Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello I'm going to be getting a veiled chameleon fairly soon and I have a few questions.
1: The Reptarium cages I have heard some bad things about these including crickets can easily escape and they have problems with the zipper however I am wondering if one of these would be an investment worth while mostly because of the price.
2: Veiled chameleons...how young should I buy I have no chameleon experience though I have some reptile experience (corn snake for four years) and I have heard that babies are very difficult to care for, I plan to start a cricket culture and a silkworm culture.
3:How often should I supplement my chameleon? 2-3 times a week seems to be a consensus but what about babies?

These are the only questions I can think of at the moment however I'm sure I'll be back with more.

the reptariums are ok..not great..ok...the zippers do get a little messed up...crickets don't get out..if you have trouble getting the pvc pipes together use vaseline...there have been people complaining about toenails being pulled out (they don't grow back)

in my opinion you want to get a young cham...., it's no fun not being able to watch your cham grow and you want to make sure it's being raised correctly...you'll wanna look into some roaches and mealworms also (lots of recent roach posts on this forum and the feeder food forum)

you can supplement 2-3 times a week with a multivitamin and once or twice a week with calcium..young male veileds grow like weeds

others will have more to add and we all hope to see more of your posts

I may end up saving up for a better cage then because I'd like him/her in good shape. WOuld you reccomend a male or female as a first cham? I am leaning towards males because they seem larger and I have heard that even if there are no mates a femal wil lay an infertal clutch I just in general don't want to deal with that at least not at first.
I will look into roaches and mealworms oh geez roaches scare me they just make me jittery maybe I'm being stupid but *shudder*.

Roaches are not NEEDED. I've never fed my cham a roach.. dont plan on it, they creap me out. As long as your feedign either crickets or silkies as a staple diet your good.

I'd reccomend getting a 4 month old male veiled for your first. Males live about twice as long as the females in general. Even non bred females can lay infertile clutchs, stressing them and leading to a shorter life. If you go younger than 4 months 3 at youngest, you risk more problems, older chams are a little more forgiving.

I'm a woman and I built my last batch of cages myself, paid about $20 a piece in supplies. its not hard.. maybe if you have tools you should look into that option.

Dusting.. if you go with 4 months 3 times a week lightly is good. as long as you gutload your crickets good. I use miner all I and O.

Hope this long post helps.
-----
From Sunny Florida
Jovana's kids listed below
1.1 Veileds
1.0 Ambanja Panther
1.1 Tamatave Panther

I definately reccomend getting a male for the size and they have much better color. I have male veiled that is nine months old and already huge atleast twenty inches in total length. The reptariums are okay but not to good for viewing I would get one and then if you move on to something better you can use the reptarium as an outside cage. Good luck and keep asking questions and reading through old posts. Chameleon Corral and Kammerflage kreations have some cool veiled babies for sale so does Tyler Stuart from Bluebeast reptiles

Wow thanks for all the help guys, I had pretty much decided on buying from kammer as thats where I found out alot of my information. I already have a drip system and spray bottle (I can't believe ppl pay 3 doallrs for these... I got mine for free from a hair salon no it hasn't had anything but water in it).
I had looked into building but there dosen't seem to be any good way to b=close the walls in and keep the view goo d( I don't like that black cloth) I figure I will raise Crickets as a staple wit the occasional wax worm and some wild caught roaches, I live in the boonies there isn't ANYONE around for miles and we don't use pesticides, these wil probably just be a treat though.
I may also buy some wax worms occasionally but these a re too fatty to culture for only 1 cham.

Don't forget about silkworms...they are a GREAT staple diet for chams and are fairly easy to rear. They are much less noisy, less stinky and less dirty than crickets.

Kristen
-----
1.1 pygmy leaf
1.1 carpet
1.0 jackson
0.0.3 red eared sliders

A reptarium is fine. You should buy one that is no smaller than 3 inches snout to vent length. The most important things to consider when starting out with a juvenile veiled chameleon are 1)basking, 2)uv lighting, 3) water, 4)food. (don't forget plants and appropriate sized perches)

1> for a basking light I would recommend a 50 watt spot light kept a couple inches from the reptarium and a branch that is in the reptarium approximately 5 inches from the bulb.(keep the room between 70 and 80F)

2> the only effective fluorescent bulb is the zoomed reptisun 5.0 bulb(Ferguson et al.). Which should be kept directly on top of the reptarium(only good for about 10-11inches). Another effective bulb are one of the self-balasted mercury vapor bulbs ( these are much more expensive though).

3> you need to drip on your chameleon and mist down the plants in his cage at least once a day. You can create a simple drip system by taking a large plastic cup (32 oz work well) and poking a hole in it with a thumb tack. You can fill this up with water (make sure it is between 65-80F) each morning and set it directly on top of the cage. You can put a plastic dish on the bottom of the cage to collect the falling water.

4> keep a container (deli cup, small cup, etc.) to put food in. Crickets should be the staple of the chameleons diet, order crickets online(you can get crickets for one tenth the cost pet stores sell them at) and keep them in a five gallon bucket (or some similar container) with kale, carrots, and a high quality cricket food. you should dust with multi-vitamins and calcium every other feeding for the first couple months and then every third feeding when about 5-6 inches snout to vent length. Veiled should also be feed vegatable matter, the easiest is to feed dandelions(make sure they are from a place no pesticedes were used) which seem to be a favorite and the chameleon will eat immediately. Also feed mealworms once or twice a week and waxworms every couple weeks.

You should be successful with these tips.

vadoni