New male ambanja and enclosure

jamest0o0

jamest0o0

Chameleon Enthusiast
hey all i just got a 4month ambanja yesterday. I wanted to post a few pics of his enclosure and him that i took real quick to see if theres anything i can be doing differently. He came out of the box with bright blue and green, but has been staying a dark brownish color occassionally showing a few colors, but still the solid brown base. Everything i'm told and read said this is totally normal from shipping though. He's pretty scared Obviously so i'm trying to leave him alone as much as possible while staying quiet when i feed/mist/clean.

His cage is an 18"L 18"W 36"T
It's ony temporary for a few months until i move him into a large atrium dragon strand cage.
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Give him time and he will relax. I would add some more branches for him towards the top. Give him lots of options. What is the temp in the basking spot? Right now he is adjusting. They will get dark if they are trying to absorb heat too.

I have an ambanja and he is dark a lot of the time but he is stunning when he shows his colors. I have just moved him to the large atrium and it had helped with his coloring. But I have also been told that some take a bit longer and usually the ones that do end up being amazing!
 
Hey thanks!

i'll be adding some branches today, i've been trying to stay quiet and leave him alone as much as possible while he adjusts, but he seems to be opening up more. He's a little less scared when i'm around and when i mist he runs up and drinks water from the leaves. He was also a very pretty seafoam green, light blue, with some dark purple in his bars. I'm excited to see how he turns out being only 4 months. It's hard to resist going in the room all day to stare at him lol. I haven't gotten any hisses from him yet either, but i don't want to try and hold him until he's adjusted.

I've been using the repti infrared thermometer for temperature and his basking vine is in the 80-90(max) range. Does the bulb look too close/far away? Also my brand new hood fixture for my uvb 5.0 bulb sometimes flickers and needed unplugged and plugged back in today to work again, any idea why? Where do you usually place your uvb btw? I have mine diagonal so it's not right under the heat lamp.

Misting 2xday 2-3min each... humidity seems to be between 50-60% but i have those cheap analog hygrometers. Anything better for reading humidity that you guys would recommend?

Peachypink- just curious, how old is your ambanja?
 
The basking temp is important. Closer and hotter could burn him. You may need closer branches on the bigger cage, or a stronger bulb.
The flickering bulb could be due to poor contact with the brass piece inside. With the fixture unplugged, get a screw driver and pull it out a little.
jamest0o0 said:
Hey thanks!

i'll be adding some branches today, i've been trying to stay quiet and leave him alone as much as possible while he adjusts, but he seems to be opening up more. He's a little less scared when i'm around and when i mist he runs up and drinks water from the leaves. He was also a very pretty seafoam green, light blue, with some dark purple in his bars. I'm excited to see how he turns out being only 4 months. It's hard to resist going in the room all day to stare at him lol. I haven't gotten any hisses from him yet either, but i don't want to try and hold him until he's adjusted.

I've been using the repti infrared thermometer for temperature and his basking vine is in the 80-90(max) range. Does the bulb look too close/far away? Also my brand new hood fixture for my uvb 5.0 bulb sometimes flickers and needed unplugged and plugged back in today to work again, any idea why? Where do you usually place your uvb btw? I have mine diagonal so it's not right under the heat lamp.

Misting 2xday 2-3min each... humidity seems to be between 50-60% but i have those cheap analog hygrometers. Anything better for reading humidity that you guys would recommend?

Peachypink- just curious, how old is your ambanja?
Click to expand...
 
jamest0o0 said:
Hey thanks!

i'll be adding some branches today, i've been trying to stay quiet and leave him alone as much as possible while he adjusts, but he seems to be opening up more. He's a little less scared when i'm around and when i mist he runs up and drinks water from the leaves. He was also a very pretty seafoam green, light blue, with some dark purple in his bars. I'm excited to see how he turns out being only 4 months. It's hard to resist going in the room all day to stare at him lol. I haven't gotten any hisses from him yet either, but i don't want to try and hold him until he's adjusted.

I've been using the repti infrared thermometer for temperature and his basking vine is in the 80-90(max) range. Does the bulb look too close/far away? Also my brand new hood fixture for my uvb 5.0 bulb sometimes flickers and needed unplugged and plugged back in today to work again, any idea why? Where do you usually place your uvb btw? I have mine diagonal so it's not right under the heat lamp.

Misting 2xday 2-3min each... humidity seems to be between 50-60% but i have those cheap analog hygrometers. Anything better for reading humidity that you guys would recommend?

Peachypink- just curious, how old is your ambanja?
Click to expand...

He's 11 months. I've posted before about how he's brown a lot but getting the temps right has made a big difference. Here's his thread...he's gorgeous when he's in full color.....

https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/dz-aka-derek-zoolander-kk-tar-alderion-ambanja.151337/
 
I have to agree good job but needs more branches. When he gets confident he's going to want to roam the whole cage. If he doesn't have branches most of the way around and up & down he will use the screen to do it. Little nails in screens can get ripped off as he gets heavier.
 
Congrats on your new little guy! I have a new Ambanja male myself with a hatch date of 09/08/16 from Canvas. My little guy is brown most of the time except when he is sleeping. When he sleeps he gets real light colored.
 
Hey all, didn't think i'd get so many replies, thank you everyone! Got a few branches i'll be adding tomorrow when he's awake. I think he's had enough of seeing me for one day.

So by getting the lighting right, do you mean you had to get it warmer or cooler? His cage ranges from about 70 to 90 in basking. Do any of you use thermostats or dimmers for sunrise/sunset on your cages? Wondering how helpful those are? I feel bad he goes from bright lights to total darkness within a second.

Peachy your guy is awesome! How often does he show those colors? And just wondering do they eventually brighten up, or routinely stay mostly brown? Mine has shown me some pretty crazy bright blues and green with some red spots. I'd love for him to one day show those off on a regular basis, but i'm patient. I know he's adapting, i just want to make sure he's healthy. The breeders said he looks like he might go the purple bar route with the red and blue mixing up, that would be pretty cool.

And just ran into a problem, now my uvb light won't work. I was trying to play with the metal in there, but nothing. I got a zilla fixture and 5.0 off llreptile, tried it to see if it worked when i first bought it with no problems for a minute and then had it on a timer for he last few days, it flickered a few times when i first used it. Then today it didn't go on with the timer, so i unplugged and plugged it back in and it worked. Then today went off while i was standing there and can't get it back on.... If i can't get this working looks like i'll be rushing out to a petstore tomorrow morning :/.
 
jamest0o0 said:
Hey all, didn't think i'd get so many replies, thank you everyone! Got a few branches i'll be adding tomorrow when he's awake. I think he's had enough of seeing me for one day.

So by getting the lighting right, do you mean you had to get it warmer or cooler? His cage ranges from about 70 to 90 in basking. Do any of you use thermostats or dimmers for sunrise/sunset on your cages? Wondering how helpful those are? I feel bad he goes from bright lights to total darkness within a second.

Peachy your guy is awesome! How often does he show those colors? And just wondering do they eventually brighten up, or routinely stay mostly brown? Mine has shown me some pretty crazy bright blues and green with some red spots. I'd love for him to one day show those off on a regular basis, but i'm patient. I know he's adapting, i just want to make sure he's healthy. The breeders said he looks like he might go the purple bar route with the red and blue mixing up, that would be pretty cool.

And just ran into a problem, now my uvb light won't work. I was trying to play with the metal in there, but nothing. I got a zilla fixture and 5.0 off llreptile, tried it to see if it worked when i first bought it with no problems for a minute and then had it on a timer for he last few days, it flickered a few times when i first used it. Then today it didn't go on with the timer, so i unplugged and plugged it back in and it worked. Then today went off while i was standing there and can't get it back on.... If i can't get this working looks like i'll be rushing out to a petstore tomorrow morning :/.
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They will eventually show consitant coloring. This is my first Ambanja and I emailed Kammerflage about it. She said to be patient. Some that take a while to show their colors are usually stunning when they do and they can go through so many changes the first 18 months. What he looked like the fist few month may be completely different a few months later. Mine has already done some of that. If you look at my progression of pics he was a stunning blue grey when he came then was looking like some purple bars were coming through and now he's got a ton of white and mint green with red rain. He dad is really blue with red. I can't wait to see when he is fully mature. Right now he's brown a lot but really shows his colors at night and when he's hunting or if I come in and mess with stuff.

I had am Ambilobe and he showed consistant coloring from a few months in.

As for your light...I would for sure contact the seller and let them know what's going on. See what they can do.
 
jamest0o0 said:
Hey all, didn't think i'd get so many replies, thank you everyone! Got a few branches i'll be adding tomorrow when he's awake. I think he's had enough of seeing me for one day.

So by getting the lighting right, do you mean you had to get it warmer or cooler? His cage ranges from about 70 to 90 in basking. Do any of you use thermostats or dimmers for sunrise/sunset on your cages? Wondering how helpful those are? I feel bad he goes from bright lights to total darkness within a second.

Peachy your guy is awesome! How often does he show those colors? And just wondering do they eventually brighten up, or routinely stay mostly brown? Mine has shown me some pretty crazy bright blues and green with some red spots. I'd love for him to one day show those off on a regular basis, but i'm patient. I know he's adapting, i just want to make sure he's healthy. The breeders said he looks like he might go the purple bar route with the red and blue mixing up, that would be pretty cool.

And just ran into a problem, now my uvb light won't work. I was trying to play with the metal in there, but nothing. I got a zilla fixture and 5.0 off llreptile, tried it to see if it worked when i first bought it with no problems for a minute and then had it on a timer for he last few days, it flickered a few times when i first used it. Then today it didn't go on with the timer, so i unplugged and plugged it back in and it worked. Then today went off while i was standing there and can't get it back on.... If i can't get this working looks like i'll be rushing out to a petstore tomorrow morning :/.
Click to expand...

For getting the lighting right, yes I mean temps. They are very important. Check the care sheet for panthers. You basking spot should be about 82 for a juvenile then after 9 months it can be 85-90.

I have a quad fixture from Light Your Reptiles. It has a "moonlight" LED that I have on for a 1/2 hour after the big lights go out. I also have it set so that the UVB and one daylight bulb goes off first, then 1/2 hour later the other daylight bulb and plant grow light go off as well as the heat lamp. That's when the LED comes on and is on for another 1/2 hour. Then all lights out for the night.
 
Wow sounds like you have a nice light set up. Right now i just have a uvb and basking bulb. I have my cage next to the window to help the plants a little, but maybe i should look into the grow light. How necessary would you say the dimming/moonlights are? That's definitely something i'd look into for my large enclosure, but the one he's in now is only temporary and doesn't have much space at the top as it is. Luckily it's somehow almost 70 today where i live(usually almost negatives this time of the year). I was thinking i'd open the window next to his cage for some sun while i get the uvb operational again.

Btw i got my cham as well from kammerflage as well. They have been very helpful, absolutely no complaints. All of their chams seem to turn out awesome too from what i've seen.
 
jamest0o0 said:
Wow sounds like you have a nice light set up. Right now i just have a uvb and basking bulb. I have my cage next to the window to help the plants a little, but maybe i should look into the grow light. How necessary would you say the dimming/moonlights are? That's definitely something i'd look into for my large enclosure, but the one he's in now is only temporary and doesn't have much space at the top as it is. Luckily it's somehow almost 70 today where i live(usually almost negatives this time of the year). I was thinking i'd open the window next to his cage for some sun while i get the uvb operational again.

Btw i got my cham as well from kammerflage as well. They have been very helpful, absolutely no complaints. All of their chams seem to turn out awesome too from what i've seen.
Click to expand...
Briana is crazy helpful! I love that I can email her and she replies quickly.

I'm on the fence about the moonlight thing. I think it's cool but your Cham will learn his light schedule and a lot of times he will go to his sleeping spot an hour or even 2 before lights out and get cozy and ready for bed.

A grow light is good for the plants. I saved up and got the quad and I am so glad I did. I upgraded the lights when I upgraded his cage to the Dragonstrand large atrium. Check out Light Your Reptiles. His lights are awesome!
 
Totally agree briana answered a lot of my questions and seemed more than happy to over the phone. I like seeing breeders care so much about their animals.

Went out and bought a new fixture because i needed it ASAP for my uvb just now, never got the other one working, 40$ Gone... frustrating lol...

I have a nice fixture from lightyourreptiles that's for the big cage when he moves on so i guess for now he can handle just basking and uvb for a few months max.
 
Hey so i have a couple questions, hope someone can help out.

- i have a sensor, analog, infrared laser, and the zoo med(i thinkthats the brand, small black one) infrared thermometers. I don't keep any in the cage, but i'll try them all against each other to check my temperatures and it's all over the place... i let the sensor and analog sit by/on his basking spot for a bit and they said low-mid 80s. The zoo med and infrared laser were like 10 degrees higher(i moved the lamp up just incase when i saw this). Anyway i was basically getting readings from everything ranging from 70s to 100. Is there an easier way to be sure? I noticed today when i had the lamp lower he was bright colors and seemed relaxed basking under it, but readings on the infrared were high.

-Also should my uvb and heat converge on the same point, or will he know to go under the uvb when he needs it? I only ask because there seems to be mixed answers and i can't seem to get my uvb where his heat is without my basking lamp burning the my hood light fixture.

-Lastly, he was running up and drinking the other day when i misted. Now he's terrified of it and runs all over the screen top trying to get away. I try to do it gently and not directly at him, but something about it has him spooked, maybe the noise from it even though its the same i did the other day. He only climbs on the screen whe i do this which i know isn't good. Any ideas? Maybe i should get a different mister? I have a reptile mister that you pump up and it sprays out while you hold it in. I know some people say it should be a fine mist almost like a fog, but it's more of a light spray with this.

Appreciate the help all, thanks!
 
For the temp reading I would recommend putting a piece of black tape where u wanna measure it and point it there with the laser ones. Hope thy helps
 
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