OEDragon
New Member
I may me a college student with a low budget, but just about all of my spending money goes into my critters, and it's time to bring a new critter into the family 
Herps and inverts have always been my favorites, but a chameleon is an all new critter to me. I've never had one, but I'm hoping to change that in the near future.
I plan to treat myself to a cham for my birthday next January, and that means spending the next several months collecting all the equipment I'm going to need for it. However, being new to chams, I want to make sure the equipment I'm planning to get is everything I will need and the best I can get for the price. So any advice, concerns, opinions, ideas, anything will be greatly appreciated by both me and my future cham
Caging-- I'm planning on getting a young male panther chameleon, probably between 4-6 months old, from Screameleons. I was originally planning to get this as a cage --> Cage but for $5 more you can upgrade the cage size to 16.5"x16.5"x30". As you can imagine being a college student, I'm a bit tight with the money I have. I like the smaller cage size for a very young cham but I know I could probably get a couple extra months out of the bigger cage for $5 more. So first question, is a 16.5"x16.5"x30" cage too large for a young panther cham? And how long do you think I could use it before I have to upgrade to a full-size 2'x2'x4' cage?
Lighting/Heating-- When I was looking at buying everything separately, I was planning to buy a small terrarium hood and a ReptiSun Compact 5.0 UVB bulb on amazon for like $45. But then I found that little care package linked above on lllreptile and was wondering if the 20" hood/Repti-Glo 5.0 bulb it comes with would be ok. Does anyone have any issues with Repti-Glo bulbs or anything? Any opinions?
The only thing I didn't really like about the care package linked above was the heat lamp. They don't even mention the size of the bulb or anything, other than calling it "mini." I might just use this for a separate project, and buy a heat set-up for the cham separately. My other idea was just to buy a Zoo Med Clamp Lamp and 100W Infrared Heat Emitter on Amazon for about $40, seen here Heat Emitter and here Clamp Lamp. Any opinions? Or cheaper ideas/sources?
Watering-- This is where I'm having the hardest time making a decision. As much as I'd love to go with the budget idea of just a spray bottle, I do tend to disappear for a day or two at a time to visit friends and family and whatnot and therefore need a reliable auto-misting system. Since nothing in the <$100 range seems to fit the 'reliable' part based on reviews, that tempts me to just get the smallest MistKing setup for $100+$20 Shipping. My question is, do I need any of the fancy add-ons that MistKing offers? I only plan to use it for this one cham, no other cages. It won't be too much for the small cage right? And likewise it will be enough for a 2'x2'x4' cage?
Diet/Nutrition-- While my main concerns are with the previous three categories, just figured I'd mention other stuff I plan to use/get here. For nutrition, is it alright to use RepCal with D3 and Herptivite for the cham? That's what I use for my other herps but I wanted to know if that's enough or not. Also I plan to start a dubia roach colony within the next month or so. That's a project in itself. When the cham is young, I'm planning on feeding it primarily small crickets but as it gets bigger, introducing dubias into it's diet if my colony is doing alright. When the chameleon reaches full size, would a primarily dubia diet be alright? With crickets, waxworms, and other good stuff still being offered every now and then of course.
All of the main things listed above would put me at about $250, which I don't think is a terrible price (especially since half of that is just the misting system). But if anyone has any advice for me to make that price tag even smaller while still giving my future cham everything it needs to be happy, please, do share
Herps and inverts have always been my favorites, but a chameleon is an all new critter to me. I've never had one, but I'm hoping to change that in the near future.I plan to treat myself to a cham for my birthday next January, and that means spending the next several months collecting all the equipment I'm going to need for it. However, being new to chams, I want to make sure the equipment I'm planning to get is everything I will need and the best I can get for the price. So any advice, concerns, opinions, ideas, anything will be greatly appreciated by both me and my future cham
Caging-- I'm planning on getting a young male panther chameleon, probably between 4-6 months old, from Screameleons. I was originally planning to get this as a cage --> Cage but for $5 more you can upgrade the cage size to 16.5"x16.5"x30". As you can imagine being a college student, I'm a bit tight with the money I have. I like the smaller cage size for a very young cham but I know I could probably get a couple extra months out of the bigger cage for $5 more. So first question, is a 16.5"x16.5"x30" cage too large for a young panther cham? And how long do you think I could use it before I have to upgrade to a full-size 2'x2'x4' cage?
Lighting/Heating-- When I was looking at buying everything separately, I was planning to buy a small terrarium hood and a ReptiSun Compact 5.0 UVB bulb on amazon for like $45. But then I found that little care package linked above on lllreptile and was wondering if the 20" hood/Repti-Glo 5.0 bulb it comes with would be ok. Does anyone have any issues with Repti-Glo bulbs or anything? Any opinions?
The only thing I didn't really like about the care package linked above was the heat lamp. They don't even mention the size of the bulb or anything, other than calling it "mini." I might just use this for a separate project, and buy a heat set-up for the cham separately. My other idea was just to buy a Zoo Med Clamp Lamp and 100W Infrared Heat Emitter on Amazon for about $40, seen here Heat Emitter and here Clamp Lamp. Any opinions? Or cheaper ideas/sources?
Watering-- This is where I'm having the hardest time making a decision. As much as I'd love to go with the budget idea of just a spray bottle, I do tend to disappear for a day or two at a time to visit friends and family and whatnot and therefore need a reliable auto-misting system. Since nothing in the <$100 range seems to fit the 'reliable' part based on reviews, that tempts me to just get the smallest MistKing setup for $100+$20 Shipping. My question is, do I need any of the fancy add-ons that MistKing offers? I only plan to use it for this one cham, no other cages. It won't be too much for the small cage right? And likewise it will be enough for a 2'x2'x4' cage?
Diet/Nutrition-- While my main concerns are with the previous three categories, just figured I'd mention other stuff I plan to use/get here. For nutrition, is it alright to use RepCal with D3 and Herptivite for the cham? That's what I use for my other herps but I wanted to know if that's enough or not. Also I plan to start a dubia roach colony within the next month or so. That's a project in itself. When the cham is young, I'm planning on feeding it primarily small crickets but as it gets bigger, introducing dubias into it's diet if my colony is doing alright. When the chameleon reaches full size, would a primarily dubia diet be alright? With crickets, waxworms, and other good stuff still being offered every now and then of course.
All of the main things listed above would put me at about $250, which I don't think is a terrible price (especially since half of that is just the misting system). But if anyone has any advice for me to make that price tag even smaller while still giving my future cham everything it needs to be happy, please, do share
