Reptile & Amphibian Forums

(i posted this in the other chameleon section on mistake, thought I would repost it here)

I am not a reptile noob, just new to chams. I current house a 4foot green Iguana, 5foot boa, and 2 red ear slider turtles.

I purchased a Jacksons chameleon and have asked the seller to not ship it till mid next week. I wanted to have the time to set up the cage, and to try a few things out with heat, and humidity levels. Well today I got to setting things up. The cage is think might be kinda on the small side(36"tall, 20" wide, 12" deep) And at the moment all that is in there is 2 ficus plants. One on the floor, and the other staggered up on a 50CD spindle cover. Currently I have a 40watt bulb resting ontop of the screen. 4" from the top of the cage Directly under the bulb it hit 91deg. At the bottom of the cage opposite corner that the lamp is on its at 76deg. With the lamp off right now both are at 75deg. My questions about heating are.....

is 91 to high for a basking spot?
and is 75 to warm for a night time temp, and if it is how do I manage to get it colder then when my room temp is?

Now about humidity level. This will be tomorrows task. It was 45% in the empty cage, once I added the ficus its uptoo 50%. I know that's still way to low. So I have a few options at my disposal. I have a dripper(is the dripper used more for a water source), a cool mist humidifier(witch might help with my low temp problem). I will used the humidifier externally and channel it into the top of the cage using custom PVC ductwork.

Then the last big problem I am thinking about is feeding location. Should a feeding dish be suspended in "mid air" or can it be on the bottom?

I think that's all I have for now. ANY kinda input and suggestion would help out a TON! I have looked threw the forum, the gallery, and google. But non of the setups I have looked at say what kinda chameleon its for.

Thanks in advance!
soon to be new cham owner.
YaY

Its good to hear that you are learning about the chameleon and
that you are getting prepared to keep one before it arrives!
Are you getting a male or a female? Xantholophus?

Here's one article that gives some good information about the
temps and humdity, etc. for C.T. jacksonii xantholophus
(assuming that's the species you'll be getting)...
http://ADCHAM.com/html/taxonomy/species/chjacksonixanth.html

Here's another article about the chameleons in Hawaii...
http://ADCHAM.com/html/ecology/hawaii-ko.html

Why are you going to cup/container feed it? What is your cage
made of? Some people think that cup feeding contributes to
"lazy tongue". I've always free-ranged my insects because
I feel that its more natural and gives them some exercise
chasing/hunting them instead of hovering over a cup/container.
(Just my own opinion!)

You said...the cage might be on the small side...it would be
okay to start of with, but bigger is usually better.

Re: the plants in the cage...did you wash them well (tops and
undersides of the leaves)to remove insecticides and fertilizers?
I also recommend covering the soil with pebbles that are too
big to be ingested since some chameleons have been known to
ingest soil or the little white bits in the soil. Also, I don't
use any substrate with most chameleons. There is always a chance
of them ingesting it while catching an insect (those tongues are
pretty sticky!)and it might cause an impaction.

Regarding misting or use of humidifiers....they need time to
dry out in between and if you live in a cool climate area and
depending on where your cage is kept, may I caution you against
them being cold/chilled and damp and in a drafty area
when the lights go out...again, just my own opinion. (I have
heard of several chameleons ending up with fungal infections,
respiratory infections if kept in those conditions.)

Good luck with your chameleon!

I bought a pair. http://market.kingsnake.com/detail.php?cat=52&de=324225 it doesnt say what kinda jacksons they are. I bought a 4 to 6" pair.

They each will have there own 2x2x3 foot screen cage.

"Why are you going to cup/container feed it? What is your cage
made of?" Maybe thats one of the drawbacks to so much data out there on the internet. Everyone has there own opinion on how things should be done. Seems like a good slew out there like "cup" feeding because it brings the food right to the animal.

"the plants in the cage...did you wash them well" Thats going to be one of todays task's. I had read to use mild soap and water, spray it down, rinse, repeat a bunch of times. As for substrate I picked up a green carpet thing. Not that plastic grass stuff. I just wanted something down to make it easy to clean.

humidifiers: I was thinking of running it for a hour or so in the morning to replicate like a morning dew, same thing in the evening. With an sprits from the water bottle threwout the day.

I still dont fully understand the dripper though. How fast shoudl it drip? Should it run 24/7? It should drip onto the plants right, then from there into something on the ground to catch the water?

I think other then that I will b ealready for my new chams to arive into there new homes.

Also I have thought of possibly breeding as a hobby(as a full time stay at home dad, I have the time to invest into this hobby)

Keep in mind that Jacksons chams do not like very hot temperatures and prefer really humid conditions. I never used a basking bulb with my jax when I had them because it got way too hot in PA. Even in the winter I didnt need them. Keeping humidity up is always tough with these guys. What I did (and I borrowed this idea from Lele I think) was to take a bath towel and wet it down and place it on one side of the cage. This provided added humidity.

Jax chams seem to be slower at drinking than others I have had. I had to spray these guys down a good 2 minutes before they started drinking. I used a "yard sprayer" from Home Depot that pumps up and sprays a fine mist. I always filled it with HOT water since it cools way down by the time it hits them in spray form.

-----
RafJaime@aol.com

0.1 Nosy Be's (Roja)
1.3 Bearded Dragons (Diego, Ginger, Baby and Georgia)
1.1 Adult Sulcattas (POOPIE and George)
0.0.2 Baby Sulcattas (frick and frack)
1.1 Home's Hingeback Tortoise (SPEEDY and WhatsHerFace)
1.0 Yellow Footed Tortoise (Alfred)
0.1 3 toed turtles
1.0 Red Siberian Husky (Harley)
1.1 English Bulldogs (Alice and Chuckie)
0.1 Blue Merle Great Dane (Wednesday)
1.0 Black Great Dane Rescue (Freddy)
Saltwater Fish and Inverts too