Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently purchased a chameleon from a pet store in good condition, but without any knowledge on them as to what they need for care.(Yes, idiot me) So far I have read message board after message board and about 15 sites regarding care. I bought reptisun 5.0 online and is not going to be here for another week or so, will this be ok for now or will he die from not having the uvb lighting? all i have now is a dayglo-75 watt basking lamp. i have fed him 2 week old gut-loaded, crickets and a couple of house flies(very entertaining) My drip system does not seem to be working properly. i poked a whole in a container and filled it w/ warm water and put it on top of my 38-gallon reptarium, the water just condenses at the top, over the nylon, occasionaly it drips, but usually in mass amounts in unpredictable places, usually where my recepticle isn't. i hope my lack of preparation doesn't have any fatal consequences for him. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Don't panic... a few days without UVB will not result in immediate death of a chameleon. But remember, a few minutes outside in the sunshine each day will suffice to supply the needed UVB. Can you let him sit out for 15-20 minutes?

For our veileds, we use regular household light bulbs for basking - after all, you just need the warmth - and they get plenty hot.

Feeding 2wk crix? The cham must be small, how old is it?

For your drippy-cup, you need to raise it off the reptarium surface - you can use wooden strips that sit across the top of the frame, and this should help with the stream.

Did you get a care sheet?
There are bunches of them online...

Morgana - Reptayls, Ltd.

He sat out for an hour yesterday, then it cloudy so i brought him back in. fixed the water problem. thanks. he's a month old. yesterday i fed him 2 above average-sized house flies, he ate them right away. Another thing weird is sometimes when he's walking, he'll move back and forth repeatedly without actually covering any ground, kinda like when your watching a tape and someone keeps hitting rewind and fastforward really quickly, he only does it on occassion, but is for 15-60 sec. would anyone know anything about this?

This "walk" is what we refer to as "the egyptian"
It is how they mimic a leaf in the breeze to sneak up on prey - or otherwise to be less noticeable to preditors.

At one month old... they do this "walk" fairly consistently.

One month old is very young to buy a chameleon. Did the seller explain that the highest mortality rate is between birth and 12 weeks? Sometimes with no rhyme or reason they expire.

Best of luck with your little one.
Morgana - Reptayls, Ltd.