Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everybody I am new here, and very excited about learning. Anyway I have been given a Chameleon that was no longer wanted, and would like some input on what I am doing so far. When I went to pick her up (her name is Nemo) I found her in a 40 gallon fish tank, with rock sustrate, one limb to climb on, and a regular light lightbulb in a fixture taped to the side of her enclosure. They were feeding her crickets about every 3 days, don't know how many. They did not know what kind she was, I knew from looking at her that she was a veiled, but was not sure which one, since aquiring her I have made the decision she is a C. c. Calcarifer-but can not find ANYTHING on them anywhere.

I have cleaned out her tank (I am looking for her a much bigger and better ventilated cage) and put in repti bark for substrate (Is this ok?) have given her plants for hiding places and many more climbing decorations. I have her on the recommended lighting, leting the temp drop about 5 degrees at night (should there be more of a drop in temp at night--if so-to what?) Day temp is around 80 degrees upper 70s on one end and of course she has a basking lamp. I have started feeding her daily (is that to often?) she is a little thin. I am doing every other day dusting on her foods (yes/no??) I gave her some mealies yesterday and she absolutely LOVED them, took them very nicely out of the feeding tongs (gave them to her that way because I didn't know if she would eat them, and I didn't want them getting out of the bowl). I am open to sugestions. And am definitely looking for her a much taller cage so I can put in some real plants like ficus is Hibiscus ok? My desert Iguana LOVEs to munch on them. Also what should Nemo's humidity be at?

Thanks much- Snyper438's wife, Angie

A pic of Nemo

Another pic of Nemo The heat lamp is not in the cage with her, and it is not her basking area...this was the day I picked her up and I wanted the regular light bulb they had on her out, so I put the heat bulb in the fixture..then went right out and got her her daylight and basking light

a screen cage is really important. ventilation is very important for chameleons and in a tank they are very prone to upper respitory infections, so get one as soon as you can. substrate is bad for chameleons, so take that out and replace it with papertowles or newspaper. as far as temp you wanna shoot for a 90-105 degree basking spot, around 80s good for the rest of the cage, and at night it can get down to the 70s and high-mid 60s with no ill effects. a drop in temp is good for chams at night. for the heating regular 60 75 or 100 wat bulbs you have in your lamps are fine, but you need a uva uvb bulb. feeding daily is right and its very good to vary her diet (buy as many types of insect feeders as you can). every other day supplementation is good for young chams and as they grow you can move back to once a week. a multivitamin like herpative is important too. post all the details of you set up temps, plants, lighting, pics if available and post all your hunbandry techniques and everything can be critiqued. keeping chams is costly and time consuming but they are the most rewarding reptile ive ever had. good luck!

-jon

p.s. this was a long post and i may have missed some of you questions

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1.1 veiled chameleons
0.0.1 normal cornsnake
1.2 leopard geckos

i would say shes a female veiled. chameleo calyptraus. if you look at her back legs right where her 2 "feet" come together. males have a little fleshy bump sticking out, females dont (yours is probally a female, males have alot more colors). its really easy to distinguish the sexes in veilds. you may also just want to take her to the vet just to make sure everythings in order. good luck!

-jon
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1.1 veiled chameleons
0.0.1 normal cornsnake
1.2 leopard geckos

thanks so much for your post, the temps you posted are right around what I have her cage at. Yeah I wasn't very happy with the way they had her set up, I had all ready planned on getting her a wire/mesh cage. She is my first Cham, though I am interested in ALL animals and love to read, so knew some of the basics for Cham care. Will take out the substrate asap tomorrow. We all ready knew she was a she, they told us she has been producing eggs LOL~~guess we can't get that wrong LOL Yep have all the UVA UVB lighting set up, with a basking area. Again thanks, Angie

Ch. calyptratus calcarifer is just a hybrid between Ch. calyptratus and Ch. arabicus, and all veileds in captivity, except possibly WC imports which are rare, are the typical Ch. calyptratus.

Chris

>>Hi everybody I am new here, and very excited about learning. Anyway I have been given a Chameleon that was no longer wanted, and would like some input on what I am doing so far. When I went to pick her up (her name is Nemo) I found her in a 40 gallon fish tank, with rock sustrate, one limb to climb on, and a regular light lightbulb in a fixture taped to the side of her enclosure. They were feeding her crickets about every 3 days, don't know how many. They did not know what kind she was, I knew from looking at her that she was a veiled, but was not sure which one, since aquiring her I have made the decision she is a C. c. Calcarifer-but can not find ANYTHING on them anywhere.
>>
>>I have cleaned out her tank (I am looking for her a much bigger and better ventilated cage) and put in repti bark for substrate (Is this ok?) have given her plants for hiding places and many more climbing decorations. I have her on the recommended lighting, leting the temp drop about 5 degrees at night (should there be more of a drop in temp at night--if so-to what?) Day temp is around 80 degrees upper 70s on one end and of course she has a basking lamp. I have started feeding her daily (is that to often?) she is a little thin. I am doing every other day dusting on her foods (yes/no??) I gave her some mealies yesterday and she absolutely LOVED them, took them very nicely out of the feeding tongs (gave them to her that way because I didn't know if she would eat them, and I didn't want them getting out of the bowl). I am open to sugestions. And am definitely looking for her a much taller cage so I can put in some real plants like ficus is Hibiscus ok? My desert Iguana LOVEs to munch on them. Also what should Nemo's humidity be at?
>>
>>Thanks much- Snyper438's wife, Angie
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Chris Anderson
parsonii_hoehnelii@hotmail.com
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