New Meller Setup

[Tonyerz]

Hello,
I have been going threw this forum for a while now. Just reading peoples advice. I signed up today because I feel like I need to share some info and I also have a question.

I have a female meller her name is Sarah. Since I have had her now which would be 7 months ago I had her in a nice big screen cage. Since I live in Canada it is very cold at the moment, I didn't think a screen cage would be best for her but I got it anyways due to all the negative feed back on her about glass tanks.

Since she has been in the screen I didn't find her very happy. She has lost a lot of weight and there is not humidity that I can actually keep trapped in the cage since it all goes threw the screen. She has also chipped a few of her nails from climbing the screen as well. She has cuts in the bottom of her hands from a lack of humidity. I brought her to the vet two weeks ago and she reccomanded me to have her in a glass tank to trap the humidity in and invest in a humidity and temp adjuster (automatic) also a fogger for the tank to help take the rest of her shedding off.

I guess it would be ideal to have a screen cage if you are from a place that's constantly hot and humid but its cold and dry were I am from. The night before last when I was sleeping I heard her fall from the screen twice. I woke up and she was on the bottom of the cage. So that was it. I went and bought her a 40 gallon tank its not tall but its long. She is still able to walk back and forth but if she had to fall its not a far drop at all. She also broke her horn from the screen as well. I am hoping to keep her in this tank until it gets nice and hot here then transfer her into her screen tank and have her outside sometimes for real sun.

Now I have spend $300 yesterday on a fogger system and humidity and temperature controller. I just need to know one thing. They want the temp F and C and the humidity number. I don't know what's ideal for her. What should her humidity be? 70??? And what should it be at night should I turn the system off at night? I know her temp should be around 85-90 F but what about the C ?? It gives that option.

Hope you guys can help me for a speedy recovery.

P.s. and now she can actually eat because the crickets can't climb the cage and hide now ...

 

[KatiLemons]

If her humidity isn't good enough in the screen cage than you need to mist her more.... The problem with glass terrariums is that A. They are SMALL, and B. they trap humidity in such excess that it can cause respiratory issues if not cleaned consistently and very well.

 

[Djturna4thakidz]

A mellers cannot live in a 40 gallon long aquarium. If you cannot achieve proper humidity in the screen cage you can cover the sides and back
With shower curtains or panda plastic. This will keep in the humidity and still allow airflow. More misting and live plants will also keep up the humidity.

 

[Tonyerz]

If her humidity isn't good enough in the screen cage than you need to mist her more.... The problem with glass terrariums is that A. They are SMALL, and B. they trap humidity in such excess that it can cause respiratory issues if not cleaned consistently and very well.

Okay, so then what do I do. I am just planning to keep her in there for now to help her get a bit better. She is very active in this tank she seems to enjoy it.

I need some help!

 

[Olimpia]

Hi and welcome to the forum! I love Meller's, and have three of my own.

How big is the screen cage? It sounds like it wasn't big enough for her and/or wasn't full of enough horizontal perches and plants for her to climb on instead of using the screen. Meller's need a lot of space, especially horizontal space, so a cage that is at least 4-5 feet wide is ideal, and preferably another 5-6 feet tall, and 2-3 feet deep. They're very large chameleons, so a small screen cage or a 40 gallon tank isn't going to be suitable for her.

To keep the humidity up in a screen cage you can wrap the back 3 sides in plastic, like a shower curtain, add more live plants, and mist a lot. Meller's are heavy drinkers and need long misting sessions daily, ideally at least 10 minutes several times a day. Mine get 20 minute sessions of water 2-3 times a day, and this ensures that they are properly hydrated. I would probably return the fogger and opt for an Automatic Mister instead! You will need to figure out how to drain away this much water, but if you run a search on the forum for "drainage systems" you should get hundreds of ideas.

You don't want the basking temperature to be as high as 90, 85*F max would probably be better (so about 29*C) with an ambient temperature of about 70-75, and then a drop at night of 50-60F. The humidity can fluctuate along the day, so it may peak at 80% and then go down to 50% between mistings. You don't want it to be constantly super high or it can lead to respiratory issues and infections.

Maybe you can fill out these questions and we can continue to help you from there: https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/
Please be detailed, especially with supplement brands, what bulbs you're using, etc.

This is also a really great Meller's resource: Melleridiscovery.com

 

[Tonyerz]

A mellers cannot live in a 40 gallon long aquarium. If you cannot achieve proper humidity in the screen cage you can cover the sides and back
With shower curtains or panda plastic. This will keep in the humidity and still allow airflow. More misting and live plants will also keep up the humidity.

I am in school and I can't be here to mist her for 4 hours out of the day. I am going to post up pics of her when I had her in the shower.

I am not planning to keep her in there to live. Just for right now. I also still have her screen cage still.

 

[Tonyerz]

Hi and welcome to the forum! I love Meller's, and have three of my own.

How big is the screen cage? It sounds like it wasn't big enough for her and/or wasn't full of enough horizontal perches and plants for her to climb on instead of using the screen. Meller's need a lot of space, especially horizontal space, so a cage that is at least 4-5 feet wide is ideal, and preferably another 5-6 feet tall, and 2-3 feet deep. They're very large chameleons, so a small screen cage or a 40 gallon tank isn't going to be suitable for her.

To keep the humidity up in a screen cage you can wrap the back 3 sides in plastic, like a shower curtain, add more live plants, and mist a lot. Meller's are heavy drinkers and need long misting sessions daily, ideally at least 10 minutes several times a day. Mine get 20 minute sessions of water 2-3 times a day, and this ensures that they are properly hydrated. I would probably return the fogger and opt for an Automatic Mister instead! You will need to figure out how to drain away this much water, but if you run a search on the forum for "drainage systems" you should get hundreds of ideas.

You don't want the basking temperature to be as high as 90, 85*F max would probably be better (so about 29*C) with an ambient temperature of about 70-75, and then a drop at night of 50-60F. The humidity can fluctuate along the day, so it may peak at 80% and then go down to 50% between mistings. You don't want it to be constantly super high or it can lead to respiratory issues and infections.

Maybe you can fill out these questions and we can continue to help you from there: https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/
Please be detailed, especially with supplement brands, what bulbs you're using, etc.

This is also a really great Meller's resource: Melleridiscovery.com

Okay, I am going to write everything now and with pictures just bare with me.

 

[Djturna4thakidz]

Even if you are in school a 40 gallon aquarium is not a good idea. Like previously stated, mellers need a lot of water and mistings. If you absence doesn't allow you to do this, she is not getting the best care and a misting system would be mandatory.

 

[Tonyerz]

This is this morning. I took a picture of her.

here i wasnt to sure if she was hurt by the colors shes showing but shes not that color today. She turned this color after i gave her her medication.

 

[Tonyerz]

In the shower

 

[KatiLemons]

Yes, that is definitely from lack of humidity. I suggest that you keep her in the screen cage and get an automatic mister like a Mist king or Aqua Zamp. That is stuck shed and it is from too little humidity for a long time. Please, invest the money in an auto mister and keep her in the screen cage.

 

[Tonyerz]

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Meller, Female, over a year maybe 2. She has been in my care for 7 months.
Handling - Barely, just when needed.
Feeding - Hornworms, silkworms, crickets, mealworms, butter worms. 12 crickets at least daily 2 hornworms a week and a couple of different worms a day mix with the crickets. Morning feeding and Evening. Sweet potato's, kale, collard greens, sweet peper, strawberries, carrots etc ...
Supplements - Multi Vit, and Calcium. Once a day with feeding for calcium and once a week for the multi. It is REP-CAL for both.
Watering - Hand mist about 4 times a day, for a bout 5 to 10 minutes. She likes to hand drink from the bottle for about 5 minutes with every misting.
Fecal Description - Just tested for parasites, NONE, its water white with a hard stool which is brown.
History - Other then that she is healthy

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Was in screen until yesterday now in glass tank. Screen was about 3 feet high, 2 feet deep and about 3 feet width. Now in a 40 GAL GLASS
Lighting - 12 hours of basking which is 75 and UVB just changed both because it was past 6 months. i was told that they need to be changed every 6 months. UVB rep-glo 5.0Temperature - temps threw the day is in between 85-90. Drops down to about 75 at night.
Humidity - Humidity was always an issue because it went out the screen. NOT SURE
Plants - Plastic plants about 4 big bunchs
Placement - it was in my living room high away from windows, vents, heaters, other house hold animals ETC
Location - Canada

Current Problem - Loosing alot of weight, very skinny, cuts on bottom of hands, broken nails, falling.

P.S.
I recieved this email from my vet.

From: Millennium City Veterinary Hospital ([email protected])
Sent: March-26-14 4:31:39 PM
To: [email protected]

Hi Tonya!
We have tried numerous times over the past 2 days to contact you by telephone. We get a strange beeping sound when we try the number you provided so, hence the e mail!
Sarah's fecal results indicated "no parasites found". Dr Sawyer would however like you to continue and complete the Panacur and Baytril treatments. It is possible that the worms were not shedding, that there are males only or that what you are seeing is not a worm!? If it was a worm that you saw, a dead worm should be passed soon.
If you wouldn't mind touching base with us and letting us know how the medicating is going and how Sarah is doing, it would be much appreciated. Thank you and have a great evening!

Regards;
Vicki

 

[Tonyerz]

Yes, that is definitely from lack of humidity. I suggest that you keep her in the screen cage and get an automatic mister like a Mist king or Aqua Zamp. That is stuck shed and it is from too little humidity for a long time. Please, invest the money in an auto mister and keep her in the screen cage.

OK, thank you very much. Now i am stuch with a glass cage. LOL .... and also should i use the fogger still in the screen cage ???

 

[MSAquatics]

As Olimpia stated, you need a much larger cage. I have a 3'x3'x6' cage that I put my two in outside to get some sun & fresh air, and it is way too small for even a single mellers to be kept inside if it were their only cage. IMO, a 3' wide, 4' deep, 6'-8' tall cage would be the minimal size cage to keep melleri indoors in. Large plastic coated 1/2" hardware cloth screen will be best for the screening on the cage. Large diameter branches, and or dowel rods are a must, and a automated mister is too.

Leland

 

[Sticktongue]

OK, thank you very much. Now i am stuch with a glass cage. LOL .... and also should i use the fogger still in the screen cage ???

You are going to want to get a Mist king or Aqua zamp MISTING system, rather than the fogger.

Olimpia has loads of information about these guys. Pay close attention to her posts. I actually sold my melleri to her becauase i knew it would get the best care possible with her.

When i had mine, i had basically the same set up as Olimpia. my cage was 4x4x2 (HXWXD) I wrapped three sides with plastic shower curtains to keep the humidity in and used my Mistking for 45 minutes a day. (3 different mist times a day) If i were to have melleri again, i would have a bigger cage. These are big lizards and need big space. I do not believe a screen cage is suitable for a Melleri. That is why she was losing nails and rubbing her horn off on the screen. She simply does not have enough room in that cage and was trying to get out to find more room.

The glass tank is going to do more harm than it will good. AQUARIUMS are not set up for arboreal lizards as they do not allow air flow. The air gets stagnate and causes problems. TERRARIUMS are made for arboreal lizards. However they do not make terrariums large enough to house Melleri.

my cage was simply just a stainless steel storage rack from Home Depot, that i converted into a cage. It worked quite well and is less than $100 dollars. Search my posts and you should be able to find pictures of my set up.

you obviously care a lot for Sarah, so go read Melleri Discovery and previous Melleri posts and get her all set up in a Melleri Kingdom!

Good luck!!

 

[Olimpia]

I'm going to reply to your PM about caging here, so all the info is in one place

I think us Meller's keepers quickly realize that no one makes cages big enough for these guys, and if they do the cost is usually prohibitive. A lot of us have found that shelving units tend to be the best compromise, like Stickytongue said, I know a lot of keepers that have adapted storage units to become cages.

I use one that is this one from Lowe's: http://www.lowes.com/pd_319468-1281...=1&currentURL=?Ntt=garage+shelving&facetInfo=
It measures 72" high and 48" wide by 24" deep, so I thought it was a good place to start for the price of a typical screen cage. Other people have used the lighter metal shelves you usually find at a Target or something for a little less money, those are great too.

I built up the four corners and then just used one shelf up high for the lights and another one towards the bottom as the base. Then I used branches as the perches and hanged plants like pothos from the top to hang down and provide cover.

I am doing more of a free-range thing in that she's not caged but since you have humidity problems I would definitely add something to the sides. The most cost-effective thing might be a pack of painter's plastic, which will give you enough plastic to wrap up the sides well and keep the humidity in. Maybe even cover the front and "roll up" the plastic like a roman blind when you need to access her?

You'd have to get creative with a set-up like this but it gives you a lot of options to customize it to best fit everyone's needs.

A few other examples of other people's shelving unit melleri cages: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.206305226096138.52141.206299266096734&type=3
http://tapatalk.com/tapatalk_image....vZC8xMy8wOS8xNC9vcmlnaW5hbC9xZWdhcGF0eS5qcGc=

I think that if you can take care of humidity, fix her housing, and lower her temps just a little you should see her bounce back really nicely. I'd be really good about putting her in the shower a lot in the next few days to see if you can get all that old shed to come off. She looks good otherwise, just dry. But you're misting a lot already, so that's great. It you can trap in the humidity that should solve a lot of her skin problems.

 

[Sticktongue]

Good post, olimpia!! Very good information.

OP. Keep us updated

 

[Tonyerz]

I loved all the info you gave me, and today I went and bought a whole bunch of stuff for her towards building a new cage and home for her. Here is the pic below I am open to any advice. I also know i need more branch .... Thats on my list for tomorrow!

 

[Djturna4thakidz]

Looking Good!

 

[SaintJimmy]

Good for you! She has a good owner that is willing to upgrade for her.