Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I got a new baby chameleon. He is a panther chameleon blue bar. Anyway He is eating small crickets and is drinking from his leaves. I have him housed in a 65 gallon reptarium with a ficus tree, some mazanita, and moss on the bottom of the cage. He has a light bulb that provides heat and UV lights during the day, and at night he has a ceramic heater. I mist him 2 to 3 times a day and he eats like a champ with dusted crickets. I also ordered some small silk wroms and butterworms for desert. I had some questions about what the pros though about my set up, and what, if anything i would need to change. Also is the misting good enough for the water or should i add a water bowl just in case? Also is the moss ok for the bottom of the cage?

There really is no reason to use a substrate with chameleons as it only serves as a hazard for ingestion and impaction. A bare floor is best, plus it is much easier to clean. Also most chameleons will not drink from a bowl although i have heard of the rare case. Instead get a drip system, which drips water onto leaves from a resevoir and put a bucket to catch the excess runoff. Enjoy your new cham.
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0.1 Veiled Chameleon (Lola)
0.1 Leopard Gecko (Cleo)
1.0 Bearded Dragon (Flash)
1.0 Great Dane (Hercules)

Would an automatic mister be ok.......or do you think the dripper would be better, or would both be good?

Some chams "prefer" to lick water from drippers and some never use them. You'll need to pay attention to your cham to see what he chooses. A mister is less daily work as long as there is enough foliage to catch and hold the water for him. But, you'll have to keep the system clean. Misters (either hand spraying or auto) will also raise the cage humidity more reliably than a dripper. You'd have to spray the cage if you use a dripper anyway.Don't bother with a water bowl as he will probably ignore it and it's a good way to drown feeders.

About your heating...make sure you don't leave the heat on at night. Let the temp drop unless your room is below 64 F at night.

A water bowl is helpful in a couple ways: humidity is brought up by it's use, especially if you have a sponge in the middle to help wick the moisture into the air, and IF your cham decideds to drink from it it will help keep him hydrated (the humidity boost also helps with this).

On the other hand, it's just one more thing you have to clean daily at least, and the sponge can get really gross if not cleaned well. Have at least two sponges, and when one is COMPLETELY BONE DRY you just pop it in the microwave for a few seconds and it will kill the bacteria.

But then, both my veileds will drink from a bowl. It's fun to watch. It's best to mist/spray/drip, tho, on top of having the bowl in their if you go that way - just to make sure he can drink whatever way he wants. Sometimes, too, if you have a drip system going right to the water bowl he might be more inclined to drink from the bowl, too - just make sure it drips on leaves as well as the bowl and that the bowl is big enough not to let any water spill out by the time the dripper is empty.

Have fun!