Veild Chameleon

[Aries19]

Hey, I'm new here and I joined because I have some questions and I'm hoping to get some advice from those who already own chameleons.

I have an 18*18*24 exo terra that I was going to use for a crested gecko but I'd like to explore my options as I've been wanting a veild chameleon for a while now. I've done some research on keeping veilds in exo terras and it seems most people think they are great for babies and maybe juveniles but you'd need a larger enclosure for an adult. Can anyone share their opinions on this please?

I also need advice on their care in general. I would like to start off with a baby veild; here's a care sheet I found that I'd like to run by you guys:

Baby Veiled Chameleon:
Newborn - 5 months

Size:
1-5 inches

House:
Glass tank with one or two screened sides. Vines & fake foliage to climb on are only needs for inside cage. You do not need any substrate on bottom. ( I use Zilla terrarium.)

Lights:
Chameleons needs UVB & heat lamp to help regulate body temperature. 12 hours for both lights & 12 hours off. Day time temperature 72-80 degrees, Night time mids 60's &, basking temperature 85 degrees & under.( I use, small hood or you can get two domes, one zoo med day light blue 40watt bulb, & zoo med 25% UVB tropical bulb. I put mine on timers from 8-8)

Diet:
Fruit flies as many as it will eat first four months, keep food available as much as possible during day. They also like 1-2 treats daily such as baby crickets, dubia, silk worms, horn worms, butter worms, minni meal worms all must be size of head or smaller.

Calcium & Supplement:
Plain calcium powder on feeders every time. D3 & multiple vitamin powder twice monthly on treats or freeders. (I use, Repashy super food calcium plus, Repashy super food super veggie, & Rep Cal calcium with D3.)

Water:
Chameleons normally do not recognize standing water. So you need to mist cage 2-3 times daily. This will allow baby to drink. It will lick leaves. (I use a fogger on mine to help keep 40-70% humidity in cage but some people buy misting systeming & its hands free misting & helps humidity & daily watering .) It will slowly drop & night it will completely dry out. Morning & Night they need a 2-3 min mist with water on whole cage including baby.

Is this a good care sheet? And is this a good light?

http://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-Dayli...-spell&keywords=zoo+med+day+light+blue+40watt

thanks in advance

 

[Aries19]

Oh, and would you mind posting pics of your exo terra setups? It'd help a lot, thanks!

 

[zlew]

Exo terra with the ventilation systems are good for the first few months, but eventually you will need to upgrade to a full size screen cage. For the most part, that care sheet seems ok, but there are a couple of things I would like to mention:
First, fruit flies are good when they are tiny babies. Once they are two months old, you want to provide a variety of all the feeders you listed (in small sizes, like the size of the space in between their eyes), not just as a treat. You need to properly gut load them all as well. Take a look at sandrachameleon's blog about gut loading.
For housing, the more screen the better. Chameleons need a LOT of ventilation. And bigger is better as well.
Skip the blue light. Depending on your house temperature, you will need a certain wattage basking bulb. 50-60 watts usually works for people with temperatures in the low seventies, I can't imagine anyone with warmer temperatures, but in my house, it is about 65 degrees so I use a 100 watt to keep both ambient temperature inside the cage and his basking spot warm. We generally recommend a reptisun/reptiglo 5.0 UVB tube for UVB lighting.

Take a look at this care sheet, it's the best one out there:

https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/veiled/
read it thoroughly and follow it as precisely as possible. You can tweak things for your cham after you get to know him/her.