Viv take 2!

[onisuk]

Right so my first viv attempt died off a bit, I found out this was due to incorrect lighting so i replaced the bulbs with daylight bulbs and it seems to be growing well now! tried to plant it up a bit more so the chams had more places to hide out of the light.
My arduino project works brilliantly too, it controls the lights,heat mat, a fan and my fogger machine!
All I have to do is water the plants and feed the chams!!

I'm currently trying to change their food source over to small tropical woodlice as I find dealing with brown crickets very annoying, they constantly escape and i find them all round the house!!! Chams seem to eat the woodlice ok which is good.

 

[Scout]

I am assuming this is for Pygmies?

 

[onisuk]

Yes just two Pygmys!! Here's the male just chilling out after dinner ...

 

[Scout]

That's awesome, do they have a difficult time finding food in all that ground cover?

 

[onisuk]

No there is actually a lot of open ground under the plants and I have a small clearing with a petri dish, that I put the food in.
I have a few sticks going down to the area so they can come to feed, seems to work quite well !

 

[Scout]

No there is actually a lot of open ground under the plants and I have a small clearing with a petri dish, that I put the food in.
I have a few sticks going down to the area so they can come to feed, seems to work quite well !

That's awesome, your feeding wood lice now? I am trying to culture some right now for my pygmys. I feed crickets currently and the crickets like to hide under the moss.. So I had to rearrange my Viv a little.

 

[leedragon]

just make sure it is not getting too hot inside, they dont do well in hot setups

 

[onisuk]

Yes the crickets did my head in ! Most would hide and grow so big the chams couldn't even be able to eat them!!! And no matter how well I sealed up the tank I would still find them all round the house !! I have a small kit to "grow" some tropical woodlice, they only get to 5mm max so are prefect. Also they are a calcium source for the chams so no need to dust or gut load.

The temperature is carefully controlled with a fan so it never exceeds 27°c, when the fan comes on it obviously drops the humidity, so the controller then puts on the mist machine.... you can see it coming down through the mesh roof in these pics.

And my tropical woodlice culture ....

 

[sapphira80]

What type of tank are you using? Your Viv looks super nice!!

Have you ever tried dubia nymphs with your pygmies? They actually look a lot like wood lice, so I wondered if they would work as well?

 

[onisuk]

The tank is a komodo 45*45*60.
Just googled those nymph things and some look like they get waaay to big ! About 5mm is a max size for a pygmy chameleon

 

[brownie64]

I'm currently trying to change their food source over to small tropical woodlice as I find dealing with brown crickets very annoying, they constantly escape and i find them all round the house!!! Chams seem to eat the woodlice ok which is good.

I assume you are talking about pill bugs, potato bugs, or role polies.
If so be careful they can make themselves right at home to. I find them around my house all the time. I read somewhere that some species can take up to two years to breed. How long will it take to get a thriving colony? Maybe I will catch some of mine around the house and see if Bonnie would like some. LOL

 

[onisuk]

No, they are tropical woodlice... these
http://www.rickslivefood.co.uk/Tropical-Grey-Woodlice/View-all-products.html

It said in my kit they will be breeding within a few weeks !
So hopfuly give me a sustained free food source ...

 

[onisuk]

The acrobat looking for his breakfast !!!

 

[johnnyev]

You can feed dubia nymphs but they need to be before the first moult really. After that they are a bit on the large size. I found feeding them just after being born, while they are still white & soft bodied was best.
First stage locust were readily taken too. And anything i found in the garden that were small enough to be eaten? Flies were especially good. Curly winged flies were very good & cant fly away either.
Meant to add the smallest wax worms & calci worms too. And let the calci worms hatch into the black soldier flies. All chameleons seem to like the soldier flies.

 

[onisuk]

Has anyone ever tried ants !??? They are nice and small

 

[Scout]

Has anyone ever tried ants !??? They are nice and small

You would not want ants in your enclosure lol... And too small. My girl pygs love (big) small / medium crickets. They were not interested in horn worm. But I haven't tried much else.