Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi i was wondering if there are any possible problems keeping a very small (2 week old) veiled chameleon in a cage big enough for an adult (24"x24"x36" screen cage). right now i have him in a 10 gallon glass aquarium as a tempurary cage. i just got him the big screen cage for when he is an adult. Its a really nice cage though so i was thinking it might be nicer for him to be in there. the problem is that i don't want him to get hurt or something, say if he climbed all the way up the side and fell. so basically i'm wondering if anyone has had any problems doing this or if you've heard about any.

probably not a good idea for a few reasons:

*he may not be able to find his food
*it will be very difficult to keep the humidity up
*if your basking & UVB light is high and he feels safe staying low he may not get proper light and UVB

It is recommended to keep them in tanks up to about 3 months. I will let others give you particulars but in the meantime check out the article on AdCham. Scroll down to "5 weeks to 4 months" section.

Curious - how did you get one so young? Was someone actually selling them at this stage?
baby chams

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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 house geckos - Gaia & Tia (both MIA
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta
1.0 African Clawed Frog (for summer)
0.5 Mad. Hissers (for summer - all girls, no little ones, whew!)

hey you were curious where i got him. i got him from a breeder near by. I'd read just about every book i could find in my libaries about chameleons and i just never heard anything about them being too young to buy. So this guy was selling them for 20 bucks and he seemed like he knew what he was talking about at the time, but later i found out he was full of crap or atleast half full of crap since most of the other stuff he said about keeping chameleons matched with what i had read. so anyway i would have liked to have gotten an older one, but live and learn. he is doing very well though and he is going on his third week now so i'm just going to do everything i can for him.

If he was selling that young he doesn't know what he's doing - except trying to move them out and make $$. Very unfair to the cham and you.

Too bad you didn't use this forum in your research. oh well, you are here now so please don't hesitate to ask questions - we're a friendly bunch . Did you check out the article I linked you to? Be sure to browse that site as well as these. Tell us about your setup: lights, feeders, temps, humidity etc. so we can elp you trouble shoot and hopefully get him off to a good start

Chameleon News
This is a top source of current information compiled and written by “tops in their field.”
www.chameleonnews.com/

AdCham
www.adcham.com/

Chameleon Paradise – a site by one of our forum posters. He has FAQ, do’s and don’ts, cage building
http://www.chameleonparadise.com/

Chameleon Journals – www.chameleonjournals.com/

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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 house geckos - Gaia & Tia (both MIA
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta
1.0 African Clawed Frog (for summer)
0.5 Mad. Hissers (for summer - all girls, no little ones, whew!)

Hey thanks for the links i found them very helpful especially the one in your first post. I'm glad i finally found a forum with nice helpful people.

My set up is a standard 10 gallon glass aquarium (i read that these work great for babies). it has two dwarf ficus benjamina in it and also one small unbrella plant, the trees seem to be working well , i never realized how fast they can climb before. on top i have a basking lamb over half the cage and then also a 5.0 repti-sun uvb bulb which goes across the whole cage. both lights are on a 12 hour cycle

as for watering and feeding, i take him out and feed him 2-3 pin head crickets than i mist his trees down before putting him back in. i do that twice a day than once during the day i will do a quick misting. so he gets feed twice a day and watered 3 times a day.

i wanted to ask you about the 5.0 uvb bulb since the breeder i got him (zipper) from sold me that as well. is that the proper type of uvb bulb to use?

also if anyone has any suggestions they would be apreciated.

thanks for the help.

Sounds good, just be sure that the tank doesn't get too hot. Why do you take him out to feed him? Nothing wrong with doing it I am just curious. That'll be nice that he get accostomed to you early on - but once he reaches "puberty" don't be alarmed if he begins hissing at you!

Yes, the "breeder" did give you correct advice. Repti-sun 5.0 is the most commonly used. There are others brands and types but for now stick with this. I have never had one so young so I don't know if their photoperiod should be a full 12 hours. Did it say in any of the articles?

Feed him as much as he will eat. If he seemes "starved" when you oiffer him food offer him a few more - he's a growing boy! Speaking of which, what are you using for dusting? Chams grow quickly and calcium is crucial as well as vitamins. Be sure to feed your crix a healthy diet since whatever they eat is going into the cham.

lele
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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 house geckos - Gaia & Tia (both MIA
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta
1.0 African Clawed Frog (for summer)
0.5 Mad. Hissers (for summer - all girls, no little ones, whew!)

Hey, I feed him by hand just because its easier for him. He wasn't going after them on his own. i had some pin heads in a small tupperware, but he didn't end up eating them. when i hand feed him though he eats alot he'll go through 6 or so throughout the day. also this way i can be sure he is eating them and they aren't just getting lost in the cage.

i use a wet gut load for my crickets seems to be working well and once or twice a week i use a vitamin spray. how often do you use your vitamin dust? i read that you shouldn't do it too often, most things i've read say once a week.

I have a panther that is about 4 mo old and I keep him in a adult size cage(48X 24X 24) I know alot of people and sites say to keep them in a smaller enclosure but I have not had any problems keeping the humdity and proper temps. I also cup and hand feed him and he has already figured out where the food is. I guess its just depends on the cham and situation
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0.1 bearded dragon (Kalypso)
1.0 ambanja panther (Neptune)
1.0 leopard gecko (Balaram)
0.0.1 blue tounge skink
0.0.1 red tail boa (Ra)
0.0.1 jungle X coastal carpet python (Loki)

A 4 month old panther compared to a 2 week old veiled is a big difference - maybe you breezed over the age in his post
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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 house geckos - Gaia & Tia (both MIA
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta
1.0 African Clawed Frog (for summer)
0.5 Mad. Hissers (for summer - all girls, no little ones, whew!)

2 week?? Sorry, I was thinking 2 month
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0.1 bearded dragon (Kalypso)
1.0 ambanja panther (Neptune)
1.0 leopard gecko (Balaram)
0.0.1 blue tounge skink
0.0.1 red tail boa (Ra)
0.0.1 jungle X coastal carpet python (Loki)