Please Rate my Setup.

[plop9025]

I have finnaly got situated with all my stuff I needed for my cham and am asking for some members to give my chameleons setup a rating from a 1-10.

Here are a few pics of Yoshi's Cage.

Here is a pic of the lights and dripper.

Here is a pic of his feedercup. He loves to eat out of this and goes strait for it as soon as I put a cricket in it. I am gonna construct a little cricket cage that has a tube running in to the feeder cup once I get a chance so the crickets can run freely from the cup to the cage when they want and he can eat them as he pleases.

I Just wanna make sure im not overdoing it on the plants and vines. I see alot of other cages on here and there is just 1 plant maby 2 and a vine or 2 and they look very nice and clean cut. I figured tho the more plants the better but he usually just stays on the pothos and does down to the rubber plant to sleep at night... never really touches the umbrella or the other plant I have in there. Dunno tho, If im overdoing it please let me know and ill rearrange and take out a plant or 2.

Thanks.

 

[summoner12]

Looks really good! You have not gone overboard. It looks like you covered all your bases. One thing you might change: the UVB fixture. You don't need more UVB as in higher output, but more coverage. Chams like to bask near the heat lamp, but aren't always in an area of the cage where the UVB will hit them if the lamp is small. I might go with a fixture you can run from one corner to the next.This way almost no matter where your cham is he/she is getting UVB exposure. Again, you don't need more UVB, just more coverage.

 

[CammieNLeno]

Looks fantastic!! The ONLY thing I would change is moving the heat lamp from the center of the cage to one of the sides. That way you have a nicer temperature gradient for the chameleon to get away if it would like to cool down.

The screening is awesome. Im a huge fan and supporter of the larger gaps to alleviate the risk of claws getting suck/breaking off that the finer mesh presents.

Great work!

 

[plop9025]

Thanks for advice and input. I moved the light to the far back left corner right above the pothos. He likes it better there I think because he can hide in the pothos and bask at the same time. I think I might get a 24'' UVB tube to stretch all the way across the cage for better UVB.

once again thanks.

 

[summoner12]

Its a good idea to move the heat lamp. Just don't put it too close to the pothos. Any of my Pothos leaves that come near the lamp end up dying. It won't kill your whole plant, just parts that grow within a couple inches.

 

[nightcrawler]

i say it looks good and its nice to see someone use different plants for
a change. my only concern is the mesh. is it the kind that will rust overtime
or is it stanless steel like material that wont rust?

looks great tho.

 

[plop9025]

Yes its the kind that wont rust. Yea I originally had the lamp over the pothos before i took the pics. and it did kill 2 leaves that were under it. But its a very healthy pothos and it hasnt effected any other part of it. The lamp is kinda towards the side of the cage and the vine is towards the side under the lamp so its not to hot and not to cool. He loves it here. When I put it in the middle he was pacing and changed colors and I could tell he was getting a little pissed his bask spot was moved... As soon as I put it back in the spot he went right to it and started basking.

 

[Morgan1223]

Wow! Looks great!! I wish I was your cham!! Where can one find UVB tubes, that's a really good idea since my pothos are getting fried as stated above!

 

[Day Man]

+10 get some saucers for the plants

 

[Mesnik]

It looks great!! My only comment (and I am NO expert, please) is if the whities on the dirt, in the pots, are fertilizers or just something else.

...if they are fertilizers, I believe you have to remove as the chameleon could eat it.

Again, well done!!

r.

 

[VerteX]

It looks great!! My only comment (and I am NO expert, please) is if the whities on the dirt, in the pots, are fertilizers or just something else.

...if they are fertilizers, I believe you have to remove as the chameleon could eat it.

Again, well done!!

r.

They are pieces of vermiculite that are added to the soil medium to provide fluffiness. If ingested they can be fatal to the chameleon. Please either line the top part of the soil with sifted (large pieces removed) peat moss or organic type of soil. If the chameleon coming in is a veiled, I'd recommend re-potting the plants in to a fertilizer free medium.

V

 

[Billyjack187]

Perfect lots to hide in! I wont hate on your lights, I use the sun for uvb as most should if possible. Your plants may take a heat beating but time will tell. I dig the idea of the tube for the crickets, if you devise a plan please post! 10! As far as the dirt, if you are paranoid, as most of these guys are, just throw some small river rocks to cover it up...or some mesh. In all the years I have owned chams i never came across them eating dirt...take it how you will, females...maybe a gravid one?! My expertise is limited to Jackson who are considered "more difficult" than most panthers or vields so maybe my run ins may be different.

 

[summoner12]

It looks great!! My only comment (and I am NO expert, please) is if the whities on the dirt, in the pots, are fertilizers or just something else.

...if they are fertilizers, I believe you have to remove as the chameleon could eat it.

Again, well done!!

r.

DANG! LOL GOOD EYE!

plop9025, You should remove that white stuff ASAP!

 

[plop9025]

Ok , I have put some organic potting soil down ontop of it. It is just plain dirt. no white things in it at all. Altho my cham has been in this cage for 1 month now. He never goes to the bottom of the cage and never goes near the dirt. He usually is at the top basking or always hiding in the pothos. But just to be on safe side I did put some better stuff to cover it.

 

[jejton]

How do you keep the crickets from getting out of the feeding cup if you will connect them to the cricket cage as you plan.

 

[summoner12]

Ok , I have put some organic potting soil down ontop of it. It is just plain dirt. no white things in it at all. Altho my cham has been in this cage for 1 month now. He never goes to the bottom of the cage and never goes near the dirt. He usually is at the top basking or always hiding in the pothos. But just to be on safe side I did put some better stuff to cover it.

What a lot of people tend to do and highly recommend is to remove the plant from the pot and shake out all of the dirt you can from the roots. Then grab the garden hose and hose down the roots cleaning them of all the dirt and fertilizer. Then re-pot with organic top soil. Your cham, as he ages will start to eat the dirt down there. I can't say ALL veileds do this, but My boy Jake used to do it every single time I put him in his sunning ficus outside. Put him at the top of the tree and walk away... a couple of minutes later you would see him head down to the bottom of the tree and hang up-side-down and shoot at the dirt. Like I said not every single cham does this but I have read about a lot of others having this issue. You will also read about people with chams that ate the white bits and the cham was lost.

When you re-pot the pothos you will find that the roots are tightly packed and that there is a ton of fertilizer in the pot. Just use the 'jet' setting on your hose to force out the white bits of fertilizer. I thought I was hurting my plant but once it was in new dirt with some fresh water it was fine. Takes a lot to kill a ficus and pothos.

 

[tryme]

people say that the basking light should be on the other side of the enclosure to the uvb tube so they can choose weather to have a bask or to use the uvb. its good to hear your moving it

 

[summoner12]

people say that the basking light should be on the other side of the enclosure to the uvb tube so they can choose weather to have a bask or to use the uvb. its good to hear your moving it

A basking lamp should be placed near the UVB so that when the reptile basks at the heat lamp he is exposed to the UVB as well. UVB doesn't travel very far. To maximize the amount of time of exposure it is best to place the heat lamp at one end of the cage along side of the UVB. This way the animal can head to the other side of the cage to cool off and still be exposed to the UVB. Spending most of his day under UVB from a 5.0 Reptisun tube isn't going to hurt a cham.

 

[tryme]

nah i think its better to keep them slightly seperate so they have a choice of each or a little expose from the uvb while basking.

 

[plop9025]

Yea I keep my UVB tube close to my basking because my cham really just sits in the back corner majority of the time (90%). This way hes getting both all the time. Also im going to keep the crickets in the feeder cup because ima change it to 1 of those small milk / orange juice jugs and put a PVC pipe connecting to a small cricket housing outside the cage so they can go in and out freely and I dont have to go downstairs to get them every day in a cup and bring them up. Just something else to save a little time. The cup I use now tho does great. I might leek 1 cricket every 4 feeds and only because my cham might stick 2 at a time with his tounge and 1 drop off. But I think it would be just neat to have that feeder setup. I have seen someone else use it and I think ima steal the idea. Also Ima probly put in a mister system because I work now and 5 days of the week I cant mist him but 1 time in the morning and 2 times when I get home and he goes about 6-8 hours between the first mist and the next 2. So next paycheck ima probly get a ProMist installed and hopefully the cricket feeder setup and he will be happier then ever. Hes developing some NICE colors now that he is 5 months. Sence I have had him he has shed 2 times. Both sheds have shown even more colors. I think his head is going to be slightly white with a nice turqoist / teal body.

Thanks for the input guys. I will probly rinse the roots and clean them and replant sence I have been told this before.