what do i need for my first chameleon

W

woodward

New Member
I am wanting to buy a chameleon for the first time, but I will need a lot of advice. I have done a little bit of research on these suckers, but before buying one I want to make sure I have everything set up. I have enough money for these guys, but I am in college so I don't want to spend a ridiculous amount of money.

I just want to know everything that I am going to need for a single juvenile veiled male chameleon.


Heres what I am thinking I will need:

Screened terrarium - 24"x18"x24" big enough? - $100
UVB light - reptisun 5.0? - $50
Basking light - ~$15
Thermometer and hygrometer - petsmart - $12
Cricket cage - petsmart - $15
Calcium spray - ~$10
Vitamin dust - ~$10
Plenty of sticks/vines/plants
Mist bottle
Drip system


Questions:

Is a 24"x18"x24" big enough?

How long does it take a male veiled to grow to full size?

Is Exo-Terra a decent brand of enclosure to buy? Or are there some cheaper options that are better?

The light fixtures that are called 'hoods' generally have the two bulbs pretty close together, is that okay? Or should I go for 2 separate dome lights?
I heard that the basking light shouldn't set directly on top of the enclosure anyways..

Are crickets the normal diet? Also, are there any type of pellet or formulated foods that chameleons will eat?
I realize I will have to give it other insects too sometimes...

I don't really know what types of minerals and vitamins they need, so could somebody point me to what EXACTLY I would buy from either petsmart or petco? And are these just for gut loading insects?

I will have plenty more questions if we do decide to get a chameleon...

So is there anything else I will need for this little lizard to survive?


Thank you and all advice is appreciated!
 
welcome to the forums and future chameleon ownership! Jannb's blog will give you most of the info you will need. Crickets are the normal diet and alot of people use Dubia roaches also. Chameleons can be fed, silkworms, hornworms, superworms, waxworms, mealworms, butterworms, phoenix worms, moths, dragon flies, ... All the worms can be bought on line or some of them at local pet stores. Check out our site sponsors in the upper right hand corner for some of your feeder options. Wild caught bugs are ok but you have to be careful that they have not been exposed to pesticides.
 
thanks for the quick responses guys!
so is this about all i need?:


crickets and other food ~ $20

Exo terra 2'x2'x4' screen terrarium - $90
Reptisun 5.0 UVB - $30
UVB light hood - $35
Basking light bulb - $15
Basking dome light fixture - $20
Thermometer and hygrometer - $12
Cricket cage - $15
Calcium (w/o d3) - $6
Calcium (w/ d3) -$6
Multi vitamin - $10
Repetitive (w/o d3) - $4
Mist bottle - $5
 
You can use regular light bulbs instead of "basking" light bulbs, much cheaper and do just as well.
 
woodward said:
thanks for the quick responses guys!
so is this about all i need?:


crickets and other food ~ $20

Exo terra 2'x2'x4' screen terrarium - $90
Reptisun 5.0 UVB - $30
UVB light hood - $35
Basking light bulb - $15
Basking dome light fixture - $20
Thermometer and hygrometer - $12
Cricket cage - $15
Calcium (w/o d3) - $6
Calcium (w/ d3) -$6
Multi vitamin - $10
Repetitive (w/o d3) - $4
Mist bottle - $5
Click to expand...

Crickets and other insects. There is no other food. A Veiled will eat some vegetables but that shouldn't be considered food in my opinion.

Agree with above, use a regular incandescent bulb and adjust the wattage or move the lamp to get the right temperature. For basking light fixture those silver clamp work lights work great and are a lot cheaper.

Spend more and get a good digital thermo / hydrometer. Some here recommend the ones home depot sells. All I know is the analog ones at the pet store are worthless.

Cricket cages are a rip off. Buy a plastic shoe box or or other rubbermaid type container poke a lot of holes in the top and use toilet paper rolls to get them out. 2 dollars.

Maybe other food is gut load for the crickets? In addition to the supplements I would buy a good cricket food like Repashy bug burger.

Mist bottle: spend the extra to get one of the Exo Terra pump type (or whatever brand I wouldn't use the dollar store ones because of the cheap plastic chemicals)

Finally Don't forget live plants and vines / branches for him to climb on. I like the jungle vines but many use branches from their yard.

And there is soo much more to learn!

Welcome!
 
2'x2'x4' screen terrarium - http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog...ges/-/24-x-24-x-48-inch-aluminum-screen-cage/

Reptisun 5.0 UVB - http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog...por-bulbs/-/zoo-med-18-repti-sun-50-uvb-bulb/

UVB light hood - http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog/reptile-supplies/light-fixtures/-/24-fluorescent-hood-fixture/

Basking light bulb - standard 60watt light ~$1

Basking dome light fixture - http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog.../-/flukers-85-ceramic-clamp-lamp-with-dimmer/

Thermometer and hygrometer - http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog...a-digital-thermometer--hygrometer-with-probe/

Cricket cage - small sterilite container ~$1

Reapashy Calcium Plus - http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog...cium-and-vitamins/-/repashy-calcium-plus-8oz/

Mist bottle - http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog...drippers-and-humidifiers/-/hand-spray-bottle/
but you will most likely want to move up to an automatic mist system like mistking

I'm not saying you should buy all this from LLL but it is a good one stop shop and if you live in the U.S shipping is reasonable
 
dont worry about a dust schedule just buy "Repashy calcium plus" its the one with a leopard gecko on it.
and for crickets dont waste 15 for a cricket keeper buy a sterilite bin
for gutload i use "Repashy bug burger"
 
Welcome to the forums, also before u buy a chameleon research the specific chameleon your gonna buy. Good luck.
 
thanks for all of the info


thanks for the advice on lights, now that i think about it i may have a basking light fixture and maybe an 18" fixture at my girlfriends house from old aquariums/tanks. I even have one of those little "critter keepers" there that I might be able to use for crickets.

so now, how does all this cricket stuff work? you feed the bug burger to them all the time, or only a day or so before feeding to the chameleon? and you just dust them in the calcium plus before feeding as well? :confused:
I dont think i will want to be breeding my own crickets, at least not yet. so how much will i be spending on buying crickets alone?


also, i live in an apartment so i need to figure out where i could fit a 4 foot tall cage. How much natural sunlight (through windows of course..) is okay for this? I have sliding glass doors that face east, but I can keep the shades closed in the mornings if that much sunlight is bad for them. I would love to keep live plants in with this chameleon so i gotta take that into consideration. I can keep this cage in the bedroom if i need too, but that stays pretty dark most of the time. (and i dont know if i want to hear it if it moves around at night). all thoughts are welcome


I still have to look into what type of thermometer and hygrometer I will buy, charvey showed me the zilla so thats an option at the moment, but i think i want to check out what home depot or lowes has. and i havent looked into if i will be buying those vine things that i have seen at pet stores or if i will try to collect things myself for the cage. Im thinking about approaching that after I get the cage setup...
 
woodward said:
thanks for all of the info


thanks for the advice on lights, now that i think about it i may have a basking light fixture and maybe an 18" fixture at my girlfriends house from old aquariums/tanks. I even have one of those little "critter keepers" there that I might be able to use for crickets.

so now, how does all this cricket stuff work? you feed the bug burger to them all the time, or only a day or so before feeding to the chameleon? and you just dust them in the calcium plus before feeding as well? :confused:
I dont think i will want to be breeding my own crickets, at least not yet. so how much will i be spending on buying crickets alone?


also, i live in an apartment so i need to figure out where i could fit a 4 foot tall cage. How much natural sunlight (through windows of course..) is okay for this? I have sliding glass doors that face east, but I can keep the shades closed in the mornings if that much sunlight is bad for them. I would love to keep live plants in with this chameleon so i gotta take that into consideration. I can keep this cage in the bedroom if i need too, but that stays pretty dark most of the time. (and i dont know if i want to hear it if it moves around at night). all thoughts are welcome


I still have to look into what type of thermometer and hygrometer I will buy, charvey showed me the zilla so thats an option at the moment, but i think i want to check out what home depot or lowes has. and i havent looked into if i will be buying those vine things that i have seen at pet stores or if i will try to collect things myself for the cage. Im thinking about approaching that after I get the cage setup...
Click to expand...

I echo the advice that you want to reasearch like crazy before you buy. I read a little on chameleons for like 4 years before I got one (mainly because my g/f would not let.me get one, now 4 years later....), knew the time was coming, I started reading up a couple months before buying. Several websites, lurked this site for quite a while and the join up when I adopted L. B. I read 1 book before hand in depth and a couple of books after. I felt very very prepared. I did not know everything there was to know (CF has really helped fill in the blanks!), but I knew the major ideas. I also got every opinion I could find, even the bad ones (on purpose, you'd be surprised what you can learn from those who dint know what they are talking about)

Moral of the story, research is key and do not rush into this. You'fe been waiting your whole life to get a Cham so to speak, what's another month or so.

Last thought. No matter which brand thermometer you get, always keep a reliable digital kn hand and check the Cham cage with it. (Ie compare with the perform brand. Stuff).

Best of luck to you, all I have to say is I am very happy I made the choice to adopt L.B. he has been very fun to have around, even for a biter!
 
woodward said:
thanks for all of the info


thanks for the advice on lights, now that i think about it i may have a basking light fixture and maybe an 18" fixture at my girlfriends house from old aquariums/tanks. I even have one of those little "critter keepers" there that I might be able to use for crickets.

so now, how does all this cricket stuff work? you feed the bug burger to them all the time, or only a day or so before feeding to the chameleon? and you just dust them in the calcium plus before feeding as well? :confused:
I dont think i will want to be breeding my own crickets, at least not yet. so how much will i be spending on buying crickets alone?


also, i live in an apartment so i need to figure out where i could fit a 4 foot tall cage. How much natural sunlight (through windows of course..) is okay for this? I have sliding glass doors that face east, but I can keep the shades closed in the mornings if that much sunlight is bad for them. I would love to keep live plants in with this chameleon so i gotta take that into consideration. I can keep this cage in the bedroom if i need too, but that stays pretty dark most of the time. (and i dont know if i want to hear it if it moves around at night). all thoughts are welcome


I still have to look into what type of thermometer and hygrometer I will buy, charvey showed me the zilla so thats an option at the moment, but i think i want to check out what home depot or lowes has. and i havent looked into if i will be buying those vine things that i have seen at pet stores or if i will try to collect things myself for the cage. Im thinking about approaching that after I get the cage setup...
Click to expand...

The sunlight through the windows isn't bad for them as long as they have shade and it doesn't get too hot. They get no UVB benefit from it though as the glass will filter all usable UVB. I would keep them out of direct sun through the windows.

Chameleons are not nocturnal. They go to sleep when the lights are out and won't make a peep, move around, or otherwise make any more noise than a plant. In fact during the day when they are moving around they aren't even noisy. One of the benefits to having a stealthy ambush predator as a pet.
 
"for the advice on lights, now that i think about it i may have a basking light fixture and maybe an 18" fixture at my girlfriends house from old aquariums/tanks. I even have one of those little "critter keepers" there that I might be able to use for crickets".

Make sure if you are going to use one of these to be sure and REMOVE the plastic that is over the light!! Most aquarium fixtures have a plastic strip over the light. This will block out your uvb completely.
 
so, my girlfriend wants to get a baby veiled chameleon, and were planning on buying a 2x2x4 cage for him so it will be big enough for him in the future. But ive read that such a small lizard in a cage that big will not be able to find its food among other disadvantages. I really dont want to buy 2 cages (especially since if i bought a smaller enclosure i wouldnt be able to use the same UVB fixture). So is it okay to stick a couple inch chameleon in a big cage? can I maybe close off the bottom of the cage, so he can only utilize the top portion until he is large enough to venture around the whole thing? or do i just plain need another enclosure?
 
carol5208 said:
"for the advice on lights, now that i think about it i may have a basking light fixture and maybe an 18" fixture at my girlfriends house from old aquariums/tanks. I even have one of those little "critter keepers" there that I might be able to use for crickets".

Make sure if you are going to use one of these to be sure and REMOVE the plastic that is over the light!! Most aquarium fixtures have a plastic strip over the light. This will block out your uvb completely.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, good call. If they do have that make sure you remove it. What I had in mind were the fixtures that come in the kits with the hood and cover. The light fixtures on those usually do not have plastic covering them (Its usually on the aquarium cover).

Of course, the T5 fixture on my planted tank does.
 
Just want to say thank you for posting this. I too am a college guy who's looking into getting a Chameleon, so reading the response here have been helpful.

I also want to ask about feeding stuff. Where is there a good place to find info about it? I noticed a response talking about doing your research, but where should one look for how to store the insects and then how exactly to feed them to the Chameleon? And not just how to prepare them with the vitamins and things, but do you just put them in a dish/jar or let them loose in the cage?
 
Research on the internet. Google is your best friend when you want to learn anything. There are many care sheets (and id recommended reading multiples) and if you still have questions thats what cham forums is for! :)
 
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