New to Chams..started with hatchlings

[DerangedMonkey]

You said..."I don't know how to do the quotes ..so I'll try and remember what you said lol"...I just cut the part of a person's post I want to reply to and paste it into my reply...then add quote marks around each part as I reply.

You said..."Gender...no clue"... Check for tarsal Spurs next time you handle them.

You said..."I'm positive my two have a far better chance than other greenbacks. I'm dedicated to learn as fast as possible to provide them the best environment. Hence why I've lived here in these forums for days...I need to change my mailing address LOL"...I'm sure you'll do fine!

You said..."If you look above, I have pictures. Their lights are off to the corner and side. So they have heat and light escape. Always had to do this for my other reptiles. Just habit. Is this what you mean? I'll go ahead and post the same pic below."...that's what I meant. You do need a better UVB light though. Reptisun 5.0 or Arcadia 6% long linear tube lights are the most often recommended.

The die off usually happens in the first couple of months.

You said..."Also...if you look, you'll see the dripper. It is dripping onto a Money Tree, into the organic soil that is topped with 1-2 inch river rocks from my yard. They're clean and sanitized. It drips about every 5-10 seconds. Very slowly...but I hand mist 3 to 4 times a day. And I always avoid spraying them. Zero standing water."...see ...I told you you'd do ok! That's all good!

You said..."Regarding temps...if I remove the heat light, it drops to 70 degrees in their cage. Should I keep a heat lamp or no?"...you will likely have to have a small wattage heat light...a white household 40 watt incandescent light bulb should work.

You said..."I'm buying a small Nano Breeze. Will I need a heat lamp for that"...where do you live?

I live in Arizona. So very dry and very hot...but house kept cold by my non reptilian husband lol

And thank you so much for all the time to reply and help me out

 

[DerangedMonkey]

WOW! The colors are light.. Here is Rascal CA Desert--I am thinking the same but different local...
re-post pic
She is 5 years old and licensed.. Whoo Whoo

She is Beautiful! We don't have to license sulcata here...but all wild rescued desert torts must be. I'll have to look and see the difference between the species. Definitely a lot darker than the Mohave!

 

[DerangedMonkey]

As far as the UV lights. They are ok if set up right, but at best can only pernitrate 6 inches. So basically they become obsolete very quickly. On temp. Don't cook your cham. My babies did not see 78 till they were 5 months old with ambient in low 70. BUT why was your question. If we look at the area of Yemen they come from we see that the highest measured temps get into the 90s. So for years people have gone on this. But they do not stay out when it is that hot. Even large males go for shade. Babies, especially that young will be in bushes close to the ground with lots of cover. They will also live in the cooler wadis (dry valleys) not in the hottest part. So they can handle 90 but it is not where they would hang out. They would head for cover. t is bizarrely predictable. I twice had one get up into a bush/tree where I could not get her. But I knew when it got hot 90+ she would head to the cooler underside of the tree. Shure enough that is exactly what happened. From all my observations over 7 chams is 74 ambient and 80 max basking. An advantage of this is that my 3 1 year old females have not laid eggs, though the heat of the summer may be changing that. but still far less.

Thank you so much for explaining that. So I should just make sure they aren't getting below 70 and if they do...warm them up with a bit of heat. Correct?

 

[kinyonga]

You said..."And thank you so much for all the time to reply and help me out"... No problem...I lik to see the chameleons do well!

 

[CasqueAbove]

Thank you so much for explaining that. So I should just make sure they aren't getting below 70 and if they do...warm them up with a bit of heat. Correct?

Not exactly. At night you want the temp to go below 65 is best.

what you want is the ambient temp low 70s you will run a heat lamp for one hour in the morning and one hour in the afternoon/evening. That basking you want 80f. If it is available too long they can over due it so we limit time. They handle cold better than heat.
There is more to learn, at that age we need to be cautious. You will dust once a day per schedule, but you may not want to dust all the feeders. Just dust half of the amount of feeders as you would give at one feeding.
Get them live plants to climb on. That tank is ok at the moment but they will need more quickly.
I used bins about 10 gallons but I made screen tops that were another 12 in high. But you will need 2.
I have more on my site caskabove.com

 

[redhorse]

CasqeAbove----- nice site!

 

[DerangedMonkey]

Not exactly. At night you want the temp to go below 65 is best.

what you want is the ambient temp low 70s you will run a heat lamp for one hour in the morning and one hour in the afternoon/evening. That basking you want 80f. If it is available too long they can over due it so we limit time. They handle cold better than heat.
There is more to learn, at that age we need to be cautious. You will dust once a day per schedule, but you may not want to dust all the feeders. Just dust half of the amount of feeders as you would give at one feeding.
Get them live plants to climb on. That tank is ok at the moment but they will need more quickly.
I used bins about 10 gallons but I made screen tops that were another 12 in high. But you will need 2.
I have more on my site caskabove.com

Your site is awesome. I spent waaaaay too many hours on it reading instead of sleeping

 

[Aoakland]

soooooooo lots of changes need to be made.... See feedback in bold.

I recently purchased two hatchling Veiled Chams from a local breeder. I realize now, this is not ideal. But I'm dedicated to researching and providing the best possible care I can as a completely clueless newb. The two are only 1.5 weeks old. WAYYYYYY too young. This is less then ideal with no experience. They will not be able to be housed together once they hit 2-3 months old.

I have a couple questions.

Housing: I am housing them in a reptile aquarium, day temps are about 77 and night about 70. That is my first question...I can't find much info on temp drops for hatchlings. So I've been leery of them getting too cold. I am doing a 12/12 cycle on their UVB and day heat lamp. Night time, I'm using a black heat lamp so they have darkness. Is this appropriate? So this really is not ideal due to not having air flow. Get a screen enclosure. It can be a small/medium size since they are so tiny. No heat lamp at all right now. and you need a T5HO fixture with a 5.o linear uvb bulb. Compact is no good and they will die under it. You want to raise it 4 inches off the top of the enclosure then from the screen down you want 4-5 inches to the closest branches below. This will give you a total distance of 8-9 inches and if babies screen climb will keep them from reaching too high of UVB exposure levels. No heat lamp at all at night. Cool down is good for them.

Feeding and supplements: Right now they are on fruit flies, with pinheads being shipped. I dusted the container of fruit flies with Rep-Cal calcium without D. I have Cal with D and multivitamins on order. Do I need to start the rotation of once a week D/multis now...or wait until they're older? Right now you will dust everything every feeding calcium without D3. I need to know what Multivitamin you ordered to tell you how to rotate this in.

Once I get the pinheads, do I dust every day for hatchlings? Yep... See above.

Handling: Both seem to love us. They reach for my hand when I'm feeding or adjusting something in their enclosure. I've read on how handling stresses them, so I've been cautious...but they seem very trusting of me. Should I continue to allow them to climb on me? Are they trusting because they're young and will likely regress as they age? They are reaching because they are trying to get as high as possible. This makes them feel safer. Also the enclosure is very exposed. And they are not getting the UVB they need. Try to handle very little right now. They are fragile at this age. And since you are not familiar with chams and their colors or behavior you will not know what indicates stress or illness.

Anything else you might want to throw at me for dealing with hatchlings vs babies...that would be great! LOTS and lots of food. multiple times a day. Feed them as much as they want.

Start reading though this husbandry program it is extremely good and will walk you through a ton of info. https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-husbandry-program-getting-started-with-chameleons/

I haven’t read many of the recommendations so maybe someone already mentioned this. I found that real plants help a lot with the humidity levels, so if your budget will allow you to get real plants Id do that vs. fake vines etc. I struggled with the humidity when I first got my chameleon and living in Colorado doesn’t help but I found this to be very helpfu. Just wanted to through that in there for you incase you didn’t know. Pothos have been my favorite plant. Do keep in mind that chameleons, all breeds, are expensive to care for and require a lot of needs to be healthy. I definitely agree on separate enclosures especially if one of the babies are a male, male chameleons are very territorial. Of course at such a young age they won’t be territorial until they reach a “mature”age. My male didn’t show signs of being territorial until he was 5-6 months old, if you can though definitely separate them sooner than later to be safe. Check their hind feet, if there’s a heel or I’ve heard people also call it a spur on its back feet, that means it’s a male and yes the males are born with these.

 

[SpicyOrchid]

Everyone is already given great advice. So I don’t need to say much else except research - research - research.

I looked into a lot of exotic veterinarian articles as well as internet forums such as this one for various info. Moved on to YouTube videos. Which were very helpful. I have his first vet checkup this Monday. To examine his stool for parasites as well as screen for MBD and just my overall new parent worry.

I am new to chameleons myselI have experience with iguanas - which are quite different. I loved the idea of chameleons since they can thrive in an environment that is very similar to my orchid hobby.

Lighting. Lots of shade. Air circulation. Temp. & Humidity. All similar elements for orchids I raise. So I hope to keep him alive and watch him thrive.

I’m attaching pics of his cage setup. He’s a happy little pig so far.

Ps: the breeder should have broken everything down/educated you. And refrained from being greedy and selling two at once. Just sayin

 

[Gingero]

Feel free to check out my YouTube channel if you want to break up the reading with some videos: https://youtube.com/c/NeptunetheChameleon

The Chameleon Academy podcast is also one of my favorite ways to learn.

 

[DerangedMonkey]

I haven’t read many of the recommendations so maybe someone already mentioned this. I found that real plants help a lot with the humidity levels, so if your budget will allow you to get real plants Id do that vs. fake vines etc. I struggled with the humidity when I first got my chameleon and living in Colorado doesn’t help but I found this to be very helpfu. Just wanted to through that in there for you incase you didn’t know. Pothos have been my favorite plant. Do keep in mind that chameleons, all breeds, are expensive to care for and require a lot of needs to be healthy. I definitely agree on separate enclosures especially if one of the babies are a male, male chameleons are very territorial. Of course at such a young age they won’t be territorial until they reach a “mature”age. My male didn’t show signs of being territorial until he was 5-6 months old, if you can though definitely separate them sooner than later to be safe. Check their hind feet, if there’s a heel or I’ve heard people also call it a spur on its back feet, that means it’s a male and yes the males are born with these.

I am in a small town and finding plants that aren't dirty is impossible. I ordered several from Josh's Frogs and are being shipped. I have one Money Tree that is live that is in the enclosure now ...and a spider plant I'm letting root for a few days before I pot the offshoot.

I am pretty sure they're both female I was really hoping for both male. I'll post images.

 

[DerangedMonkey]

Feel free to check out my YouTube channel if you want to break up the reading with some videos: https://youtube.com/c/NeptunetheChameleon

The Chameleon Academy podcast is also one of my favorite ways to learn.

I'm your stalker girrrrl....I have insomnia because of you lol. Your videos are amazing!

 

[DerangedMonkey]

soooooooo lots of changes need to be made.... See feedback in bold.

I recently purchased two hatchling Veiled Chams from a local breeder. I realize now, this is not ideal. But I'm dedicated to researching and providing the best possible care I can as a completely clueless newb. The two are only 1.5 weeks old. WAYYYYYY too young. This is less then ideal with no experience. They will not be able to be housed together once they hit 2-3 months old.

I have a couple questions.

Housing: I am housing them in a reptile aquarium, day temps are about 77 and night about 70. That is my first question...I can't find much info on temp drops for hatchlings. So I've been leery of them getting too cold. I am doing a 12/12 cycle on their UVB and day heat lamp. Night time, I'm using a black heat lamp so they have darkness. Is this appropriate? So this really is not ideal due to not having air flow. Get a screen enclosure. It can be a small/medium size since they are so tiny. No heat lamp at all right now. and you need a T5HO fixture with a 5.o linear uvb bulb. Compact is no good and they will die under it. You want to raise it 4 inches off the top of the enclosure then from the screen down you want 4-5 inches to the closest branches below. This will give you a total distance of 8-9 inches and if babies screen climb will keep them from reaching too high of UVB exposure levels. No heat lamp at all at night. Cool down is good for them.

Feeding and supplements: Right now they are on fruit flies, with pinheads being shipped. I dusted the container of fruit flies with Rep-Cal calcium without D. I have Cal with D and multivitamins on order. Do I need to start the rotation of once a week D/multis now...or wait until they're older? Right now you will dust everything every feeding calcium without D3. I need to know what Multivitamin you ordered to tell you how to rotate this in.

Once I get the pinheads, do I dust every day for hatchlings? Yep... See above.

Handling: Both seem to love us. They reach for my hand when I'm feeding or adjusting something in their enclosure. I've read on how handling stresses them, so I've been cautious...but they seem very trusting of me. Should I continue to allow them to climb on me? Are they trusting because they're young and will likely regress as they age? They are reaching because they are trying to get as high as possible. This makes them feel safer. Also the enclosure is very exposed. And they are not getting the UVB they need. Try to handle very little right now. They are fragile at this age. And since you are not familiar with chams and their colors or behavior you will not know what indicates stress or illness.

Anything else you might want to throw at me for dealing with hatchlings vs babies...that would be great! LOTS and lots of food. multiple times a day. Feed them as much as they want.

Start reading though this husbandry program it is extremely good and will walk you through a ton of info. https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-husbandry-program-getting-started-with-chameleons/

@Beman I was able to get shots of their feet this morning. Two female? The first 2 are of one and the other 2 are of the other.