New owner questions

[Stazkilly]

Hi, we have a 3 month old male yemen cham. I have spent weeks reading and researching before buying him but now we have him I am finding so much conflicting advice everywhere I look.

Just a quick question, we were advised to get a 100w basking bulb. This is placed 6 inches above his basking spot, and I have set him temp at 29 Celsius. Is this fine? I have read that 100w is too high for chameleons.

I have taken loads of notes over the weeks and been watching chameleon academy YouTube which I saw recommended on this forum the other day. I've been following his guidance so far on his 2022 yemen chameleon care guide. So just to clarify if someone can help (sorry for all the questions)

We've been turning his lights on at 9am till 9pm.
Feeding him 5 to 6 bugs 3 times a day
I have a dripper which I was using to drip slowly all day but now am doing it an hour in the morning and an hour at night before I turn his lights off just to raise humidity before bed.
I have misted the cage in the morning, afternoon and again before I turn off his light.
In the day his humidity has been 60 to 70% and at night 90%
His basking temp I set at 29 Celsius, and his ambient temp is 24 at the moment during the day.
His temp at night has been around 16 Celsius.

Can anybody spot any changes I need to make, if any? please and thankyou, any advice and help is greatly appreciated

 

[Morpheo's Mom]

Hello. Reading over what you wrote I can say the basking temp is concerning. 29 Celsius is this at the branch or a few inches above? I ask because Yemen cham's have their casque you have to take into account when measuring temps. For a 3 month old you may want to lower the temp a couple of degrees. Also, recommended humidity for Yemen cham's is 30-50% during the day. These are the changes I would make with the information you gave. I am sure you will receive more feedback from others.

 

[Stazkilly]

Hello. Reading over what you wrote I can say the basking temp is concerning. 29 Celsius is this at the branch or a few inches above? I ask because Yemen cham's have their casque you have to take into account when measuring temps. For a 3 month old you may want to lower the temp a couple of degrees. Also, recommended humidity for Yemen cham's is 30-50% during the day. These are the changes I would make with the information you gave. I am sure you will receive more feedback from others.

Thanks for that. The temp is at the branch. Is 100w bulb fine or should I get a lower wattage?
Any tips on lowering humidity?

 

[Morpheo's Mom]

You definitely need to have the bulb up off the top of cage considering your cham probably screen climbs. I use an 8 inch dome with a 75 watt bulb. The bulb sits 9 inches above the screen and there is another 6 inches to the branch. As long as you have the right basking temps and your cham cannot get burned (screen climbing) it should be okay. Here is a link https://chameleonacademy.com/basics-heat-for-chameleons/

As far as humidity, do you have a mesh screen or glass?

 

[Stazkilly]

You definitely need to have the bulb up off the top of cage considering your cham probably screen climbs. I use an 8 inch dome with a 75 watt bulb. The bulb sits 9 inches above the screen and there is another 6 inches to the branch. As long as you have the right basking temps and your cham cannot get burned (screen climbing) it should be okay. Here is a link https://chameleonacademy.com/basics-heat-for-chameleons/

As far as humidity, do you have a mesh screen or glass?

Its mesh

 

[Morpheo's Mom]

hmmm. I live in a very dry part of the world so my experience with too much humidity is limited. I will tags some more knowledgeable people who may help. @kinyonga @Beman @MissSkittles

 

[BostonKeith]

skip the midday mist will help a little. Maybe some less misting for a day or 2 and let enclosure dry out? Are you using a bioactive setup? What are you using to measure humidity? Basking temps for Yemen should be 84 for male and 80 for female. Using a probe to measure air temp @ basking not surface. Hope this helps!

 

[Multivitamins]

What are the ambient temps in your area ? For instance I'm in southern California and don't need much for a Basking light since the temps tend to be pretty warm but it's dry so I'm using a mistking dripper and hand spraying as needed to keep hydration and humidity on lock. I keep a panther so temp requirements are slightly different but the ideas on how to find tune should be the same.

I had good luck with a adjustable dome lamp and also some wooden slats to life the light higher up until the right temps were achieved. It's nice that you you can lower the intensity on the adjustable lamp if your having trouble fine tuning.
Also I'd recommend using probe and infrared thermometer to verify temps until you get the right

 

[BostonKeith]

Household humidity usually hovers around the same levels. Then hoping most of us are in climate controlled houses I would keep the basking just lower the wattage. It could be the temps and midday misting causing higher rh levels to spike. 60-70 seems super high to get in a screened enclosure during the day. Whats your household humidity. Anything above 70% and serious damage to your home can happen over time. Most homes have a humidity level around 45% with climate control. I hope i typed all of this for nothing and your keeping him outside.

 

[Beman]

Hi there welcome to the forum. See my feedback in bold.

Hi, we have a 3 month old male yemen cham. I have spent weeks reading and researching before buying him but now we have him I am finding so much conflicting advice everywhere I look. This is extremely common...

Just a quick question, we were advised to get a 100w basking bulb. This is placed 6 inches above his basking spot, and I have set him temp at 29 Celsius. Is this fine? I have read that 100w is too high for chameleons. 100 watt is going to be too intense. I would go with a 60watt -75 watt max. Regular incandescent white household bulb. You only want temps at 80 max for a baby. Male would be 80-85 as an adult and a female would be 78-80 F as an adult. You want a 10 inch distance between bulb and branch. If baby is screen climbing then you need to raise is higher or thermal burns are an extreme risk along with dehydration.

I have taken loads of notes over the weeks and been watching chameleon academy YouTube which I saw recommended on this forum the other day. I've been following his guidance so far on his 2022 yemen chameleon care guide. So just to clarify if someone can help (sorry for all the questions) Chameleon academy is the right source to follow. Look up neptunes chameleon on youtube. She has some great videos and they are correct husbandry.

We've been turning his lights on at 9am till 9pm. This is good. Did you get the correct UVB lighting?
Feeding him 5 to 6 bugs 3 times a day This is not enough food for a 3 month old. Your looking more like 2-3 dozen a day easy. Feed morning and then like noon. No late day or evening feeding. If you can not do noon then add all feeders to the feeder run in the morning.
I have a dripper which I was using to drip slowly all day but now am doing it an hour in the morning and an hour at night before I turn his lights off just to raise humidity before bed.
I have misted the cage in the morning, afternoon and again before I turn off his light.
In the day his humidity has been 60 to 70% and at night 90% So you want 40-50% humidity for daytime for a veiled. Can you take a pic of your cage so we can see how you have it set up. What kind of gauge are you using to tell humidity analog or digital? And are you making sure you do not spray the probe?
His basking temp I set at 29 Celsius, and his ambient temp is 24 at the moment during the day. Too hot for a baby that young... How are you getting your temps?
His temp at night has been around 16 Celsius.

Can anybody spot any changes I need to make, if any? please and thankyou, any advice and help is greatly appreciated


Extra info...

 

[Stazkilly]

skip the midday mist will help a little. Maybe some less misting for a day or 2 and let enclosure dry out? Are you using a bioactive setup? What are you using to measure humidity? Basking temps for Yemen should be 84 for male and 80 for female. Using a probe to measure air temp @ basking not surface. Hope this helps!

Using a bioactive setup, and I have a hydrometer and thermometers, everywhere I read says different temps for basking its so confusing.

 

[Stazkilly]

What are the ambient temps in your area ? For instance I'm in southern California and don't need much for a Basking light since the temps tend to be pretty warm but it's dry so I'm using a mistking dripper and hand spraying as needed to keep hydration and humidity on lock. I keep a panther so temp requirements are slightly different but the ideas on how to find tune should be the same.

I had good luck with a adjustable dome lamp and also some wooden slats to life the light higher up until the right temps were achieved. It's nice that you you can lower the intensity on the adjustable lamp if your having trouble fine tuning.
Also I'd recommend using probe and infrared thermometer to verify temps until you get the right

I'm in england at the minute and our humidity in the day is reaching 90% some days. I have an adjustable dome light I've put it a little higher now thankyou

 

[BostonKeith]

https://chameleonacademy.com/veiled-chameleon-care/ this is the husbandry mist of us follow. I would use there basking temp suggestions. seemed like it was bioactive with such high daytime humidity

 

[Stazkilly]

Household humidity usually hovers around the same levels. Then hoping most of us are in climate controlled houses I would keep the basking just lower the wattage. It could be the temps and midday misting causing higher rh levels to spike. 60-70 seems super high to get in a screened enclosure during the day. Whats your household humidity. Anything above 70% and serious damage to your home can happen over time. Most homes have a humidity level around 45% with climate control. I hope i typed all of this for nothing and your keeping him outside.

In the uk were 90 humidity outside at the minute inside is 70% sometimes higher. This will change withong the next 6 weeks or so its just are terribly high humidity in summer

 

[BostonKeith]

i would improve your drainage layer do you have a drainage bucket? Pictures would help with a little more detail how you set up your layers in your bioactive setup

 

[Stazkilly]

Hi there welcome to the forum. See my feedback in bold.

Hi, we have a 3 month old male yemen cham. I have spent weeks reading and researching before buying him but now we have him I am finding so much conflicting advice everywhere I look. This is extremely common...

Just a quick question, we were advised to get a 100w basking bulb. This is placed 6 inches above his basking spot, and I have set him temp at 29 Celsius. Is this fine? I have read that 100w is too high for chameleons. 100 watt is going to be too intense. I would go with a 60watt -75 watt max. Regular incandescent white household bulb. You only want temps at 80 max for a baby. Male would be 80-85 as an adult and a female would be 78-80 F as an adult. You want a 10 inch distance between bulb and branch. If baby is screen climbing then you need to raise is higher or thermal burns are an extreme risk along with dehydration.

I have taken loads of notes over the weeks and been watching chameleon academy YouTube which I saw recommended on this forum the other day. I've been following his guidance so far on his 2022 yemen chameleon care guide. So just to clarify if someone can help (sorry for all the questions) Chameleon academy is the right source to follow. Look up neptunes chameleon on youtube. She has some great videos and they are correct husbandry.

We've been turning his lights on at 9am till 9pm. This is good. Did you get the correct UVB lighting?
Feeding him 5 to 6 bugs 3 times a day This is not enough food for a 3 month old. Your looking more like 2-3 dozen a day easy. Feed morning and then like noon. No late day or evening feeding. If you can not do noon then add all feeders to the feeder run in the morning.
I have a dripper which I was using to drip slowly all day but now am doing it an hour in the morning and an hour at night before I turn his lights off just to raise humidity before bed.
I have misted the cage in the morning, afternoon and again before I turn off his light.
In the day his humidity has been 60 to 70% and at night 90% So you want 40-50% humidity for daytime for a veiled. Can you take a pic of your cage so we can see how you have it set up. What kind of gauge are you using to tell humidity analog or digital? And are you making sure you do not spray the probe?
His basking temp I set at 29 Celsius, and his ambient temp is 24 at the moment during the day. Too hot for a baby that young... How are you getting your temps?
His temp at night has been around 16 Celsius.

Can anybody spot any changes I need to make, if any? please and thankyou, any advice and help is greatly appreciated


Extra info...


View attachment 327058View attachment 327059View attachment 327060

Hi thanks for your reply very helpful. I am using a digital humidity reader and I have 3 temp probes one at the basking spot them the humidity probe midway then a thermometer at the bottom.

I have raised his bulb higher, also when you say regular household lamp you mean a basic light id put in my house light? I don't need an actual basking lamp?

 

[BostonKeith]

Hi thanks for your reply very helpful. I am using a digital humidity reader and I have 3 temp probes one at the basking spot them the humidity probe midway then a thermometer at the bottom.

I have raised his bulb higher, also when you say regular household lamp you mean a basic light id put in my house light? I don't need an actual basking lamp?

yes a incandescent lightbulb not one of the new led ones a old-school one.

 

[Stazkilly]

i would improve your drainage layer do you have a drainage bucket? Pictures would help with a little more detail how you set up your layers in your bioactive setup

yes a incandescent lightbulb not one of the new led ones a old-school one.

Ah ok great ill order one today.

 

[BostonKeith]

a lightbulb or tray? I would try to see if your drainage is actually an issue 1st. Pictures helo alot as it would give people an idea of what might be going on. If inside your house in 70% rh then i would suggest using a ac or dehumidifier in a room to suck some moisture out. It very well could be your enclosure is super wet and is raising rh in your room. So more info would help us help you!

 

[BostonKeith]

Deleted replied to wrong thread !