred captive chams fed nothing but farmed food- and are better off if caught early before they start causing serious problems. Just call your vet and let them know you'd like to bring one in first! lol

Holy moly is he cute though! Congratulations and welcome to the wonderful world of constantly worrying about your chameleon

Wow! I can't thank you enough for the very detailed response! I am trying to add a few more vines and add another umbrella tree. It's just about the money I had at the time I got everything. Sometimes I just throw like 1 or 2 crickets into the cage as a little snack during the day that's when I don't dust them. I will definitely take your advice about the handling. I just want him to get used to me. I have one of those yellow probe thermometers. Which are the ones you recommend? Also do you know how much it will cost to get a parasite test? And I have not seen any fecal matter in his enclosure.

One last thing. I have seen him rub his eye on a branch a few times. Is that something bad?

Thanks again!

 

[alphakenc]

Hey zoemarcelinoxx,what is that box looking thing says "northside" on the cage floor if you don't mind i ask?is that a shoebox?

 

[zoemarcelinoxx]

Hey zoemarcelinoxx,what is that box looking thing says "northside" on the cage floor if you don't mind ask?is that a shoebox?

Yes I accidentally ordered a ficus that was too small. I put the two shoe boxes in there so the plant would be higher up for my Cham to get to and so it would be in the general area of everything else in the cage.

 

[alphakenc]

Yes I accidentally ordered a ficus that was too small. I put the two shoe boxes in there so the plant would be higher up for my Cham to get to and so it would be in the general area of everything else in the cage.

My suggestion for you is when you mist often,the water will make that box wet and become moldy,so when u get a chance,try to replace that shoebox to something wont bring the bacteria moldy inside your cage with your pretty cham

 

[zoemarcelinoxx]

I

My suggestion for you is when you mist often,the water will make that box wet and become moldy,so when u get a chance,try to replace that shoebox to something wont bring the bacteria moldy inside your cage with your pretty cham

I never even thought of that! Thanks for the tip I really appreciate it

 

[alphakenc]

My pleasure

 

[MissLissa]

I have one of those yellow probe thermometers. Which are the ones you recommend? Also do you know how much it will cost to get a parasite test? And I have not seen any fecal matter in his enclosure.

One last thing. I have seen him rub his eye on a branch a few times. Is that something bad?

Thanks again!

That should be fine; it's those $5 dials that stick on the cage that make me roll my eyes lol! I use an infrared temp gun I got on Amazon for $15; I found it's more accurate but a probe should be good too.

You cold always replace the boxes- which are definitely going to get soggy- with plastic solid-sided Tupperware or something similar. Not clear plastic though; you don't want a cricket to escape inside and your cham hurting his tongue trying to get at ti!

Vet care prices really fluctuate from area to area, and I live in Canada so the prices I am used to will probably not apply if you live in the USA. Your best bet is to get a recommendation for a good chameleon vet in your area (not just a reptile vet, but one who has actual experience with chameleons) and call their office and ask how much it would be. Most clinics are happy to discuss costs and such; I worked in an exotic clinic for over a decade and we never wanted our clients to be surprised at any price!

Is his eye swollen, seeping, withered, discoloured or in any other way unusual? Is he often sleeping during the day? If you notice any of these things, I'd take him to the vet. If his eyes are working normally with no unusual lumps, bumps, discharge etc then it could just be he has something stuck in his turret (the cone thing around his eye) and is trying to get it out. In either case, I would increase mistings to 3-4x a day for 5-10 minutes each to try and help him flush his eyes. Spray with the nozzle pointing upward so that the water "rains" down on him instead of spraying him directly. He probably won't like it so much, but if there is something in his eye you want to flush it out and it will also help to clear away any discharge etc that might (or might not lol) be there.

 

[zoemarcelinoxx]

That should be fine; it's those $5 dials that stick on the cage that make me roll my eyes lol! I use an infrared temp gun I got on Amazon for $15; I found it's more accurate but a probe should be good too.

You cold always replace the boxes- which are definitely going to get soggy- with plastic solid-sided Tupperware or something similar. Not clear plastic though; you don't want a cricket to escape inside and your cham hurting his tongue trying to get at ti!

Vet care prices really fluctuate from area to area, and I live in Canada so the prices I am used to will probably not apply if you live in the USA. Your best bet is to get a recommendation for a good chameleon vet in your area (not just a reptile vet, but one who has actual experience with chameleons) and call their office and ask how much it would be. Most clinics are happy to discuss costs and such; I worked in an exotic clinic for over a decade and we never wanted our clients to be surprised at any price!

Is his eye swollen, seeping, withered, discoloured or in any other way unusual? Is he often sleeping during the day? If you notice any of these things, I'd take him to the vet. If his eyes are working normally with no unusual lumps, bumps, discharge etc then it could just be he has something stuck in his turret (the cone thing around his eye) and is trying to get it out. In either case, I would increase mistings to 3-4x a day for 5-10 minutes each to try and help him flush his eyes. Spray with the nozzle pointing upward so that the water "rains" down on him instead of spraying him directly. He probably won't like it so much, but if there is something in his eye you want to flush it out and it will also help to clear away any discharge etc that might (or might not lol) be there.

Thank you. I will most definitely try to call a vet in my area. I want him to be healthy of course. He is rather active during the day, eating, basking etc. his eyes move around a lot and I've seen him scratch his eye only a few times no discharge or anything. I will mist his cage more often.

Thank you so much you've been more than helpful and my chameleon will be grateful. I really appreciate it MissLissa!

 

[MissLissa]

Thank you. I will most definitely try to call a vet in my area. I want him to be healthy of course. He is rather active during the day, eating, basking etc. his eyes move around a lot and I've seen him scratch his eye only a few times no discharge or anything. I will mist his cage more often.

Thank you so much you've been more than helpful and my chameleon will be grateful. I really appreciate it MissLissa!

A parasite check is just routine for new chams... and just chams in general, really. I have the luxury of being able to take samples to work and run them, so my panther gets his done about once monthly (which is probably overkill). The chams at work get a fecal check every 6 months or so. Reinfection can occur through their feeders, so I think regular rechecks are a good idea

Good luck! Keep us posted; I look forward to seeing your adorable cham grow.... and grow and grow!