Would appreciate input on encl/husbandry!

[Ms.fernyyy]

Hey there!
Im new to this forum so thank you for having me and for any advice or criticism you're able to provide.
Im a bit of a helicopter mom and constantly obsess over how my cham is doing. I want to be sure im doing my part in keeping him healthy and thriving and would love some input on our enclosure and husbandry.
*Will post our little guy and his enclosure below.

Thanks in advance!

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - Male Panther Chameleon, I believe he is about 3-4 months old and is starting to show color. He has been in our care for about 3 weeks now.
• Handling - We usually will handle him every other day. We do spot clean his enclosure daily and he usually doesn't have an issue with it.
• Feeding - We feed him small crickets and small/baby dubias. We track his intake daily and he has been eating about 12-15 a day. We usually feed him around 3 pm. Crickets and Dubias are gutloaded with carrots, collard greens, cucumbers.
• Supplements - His crickets and dubias are dusted in Calcium no d3 (rep-cal) daily and every other week/2x a month we dust his meal in a multi (reptivite) as well as cal w/d3 (rep-cal).
• Watering - We have a mist kind that starts for a minute every 12 hours. We spot spray as needed. Ive seen him drink a few times but he a private drinker i guess!
• Fecal Description - Has not been tested yet for parasites while in our care. His urates are white and dropping look normal.
• History - No previous issues that we know of. We purchased him from a smaller reputable reptile store and their chameleons always look very well taken care of.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - We had him in a medium reptibreeze screen cage but have since moved him up to a XL. We have added a clear vinyl like material to 3 sides to aide in humidity retention.
• Lighting - His basking/heat lamp is hung from the ceiling and not touching his cage. We use a 100 watt zoo med but are planning to change it to an ecosmart 100w incandescent. They are on for 12 or so hours and off at nightime. We have a linear UV light reptisun t5 5.0.
• Temperature - His basking spots ranges from 80-82 and his cage floor is usually around 70. Lowest overnight is 68-69. We use a temp gun to monitor.
• Humidity - We have thermopro's at the top and bottom of cage to monitor humidity. We mist and water live plants daily and it helps maintain humidity. We also use a fogger/humidifier to maintain humidity higher up in the encl. We made a contraption out of pvc to make sure it is more evenly distributed amongst the enclosure. Our levels during the night are maintained at around 79 usually. during the day it is usually around 53 - 60.
• Plants - We currently have 3 pothos and an umb ficus in the enclosure. We add a few fake leaves to the branches for hide and are currently figuring out how to hang our pothos on the dragon ledges.
• Placement - The cage is located in our office/petroom and there is a fan and air vent in the room. It is not a high traffic room except for when we are in there hanging out. He is elevated about a foot and a half from the ground.
• Location - We are located in North Texas.

Current Problem - We would just like some input or any tips to make his enclosure better for him!

 

[Ms.fernyyy]

 

[Mrjamwin]

Welcome! You're off to a good start. It's just lacking enough cover but that will change over time as the plants grow.

 

[Ms.fernyyy]

Welcome! You're off to a good start. It's just lacking enough cover but that will change over time as the plants grow.

Thank you so much for your input! I plan on hanging 2 pothos on either sides but I struggled a bit yesterday and didn’t like how it came out. That’ll definitely help get some more coverage towards the top of the enclosure!

 

[AmandaS]

I'm not going to lie, I didnt read the post, just looked at the photo. I can come back later to look at your husbandry if someone else hasnt.

I just wanted to drop by to say OMG YOUR LITTLE DUDE IS SO ADORABLE! Look at those colors on him already!! Absolutely gorgeous.

 

[Ms.fernyyy]

I'm not going to lie, I didnt read the post, just looked at the photo. I can come back later to look at your husbandry if someone else hasnt.

I just wanted to drop by to say OMG YOUR LITTLE DUDE IS SO ADORABLE! Look at those colors on him already!! Absolutely gorgeous.

Thank you so much! He started showing color this week and im blown away everytime i look at him. Our female is a little younger than him, and is quite bright in color as well. (my pfp)

 

[Lindasjackson]

hi and welcome to the forum! Your little guy is beautiful! I’m not an expert and I’ve only been here a month but one thing I’ve learned is that foggers shouldn’t be used unless your temps are below 67 degrees. It can be a recipe for a respiratory infection. Feeding should be earlier in the day so he has time to bask and digest his food before the sun goes down, or lights off.. Someone will be on soon that can go over your husbandry with you so hang on.

 

[Ms.fernyyy]

hi and welcome to the forum! Your little guy is beautiful! I’m not an expert and I’ve only been here a month but one thing I’ve learned is that foggers shouldn’t be used unless your temps are below 67 degrees. It can be a recipe for a respiratory infection. Feeding should be earlier in the day so he has time to bask and digest his food before the sun goes down, or lights off.. Someone will be on soon that can go over your husbandry with you so hang on.

Thank you for the tip! We are trying to maintain his humidity and have been having trouble. We noticed the fogger helped but maybe it would be better if we left it at a very low setting?Would you recommend it be on during the night when he needs higher humidity? In regards to food, I could feed before work around 6:30 which is usually when we will turn his lights on. Is that maybe too early to feed?

 

[Flick boy]

Hi and welcome you are off to great start . As mentioned more live plants pothos and wandering jew are great plants and very hardy to provide coverage, shade and hiding spots to hide at night to make your little guy feel safe . You will want to a lot more branches to create little cham super highway up ,down, diagonally. Feeding good . Variety is best supplements do you rotate every other week between reptivite no d3 and calcium +d3 ? . I would increase misting to 2/3 minutes before lights on in the morning. Fogger at night good ( but only run this when your night temps are 65/67 f as running them when temps are to high can lead to respiratory problems. Temp gun with only give you surface temp a wired probe at basking spot is best . I use 3 probes 1 at basking 1 at the bottom and a humidity gauge back middle and also a govee mini wireless which I can download all data to my smartphone. There is lots of great advice on chameleon academy, Neptune the chameleon you tube snd casque above. Com

 

[Lindasjackson]

Miss fernyyy I would not use the fogger at all unless your temps are below 67. This is what I have learned from the many very knowledgeable people here. Yes you can put his feeders in in the morning before you leave for work. He’ll bask a little to get warm then he will eat and bask some more to digest.

 

[Ms.fernyyy]

Miss fernyyy I would not use the fogger at all unless your temps are below 67. This is what I have learned from the many very knowledgeable people here. Yes you can put his feeders in in the morning before you leave for work. He’ll bask a little to get warm then he will eat and bask some more to digest.

Okay great! Good to know. & I will do away with the fogger and will try to find another way to try to keep the humidity up in his enclosure. I’m thinking if I fill his enclosure up with more live plants and hang the ones I already do have, it should help.

 

[Mrjamwin]

Ok here is something no one had seemed to mention about keeping up the humidity in your enclosure. Buy some corrugated plastic sheets an home improvement store. Cut them to the size of both sides and the back. Attach them to both sides and the back and this will help maintain some of the humidity. If you want a less expensive route then you can use a shower curtain. Also, in regards to the fogger, you can use one at night on a timer to provide the needed to night time humidity levels.

 

[Mrjamwin]

Ok here is something no one had seemed to mention about keeping up the humidity in your enclosure. Buy some corrugated plastic sheets an home improvement store. Cut them to the size of both sides and the back. Attach them to both sides and the back and this will help maintain some of the humidity. If you want a less expensive route then you can use a shower curtain. Also, in regards to the fogger, you can use one at night on a timer to provide the needed to night time humidity levels.

 

[Mrjamwin]

Picture for example

 

[Ms.fernyyy]

Ok here is something no one had seemed to mention about keeping up the humidity in your enclosure. Buy some corrugated plastic sheets an home improvement store. Cut them to the size of both sides and the back. Attach them to both sides and the back and this will help maintain some of the humidity. If you want a less expensive route then you can use a shower curtain. Also, in regards to the fogger, you can use one at night on a timer to provide the needed to night time humidity levels.

We purchased a clear material (similar to a clear shower curtain) and have already added it to 3 of the 4 sides. We did plan to buy the white plastic sheets to add to the 2 sides. We had this already for his medium encl. before. Thanks for the tip!

 

[Lindasjackson]

You can also use a mist king and set it to mist several times during the night for 2-3 minutes or longer as long as you’ve got a drainage system to take care of the water. I’d do that rather than use a fogger. you can also cover 3 sides of your enclosure with that shrink wrap that is used on windows in the winter. Duck makes a great one I hear.

 

[Ms.fernyyy]

Hi and welcome you are off to great start . As mentioned more live plants pothos and wandering jew are great plants and very hardy to provide coverage, shade and hiding spots to hide at night to make your little guy feel safe . You will want to a lot more branches to create little cham super highway up ,down, diagonally. Feeding good . Variety is best supplements do you rotate every other week between reptivite no d3 and calcium +d3 ? . I would increase misting to 2/3 minutes before lights on in the morning. Fogger at night good ( but only run this when your night temps are 65/67 f as running them when temps are to high can lead to respiratory problems. Temp gun with only give you surface temp a wired probe at basking spot is best . I use 3 probes 1 at basking 1 at the bottom and a humidity gauge back middle and also a govee mini wireless which I can download all data to my smartphone. There is lots of great advice on chameleon academy, Neptune the chameleon you tube snd casque above. Com

I have 3 pothos, 2 of which I’m working on hanging on both sides of the enclosure and I’m trying to find a ficus tree to add as well. I have thicker branches that I will be adding today as well. We do alternate the supplements as you said! I will try to mist for 2 minutes instead of one and see how that helps the humidity and I’ll definitely have to find a probe for his basking area. Thank you for all the tips!!

 

[Flick boy]

Hi the option i choose for repti breeze was hydroponic plastic . One side black the other white ( white on the inside) so aided with humidity, created a visual barrier rather than clear plastic or shrink wrap giving my girl privacy andd also reflects light back into the enclosure

 

[Ms.fernyyy]

Hi the option i choose for repti breeze was hydroponic plastic . One side black the other white ( white on the inside) so aided with humidity, created a visual barrier rather than clear plastic or shrink wrap giving my girl privacy andd also reflects light back into the enclosure

Great idea! We definitely plan to add white hydroponic plastic to the sides. After work ill be heading to a few nurseries to try to find a Ficus or something similar as well as a hanging pothos! hopefully this will help maintain some of the humidity in his encl. Ill post an updated for everyone once i get it all together.

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

Great idea! We definitely plan to add white hydroponic plastic to the sides. After work ill be heading to a few nurseries to try to find a Ficus or something similar as well as a hanging pothos! hopefully this will help maintain some of the humidity in his encl. Ill post an updated for everyone once i get it all together.

When the hanging pothos grows enough to reach the floor, you can transplant it to a regular pot (or just remove the hanging parts), and make it into a climber. I have a piece of ceiling egg crate up the back of my enclosure, and a couple/few plants use it as a trellis.