Hi
Sand from the petstore is likely to be expensive. I just use playground sand, from a local home improvement store. I divide it into small buckets and poor a couple kettles of boiling water over each bucket. Just to make sure there's nothing living in the sand. Poor off the water, wait for a bit more to evaporate - in the same room as my chameleons, so that the humidty doesnt go to waste! - then the sand is ready to be combined dumped into my laying bins. I dumpout the old sand onto my garden about once a year and buy new stuff, because I am too lazy to wash and steralize the used sand. Some folk will bake the sand on cookie sheets in an oven.

I can understand not wanting crickets to escape into your home! And cup feeding helps you track how much she eats, and you can put some cricket food in the cup to keep them nutritious.
However, to help Joyce keep her hunting skills / instinct, you may want to let her catch the odd cricket or worm more naturally, not from in a cup. If you wait until she's hungry, then release a cricket on a nearby branch, she'll probably go for it while you watch, if you keep still and quiet. If you remove the hind jumping legs from the crickets, they are more likely to stay clinging to the branches long enough to get eaten, rather than jumping away. Silkworms are great as their little suction-cup feet allow them to walk around on branches without falling, plus they are silent and present no infestation hazards. Roaches on the other hand you need to be careful of. Even though I only offer very young roaches no where near breeding age to my chams, I still remove the heads if I'm not going to be there to ENSURE the roaches are eaten. The roaches will still move about without heads for a fair while - quite long enough to become dinner - but no chance for an infestation as they of course do die within days should they escape detection. Stick bugs also grip onto most any surface and walk around waiting to be injested. Wood sows are fairly good for this too.

You could put some of the veggies and fruit in the feeding cup, for Joyce to eat too if she can reach it. Otherwise, you can get simple clips from the petsore - they are meant for bird cages, to hold cuttle bones. I use them to hold fruit and veg for my bird, and it would probably work for your girl. Much easier than tying fruit to a branch, eh?

As for the calcium, I'd go with kinyongas advice and go more calcium than what I suggested, as vields do need to build up that boney head more than panthers. Especially if she does begin egg laying.

I make my own drippers using plastic cups, and aquarium air hose and valves. I use a nail to make the hole and non-toxic silicon to ensure the hose and valve stay in and seal the holes. twice daily, once in the morning and once in afternoon, I fill the water containers and they drip away for about an hour, filing collection buckets the chams can't fall into. Also use towels (changed daily) to catch splash. I mist once to three times a day, depending on the humidity in the room. As my "kids" have their own room, it's easier for me to control the humidity overall in there. I think fountains and waterfalls are a bad idea.

Enjoy her

S



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Sandra
BC Canada

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