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I just recently purchased a senegal cham at a show. The vendor said he (she?) was captive bred, but we all know how vendors at shows can be. I opted to not go with a veiled just because of their size, and i had been thinking of dwarf leaf chams because of their size, but they are so short lived....

It is hard to find alot of info on senegals....i have a general cham book. It says they like warm and humid. I have him in a 65 gal reptarium set on end, with live plants, fake vines, a 5.0 reptiglo and a 150 watt heat bulb on one side of the encloseure. I run a small dripper in the morning and at night. he seems to be drinking well, and he ate the night i brought him home, and the prey i put in his tank has been dissappearing. He is aware and now becoming more active.

I keep him in my reptile room, where the daytime ambient now is around 80. in the summer it is near 85-90. it is cooling off now so it isnt so warm.

I want him to do well. I have changed the cricket gutload a bit, from a straight up fluckers diet to fluckers mixed with a crested gecko diet (dry) and added calcium and honey. I am sure that will benefit my bearded, leos, cresteds, and whites tree frog as well.

I am a bit nervous. I know a bit about veilds, but not a whole lot about senegals. Are they like gracefuls? What is their lifespan?
any help is appreciated. Much thanks. I am hopeing to do the best for this little guy. I have kept difficult species before and have succeeded, so a failure would be devistating. Much thanks, jen.
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"Brains for dinner, brains for lunch. Brains for breakfast, brains for brunch. Brains for every single meal; why can't we have some GUTS?"-Misfits

1.0 ball python- Azazel
0.1 creamsicle corn- Pandora
0.1 motley anery corn- Raven
0.3 leos- Boji, Sanjae and Kodama
0.1 beardie- Indie
0.1 Iggy- Sunny
1.1 crested gecko- Jubeh and Inari
0.1 leucistic texas ratsnake-Ojo
1.0 whites tree frog- Sifaka
0.1 Aru GTP- Kiwi
1.0 Ruthven's X Thaeri king- Kemushi
0.1 pacific parrolet- Mishka
1.1 cats- Cairo and Oberon
0.0.6 crab people
1.0 Husband (hes my favorite, but i dont let the 'kids' know that. )

There isn't much written about Senegals partly because they were a commonly imported less expensive species pet shops tended to get. They usually did very poorly as novice buyers tended to get them and the more colorful cbb veileds and panthers were more in demand. Their wild range is fairly variable so the climate info for any one particular individual is hard to determine. Chances are this cham was at best captive hatched from an imported gravid female, but there's no way to tell for sure. My one concern is the amount of heat your current lighting and the room temp create. All chams need AT LEAST a 10 degree temp drop at night, so if your room stays uniformly that warm 24/7 he won't do too well over time. Make sure there is no visible light on at night...chams have pretty sensitive full color vision. What are the temps right at the basking spot when lights are on? The bulb wattage won't predict the actual basking spot temp...chams can get burned fairly easily. Most incandescent bulbs don't create much useable UV (the ReptiGlo for example), and the mecury vapor heat/UV type spots can get too hot for them. With your warm room you may be better off with a regular house light bulb (you don't need a fancy basking light) and a ReptiSun 5.0 fluorescent light for UVB and A. You should use live bushy potted plants in the cage to help regulate humidity and provide cover. In an open mesh cage in a warm room he'll tend to dehydrate more easily. You can drape some plastic sheeting on back and/or sides of the cage to help maintain it also.

In case you hadn't found them yet, here are a couple of excellent cham websites:

ADCHAM.com
Chameleonnews.com

All of the lights do get turned off at night. The ambient temp does drop to a little above 70...i do keep a ceramic heat emitter going for my transpecos rat snake (to keep her tank dry) and a couple of heat pads, but i would say low 70s at night when all the lights are off. I do have a 24" 5.0 reptiglo on the tank, and a 150 watt heat bulb for a basking spot. I need to get a thermometer, but with my experience, i would say the basking spot is around 90. The reptarium is pretty tall, so the bottom (which is covered in moss only) stays cooler. He does seem to thermoregulate and move around quite a bit, but i have seen him even resting on the mesh with his belly close to the light.
He is eating well, and i run a dripper 2x daily with spraying throughout the day. I have seen him drink quite a bit.
Thanks for the imput! I really am apreciative of all you can give me. I will check the websites as well. Thanks again, jen
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"Brains for dinner, brains for lunch. Brains for breakfast, brains for brunch. Brains for every single meal; why can't we have some GUTS?"-Misfits

1.0 ball python- Azazel
0.1 creamsicle corn- Pandora
0.1 motley ghost stripe corn- Raven
0.4 leos- Boji, Sanjae, fae and Kodama
0.1 beardie- Indie
1.1 crested gecko- Jubeh and Inari
0.1 leucistic texas ratsnake-Ojo
1.0 whites tree frog- Sifaka
0.1 Transe pecos rat
1.0 (?) Senegal chameleon
1.0 Ruthven's X Thaeri king- Kemushi
0.1 pacific parrolet- Mishka
1.1 cats- Cairo and Oberon
0.0.4 crab people
1.0 Husband (hes my favorite, but i dont let the 'kids' know that. )

Neither the ReptiGlo or the heat lamp provide enough UVB, so you'll need to get a proven source. Again, the ReptiSun 5.0 is a safe reliable one many of us use. Many so-called "full spectrum" incandescent lamps claim they produce UVB but independent testing shows otherwise. When you get one, you won't need one or the other of those basking bulbs so just remove it. Get the thermometer...don't guess. The temp at the cham's skin gets burned through cumulative exposure (temp rises over the amount of time he is sitting under it) and burns can happen at lower temps than we realize. Ironically, basking herps don't have many heat sensors in their skin and don't always move out of the radiation before they burn. Actually, the most useful accurate thermometer out there is one of the little Pro Exotics Temp guns. They are inexpensive, aren't biased by air conditions, totally portable, and you can measure the precise surface temp of any animal whenever you need to. $25 is well worth it. I use them for all my herps now. Once I get a setup's heat source regulated I can spot check any part of them or the animal without disturbing them.

Cool, thanks. the websites you suggested were a big help too. that Ezine had a FULL article on senegals. I really appreciate that and i will invest in a temp gun. Thanks again, j
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"Brains for dinner, brains for lunch. Brains for breakfast, brains for brunch. Brains for every single meal; why can't we have some GUTS?"-Misfits

1.0 ball python- Azazel
0.1 creamsicle corn- Pandora
0.1 motley ghost stripe corn- Raven
0.4 leos- Boji, Sanjae, fae and Kodama
0.1 beardie- Indie
1.1 crested gecko- Jubeh and Inari
0.1 leucistic texas ratsnake-Ojo
1.0 whites tree frog- Sifaka
0.1 Transe pecos rat
1.0 (?) Senegal chameleon
1.0 Ruthven's X Thaeri king- Kemushi
0.1 pacific parrolet- Mishka
1.1 cats- Cairo and Oberon
0.0.4 crab people
1.0 Husband (hes my favorite, but i dont let the 'kids' know that. )

I thought there was something about Senegals. Glad you found it! I've always thought their color was beautiful. Like the stress spotting pattern too. Pretty hard to miss that little visual shout!

With Senegals, I found that you need to make sure that they drink well. They can be kept very much like the veileds can....but with more moderate temperatures.

Ambaji is still showing a bit of stress color....and a strange lateral white stripe (?) with like 4 white spots. I thought they should be orange or yellow according to the article.
I have seen a *bit of yellow spotting, but i think that he may be a juvinile still....no real 'argyle' like triangles with blue or permanent yellow spots....so i really am not so sure of the sex as of yet but there is swelling near the base of the tail.
I figure that the stress of the show and me having to switch tanks once already (the enclosure that i got at the show was not the correct one once i put it together, so i got a 65g reptarium,...) and the general stress of being in a new place has just wigged him out a bit.
He is eating however, and i have set up a drip system, that drips onto his vines and leaves and then into a bowl below. I think he is drinking from a bowl too, because i often find it tipped over. I'm unsure, but i change out the bowl and refill his dripper 2x daily. He really is a cool little guy.
Oh, and i purchased 2 digital thermometers...one for each side of the tank...they should be comming in the mail soon. I am planning on getting a temp gun soon as well.
Thanks for all the help guys. Any more insight is also appreciated, and i will have pics up soon enough. j
-----
"Brains for dinner, brains for lunch. Brains for breakfast, brains for brunch. Brains for every single meal; why can't we have some GUTS?"-Misfits

1.0 ball python- Azazel
0.1 creamsicle corn- Pandora
0.1 motley ghost stripe corn- Raven
0.4 leos- Boji, Sanjae, fae and Kodama
0.1 beardie- Indie
1.1 crested gecko- Jubeh and Inari
0.1 leucistic texas ratsnake-Ojo
1.0 whites tree frog- Sifaka
0.1 Transe pecos rat
1.0 (?) Senegal chameleon
1.0 Ruthven's X Thaeri king- Kemushi
0.1 pacific parrolet- Mishka
1.1 cats- Cairo and Oberon
0.0.4 crab people
1.0 Husband (hes my favorite, but i dont let the 'kids' know that. )