yemen veiled chameleon care sheet

[chamaeleo]

iv seen quite a few threads with people asking how, which, what etc about these chams so iv put together some advice which I think will help new owners, if you totally disagree with my advice. Well iv gone horribly wrong somewhere!
areas covered: (to skip to these sections press ctrl + f and type in the name/ first part of the name of the section you want to save scrolling through my massive rant of a care sheet)
males v female

suitable tanks
decoration etc
temperature
lighting
food
water
the crickety bit of the job


gender specifics


common problems

male v females :

females:10-14” no spurs on back of feet smaller crest not as colourful, green brown white yellow pinks need extra specific care which will be covered in gender specifics


males:17-24” large crest and spurs on back of feet. larger than females and colourful ( not entirely sure what colours as iv never had a male to watch and study)


Basic info
firstly these chameleons are not a commitment to be taken lightly, they can live for many years, they should be kept ON THEIR OWN. as they are solitary and territorial.
Suitable tanks
Chameleons should be kept in entirely mesh enclosures or a large glass tank with a fully mesh side- this is important as they need a constant supply of fresh air otherwise it can lead to health problems. ( see common problems)
my personal tank was 5ft tall by 2ft wide and 1.5 deep.

decoration etc!
must haves decoration and environment wise
Waterfall (imo) (http://www.exo-terra.com/en) for helping with humdity levels but not soaking the tank, must be cleaned and disinfected regularly as if your cham does drink from it it may get ill from the dead food and bacteria in it.
different size branches, liana (http://dartfrog.co.uk)
FAKE plants lots of these! ( go to like wilkos and buy some of their fish plants the long one of the right bottom of the tank was from here also the ivy)
you can use real plants but this risks your cham eating it and becoming sick just for the sake of having a nice plant in there- if you want a viv with nice plants. get frogs, rough green snakes etc, things that wont eat the plants. don’t risk your pets health.
(other people disagree with me and by all means use them but i personally woudlnt put any plants in with out some serious reserch)
jungle vines or similar for vertical hanging.
reptile carpet or soil for females not chunky substrate (see common problems and gender specifics section)



Temperature
these reptiles from the order squamata and the family chamaeleonide are from Saudi Arabia so to make them feel at home, they need to be kept warm:
they need a basking spot as they are cold blooded and cant regulate body temperature like you and me, this should be 90ºF that’s 32ºc
I use a 60wt spot light to create this- this can be placed above the glass (unlike uv- see lighting) and this way your cham wont ever come in contact with the bulb and harm its self. you should have this light on about 10-13 hours per day
the tank its self should be about 10-15ºf lower than this so 80ºF, 25ºc or there abouts (don’t get too lenient with this though its important.)
if your house is really cold you will need additional heating for the cham. use a heat mat placed on the side of the glass (outside) with a thermostat attached.
as for night time heat- this is different to during the day- the whole tank needs to drop 10ºF as this is what happens in the chams natural wild environment

lighting
you will need a UVA/UVB specific bulb for the upkeep of your chams health. its needed for their skin and bones to keep healthy and strong.
uv cant travel through glass- which makes your mesh tank or mesh panel handy for you in this instance, put the uv on the mesh side and leave on for 12-14 hours a day. my chameleon was in the attic where lots of natural light could also get to her- this is always a plus. cant beat nature!


water:
they love to drink off the glass and plastic plants and wont drink still water or from a water fall (usually) but these help keep humidity up so id suggest getting one any ways. you can either spray the glass or get a drip system to save your self the trouble (Google them)
mist the tank 3-5 times a day you will notice the temp will drop when you spray- I always hated this and feared it wouldn’t go back up but it always did- to prevent this- use warm water (boiled and cooled not from the tap)

food.
as mentioned above chameleons eat plants. so id just avoid putting real ones in- but by their efforts of muching silk plants in vain it should tell you they want some veg!
so give themspinich, cress, dandy lion leaves,
I used to tie lettuce up with a string with a suction cup on the end and stick this to the top of my tank so it dangled down. she loved this!


the crickety bit of the job:
put your chams food in a high sided container- mine used to be stuck in a tree by a vertical hanging vine which she used to swing on and munch away.
you MUST MUST MUST SUPPLIMENT YOUR CHAM with calcium and vitamins
Chameleons need vitamin D3 in order produce calcium for different vital functions. they usually get this from basking- 'I have a uv though' you cry! this still wont do- like I said above, nothing beats natural sunlight and that included uv bulbs.

insect foods you can feed:
crickets
locusts
wax worms (treat)
wax moths- I left some of the worms once which turned into moths- apparently chams love them but I love moths so they escaped with their lives
mealworms only feed when they have shed their shell or can cause blockage (see common health probs)
super meal worms ( huge meal worms) feed after they shed their shell and they are squishy and pale.

Dust all of these with your supplement powder as directed on the tub, give your reptile a good mixed diet.


gender specifics:
Female Chameleons - Egg Laying
female chams need special care and environment to prevent them becoming egg bound due to not having the correct environment to lay. this can KILL THEM
I filled my whole tank bottom with 30cm of soil, a removable large box at the bottom of your tank filled with soil or sand which can be bought at your local pet shop will also be fine.
the cham will dig down into the chosen suitable substrate and lay her eggs, one happy cham she is!

common health problems
impaction/blockage:
feeding too many mealworms can cause blocks in your cham due to their hard shells, follow the advice iv given about this in the food section
you will see allot of websites saying Do not use substrate with chameleons as it can sometimes get it stuck in their digestive track causing problems.
this is . well.. partly.dont use chunky substrate, but you NEED soil in there for a female for her to lay her eggs in or she will become egg bound. see below.


egg bound- when a female cham doesn’t have the correct environment to lay she will keep her eggs inside her and die.


respiritry problems- this is why mesh is important. No air flow will lead to horrible dirty air with all kinds of nastys in it, fungus etc. imagine how bad this is for your cham. If you are extra worried about this get a terra fan from exo terra THIS IS NOT A REPLACEMENT FOR A MESH SIDE. Its an extra, for one extra happy chammy.

I hope that massive rant helped at least one person!

this was my first tank for when she was a baby

[teiryklav]

thanks for the care sheet, even i dont keep one it's a useful post lol

[imtocoolforitunes]

hi

wot vivarium do you advise using. i am looking into buying an exo terra glass terrarium. it has a mesh roof and it will be a fairly big vivarium. will this suffice?

thanks

JOs

[jojothefirst]

I have read alot that waterfalls are a very bad idea and screen viv's are better but not a must have. as long as there is good ventalation they will be fine in glass/ mesh viv's.

[reeve1987]

if you buy a glass vivarium for your chameleon i would recomend buying a vivarium fan. they go over the vents and can pull air out or suck it in to keep air flow moving. not badly priced items and are good to ensure the movement of air.

[dmrich]

Good idea for a thread mate.

Would add that my Yemens love Kinky Ficus plants (can be bought in Homebase/B&Q), and they strip the plants bare (good shout on the dandelion leaves aswell btw). However the plants should be thoroughly rinsed and left a number of days before being placed in the viv to allow any chemicals sprayed on them in the shop to have gone.

Would suggest an all mesh viv as when I initially used glass viv's when my chams were smaller the reflections in the glass seemed to stress them out (they catch a glipse of themselves ) and they cannot climb the glass which could lead to falls.

Running water is good for humidity but not convinced by the waterfalls and they get dirty really quick.

anyway nice work on the thread.

[reeve1987]

an idea for a water fall. why not use a container to hold water outside of the viv or even inside and use an external filter as a water pump.

i actually built a plastic peice that would hold the outlet pipe of the external filter and it had a fountain head clamped onto it and turned the filter itself into a water fountain lol