Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I don't know if you read this or not....thought maybe it was too
far down the page...so I'm moving it up.

You're welcome for the replies!

You mentioned using a heat lamp...if you mean light...
I wouldn't leave a light on at night. I don't feel that
chameleons get a good night's sleep with the lights on...after
all they don't have lights on at night in the wild!

68-70F should be fine at night as long as he gets warm during the
daytime. He needs to be warm enough to digest his food so that he
can use the nutrients in the food. I would recommend that the
cage not be near a window or other drafty area though since you
live in a cool climate.

I can understand how you feel with it being your first chameleon!
If you have a uv light and keep him at proper temperatures, water
him well and feed him properly you're off to a good start.
I always make sure that my insects are gutloaded well and I watch
the amounts of supplements I use.

I feed babies daily increasing the size of the prey as they grow,
and continue to do so until they are several months old,
then I start to cut down somewhat. I gutload (as I've
already said) and I dust the crickets with calcium several times
a week lightly for the first few months. I dust with vitamins
(that have beta-carotene as the vitamin A source)once a month
lightly....and because I live in a cold climate and they
can't get outside most of the year, I dust twice a month
lightly with calcium/D3 powder.

I keep my baby veileds at slightly more moderate temperatures
than I do the adults because they are small and I feel that
they can overheat and dehydrate more quickly than adults can.

I'm careful when I mist the cages that no puddles of water form
so that the chameleon can't aspirate water (get it into its
lungs).

I'm sure others might disagree with me on some of what I do but
I have raised lots of veiled chameleons into adulthood and quite
a few to ages older than the averages. (For instance, several
females have lived to be older than 6 and males to 7 and 8 years
old.)

I hope your chameleon does well with you!

Thanks for the help. He seems to be doing great. Im gut loading with carrots and oranges and lightly dusting daily. I bought a humidifier and ran pvc pipe to the top of the cage. I run it 4 times a day for 15 min. Im noticing it doesn't take long for the humidity to drop again. I guess thats what I should expect living in ohio in the winter lol. I also mist the cage twice a day and run the dripper twice a day. The only thing im in kinda in the dark about is what temp I need his basking area. I bought a temp guage and put it about 4 inches below the heat light and its reading about 95. Im also still trying to find a good place for my humidity guage. Ill get it eventually right eventually.

Thanks for the help.

Nez