New to the forums, new to chameleons

T

Teckdragon

New Member
Greetings all! I'm new to your forums after purchasing my very first chameleon, (a veiled) yesterday at Daytona courtesy of Chris Anderson and FLChams. I had met Chris a few weeks prior to the show and was able to view his private collection. For someone already considering a chameleon, that was all the motivation I needed. The man knows his stuff and was a pleasure to work with. Very helpful!

I'm an experienced herper, having successfully kept various species including turtles, pythons, boas, Red-Eyed Tree Frogs, iguanas, Pacman frogs, geckos, and a handful of others I'm probably forgetting. I've always wanted a chameleon and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to venture into the world that is these colorful little lizards.

While I'm here I hope to gain a solid understanding of quality husbandry as well as tips for keeping veiled chameleons in a naturalistic screened enclosure. If anyone has any experience with this and can point me in the direction of a few solid threads regarding said naturalistic setups, it would be much appreciated. He's currently being housed in a ZooMed Reptibreeze 16"x16"x20" with a few fake plants while he acclimates.

Lastly, here's a couple pictures of the new guy! Male, juvenile veiled.






 
Welcome to the forums and the wonderful world of chameleons.
I've found this site very informative and I'm sure if you look around you'll learn a few things. (in fact Chris Anderson has some very informative post here and there are many keepers with decades of experience that post great info on a regular bases)

What do you mean by naturalistic? like fully planted (like a dart viv)?
I think you could do something that looks very natural but if your talking about a self contained eco system (well sorta) I don't think it would work very well for most larger chams, "benign neglect" that works for a frog would be a killer to a cham in a typical cage setting. Maybe for pygmies (don't know as I don't have them but from post their vivs seem more like a frog's)
 
And welcome from me too, lovely looking Chameleon you've got there :)
 
Stanly said:
What do you mean by naturalistic? like fully planted (like a dart viv)?
I think you could do something that looks very natural but if your talking about a self contained eco system (well sorta) I don't think it would work very well for most larger chams, "benign neglect" that works for a frog would be a killer to a cham in a typical cage setting. Maybe for pygmies (don't know as I don't have them but from post their vivs seem more like a frog's)
Click to expand...
And this is not true, really - the only problem I had with a naturalistic Chameleon viv was that the crickets bred in it too easily and my female Veiled was getting too fat!
Could have been solved easily by cup feeding from the start, but to be honest I liked the idea of the crickets breeding in there a little bit, and it didn't work in practise.
Now she's moved into her adult viv, I still have substrate and live plants, but have struck a slightly more practical balance........no more difficult for a naturalistic Cham setup as any other rainforest lizard.
 
SonTigerPantherCham said:
Hi hon!, (Dave) I have missed you! Where you been?
anne
Click to expand...
I have lots of work and hobbies and friends to play with in real life..........can't be on here every week, now matter how good the company :). I do look in almost every day, but have just slowed down the posting now.
 
DavidBuchan said:
And this is not true, really - the only problem I had with a naturalistic Chameleon viv was that the crickets bred in it too easily and my female Veiled was getting too fat!
Could have been solved easily by cup feeding from the start, but to be honest I liked the idea of the crickets breeding in there a little bit, and it didn't work in practise.
Now she's moved into her adult viv, I still have substrate and live plants, but have struck a slightly more practical balance........no more difficult for a naturalistic Cham setup as any other rainforest lizard.
Click to expand...

I stand corrected, I would think bacteria growth would be a issue (unless it was a huge area so the cham wouldn't be breathing it)

I'm curious what was your setup like? I've thought of doing a semi planted cage (using a planter box but still cleaning every thing up monthly (plus spot cleaning daily)
 
Stanly said:
I stand corrected, I would think bacteria growth would be a issue (unless it was a huge area so the cham wouldn't be breathing it)

I'm curious what was your setup like? I've thought of doing a semi planted cage (using a planter box but still cleaning every thing up monthly (plus spot cleaning daily)
Click to expand...

You still have to let it dry out between mistings (as far as possible) - drainage is easy with a little gravel layer under the soil.
Here is a pic which only shows the hot end (not much foliage), but I didn't take many of it I'm afraid - https://www.chameleonforums.com/mem...ished-setup-picture10640-smaller-viv-001.html
I had some tiny millipedes and some springtails performing a truly admirable job as detritivores......of course cleaning is still a chore to pick up poop and any old cricket food. Not much more effort to clean than yours though, I reckon :)
 
Thanks for the responses. I'll probably skip doing a fully panted viv for now until I can get an XL Exo Terra. For now, I'd just like to incorporate a few live plants and maybe tie up the vines to make them look a little more aesthetically pleasing.

His name is Soren, btw.
 
Teckdragon said:
Thanks for the responses. I'll probably skip doing a fully panted viv for now until I can get an XL Exo Terra. For now, I'd just like to incorporate a few live plants and maybe tie up the vines to make them look a little more aesthetically pleasing.

His name is Soren, btw.
Click to expand...

I definitely recommend some live plants as they help with humidity, o2 and imo just look better (I do like the fake bendy vines for extra pathways).

I've had the best luck with schefflera and but there are a number of safe plants (just be sure they're cham safe, veileds do munch on plants I'm told)
Hibiscus look great if you can keep them (they need alot of light).
 
yes welcome to the forums, if your looking for experienced chameleon owners you should stay on this forum you would be surprised what you can learn here :) anyways something i do with my female veiled cham is i keep her free ranged! i use 3 focuses next to each other, and she is very happy with that,
 
Here's the cage as it currently resides:

308179_10100384033111411_5021305_53216174_6826854_n.jpg


Hibiscus with a few pieces of ghostwood for bracing & mobility. UV light is up top and the heat lamp is mounted sideways since there's no room on top for it. Do you think I should include some bendy vines or is this enough since he's still very small?
 
More bendy vines and foliage is very rarely a problem for a Cham. Especially when young, he'll be more comfortable with more going on in there - it should take a little while to find him when you have a look, then you'll know he's doing his Chameleony thing :)
 
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