Remodeling enclosure after lost chameleon

[Everyday Dad]

Hi everyone! I have made a previous post in the health clinic over my issues with my previous cham Ricky. Sadly he did not make it and we never found out what was making him ill. I will be trying one more time to go through all of the proper channels instead of a reptile expo. I also want to document my process if anyone else finds it useful. I am in the early stages here so feel free to treat this as a little game, tell me REMOVE! and its done

I believe Ricky may have had parasites as his poop became very runny and he stopped eating, so I am going to be doing a disinfecting cycle to begin. My disinfecting process is as follows
- I let the enclosure dry out for a month
- I removed any infectious material including branches and plants
- for branches that I did not remove (the smooth wood branches), I have wiped them down with some rubbing alcohol and water. Wiped again with water to remove and will be monitoring and spraying to make sure no alcohol remains.
-Steaming the enclosure many times over the next few months

I got Ricky from a reptile expo, the vet suggested he was never healthy to begin with so I will not be buying from them again. I have since contacted a breeder and I am placed on a waitlist, for around 3-4 months but I suspect it will take longer due to poor weather conditions.

Questions will be bold, underlined, and green.

Quick husbandry review
Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon- The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
  • he will be a male panther chameleon, not born yet and I do not have him so REALLY hand it to me I want to know about any and all mistakes!
  • I am purchasing this cham from chameleons galore, a breeder in Canda. She is super sweet and very helpful!
• Handling- How often do you handle your chameleon?
  • None! I made this mistake before and my only handling will be for weight checks. I am thinking about getting him a larger tree for outside time free roam but I am not certain about the conditions so it may not happen (I am located in Calgary AB in Canada)
• Feeding- What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
  • BFSL and gut-loaded crickets most likely, when he is young I'm going to try and feed him everything I can get. Since he will be very young I am going to feed him whatever he will eat daily, I hear it is around 10-ish crickets
  • taking suggestions on treats!
  • Gut loading with sweet potato, arugula and apples/carrots
• Supplements- What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
  • This is a mistake I made before where I over-supplemented dont trust those reptile expo folks!
  • This is also a pretty big concern for me, since the cham will be 3 months old how will I need to change my supplement schedule?
  • My current thoughts are using calcium without D3 every feeding, since he is young I hear the you can give the multivitamin weekly but I would like to confirm this
  • The adult supplement schedule will be calcium without D3 on every feeding, every 2 weeks he can get his multivitamin
  • He has Rep-cal calcium without D3 daily, and the multivitamin will be the reptashy with the Jacksons chameleon on it
• Watering- What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long do you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
  • He will be getting misted 3 times throughout the night for 2 minutes. I have two nozles at the moment but I think I will be getting a third because they don't seem to reach the middle very well
  • I have a fogger but I have one concern about it, sometimes his night temps can reach up to 70F but most of the time they get around 65F. Should I still use it or will the mister be enough?
  • He will have a dripper for hydration during the day
  • All water systems will be cleaned weekly with a vinegar soak.
• History- Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.
  • as mentioned I previously had Ricky who likely had parasites. Is my disinfection routine sufficient?

Cage Info:

• Cage Type- Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
  • Screen 2x2x4 ft enclosure, bioactive
• Lighting- What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
  • 7am to 7pm, For UVB we have an arcadia ProT5 6% forest, I had an LED light with coloured lights but I am going to remove it for his eyes
  • also thinking of getting a solarmeter since good old Ricky likely did not get enough UVB.
  • Do I need a new LED light or will the heat lamp/UVB be enough?
• Temperature- What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
  • Basking temp used to be around 85F, but I am not sure if this temp works for a 3 month old cham. What temperature should I be using?
• Humidity- What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
  • The misters are not going right now but previously he had night time humidity of around 80%
• Plants- Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
  • Lots of different kinds of plants but mainly pothos and some philodendrons, see picture for more info.
  • I am taking some cutting of my large pothos for more vines in the back, I am also likely going to be changing some plants in the front. I will keep this thread updated!
  • Do I need more vines up top, or should I rearrange them for higher coverage?
• Placement- Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high-traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
  • located in my basement, no fans/vents nearby. The only traffic he will see will be me getting ready for work and sometimes family walking through to the exit, otherwise a pretty secluded dark area. The cage is located on the ground and goes around halfway up the wall
• Location- Where are you geographically located?
  • Calgary, AB, Canada

Thank you for reading everyone, and thank you to everyone who gives me advice! This is going to be a long process but I am ready to listen!

 

[Beman]

Let's start here please before we roll into husbandry.

I believe Ricky may have had parasites as his poop became very runny and he stopped eating, so I am going to be doing a disinfecting cycle to begin. My disinfecting process is as follows
- I let the enclosure dry out for a month
- I removed any infectious material including branches and plants
- for branches that I did not remove (the smooth wood branches), I have wiped them down with some rubbing alcohol and water. Wiped again with water to remove and will be monitoring and spraying to make sure no alcohol remains.
-Steaming the enclosure many times over the next few months

So this is the concern I have. If there was a parasite issue not all are easy to get rid of. Parasites like Coccidia will not just clean away with the methods you used above. You literally have to strip an entire cage then start with the bare cage. Everything porous gets thrown away (plants, dirt, branches,) With what I am seeing of your image and how you built it if the chameleon had something like coccidia there is no way to clean the walls in yours that you built. Everything would have the potential for having oocysts that could reinfect the next chameleon when it drinks off of something etc. Literally the only thing that kills coccidia off is 40volume liquid peroxide. and you have to spray it on the frame and screens let it sit for 20 minutes then rinse it all back off. This is the only thing that will kill off the oocysts. But you would not be able to do this with the cage you have because of how you built out your walls. No way to fully wash away the peroxide.

If the fecal was really mucousy, runny, or smelly then it very well could have been coccidia.

 

[Everyday Dad]

Ah shoot, Ricky did have diarrhea. You're right we have no idea what could have caused the illness he have so it's entirely possible.

OK, I don't suppose there's any way for me to keep what I have then. I do not want to cheap out and infect this new cham. Luckily I can still reuse the mistking, lighting, etc so it's not a horrible loss cost-wise. It will be a bummer to toss but I've learned many things from so at least I can transfer those! Thanks for your help @Beman I'll keep you posted on enclosure 2!

I will continue with my husbandry for now, are there any mistakes in that set up as it is? Enclosure 2 will likely be fairly similar on the husbandry side of things.

 

[Beman]

Ah shoot, Ricky did have diarrhea. You're right we have no idea what could have caused the illness he have so it's entirely possible.

OK, I don't suppose there's any way for me to keep what I have then. I do not want to cheap out and infect this new cham. Luckily I can still reuse the mistking, lighting, etc so it's not a horrible loss cost-wise. It will be a bummer to toss but I've learned many things from so at least I can transfer those! Thanks for your help @Beman I'll keep you posted on enclosure 2!

I will continue with my husbandry for now, are there any mistakes in that set up as it is? Enclosure 2 will likely be fairly similar on the husbandry side of things.

Yeah I just would not risk it. Everything on the outside of the cage you can keep... For the mistking nozzles take them off and wash really well. Let air dry and they will be fine. It is the porous material that are the big concern.

Let me look through everything tomorrow. Sorry already worked a 40 hour week since Monday and am a little worn out to think right now. lol

 

[Everyday Dad]

No worries! I have lots of homework now with the rennovations
On the bright side I get to go plant shopping again!