New Oustalet Owner

[Unlikepopcorn7]

Hey guys! New to the fourms. And also new to chameleon ownership! I picked this guy up a few days ago and set him up! So far so good! He eats great and hasn't displayed any aggressive or stressful behavior twords me ! I have him set up with a misting system but have also been dripping water with a leaf in front of his nose and he really seems to be thirsty. Drinks usually for a solid 5 mintues or so. Slowly that is, he. Kind of just dribbles whatever is left on his nose into his mouth and repeats the process. I was worried he might be dehydrates. I've been paranoid because when I first got him he actually fell asleep on my hand in the hour and a half car ride. I read that can be a sign of improper well-being. What would be the proper meal plan for an oustalets ? Accoring to how much food and how often? Also any recommendations on a large affordable plant to run the height of the cage? I really appreciate your help and am looking forward to being a member of the community!

 

[joshuadh2310]

Congratulations on your new chameleon! I want to start with im not any type of expert but i will help a bit as i see no one has yet and im sure all the experts will chime in soon. so one thing they are going to ask is what lighting setup do you have for him and what is the basking temp? also you are going to want a lot more foliage, some nice affordable trees would be a ficus or a dwarf umbrella tree which is my favorite and what i am using right now as i find the ficus just too temperamental for me. you also are going to want more branches for him to wander around on. what is the dimension of your cage is going to be another big thing asked.

This forum is very helpful and i have learned sooo much from all the wonderful people here. if you want a more detailed page to go to check this one out https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/chameleons/. that will give you tons of information for caring for chameleons. Once again congratulations on your new boy!

 

[theintouchable88]

My 2c are to go to your local nursery or homedepot/lowes to find a nice schefflera or ficus which is what most people use here along with a pothos. I hit the jackpot at a nursery after going to 4 different ones and hardware stores. They had tons of 2-5 ft schefflera, ficus, croton, etc for only $15 each! Other stores wanted 30-60 for a nice one. Just gotta repot it and cover the dirt with river rocks bigger than. A chameleons head. About the other stuff, I'm sure experienced member will contribute. Best of luck and welcome

 

[EveryGreen]

I hope you like the site! By the things I hear your gonna be a great owner

 

[Stinger]

Unlikepopcorn7 Wow You Lucky person , I'm sure they are the largest in the chameleon world ,next to Parsons .This Oustalets must have been pricey.
I would just look up there natural surrounding in the wild and see how you could introduce into you enclosure . That Big guy will definitely need variety food with combination of good gut loading . I'm in Ahh ! You will have to build a big Outdoor enclosure for him . Looking forward to see more posts on this . Big Boy . If I had one of those oustalets name would be Brutus. Would love to see More Pictures . Don't know much about the species ,but now you have me researching Thanks

 

[Stinger]

Calling All Oustalets Owners ,get in this Post. Looking forward to it.
I'm off to do research now . Amazing Beast.

 

[kinyonga]

How long is he tip of the nose to tip of the tail?
Re...falling asleep on your hand in the car...how cool was it in the car?

 

[Unlikepopcorn7]

Congratulations on your new chameleon! I want to start with im not any type of expert but i will help a bit as i see no one has yet and im sure all the experts will chime in soon. so one thing they are going to ask is what lighting setup do you have for him and what is the basking temp? also you are going to want a lot more foliage, some nice affordable trees would be a ficus or a dwarf umbrella tree which is my favorite and what i am using right now as i find the ficus just too temperamental for me. you also are going to want more branches for him to wander around on. what is the dimension of your cage is going to be another big thing asked.

This forum is very helpful and i have learned sooo much from all the wonderful people here. if you want a more detailed page to go to check this one out https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/chameleons/. that will give you tons of information for caring for chameleons. Once again congratulations on your new boy!

Reccomendation for a linear UVB lighting system for this guy?

 

[Unlikepopcorn7]

My 2c are to go to your local nursery or homedepot/lowes to find a nice schefflera or ficus which is what most people use here along with a pothos. I hit the jackpot at a nursery after going to 4 different ones and hardware stores. They had tons of 2-5 ft schefflera, ficus, croton, etc for only $15 each! Other stores wanted 30-60 for a nice one. Just gotta repot it and cover the dirt with river rocks bigger than. A chameleons head. About the other stuff, I'm sure experienced member will contribute. Best of luck and welcome

Reccomendation for a linear UVB lighting system for this guy? I was looking into the reptisun. Do you think the 5.0 is enough? his enclosure is 4feet tall by two feet wide and 2 feet long

 

[Unlikepopcorn7]

How long is he tip of the nose to tip of the tail?
Re...falling asleep on your hand in the car...how cool was it in the car?

ill have to measure, and it definatly wasn't warm

 

[nightanole]

Unlikepopcorn7 Wow You Lucky person , I'm sure they are the largest in the chameleon world ,next to Parsons .This Oustalets must have been pricey.
I would just look up there natural surrounding in the wild and see how you could introduce into you enclosure . That Big guy will definitely need variety food with combination of good gut loading . I'm in Ahh ! You will have to build a big Outdoor enclosure for him . Looking forward to see more posts on this . Big Boy . If I had one of those oustalets name would be Brutus. Would love to see More Pictures . Don't know much about the species ,but now you have me researching Thanks

Oust are like $75 a pop when they are in season. You would this alot of the large variety like parsons are expensive, but most are less than a good panther.

 

[nightanole]

Reccomendation for a linear UVB lighting system for this guy? I was looking into the reptisun. Do you think the 5.0 is enough? his enclosure is 4feet tall by two feet wide and 2 feet long

I shoe horned mine into one of those till he was a sub adult. Its kinda sad to see a 18"+ cham in a 24" dimension. I guess they can just run in circles. I ended up first putting 2 of those cages together so it was 4ft wide. By the time he was an adult i just ended up free ranging, with him hanging out in the cage and sleeping there.

For a 4ft cage you want a reptisun 10.0 at the min. With that you will get usable UV about 18" away. If you step up to an arcadia 6% with reflector you can get usable UV down to 36". I run an arcadia 6% in my 7ft tall cage and i can get 5.0 numbers half way down, and at 12" I can mimic a cloudy day outside.

 

[theintouchable88]

I shoe horned mine into one of those till he was a sub adult. Its kinda sad to see a 18"+ cham in a 24" dimension. I guess they can just run in circles. I ended up first putting 2 of those cages together so it was 4ft wide. By the time he was an adult i just ended up free ranging, with him hanging out in the cage and sleeping there.

For a 4ft cage you want a reptisun 10.0 at the min. With that you will get usable UV about 18" away. If you step up to an arcadia 6% with reflector you can get usable UV down to 36". I run an arcadia 6% in my 7ft tall cage and i can get 5.0 numbers half way down, and at 12" I can mimic a cloudy day outside.

U mean reptisun 5.0? Because the 10.0 is stronger than Arcadia 6% but similar to Arcadia 12% from my understanding and it's also recommended for desert reptiles or heavyly planted large enclosures

 

[theintouchable88]

Reccomendation for a linear UVB lighting system for this guy? I was looking into the reptisun. Do you think the 5.0 is enough? his enclosure is 4feet tall by two feet wide and 2 feet long

I use arcadia 6% which is similar but a little better to reptisun 5.0 from the forum recommendations. I haven't invested in a solar meter to know exactly uvb I'm getting in the cage but it's a baby cage for now. 36x18x18, til he gets older. I do have a schefflera that covers the whole cage and a pothos in a corner that is growing. My Cham does move around to different areas to self regulate so it's important to offer hiding/shade spots so he could do that. Again, it's my novice experience and I'm applying everything I've read over the 6 months I got ready to buy a chameleon. Hope that helps

 

[nightanole]

U mean reptisun 5.0? Because the 10.0 is stronger than Arcadia 6% but similar to Arcadia 12% from my understanding and it's also recommended for desert reptiles or heavyly planted large enclosures

They are not even close.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/uvb-reading-solarmeter-6-5.155626/#post-1329705

I think the marketing has got to you. A "desert" 10.0 at 12" is the same as an Arcadia 6% at 24". Now reptisun is getting on the T5 HO bandwagon, so now if you go with the marketing, the new reptisun T5HO 10.0 is 5-10x more UV than the T8 10.0, so it should be cooking all the poor reptiles in their skins.

I have provided meter readings for several popular bulbs and distances. So you can choose based on the height of the cage. I would not recommend an arcadia 6% for cages 3ft and shorter due to not providing a dead zone. Like wise a 12% would be fine for a 6-8ft tall cage and even provide full outdoor cloudy day UV output at 12".

 

[theintouchable88]

They are not even close.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/uvb-reading-solarmeter-6-5.155626/#post-1329705

I think the marketing has got to you. A "desert" 10.0 at 12" is the same as an Arcadia 6% at 24". Now reptisun is getting on the T5 HO bandwagon, so now if you go with the marketing, the new reptisun T5HO 10.0 is 5-10x more UV than the T8 10.0, so it should be cooking all the poor reptiles in their skins.

I have provided meter readings for several popular bulbs and distances. So you can choose based on the height of the cage. I would not recommend an arcadia 6% for cages 3ft and shorter due to not providing a dead zone. Like wise a 12% would be fine for a 6-8ft tall cage and even provide full outdoor cloudy day UV output at 12".

I was referring to t5 not t8 but yeah they did get me lol. That's good info there for op aswell. So a little off topic, for a bearded dragon that a reptisun 10.0 (t8) is recommended, an arcadia 6% would be enough if the distance is let's say about 12"? I'm due to change his uvb in the next 2 months and was gonna switch to Arcadia buy from what I now understand from your post, a 12% would be too much based on his distance being within 12"?

 

[nightanole]

I was referring to t5 not t8 but yeah they did get me lol. That's good info there for op aswell. So a little off topic, for a bearded dragon that a reptisun 10.0 (t8) is recommended, an arcadia 6% would be enough if the distance is let's say about 12"? I'm due to change his uvb in the next 2 months and was gonna switch to Arcadia buy from what I now understand from your post, a 12% would be too much based on his distance being within 12"?

A beardy needs 2-3x more uv than a cham due to their skin having more natural sun screen. If they are going to be hanging out at 12" then yea id save the money and just go with 6%. The other "trick" is to buy a 12% and wrap it in 50% light transfer screen which drops it to 6%, and then remove the screen as the bulb ages. I have a meter so i rotate the 12% into the cham cages once they get to the min output needed for the beardies.

Beardies need 75-100 µW/cm² of UVB, or about 1.5 UVI
Chams from at least Madagascar need 35 µW/cm² or about .5-.7 UVI.

Bulbs should be changed out when the hang out spots drop to about 1/3-1/2 those numbers.

Personally i rotate out the beardies when they start dipping below 1.0 UVI, and the chams once they get to .4 UVI. In reptisun terms, that is about a T8 at 6 months use time. I could go longer, but with the arcadias im only swapping bulbs every 2-2.5 years.

 

[EarlMT]

A beardy needs 2-3x more uv than a cham due to their skin having more natural sun screen. If they are going to be hanging out at 12" then yea id save the money and just go with 6%. The other "trick" is to buy a 12% and wrap it in 50% light transfer screen which drops it to 6%, and then remove the screen as the bulb ages. I have a meter so i rotate the 12% into the cham cages once they get to the min output needed for the beardies.

Beardies need 75-100 µW/cm² of UVB, or about 1.5 UVI
Chams from at least Madagascar need 35 µW/cm² or about .5-.7 UVI.

Bulbs should be changed out when the hang out spots drop to about 1/3-1/2 those numbers.

Personally i rotate out the beardies when they start dipping below 1.0 UVI, and the chams once they get to .4 UVI. In reptisun terms, that is about a T8 at 6 months use time. I could go longer, but with the arcadias im only swapping bulbs every 2-2.5 years.

Would an Arcadia 6℅ put out too high UVB at 8-12 inches? I currently have a reptisun and have been thinking about switching to one of those in the future. Also would you be able to use a housing for the Arcadia bulb that the reptisun bulb is in? Thanks!

 

[nightanole]

Would an Arcadia 6℅ put out too high UVB at 8-12 inches? I currently have a reptisun and have been thinking about switching to one of those in the future. Also would you be able to use a housing for the Arcadia bulb that the reptisun bulb is in? Thanks!

An arcadia 6% is meant for the 8-12" mark, and the 12% is meant for the 18-24" mark for the same output levels. T5 HO fixures are universal so yes you can switch inbetween both or even use the ultrasun from the marine division for additional non uv cage light.

Without meter readings have have no clue what the new reptisun T5HO bulbs put out, for all i know they are made at the same plant as the arcadias.

http://arcadia-reptile.com/safe-lighting-bearded-dragon/