In light of the death of my previous Veiled, Godzilla, i went online and found another, and he just arived today! He's a 3 month old baby male veiled. I was a little hestitant about ordering online, but the way he was packaged and the over-night delivery, made me have faith in this company. I will certainly be buying from them in the fiuture... www.FLChams.com
He looks lovely and looks like hes in quite good nick. Few things to mention though. You will need to get him out of that glass tank and he needs to be in a flexarium or something like that. Or an aluminium enclosure as they need good ventilation, bacteria can grow in glass tanks easily + they over heat quite easily. When hes about 5 months hell need something like a 24x24x48 enclosure or 18x18x36 bare minimum. What lighting are you using? Have you got any real plants? How often are you misting? Are you using a dripper? I'm sure you prob know all this but just making sure as you said your last cham passed away.
the setup looks fine.. the top and sides seem to be screen or mesh. there is a basking light and a uv light visible in the pictures. veiled chameleons are not a rain forest animal and do not require the heavy misting/dripping of other chameleons.
Mike is a great guy! If you have any questions you should definatley call Mike! Your guy looks good. Jake
misting 2-3 times a day and dripper for 10 mins a day. The glass also spooks them if they see their reflection.
misting 2-3 times a day and dripper for 10 mins a day. The glass also spooks them if they see their reflection. Also, yes we can see the lighting but what TYPE of lighting. What UVB tube is that? What basking light wattage are you using? How are you measuring temps? etc
I have him in a 24X30X24 (LxHxW) I kept my last Cham in there but he died due to internal Parasites and a dislocated hip. Never had any problem with the glass before, as the sides and the top are screen. I mist 4 times a day. For the 10 years i've been keeping Chams i've always used the controversial 'ice cube' method of providing water to my Chams. They don't seemed to be bothered by it. I use a 'Slimlime Reptile Fixture w/Super UV lamp', along with a 50 watt heat lamp. I have two thermometers on the outside of the tank, one at either end on the glass front. The side closest to the heat lamp is about 85 degrees F, and the opposite side is about 80. I tend not to use real plants as i find them quite troublesome. I know they help keep up the humidity..but i seriously doubt they are a necessity.
Sounds good. Alot of people will argue about the icecube method but me, never tried it so wont comment and sounds like he's accepting it. I'm not familiar with that uvb tube. Most ''experts'' will tell you you should use either a reptisun 5.0 or reptisun 10.0 (depending on how it is fixed etc, depth of enclosure and the mesh it has to penetrate). Your basking temp seems ok when he reaches around 4-5 months you might want to raise that to the full adult basking temp. You are doing a bloody good job though and as I see you said you've had experience with chams before. Please remember all chams are different and some may react differently to the glass though. Chams, Veileds especially, will benefit from vegitation of some kind i.e plant matter fruits etc. Lastly, having thermometers on the outside of the tank doesn't seem like a good idea to me. It surely can't be that acurate? I've never tried this method before though and don't think i'd feel comfortable not knowing the EXACT temps my cham is being exposed to.
Here's the UV lighting i use:UV Lighting I change the bulb every six to eight months. Also i occasionally offered my last Veiled Collard Green for his veggies.
The bulb in the slimline (super UV) doesnt really provide enough UVB for a veiled chameleon. Mike at FLChams uses Zoo Med ReptiSun 5.0's http://flchams.com/chameleon_setup.asp
Yeah, like I was saying dude get a good reptisun 5.0 or 10.0 and your cham will live a much better life and problems will be alot less likely encountered.
actually.. since he is using a slimline fixture (18").. it isnt going to matter much what bulb he uses. especially with a screen top (filtering out about 50% of the usable UVB). I just walked outside and did a meter reading with the sun at my back.. partly cloudy skies. meter reading 270 stood under a tree... meter reading 41 plugged in a brand new 10.0 18" and let it run for 10 minutes. meter reading at 12" (approx, measured but hand held) 38 plugged in a brand new 5.0 18" and let it run for 10 minutes.. meter reading at 12" 20 On the packaging for the 10.0 it states Screens filter out up to 50% of UVB. I used a solarmeter 6.2 these readings are not % of uvb but the amount of UVB falling on the sensor in microwatts per square centemeter. 18" bulbs are pretty low wattage.. and just do not produce much uvb at 12" at 2" away from the bulb the readings were in the low 100's. supplementing with a good calcium that includes vitamin D3 is a must... and if you are using a screen top.. buy the 10.0. also, realize these readings were done with 1 10.0 and 1 5.0 and one reading for each area outside. I am sure all of the readings would fluctuate a little if i had taken multiple readings or took my time
You measured them without filtering them though right?...If so, filter it and tell us the results id be interested to find out what they are. A Reptisun 5.0 on the top of a 48" enclosure works well so long as you give your chameleon a basking location within 6" to 12" of it. Like I also said i'm not familiar with that tube and the reptisuns are THE recomended ones
A friend of mine did a test and here is his results - I tried measuring several items with my UVB meter. The source was a reptisun 5.0. Measurements were all taken at 6". no obstruction 18uW/cm2 through reptarium suntack 9 uW/cm2 through double pane glass 0uW/cm2 through aquarium glass 1uWcm2 through plastic ( critter keeper) 10uW/cm2 through aluminum bug screen 12uW/cm2
they were measured completely unfiltered using the same fixture the original poster uses (slimline). I *DID NOT* test the brand of bulb the original poster uses (ESU super UV), which is supposed to produce 3% UVB. I have not tested any other size bulbs.. only the 2 18" bulbs i listed above (zoo med 5.0 and zoo med 10.0). I have also tested the t-rex 100 UVB MVB... and it produces.. as expected.. way way more uvb than these 2 18" fluorescents. since my test in the shade on a fairly sunny day was 41 and the 10.0 measured 38.. id think this would be a better choice for a veiled if using a screen top. i will try later to measure bulbs with and without screen tops at 12".
This is similar to the reading i got. what was the age of his bulb and what size was it? I used the 18".. which is only 15 watts.
Thanks for all the input guys. I don't use the bulb that came with the Slimlime, like i said before i change it every six months, and when i buy a replacement bulb it's never a 'Slimlime' bulb. It takes ANY 18" florescent bulb. I usually get one that is specifically supplies high levels of UVB. Can't think of the name brand of Bulb i use right now. But i'm gonna look into getting a Reptisun 5.0 (i might already have one in there, as i can't recall the brand i last bought) EDIT: Just looked at the bulb itself, and it's a 5.0 UVB Repti Glo Tropical Terrarium bulb. 15 W. Repti Glo Bulb It's says: 30% UVA 5% UVB Not sure what those numbers mean. It's the bulb i have been using all along. When i take my Chameleons to the vet, i'm told it's calcium levels are great via the Vet's x-ray.
just tested a 13 watt exo terra coil bulb with several hours burn in... through screen. at 5" (basking area).. uvb measurement was 11. unfiltered it was 18 i used an exo terra small plastic top which uses a silver reflector (probably helped the readings). http://www.reptilesupply.com/product.php?products_id=1873
