New membeer, and my new Ambilobe

[arrested spy]

Lighting question

Welcome nice work I was curious did you say you were running a reptisun 5.0 and 160 watt mercury vapor? I'm only running merc vapor on my cages they should put out all the UVA UVB you need. my lights are also suspended and branches in cage are adjusted height wise to temps required great Looking Cham!

 

[Whatcamo]

It does make it nice to really have a partner in it you got lucky

 

[drcrossfire]

What's a membeer? That sounds good.... Is it strong? Did u brew it yourself?

 

[blackhawk007]

Welcome nice work I was curious did you say you were running a reptisun 5.0 and 160 watt mercury vapor? I'm only running merc vapor on my cages they should put out all the UVA UVB you need. my lights are also suspended and branches in cage are adjusted height wise to temps required great
Poking Cham!

I have more than just the one light due to the size of the enclosure. Being 36X48 the one light covered very little.

 

[blackhawk007]

What's a membeer? That sounds good.... Is it strong? Did u brew it yourself?

LOL I do brew myself. If you look close enough you can see bags of grains and my brew pot in the pics. As far at the title, I corrected it and at the top of my post it changed. But it still did not change the main title part. oh well.

 

[drcrossfire]

LOL I do brew myself. If you look close enough you can see bags of grains and my brew pot in the pics. As far at the title, I corrected it and at the top of my post it changed. But it still did not change the main title part. oh well.

I'm just teasing

Brewing is fun. What type u brew?

 

[blackhawk007]

I'm just teasing

Brewing is fun. What type u brew?

Oh I knew ya were. I do all grain batches of mostly ales and stouts. So far I have gotten the best reviews on an ale that I randomly made with what I had left on the shelf. My friends now call it Steve's ale.

 

[arrested spy]

Ok

Makes sense thank you for reply I'll send friend request I am also new and am constantly researching. I mostly listen here too but have been trying to get more envolved in conversations.

 

[JennaMarie]

What's a membeer? That sounds good.... Is it strong? Did u brew it yourself?

I make the wheat! Lol.

 

[DavidBuchan]

Hello and welcome to Steve, Jenna, and the new Chameleon - he's looking good
Enjoy the gutloading fun, and remember there is plenty of fun to be had with variety of feeder insects too

 

[JennaMarie]

Oh we most definitely will be giving him a variety of feeder insects. We're firm believers in diet variety with all of our animals. Right now he is getting Repti-worms and crickets. We weren't sure what else we could give him at this age because he is still pretty darn small. Are there other insects that would be appropriate for him at this age and size?

 

[Solid Snake]

Hello and Welcome!

Substrate is just fine in my opinion, depending on what type of substrate it is.

If the soil is pesticide, and fertilizer free, thats fine. The wood chips are whats dangerous, in my opinion, so I would recommend removing them.

I also thing you have done a great job overall, for someone with no experience!

Providing more branches and vines, will keep him off the screen. At that size, you can pack quite a few branches in there, and he will be more comfortable. As he gets bigger, he will need them more spaced out though, so he can fit through them

I like to put the basking branch/spot, in a top corner, making that corner area the warmest spot, this will help to create a temperature gradient for him, going down towards the opposite corner on the bottom. You may have to raise the light to achieve this, but it will help keep him off the screen, and ensure he has lots of options as far as what temp he wants.

Just some thoughts

Again welcome, its great to have you here!

 

[blackhawk007]

My only worries about removing the substrate is that there is no dirt under it. After researching I decided to go with vermiculite instead of soil. This stuff is much much smaller than the larger wood chips that I have. I will continue to monitor this as he get older, but the wood chips are too big for him to eat at this time. If anything I would have to just cover the bottom with screen once he gets bigger.

 

[Captive Creations]

Welcome to the forum both of you and congrats on the new chameleon. He really is a cutie Your set up looks really great. I also don't use substraight in my enclosures, I try to use only repti-carpet or plain paper towel. My chameleon tanks are custom made now too thanks to my hubby and I love having nothing in the bottom of the tanks. my chameleons don't mind it. and its WAY easier to clean up poop when it happens. I have noticed also with my chameleons when they were climbing on the screen I added perches and now they don't climb on the screen I think they climb on the screen to get closer to the basking spot. jmo But he really looks healthy enjoy the new addition they truly are addictive. I started with 1 veiled and now I am awaiting my 3rd pair. I LOVE chameleons!!!

 

[blackhawk007]

Welcome to the forum both of you and congrats on the new chameleon. He really is a cutie Your set up looks really great. I also don't use substraight in my enclosures, I try to use only repti-carpet or plain paper towel. My chameleon tanks are custom made now too thanks to my hubby and I love having nothing in the bottom of the tanks. my chameleons don't mind it. and its WAY easier to clean up poop when it happens. I have noticed also with my chameleons when they were climbing on the screen I added perches and now they don't climb on the screen I think they climb on the screen to get closer to the basking spot. jmo But he really looks healthy enjoy the new addition they truly are addictive. I started with 1 veiled and now I am awaiting my 3rd pair. I LOVE chameleons!!!

Thanks for the warm welcome. I will look into repti-carpet. I have never heard of it, but that is the reason we are open to these suggestions. Thank you. I do have plan for more perches on the right side also. I will post more pics when that happens. Its good to know that he should stop climbing the screen so much when I get those in.

After hearing the feeding suggestions, he is up to 12 crickets/worms so far today. And he still comes running for them. He is hungry little one. With the breeder suggesting only 5 every other day I can see why he would come running when I open the screen.

 

[blackhawk007]

So Jenna finally got a hold of the breeder. It turns out his hatch date is Dec 17th, awesome to know. So he'll be 4 months next week.

 

[pssh]

You'd be surprised at what they can manage to eat. I would cover the substrate with screen and/or medium/large river rocks or get rid of it completely.

 

[blackhawk007]

So I have made a temporary perch so he can get some quality basking time while I locate some more natural items to create a permanent perch for him. He is a smart one too. I placed the ladder in his cage and then ate breakfast. I then walked in to check on him a few min later and he was already utilizing his new furniture.