veiled female won't go to the bottom to feed

[tlather]

my female veiled is about 3 months old and lives in the enclosure shown in my avatar. she likes to hang out at the top of the bigger ficus right under the infrared heat light.. occasionally crickets will make their way up to the top where she'll eat them but unlike in her old enclosure (10 gallon aquarium) she doesn't head towards the floor to watch for crickets. she has a pretty wide selection of cricket sizes to eat. the temperature under her light is about 95 degrees and right around 80 during the day at the very bottom. i know she should be eating more than 1 or 2 crickets a day but that is all i have seen this weekend. any ideas to encourage her feeding?

 

[TRI0N]

Is the IR Light all that you offer her to bask under? IR should only be used as heat at night when tempatures drop below 60. There should be UVB and UVA light source. These will promote hunting food and digestion. Lack of UVB will cause serious problems while UVA (Spot Lamps) will promote your cham to feel more at home and calm.

Your avatar picture is very small and hard to see just what you have for your setup.

 

[tlather]

no she has a 100 or 150 watt uva light about 8" from the infra-red and an 18" flourescent uvb light in the back. i was thinking maybe I should mount the uvb on the wall behind it so the bottom gets more uvb light?

 

[TRI0N]

Position of the Tube is important. I myself have my Spot Lamp just off the edge off the UVB Fixture so that while mine is in her basking spot she is exposed to the UVB and the Sport Lamp.

Keep in mind that if you do move yours to the back that it need to be within 12" of her basking spot to be exposed to the rays. Also make sure this is thru mesh or screen as glass will not allow the rays to pass thru.

 

[tlather]

thanks, i will try moving the IR light from directly above her basking spot and sliding the uvb diagonallly across the top so it has more exposure on her basking spot. the entire enclosure is mesh and there is nothing between the bulb and the mesh on any of the lights.... i guess i'll see what happens in the next few days.

are there any flying feeder insects? or any insects that would climb more than crickets?

 

[lele]

You can buy fly pupae from gubco.com (this way you know that haven't been fed on decaying meat and such) and hatch them out at room temp, you can catch small moths at your lights if you live in a warm area. Just don't go too nuts with catching your own insects unless you are familiar with your local fauna. Rule of thumb is to steer clear of anything with natural warning colors of orange/red/black such as lady beetles, fireflies, monarchs (and their caterpillars), etc.

One setup suggestion is to give her more cover. Your setup seems a bit sparse and she just may not feel safe wandering around much. From her point of view there may be a great distance b/t those two plants compared to where she was before. It also takes some time to adjust to a new home. \Tthey are creatures of habit. Put some silk or live hanging vines and some jungle- or bio vines (I like exo-terra jungle vines myself). Take a look thru the gallery at setups to get some ideas. How big is her new cage?

 

[Brad Ramsey]

I agree that she needs more foliage.
In my opinion a red light should not be used with a chameleon at all...ever.
There is no reason for it night or day.
Use the fixture you have for the basking lamp and use an ordinary household bulb of a wattage that will provide the proper temp in the basking area.

-Brad

 

[tlather]

she is in a 65gal reptarium which is 17x28x30"... is that too big for her? she is only about 3 months old and about 2 inches long. right now she has a 16" ficus benjii and a little 8" variegated ficus which i thought would be a good perch for her while she's hunting(being lower to the ground). I do have an exo terra jungle vine, i placed it so that she could get from the bigger ficus to the smaller one to eat but she doesn't utilize it that way... She sticks to the thinner branches of the ficus or a live oak branch.

 

[tlather]

I agree that she needs more foliage.
In my opinion a red light should not be used with a chameleon at all...ever.
There is no reason for it night or day.
Use the fixture you have for the basking lamp and use an ordinary household bulb of a wattage that will provide the proper temp in the basking area.

-Brad

is there harm in using an IR light?

 

[Brad Ramsey]

It's just not necessary.
You should not have any heat emitters going at night and in the day they need full spectrum light to bask in.
I don't think your enclosure is too big as long as you keep the dripper, basking area and feeding station in permanent locations.
Are you cup feeding?
I would think it necessary given the size of the enclosure and age of your cham.

-Brad

 

[tlather]

Well, I only keep the lights on during the day... I turn them on around 5 30-630am and turn them back off between 6 and 7 in the evening, including the IR light.

No, I'm not cup feeding, I have a layer of papertowels as a substrate and I am using the reptarium 'soft trays' on which I let about a dozen crickets of different sizes run around on. The cage is extremely clean as it is new and each day I remove any dead crickets each day.

When I first got her, the pet store, Herpeton Exotics in South Austin, TX sold me a "starter kit" which was the 18" UVB light, a 10 gallon container and the 8" dome with a 50 watt IR light they said was for basking. The kit only included the 1 tiny fake plant in the bottom right of my enclosure shown in my avatar. After only a few days I went out and got the enclosure she is currently in.

She's definitely happier than she was, bright green all the time and for the first time I am watching her drink off the leaves.

 

[TRI0N]

Night Tempatures:

I know there is alot of discussion on this and I guess I'll point out what I use to control when a IR light turns on with my setup.

I use a Ranco Adjustable Digital Thermostat to control when my IR light turns on. The position of the IR Light is not over a location that my cham can reach and is positioned to emit heat only if tempatures reach 55 degrees and turns off at 60 degrees. Of course this will require some wiring and knowlege on doing so. But this unit provides a waterproof remote sensor and digital readings for mor accurate needs. Personally I see no reason to allow my chameleon to be exposed to tempatures near 50. I have read that they can survive such tempatures but why take the risk of reaching freezing with a cold blooded pet? I'd rather not take that risk and do offer a heat sorce if tempatures do reach such dangerious levels.

The unit is the one on the very bottom of this page.
http://www.littlegreenhouse.com/accessory/controls.shtml

 

[tlather]

Well that looks good but my setup is inside my apartment which I keep around 70 so I don't think keeping a light on at night is necessary... I just thought it would be good to supplement the heat in the new enclosure since it is so much bigger and all mesh.