Vacation Questions?

[lecaméléon]

I will be going away from home unexpectedly. My almost 4 month old baby chameleon will not be coming (obviously). Is there anything I should do before I leave? I will have a person who will feed the chameleons and feeders, but is there anything that I should get/do before I leave? It should just be from sunday to sunday.

 

[Beman]

you want to make sure your entire set up is as automated as possible this includes lighting and misting. You want to explain to your pet sitter how to refill the water and and dump if needed. Also you should write down when lights should turn on and off. How many feeders to feed and what frequency. Be clear with them about what supplements to use. Show them how you do this to avoid any errors. Make sure you have enough feeders plus extras while you are gone. And honestly I would just give them the plain calcium and skip the multivitamin until you get back. I would also ask them to refrain from handling them at all. Note if you have friendly chams make sure they look where the chams are in relation to the door closing so they do not pinch a tail or foot in it.

 

[nightanole]

water source
"is it stuck" checks"
You could make the sitters life easier if you have 7 dixy cups of crickets pre made. Just throw in some quarter inch cubed carrots or potatoes for food/moisture. We dont really care about gutload etc, just "is it still eating?".

 

[lecaméléon]

water source
"is it stuck" checks"
You could make the sitters life easier if you have 7 dixy cups of crickets pre made. Just throw in some quarter inch cubed carrots or potatoes for food/moisture. We dont really care about gutload etc, just "is it still eating?".

you want to make sure your entire set up is as automated as possible this includes lighting and misting. You want to explain to your pet sitter how to refill the water and and dump if needed. Also you should write down when lights should turn on and off. How many feeders to feed and what frequency. Be clear with them about what supplements to use. Show them how you do this to avoid any errors. Make sure you have enough feeders plus extras while you are gone. And honestly I would just give them the plain calcium and skip the multivitamin until you get back. I would also ask them to refrain from handling them at all. Note if you have friendly chams make sure they look where the chams are in relation to the door closing so they do not pinch a tail or foot in it.

Yes, she is a family member and visited the house early and I showed her how feeding works. I will fill my water tank and all my lights are on smart outlets, but in case of malfunctioning, I will include a list of the times. And he is pretty grumpy so I have no worries about him getting smushed. As for the little cups, I will definitely use those. Will he become stunted if he eats every other day for that week or should he be fine? I don’t want her to have to come every day especially since she lives far-ish away.

 

[nightanole]

Yes, she is a family member and visited the house early and I showed her how feeding works. I will fill my water tank and all my lights are on smart outlets, but in case of malfunctioning, I will include a list of the times. And he is pretty grumpy so I have no worries about him getting smushed. As for the little cups, I will definitely use those. Will he become stunted if he eats every other day for that week or should he be fine? I don’t want her to have to come every day especially since she lives far-ish away.

At almost 4 months i dont even know how you bought him, most breeders dont sell that early. So yes i would keep feeding daily. Maybe at 7 months you could hold off for every 2 days for a week or two.

 

[elizaann2]

I printed out the chameleons schedule for my sitter to follow, even if things are automated something could still not go off so it’s just an extra layer of things going well. I also printed out care sheets that include temps and humidity levels, red flags that something is wrong and a list of vets they could call in case of an emergency. I also had cameras on all my enclosures so I could check in on my chams anytime I wanted.

 

[Challen]

I printed out the chameleons schedule for my sitter to follow, even if things are automated something could still not go off so it’s just an extra layer of things going well. I also printed out care sheets that include temps and humidity levels, red flags that something is wrong and a list of vets they could call in case of an emergency. I also had cameras on all my enclosures so I could check in on my chams anytime I wanted.

Thank you for the care sheet idea. Going out of town for a week is making me nervous. The care sheet hopefully will help the person watching my chameleon remember everything. Here’s my care sheet…is there anything anyone sees that I am forgetting?The person watching mine doesn’t like the Dubia roaches or black soldier flies so I renamed them rollie pollies and worms. Not sure if it will help

 

[nightanole]

Thank you for the care sheet idea. Going out of town for a week is making me nervous. The care sheet hopefully will help the person watching my chameleon remember everything. Here’s my care sheet…is there anything anyone sees that I am forgetting?The person watching mine doesn’t like the Dubia roaches or black soldier flies so I renamed them rollie pollies and worms. Not sure if it will help

We dont have roaches, we have "beetles". But but they look like THEY ARE BEETLES I TELL YEA

 

[elizaann2]

Thank you for the care sheet idea. Going out of town for a week is making me nervous. The care sheet hopefully will help the person watching my chameleon remember everything. Here’s my care sheet…is there anything anyone sees that I am forgetting?The person watching mine doesn’t like the Dubia roaches or black soldier flies so I renamed them rollie pollies and worms. Not sure if it will help

This looks fantastic! Now to make sure you didn't forget anything in your routine, follow your own checklist for a few days. I always do this because I ALWAYS forget something.