Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i ssset up my tank its a 60 gallon tank with a divider in the middle. Itss for 2 baby veileds and once they get older im moving them into reptariums, but for now they are going to be in the 60 gal. ill postt pics soon as i can.

Congratulations! But i do have a few questions about it.....

1. Is it glass?

2. Fake or real plants?

For your information it is very hard to switch a chameleon toa different cage when it is older...you have been warned
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eric

yeah its glass, and iknow its hard to change but you would have to switch any wayss, since its a baby. also there arre real andn fake plantss.

Listen...chams HIGHLY benifit from a cage with excellent ventilation....For some species of chams good ventilation is key to there survival...luckily for you veilds done need lotys of ventilation, BUT at LEAST 2 sides of the cage should be mesh...

Chams are also stressed out by fake plants... They CAN tolerate them, but it doesnt mean they shoudl be forced to.

Switching chams to another cage is VERY difficult.Most chams refuse to eat, drink, bask, and sleep...They will spend an eternity trying to get out and find their original home. They will not just adjust to there cage overnight either. Some do adapt, but it takes time and lots of various techniques...

Have you ever kept chams before or is this your first time? You really need to do some research on veilds....here is a link..
Veiled Chameleon link

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eric

i have read on sites that when keeping a baby cham, you can use a tank till they get a little older then i plan tto move them out, I iwas thinkiing since peoeple keep babies in ssmall wiire cages and need to move them up wont that be the same as switching cages? or do you guyss justt put babies straight into big enclosure like the 175 gallons im gettting thiss week?

OK, here's my 2 cents, but first - how old are they? To my understanding young chams can be kept in tanks until they are about 3 months old. One of the reasons for this is that babies can dehydrate much easier than adults and the glass tank help to control the humidity. That said, you also have to remember that glass holds in heat and you don't want to fry the little guys :-O Another reason is to easily find their prey. If one tiny cham is in a 4x2x2 cagestaying in his basking spot and the crickets are all hanging out in the plant's pot he might not get all the food he initially needs. Then again, you can cup feed and/or use a much smaller cage. At 4 months Luna began in a 21"hx18"lx9"d and at 6 months she was in her big cage.

This should all be a moot point if you are getting a 3 month (or older cham) as this is the earliest recommended age to sell. If that is the case then they should not be housed together and should not be in a tank.

As for fake vs. live plants. Live plants help to increase and maintain humidity. I don't really think the cham will be stressed if he only has fake plants - many people use both. Since veiled's are the only ones that eat vegetation, he may try to take a bite and realize it's not what he thoguht it was going to be, and not say "damn, it's fake!"

Be sure to check out the setup questions via link below to make sure you have all you need. Check out the articles on adcham.com and chameleonnews.com.

lele

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Chameleon Help & Resource Info

0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.1 Mad. Hissers and she is on the loose!
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet

NMine are going to be about 2.5 montths old, And i am buying repttariumss this week coming up and they wont be here til next weekennd, I get my chams. on wendsday and will keep them in the tank. unless you guys waant mem to put them in the reptariums im geting.

I love my reptarium...both of them. I have both a 22 gallon and 65 gallon. The screen is black and does limit "seeing" in, but when not feeding, I usually leave the front open. The are nice because you can break them down and clean them easily. After my last cham, I was able to efficently clean my 22 gallon in anticipation for my new arrival. The 22 gallon fits into the 65 gallon...so when transition to another, bigger encloser (yes i am already thinking of this), occurs, it should limit the stress.

I know alot of people on this forum have more elaborate set ups, but the reptarium worked great for my single use. They are also extremely light weight, so when cleaning time comes around, its not a back breaker. AS for the glass enclosure...I guess either tyler stewart or vegasbilly may be the best to answer. Lele and PHeve knows a bunch too....they seem to be the most experienced...I would definately listen to them.

Good luck.
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2.1 Black Labs Tucker, Raider and Lacey
1.0 Lepoard Gecko Kumar
3.0 Horses Smoothie, Rocky and Bogey
1.1 Ferrets Tank and Ellie (The fun fuzzies)
0.1 Veiled Chameleon Pudge RIP
0.1 Snowflake Cornsnake Lucky
1.0 Sunburst veiled-No name yet

I know I listed specific screen names...I know alot of you out there are very knowledgable (
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2.1 Black Labs Tucker, Raider and Lacey
1.0 Lepoard Gecko Kumar
3.0 Horses Smoothie, Rocky and Bogey
1.1 Ferrets Tank and Ellie (The fun fuzzies)
0.1 Veiled Chameleon Pudge RIP
0.1 Snowflake Cornsnake Lucky
1.0 Sunburst veiled-No name yet

Fake plants can be tolerated by chams...tolerated and accepted are different though..live plants arent really hard to care for...just place 2 simple hanging pothos in the cage and that will be great! Pothos dont need bright light, just your typical UVB bulb is fine...

On the message of fake plants...they are also dangerous if a cham manages to ingest a piece....since veilds are omnivores a nice smooth, plastic leaf looks very appetizing..that could easily gag and kill your cham..

Yes glass cages help keep in humidity, BUT humidity is not as crucial as sufficient drinking oppritunities..For example my mellers were kept outdoors in san diego, CA. They were misted 2 times a day for 5 minutes...They thrived in this manner and bred too.

Look keep your chams however you want as long as you dont kill them. I mean no offense to you however, keeping chams is very demanding and you need to start thinking about the animals and not what is convenient to you! If you cant properly care for one than just do those animals the favor and sell them to someone who can!
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eric

of course live plants are better but having some fake (silk, not plastic) are not a problem even for a veiled - tearing a silk leaf is not any easy thing to do. I had all live plants and one silk pothos vine which became Luna's favorite sleep spot. She only ate the live plants and event that was infrequent b/c I opfered her fruits and veggies

I think the initial discussion of glass was that s/he was referring to "babies" - I commented on both glass and screen since I did not know the age the "baby" at the time.
and cham after the age of about 3 months. Frankly, even at 2 1/2 months (which we now know the age) his setup would be OK for another month or so so long as s/he takes the temperature issue into consideration. He is giving each cham 30gal of living space. Yes, changing setup can stess the cham, but it is usually only once in its new home. In this case fromt he tank to its permanent screen cage home. Your point of water intake is valid, but that goes along with basic proper care.I credit boxielover for asking the questions in the first place which showed he did his research beforehand. Btw, I do not mean for this to sound like an argument - it is not.

lele
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Chameleon Help & Resource Info

0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.1 Mad. Hissers and she is on the loose!
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet

i intend for no arguements here, but i will asert myself if someone is being ignorrant to the fact that they were wrong(boxielover). Silk plants are fine, plastics are not.

As for glass cages, they are not. Baby chameleons are VERY active as im sure you know....when they encounter a corner in a glass cage they simply sit there forever pawing at it trying to figure out how to climb on it. It is VERY stressful and frusterating for a chameleon. They can tolerate it, BUT they can only tolerate so much stress.

This is a very controversial topic too so i really dont want to argue about it either
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eric