Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am thinking of getting 1.2 Rhampholeon brevicaudatus and have been doing some research.

I am a bit confused what size tank they require... 10g or 20g? or any other idea of surface area required? I know surface area is better than height. I assume the glass tank is better than a screen enclosure since it keeps the humidity better, or would it not matter if I used a humidifier? I am worried about dead air in a fully enclosed tank with high humidity.

The food items I plan to use will be pinhead crickets, fruit flies, and the occasional offerings of baby silkworms if they want them. Maybe the occasional small waxworms for treats as well. Anything else I should consider that is either easily obtained or easily bred?

Is live plants necessary? Can I decorate using very small bamboo sticks, twigs, and fake plants if I provide substrate to upkeep humidity as well as using a humidifier and misting their cage?

If my cage is a screened type, how do I keep the fruitflies/crickets in? It is hard enough keeping fruitflies in a glass tank... I recall having to feed them to something years ago and they would keep climbing the glass...

Can I use Parazap for them? Since I assume the may purchase will be WC...

I am still reading up as much about them I can before getting them since I want to make sure I can care for them properly. (Can't seem to find that much info on them though.) Right now my biggest concerns are caging and feeding. Not sure if I want a simple cage which will be easy on cleaning up or a more natural looking tank that may occasionally require a complete tear down if problems arise. Anyone have pictures of their little chameleons tanks for me to see?

although i'm not as experienced as some people here, i'll throw out a few tips, and let them handle some of the other things.

although i'm not familiar with that particular chamleon, my understanding is glass is always, ALWAYS a no-no. the reflections in the glass can upset and stress the chameleons. as for keeping the humidity up, keeping it hot(but not too hot!) and misting a few times a day does the trick for me. in dealing with the size of their enclosure, bigger is usually better. and for the price of a 20 gallon(at least around here) you can get nice big reptariums from lllreptile. they're a little flimsy, but mine have held up fine. most screened enclosures are small enough holes so crickets can't get out, but i've heard they can chew through the mesh on reptariums, although it hasn't happened to me yet.
i hope that was a little helpful, but i'm sure everyone else can give a little better tips than i.

good luck!

and before i forget, try to avoid using substrates for the bottom, and make sure you have plenty of places for them to hide!

flammysnake - the leaf chams are a species that stays close to the forest floor and calls for higher humidity. They are also about 2" long (depends) and therefore have different requirements altogether. See the link below for more

Mothi - hey are you a moth person? Always happy to meet another moth-er! As for the brevi's..I had a 1:2 trio a couple years ago and lost them all at about 8 months within 2 months of each other. Not sure what happened but it may have supplement related. They are not always recommended for beginner cham keepers (are you?).
Some negative points:

*if they get sick it is very hard to diagnose (size and vet experience) and eve of they are, medication for such a small species can be an issue
*they are short lived - often only 2 years.
*you have to always have a supply of small feeders (pinhead cricket, fruit flies, etc.

On the positive side:

*they are very cute
*you can do cool stuff with their habitat
*lots of neat photo ops!

OK, all that said I HIGHLY recommend that you purchase from a reputable breeder. I would NOT buy at a show and I would not buy wild caught. I also suggest you check out this article on ChamNews current issue all about their habitat written by someone who has kept them for some time. There is also an article in an earlier issue (same site) about the species Brookesia which has similar requirements. Last site is adcham.com under their species profile

As for some of your specific questions…I had my trio in a 20 long (I think). Your food choices are fine. For substrate I used a bottom layer of pea stone, then horticultural grade charcoal (best if rinsed just to get rid of the charcoal dust), then a piece of window screen to keep it from floating up (btw, charcoal “sweetens” the soil and will help to maintain a clean habitat. I then had another layer of small stone topped with reptibark. Roocat’s article will explain what you need.

lele
Link

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Chameleon Help & Resource Info

0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.3 Mad. Hissers (2 died ;(
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha

I didn't really mention much about my background, but here it is. I have kept many various types of reptiles (some of which I did breeding). The ones that matter are probably the panther chameleon, jackson chameleon babies (they belonged to a store and I was just their caretaker for them to grow up when they stayed at my house), brookesia perarmata, and some form of leaf chamelon (it was many years ago that I wanted to double check and see what new information may be available about them now). So I am not new to chameleon care, but am not close to being an expert. I don't really consider myself a beginner though, but I do like words of warning from people who have cared for them in the past so I know what I am getting myself into.

I have no problems providing them foods even if I have to order directly from a cricket supplier weekly to keep them feed (although I much prefer to offer a varied diet of different types of insects). Supplementing is another thing I have to find more information about as to type and frequency required. I completely understand the topic of gutloading food items prior to feeding.

Thanks for the link. I have been to those sites and read what I could. I will definatley be rereading them before jumping into this.

As for being a moth person... not really. My username is an abbreviation of another name I used to game with... and since I was called Mothi for short, the name now sticks.

Too bad about the moth thing...was hoping for fellow addict! lol!

As for supplementation I would asj roocat and others on this forum what has worked for them. When I had my trio they were CB and from the Kammers (Kammerflage Kreations)so were healthy when I got them. I can only surmise what happened. When Bart (the last to go) died I had an offer from an out of state vet to do a necropsy and see if he could find anything that would help future brevi keepers. On the way to my vet (to get him into Formulin (sp?) my alternator in my car went and my neighbor was not willing to drive me (45 min each way) - UGH! It was really too bad I could not get him there.

Anyway, I would still suggest getting them CB from a a good breeder (not those who sell them for $20 or so - I will not name names...if you want to know who I am referring to email me.)

lele

p.s. they really are cute ;0
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Chameleon Help & Resource Info

0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.3 Mad. Hissers (2 died ;(
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha

Here is an article on building there enclosure …

http://www.chameleonnews.com/stumphabitat.html

Check the upcoming issue (this month) for a humidifier article.

Food items:

.25” or smaller crix (love)
Wax worms (so-so)
Wax moths (LOVE)
House flies (love)
Roach nymphs (love)
Smaller silks (tend not to like)
Mantid nymphs (love)
Small butter worms (so-so)
FF for babies but I tend to only offer fruit flies to adults every so often for treats. They just aren’t substantial enough for adults. To catch the ones that escape put a dish out with red wine vinegar and a bit of dish soap. This works (thanks Oz)!

I use an oscillating fan to circulate the air too.

There isn’t a lot of info on these little guys. That’s going to change though.

-roo

Thanks for the information.

Are waxmoth moths too big for adult leaf chams? Never knew about mantid nymphs... will probably need to look that up. If they don't go well for the silkworms, I will replace that with another source. I don't want the cham to have a staple of any one insect type. I figure the fruitflies might be a tad small, but as a treat I figured it won't be bad. Otherwise right now the main diet would be the small crickets... The roaches I had years ago babies might be a good size for the adults if they like them. They were the discoid dubia.. May need to get another colony of them going again if that is the case. I will look into the mantid nymphs and a clean source of flies as well.

Thanks for the tip on catching loose fruitflies. I will have to definately test that out.

And thanks for the link. I already had it bookmarked and have read it throughly for consideration of how I may want to set up an enclosure. I won't be rushing into this for sure, so I have time to spare.

The crickets should be the staple. Roaches are nice but they tend to hide too well and then get too big. It would be difficult to sustain the other feeders so they could be offered at EVERY feeding. Some like the moths and wax worms should only be treats. Crickets as the staple is a good thing as well. They are easy to gut load meaning that you can pass on good nutrients to the cham. That’s only if you are using a good gutload though

-roo