New Veiled Chameleon!
- Thread starter KamBam2019
- Start date
KamBam2019
New Member
What do you all think ?
KamaKamaChameleon!
Avid Member
Very nice maybe thing about getting more plants they love to be hidden!
Wonderful job! And the uvb strip light is running along the center of the top correct? Is the basking branch below the uvb? At what distance is your branch sitting below the uvb light? What is your basking temp now? You will want it to be no hotter then 85 for the little one. Do you have a little boy or girl? I would run additional vines through the center of the cage. Since baby is smaller they will help him get around. How is your humidity? When you get a moment fill out that form so we can double check everything. Then if something is off we can catch it now before any issues develop.
KamBam2019
New Member
Wonderful job! And the uvb strip light is running along the center of the top correct? Is the basking branch below the uvb? At what distance is your branch sitting below the uvb light? What is your basking temp now? You will want it to be no hotter then 85 for the little one. Do you have a little boy or girl? I would run additional vines through the center of the cage. Since baby is smaller they will help him get around. How is your humidity? When you get a moment fill out that form so we can double check everything. Then if something is off we can catch it now before any issues develop.
Ok I’ll answer the questions here in just a little. I’m on my phone so makes it a little harder to do such. Once I finish dinner I’ll sit down and fill out the form , and answer the questions.
I appreciate everything you guys are helping me with ! Thank you !
KamBam2019
New Member
My Chameleon : Veiled Chameleon , male, age now is almost 5 months. Been in my care since January 7th 2019.
Handling : I handle everyday. Before work and after work.
Feeding : Feeding crickets. Anywhere from 12 to 20 a day. Crickets are a bit bigger this time. So around 15 right now. Schedule is as follows : morning before 2 pm he eats about 10. I go to work at 2. Sis feeds him anywhere from 5 to 8. Gut loading with oranges and carrots .
Supplements: Exo Terra Calcium + D3 is used to dust crickets with. Schedule as of now is every time I feed.
Watering : I have a “Little Dripper” , a “Reptirain” system that runs every hour for 30 seconds, and I Mist twice a day.
Seen him drinking a few times. From the “Little dripper” and from water rolling off his face.
Fecal Description : solid and firm. Large urine part, and large fecal matter.
Cage type : Screen mesh cage , size 24x24x48
Lighting : I have a Zoo Med deep dome that runs a 100 W intense basking spot bulb. I have a Reptisun T8 20” Terrarium Hood that runs UVB lighting. Lights are on at 7 am off at 11:45 pm due to work schedule so I can get home and clean anything if needed.
Temperature : Basking spot is currently at 78. Sometimes up to 90 Fahrenheit. When Reptirain runs , cools down to about 78. Don’t know cage floor temp. Lowest overnight temps are 68 Fahrenheit. Measure these temps using Zoo Med Thermometer/Humidity Gauge.
Humidity: Currently at 61 percent. Goes up and down. Lowest I’ve seen is 47 percent. After Reptirain goes off (Every hour for 30 seconds) Humidity is 99. Using the Zoo Med Thermometer/Humidity Gauge.
Plants : All live plants. “Nest fern” “Pothos” “Ficus” “Spider plant” “Bromeliad”
Placement : Located in dining room. Odd place yes. But only place we have. Near a fan but it’s not being run. High traffic yes. My father , sister , and me. Top of cage is 77 inches off the floor.
Location: Located In Southern California.
Handling : I handle everyday. Before work and after work.
Feeding : Feeding crickets. Anywhere from 12 to 20 a day. Crickets are a bit bigger this time. So around 15 right now. Schedule is as follows : morning before 2 pm he eats about 10. I go to work at 2. Sis feeds him anywhere from 5 to 8. Gut loading with oranges and carrots .
Supplements: Exo Terra Calcium + D3 is used to dust crickets with. Schedule as of now is every time I feed.
Watering : I have a “Little Dripper” , a “Reptirain” system that runs every hour for 30 seconds, and I Mist twice a day.
Seen him drinking a few times. From the “Little dripper” and from water rolling off his face.
Fecal Description : solid and firm. Large urine part, and large fecal matter.
Cage type : Screen mesh cage , size 24x24x48
Lighting : I have a Zoo Med deep dome that runs a 100 W intense basking spot bulb. I have a Reptisun T8 20” Terrarium Hood that runs UVB lighting. Lights are on at 7 am off at 11:45 pm due to work schedule so I can get home and clean anything if needed.
Temperature : Basking spot is currently at 78. Sometimes up to 90 Fahrenheit. When Reptirain runs , cools down to about 78. Don’t know cage floor temp. Lowest overnight temps are 68 Fahrenheit. Measure these temps using Zoo Med Thermometer/Humidity Gauge.
Humidity: Currently at 61 percent. Goes up and down. Lowest I’ve seen is 47 percent. After Reptirain goes off (Every hour for 30 seconds) Humidity is 99. Using the Zoo Med Thermometer/Humidity Gauge.
Plants : All live plants. “Nest fern” “Pothos” “Ficus” “Spider plant” “Bromeliad”
Placement : Located in dining room. Odd place yes. But only place we have. Near a fan but it’s not being run. High traffic yes. My father , sister , and me. Top of cage is 77 inches off the floor.
Location: Located In Southern California.
KamBam2019
New Member
Breman:
UVB running across middle of cage.
Distance anywhere from 4 inches to 11 inches away.
Basking temp is at 82 f
I have a 5 month male veiled.
Lots of living plants and vines. They are growing quite quickly.
Humidity goes anywhere from 45 to 99. Reptirain runs every hour for 30 seconds. Good timer set for that ?
Thanks all.
UVB running across middle of cage.
Distance anywhere from 4 inches to 11 inches away.
Basking temp is at 82 f
I have a 5 month male veiled.
Lots of living plants and vines. They are growing quite quickly.
Humidity goes anywhere from 45 to 99. Reptirain runs every hour for 30 seconds. Good timer set for that ?
Thanks all.
I'm researching this lighting option. Both Zoo Med and Exo Terra options say up to 12 inches are the "danger zone" with the remainder being quite compatible with what adult vailed chameleon would need. I am strongly considering getting one. It's the closest type of light we can get to natural sun. Why would that be a bad thing? 4 foot enclosure is certainly tall enough to allow for proper thermoregulation and plants would welcome the light as well.
KamBam2019
New Member
And one more plant I forgot to mention which I bought today. Areca Palm! About a foot and a half tall. Can be seen in pictures I provided earlier In post.
Well I think doing your research is good. You should start your own thread on this. Let all the more experienced keepers give feedback. In all of my reading on UVB it has said the same on Mercury bulbs so I chose to stay away from them. Running a 12% arcadia T5 in a quad lighting system. You might wanna check out this episode on the Chameleon Breeder Podcast https://www.chameleonbreeder.com/podcast/ep-91-veiled-chameleon-lighting/
I think with UVB it is a fine line of too little exposure with a compact UVB bulb going to the more extreme of over exposure which can then still cause major issues. Getting a Solarmeter 6.5 is a very valuable tool to tell you exactly what your UVI levels are within your enclosure. Mercury bulbs also produce a very large amount of heat which you also want to make sure that your basking and ambient levels are appropriate.
With Chams we are trying to mimic their natural environment as well. Giving them a way to get out of the heat and light with lots of live foliage, varied food items, supplements, gutloading our feeders, Misting for water and humidity levels, foggers etc. In the wild when the UV index (UVI) hits extremely high levels of 10 and above Veileds retreat into the bushes to get away from the dangerous heat and UVI levels.
This all looks really good. Add a good 3-4 minute misting session in the afternoon so little guy can clean his eyes as well.
Also make sure your cage is completely drying out between misting sessions so you don't have issues with mold and such that can cause foot infections.
Ok so gutloading needs to be expanded more. Look here for info under gutload https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/food/ or buy resplashy bug burger.
Your supplements need to be corrected.Use calcium (without D3 or phosphorus) at nearly every feeding, multivitamin once every 2 weeks, and calcium with D3 once every 2 weeks. Right now using calcium with D3 on every feeding is really over supplementing him which will cause issues.
Misting see my comment in other post you did.
Feeding Since he will need time to digest try to feed first thing in the morning this gives him all day to bask and digest properly.
Lighting. Ok so this I know is hard due to everyones schedule but he has to be on a 12 hour cycle with total darkness during the night. Switch your cleaning to the morning or have your sister do it in the afternoon. Lights on at 7am then lights off at 7pm. You can do this by putting a black out curtain around the outside and avoid turning on any overhead lighting that may be near his cage. Take the drape off in the morning or at night when you get home and are ready to go to bed. It is very important for him to regulate his temp and be aloud to sleep deeply and he can only do this with total darkness in the cage.
Also try to keep that basking at 85. you can do this by buying a lower wattage bulb or getting a dome light with dimmer switch. This is what I have.
Additionally go into these sections and read all the info https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/
Also this one specifically for Veiled care https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/veiled/
As he ages you will need to start gradually decreasing feeders to get him on an every other day schedule. Also his basking temp will need to go up. So reading through the care sheet will help prepare you for these changes as well as give you additional info.
Otherwise you are off to a great start and making fantastic changes that will not only improve his life but allow you to give him everything he needs and become a fantastic keeper! Never stop learning... These are amazing little creatures and the fun is not only in the watching and caring for them but it also is withing the knowledge of their species.
Scarface24
Member
I used to have the compact uvb but when I started posting on here about it ppl told me it's very bad for them.so I upgraded to t5 ho pro best think let of so much more uvb.. go get one
