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[RangoYoshiMtz]

We bought this chameleon for our little 8 year old boy but we dont really what kind it is. Im attaching some pictures anyone who can tell me what he/she is. My son name him RangoYoshiMtz jaja how appropriate. We got him a terrain with some logs and a vine.

 

[mbondy]

Welcome to the forums, this a great place to learn about chams and get any help. Someone else on here will give you an idea of what type of cham you have.

Anyways, do you have a plant in your chams enclosure? What lights are you using, supplements, watering, and temperature?

Congrats on your new addition

 

[RangoYoshiMtz]

we have him on a 10 gallon tank we have him with a vine and a live plant we mist the tank 2 times a day we have 2 light nite and day we bough at a local store red and blue 60 watt tempeture its from 80 to 85 humity its at 50 but usually at 70 or 80

 

[RangoYoshiMtz]

picture

picture of terranium

 

[VeiledChams]

Hello and Welcome!

First off, dont pay attention to pet stores. 9 out of 10 times, they dont know what they are talking about.

Now, I am not sure what type of chameleon you have ther,e but you got it from a pet store, so chances are you're gonna encounter some problems. You're gonna want to get him out of that 10 gallon tank and into a screened enclosure or a much bigger exo-terra glass terrarium. I suggest screened enclosure as you dont have to worry with water build up on the bottom and having to empty it out daily. Also, NO lights at night. they need their sleep (do you see lights in a forest???)

Somebody should be able to identify the species, I am way too tired to do so now lol. Once that is done, more specifics could be given on adequate temperatures for your cham, along with food intake, humidity, water intake and all the other good stuff.

When you put him in a much larger enclosure, you're gonna want to add some live plants and many vines for him to walk on. His food should consist of crickets, superworms, mealworms, hornworms, dubia roaches, waxworms, silkworms, grasshoppers, etc. You have to dust them with supplements. Calcium W/O D3 every feeding, calcium w/ D3 2x a month, and multivitamins 2x a month.

You're gonna have to make changes very quickly (i'd have everything ordered by sunday) otherwise your cham will sadly suffer.

Chameleons are AROBOREAL (there are other species like pygmies which arent but yours definitely is). So your setup is not appropriate for the cham. You need to make changes ASAP. Get the mulch or whatever substrate you have out of there immediately and that little hut doesnt work for chameleons. Its for other lizards such as geckos.

 

[RangoYoshiMtz]

thanks yea i figured the light at nite is no use actually i got him from a friend who has some jacksons and panthers and some other chams and reptiles we hope to learn from all the members and expand out cham family

 

[mbondy]

Did you by any chance buy him from a pet store? Just by the enclosure I can only guess.

First off, most keepers keep their chams in a screen enclosure to help with proper ventilation, there are keepers that also use glass enclosure but their set up is different. Here's a pic for reference of what a pretty good cage looks like, I've added more vines since the pic. I would get a small screen enclosure, a repti-breeze 16x16x20. Once your cham is an adult you have to upgrade to a larger cage. You can keep him in glass but it's harder to control temps. Also NO substrate!

Also do you not have a UVB? You'll need a 5.0 tube Repti-Glo or Repti-Sun UVB. You can also use a basic housebulb for a basking light. Your light schedule should be 12 on 12 off. There's no need to have lights on at night unless you've freezing temperatures. Chams typically like a 10-15 degree temp drop. Your temps are ok, your baby looks small so keep the basking temp around 82 and you should have ambient temps in the 70s.

You will also need to mist more, about 3-4 times a day. Your humidity is also quite good. You'll need supplements to dust your feeders. A calcium with no D-3 or phosphorous used daily, a calcium with D3 used twice a month, and a multivitamin used 1-2 times a month.

EDIT: @ VeiledChams - way to beat me to it!!! lol

 

[RangoYoshiMtz]

well no the cham i got from a friend not from a pet store and im feeding him small crikets like 4 a day from the pet store i feed the crickets the yellow gel for water and the orange cubes for food we bought the calcium to dust the crickets but we forget to do it

 

[mbondy]

well no the cham i got from a friend not from a pet store and im feeding him small crikets like 4 a day from the pet store i feed the crickets the yellow gel for water and the orange cubes for food we bought the calcium to dust the crickets but we forget to do it

Ok you should be feeding anywhere from 15-20 crickets a day, crickets should be no larger then the space between his eyes. You need a better gutload as well, feed your crickets fresh veggies and fruits, it is very important your crickets are fed a good diet to be nutritious for your cham. It is also important that you remember to dust, if you don't you can end up with a sick cham and a bunch of vet bills.

 

[kinyonga]

Looks like a male Senegal chameleon.

It also looks like it might have a bit of mouth rot at the tip of its mouth....if it does it will need to be treated.

The cage "furniture" (log, substrate) needs a lot of changing as does the size of cage..as was already mentioned. The cage can be glass or screen, partly depending on where you live and whether you have air conditioning or not.

For a basking light (on only during the daytime) you can use a regular incandescent household bulb in a domed hood added to one corner over the lid of the cage. This will create a warm end and a cooler area for the chameleon. You need no heat (and definitely no light) at night...unless your room temperature drops to the low 60'sF.

Senegals are water hounds so you need to make sure it drinks every day if possible. You can mist the cage and also set up a dripper. The dripper can be as simple as a disposable plastic cup with a very tiny hole in the bottom of it (so that it drips at the rate of one or two drips per second)...or more elaborate if you wish.

Here's some information I hope will help you with things like supplements, gutloading, etc....
Appropriate cage temperatures aid in digestion and thus play a part indirectly in nutrient absorption.

Exposure to UVB from either direct sunlight or a proper UVB light allows the chameleon to produce D3 so that it can use the calcium in its system to make/keep the bones strong and be used in other systems in the chameleon as well. The UVB should not pass through glass or plastic no matter whether its from the sun or the UVB light. The most often recommended UVB light is the long linear fluorescent Repti-sun 5.0 tube light. Some of the compacts, spirals and tube lights have caused health issues, but so far there have been no bad reports against this one.

A wide variety of insects that have been well fed and gutloaded should be fed to it. At that size you only need to feed it every two or three days. Feed it enough that it doesn't get fat (and, of course, doesn't get thin either).

Since many of the feeder insects we use in captivity have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorus in them, its important to dust the insects just before you feed them to the chameleon at most feedings with a phos.-free calcium powder to help make up for it. (I use Rep-cal phosphorus-free calcium).

If you also dust twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder it will ensure that your chameleon gets some D3 without overdoing it. It leaves the chameleon to produce the rest of what it needs through its exposure to the UVB light. D3 from supplements can build up in the system but D3 produced from exposure to UVB shouldn't as long as the chameleon can move in and out of it. (I use Rep-cal phos.-free calcium/D3).

Dusting twice a month as well with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A will ensure that the chameleon gets some vitamins without the danger of overdosing the vitamin A. PrEformed sources of vitamin A can build up in the system and may prevent the D3 from doing its job and push the chameleon towards MBD. However, there is controversy as to whether all/any chameleons can convert the beta carotene and so some people give some prEformed vitamin A once in a while. (I use herptivite which has beta carotene.)

Gutloading/feeding the insects well helps to provide what the chameleon needs. I gutload crickets, roaches, locusts, superworms, etc. with an assortment of greens (dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, zucchini, etc.)

Calcium, phos., D3 and vitamin A are important players in bone health and other systems in the chameleon (muscles, etc.) and they need to be in balance. When trying to balance them, you need to look at the supplements, what you feed the insects and what you feed the chameleon.

Here are some good sites for you to read too...
http://chameleonnews.com/07FebWheelock.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200605020...Vitamin.A.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200406080...d.Calcium.html
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
http://web.archive.org/web/200601140...ww.adcham.com/
If you can't access the sites above that have the word "archive" in you can do it through the WayBackMachine.