Opinions and suggestions.

[Agentspades]

Hello everyone. I recently became the proud owner of a 4 month old male veiled cham. In the past I had 2 females that did not do good and neither survived for more than a couple of months. I want to make sure that I take the best possible care of this little guy. I have him in a large reptarium with a waterfall purchased from petsmart and lots of fake greenery that I got from an arts store. I mist him about twice a day and feed him gut loaded crickets dusted with rep-cal powder and small meal worms. As far as the lighting I have a 100w spot basking bulb and a UV light also purchased from petsmart that I keep on from about 7 am till about 7 pm. Basically I am asking what else if anything should I be doing or should I change anything. Thank you in advance.

 

[Brad Ramsey]

Be careful of the waterfall.
These are hard to maintain and keep clean and are not the best way to provide water.
The best way to make sure he has an adequate supply of fresh drinking water is to set up a drip system.
You can buy the big or little dripper or make your own with a large deli cup that has a pin hole pushed in the bottom.
This is sat on top, or suspended above the enclosure so that the water drips down onto the leaves of a plant.
Place an additional container on the bottom to collect the water. I stretch netting over my collection cup with a rubberband to prevent any accidents or drowned crickets.
Consider adding some safe live plants to your enclosure. Washed to remove any pesticides or fertilizer, pothos, spider/ airplane plant, hibiscus and ficus benjamina are some to choose from.
Your veiled will consume some of this plant matter. Additionally you can offer him freshly washed dandelion or collard greens (mine loves collards).
As far as your lighting is concerned, 100 watt basking lamp might be too hot. How far away from the enclosure is it mounted? What kind of uv lamp did you get at petsmart?
Congratulations and keep us posted!

-Brad

 

[Stuey!]

yea drowned crickets is a problem. once i had about a centimeter of water on the floor, maybe less, and one cricket when there and drowned. i couldnt belive it.

 

[ChameleonsTree]

Remove the waterfall immediately...its just a bad idea

 

[Agentspades]

Im not sure what kind of UV light it is, its a hood with a long light bulb in it. The basking spot lamp is on top of the cage, the bulb is in a clamp light. I put my hand in his cage for a few minutes and it does not seem to get too hot in there, should I move the light away or get a smaller bulb? Does anyone have any links on where I can purchase a drip system, poor guy he just loves the waterfall.

 

[Jordan]

The most common one I have seen sell at pet stores is a ESU slimline. It comes with the bulb and ballist. It puts of 7% Uvb which is adequate for a veiled. If this is the bulb you have it will have a plastic cover over the light. Remove the plastic cover. This will block and absorb 99.9% Uvb.

Does not sound like you are off to a bad start with the set-up. I would suggest some live plants. Veileds will eat them from time to time. It is hard to know when they are going to start eating them so it is better to go ahead and give them live plants. At Home Depot, Lowes...etc...you have a couple of good options for plants. My favorite for the veiled is a Schefferella Abricola. These are non toxic, do okay in the cage enviroment and are cheap. A 26-36" plant in my area retails for about $8. The soil they come in are not usually the best. It contains perlite (little white balls) which if ingested can cause serious problems. You will probably need a new bag of potting soil, no perlite, and kind of strain it for big debri when you repot the plant. Probably cost about $5 for the soil. Most places spray pesticides on their plants so washing all the leaves with soap and water in the tub is a good idea. These plants in particular need bright light to thrive. With 100w basking bulb this should not be to much of a problem. Placement so that all most of the leaves get good exposure on the basking bulb side will help them do better. I always have bought my plants with a tape measure and placement in mind when deciding between them.

Waterfalls as said are not really to good for chameleons. For awhile they may reconize them as a source for water but that will probably go away. They do however love to crap in water (not sure why but you will see it eventually). So if they do decide to drink from it, it is not usually good. Crickets are dumb so you will keep picking them out too. In an aquarium a waterfall like this would help humidity tremedously in an open air cage it will not do a thing for it.

One thing I like to use is digital thermometers/hydrometers. These give you an idea of what is going on in the cage. Whether you are having unseen problems. Alot of times say when seasons change you may switch the basking bulb wattage. After you use one of these in conjunction with some thought on your own you can set-up a good misting arrangement to keep the humidity up a good deal while still allowing the bottom to dry up a bit. These sell from $12-50. I bought a cheapy. It has a thermometer to measure temperature at the display. I use this to measure the ambient temperature of the cage. It has a probe designed to stick outside of your house so you know the temperature outside. I use this to measure the basking temperature. At the display house it will also measure humidity.

 

[jleahl]

Drip systems should be at Petsmart or another large pet store...if you have a smaller local store, the owners may know more and may be able to help you find the right equipment. I got a Big Dripper, has a large container w/a tube that you can adjust flow rates; but I have used a 1g water jug and poked a tiny hole in it and it works too. UV light should not pass through plastic or glass; if you got the fixture and it has a plastic cover over the light, you need to unscrew the plastic and remove it. Get a relatively inexpensive thermometer... the Flukers thermometer/hygrometer is great, but about $20-25. Wal-Mart, Lowes, etc have thermometers with a probe that can be placed some distance from the unit, to measure temps at basking spots and ambient temps. You might be surprised how hot it can get. Note that these units may also measure humidity, but it is measured at the unit, not at the probe.

Sorry some of this repeats just what Jordan wrote...great Tennessee minds think alike! He posted quicker than I did...

Good luck with your little guy!