Plant and Cage care

[joshuaseidman94]

Hey guys. I am relatively new to chameleons. I got my first male about 5 weeks ago. He is doing great and almost doubled in size! I just have a few questions about plant and cage care. First, the live plant. He is only 5 months so he is in a smaller cage until about April, I will upgrade to a full sized 24x24x48. I was wondering if I need to worry about over watering? I have a golden pathos (I am aware if he eats to much of it it can alter his ability for calcium absorption. But he doesn't eat it at all). My mistaking goes off for a bit 2.5 min 3 times a day and 5 minutes right before bed to help keep the humidity up at night. So about 12.5 minutes each day. The plant seems to have odor. Nothing to strong, I just am overly cautious. Should I expects the wet soil to have a slight odor or should I worry about mold?
My next question has to do with cleaning his enclosure. He is not comfortable with me holding him yet. Most the time he will let me touch his belly but once I try to get him onto my hand he runs away. This makes it difficult to clean his enclosure since I can't take him out. The screen is getting all white from all the calcium dusted feeders so cleaning is a must! Should I lure him into a large bucket with food so I can clean the cage? Or just grab him regardless? I don't want to stress him and make him hate me. Any suggestions??

 

[Ninkylou]

Did you replant the pothos? They are water loving, but you can get mold in the soil from too much standing water. you need to make sure that you have excellent drainage for your plants. When you replant them you can use sand or rocks in your soil to make it drain better. I put a ton of holes in my pots as well.

I have an automatic rain system and I try to keep the rain from being directly over the pot, so the leaves get wet but not as much goes into the soil.

I dealt with this same problem and once I repotted, added more drainage and diverted some of the misting/raining water it has improved. My plants grow so well now that I actually have to trim them so they don't totally take over. I have a pothos and a huge sheffelera in each 2 x 2 x 4 enclosure.

For cleaning the enclosure I never worry about the dust on the sides, it can just be patted and it falls away. I would just try to clean the bottom of the enclosure with him in it for now as best you can. if he gets used to you in the enclosure then it will be easier in the future, I feel as well that you never get it back together quite the same and they really hate change in their environment.

I would not mist before bed. They enclosure should dry out between mistings. I have my last misting about 3 hours before lights go off. I have never had any issue. Humidity stays up if you have good plant coverage. You can always use a room humidifier if it gets too low at night.

 

[Djturna4thakidz]

In my opinion, it is not good to have the cage be wet when the lights go out. The water doesn't evaporate as fast because of the drop in temp. This damp environment can cause Respiratory infection.

I would do more mistings for shorter intervals. There are plenty of threads on it if you search.

Can you clean the cage and just avoid him? If it is not possible with him in there, use a dowel or stick and see if he will climb on that. Then you can slowly get him out.