Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I Think I am finally ready to order my cham, I have decided on getting a Seaside Blue Phase Veiled Chameleon from Raging Reptiles, I called today they said they are about 5 wks old and around 4" I believe. Eating 2 wk old crickets.

I think i've got everything ready, i'll attach 2 pics of my cages. I plan on either buying a dripper or making a homemade one out of a plastic cup and pinhole!

Any comments or suggestions appreciated! A couple things real quick, when I first recieve, I'll put him right in his cage, should I offer food then? or not? or just leave the area for a good while to let him "settle in" ?? I've never orderd a herp, or any animal for that matter(used to be in saltwater fish) from internet, so i have no clue how things are packed.. etc.

Thanks guys, between this forum and one other i've learned alot.. That and alot of care sheets and other reading i've done I think i've learned alot about chameleons, and veiled chams in specific =D

well here are the pics, Im sorry for posting multiple topics lately but im just paranoid/excited

specs are 2'x2'x4', with a ficus tree, I have a pothos but im debating on adding it. The plant was washed all the dirt off (that was a job..) and put in a new pot with soil that contains no additives etc. I plan on putting some rocks around the top tho to be safe. O and I also washed it all with anti bacterial soap.

Heres the 2nd pic.

When he arrives take him out of the shiping container and put him in his cage. Make sure you have your dripper turned on. Then I would leave him be for 3-4 hours, later you can then come back and mist and feed the little guy some crickets. If you have any other questions feel free to ask.

Some cautions for you to consider. A 5 week old cham is VERY young. Sometimes the weakest babies in the clutch don't survive for unknown reasons but at 5 weeks this may not have happened yet. I'm not saying anything bad about the breeder, just that by an older age the babies with problems have already shown up. It will be pretty delicate in terms of dehydration, overheating, and feeding lots and lots of tiny food (fruitflies and pinhead crickets). The food will be harder to get at a moment's notice so be warned and have a backup source just in case. You may find that your cage is too large for this tiny baby at first especially as the food will be mostly free ranging (flies). You may have to divide the cage temporarily to confine the food and keep a closer control of the temp, humidity and to keep it closer to the UV lighting. You could divide the cage with screening or a plastic panel and use the top half with a smaller potted plant such as a pothos. If you don't have a good quality humidity gauge and a non-contact thermometers (advertised as a "temp gun" you should get them now to keep accurate track of climate. If you have a choice of an older cham I would do that instead. They are easier to acclimate. There are some good baby care articles on these sites that may help:

http://www.chameleonnews.com
http://www.adcham.com
http://www.chameleonjournals.com

I know you want it right now, but think about these things too. Good luck!

The pic is a bit blurry, but it appears the heat or UV dome is inside the cage; it should be out, or else your cham might burn himself on it by climbing up the sides of the cage. Chams don't seem to have evolved to realize that their literally cooking themselves by being too close to a heat source, unfortunately. Place the dome on top of the cage, or somehow outside of it.

I'll chime in on the cage size issue too. Baby chameleons
are much easier to raise in a small cage (i use rubbermaid
tubs, 1x1&1/2 foot with some kind of screen lid so flies don't get out). a screen cage about that size would be even better, altho i've never had problems with the tubs (cheap).
They are very delicate, and need to be heavily hydrated,
along with having food that is very close to them at all times.
The basking light should be pretty far away too, little chameleons can cook easily.
In the tubs i dont use a substrate, just bare plastic floor which is very easy to clean. I usually just clip off a leafy branch from outside and use that for the tub.
When the leaves start to dry out it's time to clean the cage bottom. Spray the tub multiple times a day, and set up a dripper
that falls into a cup(with a screen cover so the cham wont fall in.)
Once your cham starts growing, create a slightly larger setup, until he graduates to the full size screen cage. The trick is to keep the cage small enough so the food is easy to find, but large enough not to stress them. The advantage is you can easily monitor how much he's eating, and keep him well hydrated.
k

Thanks for the replies guys!

I've been debating between him and "ringo" from reptilemax.. ringo was born in febuary..I was goin with the baby due to the fact it will be "blue" when its older, but as i afraid (cage size, feeding) It looks like i should just order ringo from reptilemax.

I think if this was my first cham I would go for Ringo. There will be a bit more info about his likes and dislikes too. You can always get a blue baby later when you've gotten all the kinks out of your husbandry and know how cham keeping fits into your routines.

where are the branches, something to perch on directly under the heat lamp, he/she will need more stuff to hide on/behind. Here is a pic of my vieled's cage she has lived here almost 3 years, and is very happy. They need lots of stuff to climb on from top to bottom, and side to side. Other than that everything looks pretty good.

Karen