Newbie.

Ad'z

Ad'z

New Member
Hello fellow chameleon keepers. I have recently joined the forum so thought I'd say hello :). I'm from the uk (England) and am collecting my first male veiled chameleon this Saturday so am very excited. I have been coming to this forum for the past 6/7 weeks for a lot of information on them while I've been setting up my vivarium. I've also found out alot of info from online from other sources and have spent quite a bit of time and money on my setup (y).

The story why me and partner want one is we went on holiday to Mallorca Spain and went into a reptile centre where they had many different reptiles. We came across this full grown male veiled and the owner got him out and put it on my partners arm. He than began to slowly move up onto her shoulder and then head. We straight away said "we've got to get one of these" as we are animal lovers and have had a 6ft corn snake in the past along with an affrican grey parrot and have 2 cats and a tropical fish tank.

So when we got home 2 days later we began to do some research. I didn't even realise we had chameleons captive bred in this country untill then as I've never really thought about them being a pet. So we went and bought a cage with the correct bulbs, thermostat, thermometers/hydrometer, spray bottle, plants/vines ect, calcium with d3, bug cage and a few other bits. We also made our own back ground and side walls (even though the chameleon probably won't go on ito_O) which took alot of time and effort after doing research on building your own backgrounds using correct materials/methods ect.

A lot of people may not agree but I have gone bioactive so please don't bite my head off:eek: I have also done many hours research on this and have the correct plants e.g ficus, hibiscus, spider plant and a pathos. I have lots of clean leaf matter and clean bits of wood on the floor to cover any substrate and am waiting for some moss this week to cover the top of the ficus pot in the middle as I've left this in a pot to control the growth of it. I have other things I have done aswell but feel I'm going on a bit here so I'll try and get a pic up if I can. Thanks for reading and I look forward to being part of this forum in the years to come....;)
 

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I also done alot of reading with regards to ventilation and know that chameleons like a good air flow. The cage has vents in the back wall which I have cut out of the background so the air flows. I've also drilled out 3 75mm holes with vents in the top of the cage above the lights because of heat build up. It also has vents in the top and bottom alloy rails. I have some fans with a built in thermostat being delivered this week to control the heat and air flow as a back up as the temps right at the top can get to 33 degrees c and its not summer over here at the moment. The temps and humidity are fine and I have been monitoring it for 2/3 weeks now so I think I'm ready.... thanks for the advice though chap.
 
You've got a really nice looking setup! Though just a forewarning: Hibiscus plants need quite a bit of light to stay happy. Good luck
 
So glass is perfectly fine when done right and from wat I can tell your set up is done great (y) and from wat I have Hurd most ppl in the UK go with glass I'm in the us and open air is more popular here but I can't see a problem with your enclosure as long as the humidity stays around 40/55 with Spike's from 70/80 when you spray it down
 
Ad'z said:
I also done alot of reading with regards to ventilation and know that chameleons like a good air flow. The cage has vents in the back wall which I have cut out of the background so the air flows. I've also drilled out 3 75mm holes with vents in the top of the cage above the lights because of heat build up. It also has vents in the top and bottom alloy rails. I have some fans with a built in thermostat being delivered this week to control the heat and air flow as a back up as the temps right at the top can get to 33 degrees c and its not summer over here at the moment. The temps and humidity are fine and I have been monitoring it for 2/3 weeks now so I think I'm ready.... thanks for the advice though chap.
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Okay then you're good to go! Im happy you didn't forget ventilation. Im sure your new family member will be very happy!
 
Welcome to the forums!

First of all, good job doing as much research as you have before purchasing.

Second, if you have not read this thread, you should. ( sorry, doesn't send you to the first page)

https://www.chameleonforums.com/posts/293354/

It has a lot of good information about glass for chameleon. Keep us posted on how he does, not many keepers in the US ue glass. Or atleast not compared to how many use screen.
 
Welcome to the forums! Can't wait to see pictures when you get him! Having a Cham is a blast!

One thing I saw in reading through your post was that you have calcium with D3. D3 should only be given twice a month unless it's something like Rapashy Calcium Plus, that one is an all in one. If it's not, then you will need calcium without D3 to dust feeders with daily, then the calcium with D3 twice a month and a multi vitamin twice a month.

Your Viv looks awesome. I wish I had the patience to do a bioactive. Keep us posted when you get him. Really pour over the care sheets on this forum. Unfortunatly there is a lot of misinformation out there even on-line. Good luck!!
 
Peachypink said:
Welcome to the forums! Can't wait to see pictures when you get him! Having a Cham is a blast!

One thing I saw in reading through your post was that you have calcium with D3. D3 should only be given twice a month unless it's something like Rapashy Calcium Plus, that one is an all in one. If it's not, then you will need calcium without D3 to dust feeders with daily, then the calcium with D3 twice a month and a multi vitamin twice a month.

Your Viv looks awesome. I wish I had the patience to do a bioactive. Keep us posted when you get him. Really pour over the care sheets on this forum. Unfortunatly there is a lot of misinformation out there even on-line. Good luck!!
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I was going to ask the pet shop on Saturday about the whole calcium and vitamin thing as I've read/heard a lot of different things but I will be getting a genaral calcium dust aswell if that's what I need. Thanks for letting me know.

KeopiCat- I understand the issue with the hibiscus plants, I like the fact they have flowers but can see they grow at a very slow rate in the cage due to not much light. I am green fingered in the garden so do understand that plants need light ect. Plus I'm thinking when I get 'Vinnie' he is going to eat it anyway.....

The tank is actually wooden (not sure how long it will last) with glass doors but I made it as water proof as possible as I know wood doesn't do well with humidity. I'm in the building trade and love using my hands so am very good at d.i.y and can do most things, plus I have a brain and use it with a thing called common sense. I need to show you all my home made dripped/mister system but that is another story so maybe later. I'm off to work now.... 2 days to go till I get him.....:)
 
Looking good just warning the bark at the botterm my baby chameleon used to eat it by mistake and of swallowed can cause problem.

If remove and leave it bare easier to clean also .
 
RandellTheCham said:
I think its bark anyways
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No I havn't got bark like the small orchid sort, it's actual bark from the side of logs and stumps ect. I have read about impaction and really don't want that to happen to be honest so have tried to cover all the ground with various leaves and bark. It's mostly the leaves you can see in the picture.
 
I don't think being inpacted from bark is necessary the big problem with bark I believe most of use worry more about a feeder getting on the bark then the cham shooting it of and a small piece of the bark getting lodged in the chameleons tongue . making it where it can't no longer feed . probably unlikely but avoidable
 
I see what your saying but that could be the same thing if the bark started to strip on the climbing branches and became loose. I will be keeping a VERY close eye on every thing so as soon as I see something like loose/rotten bark I will remove it. I'm hoping to keep the feeding in the top half of the cage plus I've made a homemade cricket feeder so hope he takes to it....(y)
 
Lol yea that's why I shaved the bark off my climbing branches and used a schefflera arboricola plant it don't really have bark but lots of cham keeper's that I personally respect say bark is nothing to worry about I'm just the paranoid type I guess lol
 
Replife said:
bark is nothing to worry about I'm just the paranoid type I guess lol
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You've got me thinking now but I'm sure all will be fine, like I say if I see anything looking dodgy I will be removing it. These guys must have a nightmare in the wild....
 
This is Vinnie, I got him today and he is four months old. He looks to be in good shape, maybe a bit slim?
IMG_1128.JPG
 
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