So I do not know where you are seeing this. Rule of thumb a T5HO fixture single bulb with a 6% or 5.0 UVB bulb at 9 inches down will put out a UVI level of a 3 which is where you want Panthers and Veileds. Higher UVB can cause its own issues as does a lower UVB. IF you have the solarmeter 6.5 then that is fantastic your looking for that 3 UVI level at basking branch.
I want to keep hitting the like button...Exactly what the title says... So I am going to lay it out there for you. I have now been in this hobby for 8 months... I too was brand new and had no clue. With a Petco impulse buy and overwhelmed. I was an avid lurker on the forum searching threads and trying to process as much info as possible.
Why I decided to do this thread. Hopefully to inspire all you newbies that feel like you have gotten in over your head. While yes there is a lot to know and learn... AND BUY. I wanted to show you all how rough I started out. You will see me lining your help forms with RED BOLD. But I want you to know I was once in your shoes as well. I survived lol.
It is a process and I too am still growing and expanding.
It all started October 20th of 2018. I went to Petco to look at getting a betta fish for my desk. I work from home and the day to day gets a little well boring.. So I thought I would get a fish. I walked by the reptiles and realized that this little chameleon was following me across the front of the glass case. I went back and forth a few times to see if he was in fact following me. And he was. This was when Beman picked me. I went home trying to think up every rational excuse not to get him but after 3 days of him being my only thought and trying to find info via youtube and other sites (I had not found the forum yet) I went back and got my baby boy. He was roughly 4 months old at the time. The info I had found online was awful and the petco advice for what to buy was worse but I just did not know that yet... I spent $400 on everything they could sell me that was incorrect from the kit, supplements, all the extras, and of course mealworms. And did I mention I was told to gut load with just carrots.
This was the start of my journey... Now let me share with you my pics along with my progression from Day 1.
Here is my horrid day 1 set up. I did know that I needed more fake plants and vines... That the kit did not have enough. They had me buy a huge dish to collect the water... Oh and let me tell you how proud I was of myselfLike everything is wrong here right? RIGHT! It sucks... It is awful and nothing good can come from this set up. But I found the forum by day 3...
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This is Day 5... I got pothos plants and figured out how to use the exo terra bendable vines to loop around the pots while using tiny zip ties to secure them to the screen. This worked sooooooo well for me. I also got clear acrylic panels for the back and right side to keep the over spray in. I still could not figure out what to do with water run off. I was still lurking and had no idea what to look for in the forum. I was too scared to post and get feedback. I spent so much time reading it was crazy... I found lightyourreptiles.com and Todd helped me with lighting, supplements, gutload and directed me to dragonstrand.com for enclosures. I purchased lighting, supplements, and gutload from him. Dropped another $250 there correcting this area a bit more.
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I built him a play area next to my desk in the window... This is the first version
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On November 11th I ordered a cage from dragon strand... Still learning and still too scared to post I ordered my cage for his December build... Then contacted him a month later to see if there was a way to get a larger size... I had ordered one that would not accommodate a full size Male Veiled's height needs. This put me into the position of getting a new build that would ship in January. The Medium Tall Atrium. Dropped well a lot of $ here but it was worth it. Here is my build thread. You will see I was still learning what to use and what not to use and how to work with this cage type. https://www.chameleonforums.com/thr...-side-aka-bemans-mansion.167884/#post-1459296
I built another play area that was larger he was growing and needed more room... 2nd version... Much better then my 1st attempt... But this kept changing as he grew more curious. I had to screen the sides and the top to keep him from venturing out of it. He was always supervised but still it made me feel better knowing he was safer. This was about $100 bucks to build.
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The end of January I received my Dragon strand Medium Tall Atrium. 30 inches wide, 24 deep, and 48 tall.
This was the first run through in setting it up. I had added the mistking, fogger, and a ton of live plants but I was still using all fake vines... Not very good for chams to rub their eyes on these because they are at risk for getting pieces into their eyes which can cause permanent issues. I did not know this yet....
At this point I expanded my gutload as well including repashy bug burger into my mixture. Also I was diving into many more feeders... Silkworms, BSFL, Blue bottle spikes, dubia, and hornworms.
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This brings us to his current enclosure. I pulled all the fake vines and got wood branches from Michael's the beginning of March. I tore everything out and replaced it all. I also bought a Herpstat 2 dimming thermostat that controls the basking fixtures ensuring the perfect temperature. And another $250 there.
Looking pretty good right? Your thinking oh she has to be done with this cage now. Well then I had a bug chew its way out of the Michael's branches which in turn gave me a nervous break down
I will be working on the next version of Beman's enclosure Friday as I have collected a ton of drift wood from the beach that I washed and have been drying out.
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Here is his newest free range/play area... 5 ft high and 5 ft wide but it too is still a work in progress
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I have spent over $2,000 from day one. With buying the wrong stuff to buying the right stuff... Now I want to make it clear. You do not need to go out and spend a fortune to have a proper set up. I just happen to be a little overboard when it comes to my boy.
So the point of my story.... Most of us start here... Level one of the I have no idea what the heck I am doing... Then we progress... progress some more... and then a bit more. This is a hobby where you will always be learning.. From massive corrections in husbandry to making slight corrections here and there. It is really a learning process.
So for all the newbies and the lurkers. We welcome you and want you to know that you can ask for help. Be open to us and open to learning. Trust me you will learn so much quicker what you need to correct and what the best options to buy are. This will save you money in the end.
The end... for now
