questions about caging. dusting, and lighting

i have a 6 week old cb veiled chameleon and im a first time owner. ive been reading a lot on this site and many others, but i have kind of a lot of questions to be answered. any response would be very appreciated. i was wondering how often i should dust the crickets with calcium and herptivite? my chameleon doesnt go after them right away, and i notice the dust wears off after a little bit. for how young he is im not sure when to dust them. i also have a 10 gal terrarium for him to start out in, how long should i wait before putting him into my 65 gallon reptarium? i was thinking about putting my reptarium outside but im not sure if its safe enough for predators. i keep one coil lamp uvb/uva 50 watt bulb on the 10 gallon during the day for about 17 hours because i was told it gives off barely any heat, but ive read 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness are much better. also because i leave for work at 430 with no one to turn it on any later, i never return home until about 930 to shut it off. i keep the coil lamp on top of the screen on the cage, but i was thinking since i leave it on so long i should keep it up maybe 4 or 5 inches higher. at night i use a 75 watt nightglo black bulb for extra heat, that i keep up higher than on top of the screen. during the day the temperature reaches about 75-80 degrees and about 80 solid at night with a fan on. i mist about 2-3 times a day. any suggestions or criticism is welcome. please email me at ridethesky900@comcast.net as well. thank you

Originally Posted by ridethesky900

......... i was wondering how often i should dust the crickets with calcium and herptivite?

This site has a nice write-up on age vs. dusting about 3/4 down the page. http://vipervenom9.tripod.com/id2.html

Originally Posted by ridethesky900

......... i also have a 10 gal terrarium for him to start out in, how long should i wait before putting him into my 65 gallon reptarium?

The 65 gal size is 16.5" x 28.0" x 30.0" might be considered a bit large for that age veiled. Some breeders say that it is ok to keep one that age in a glass aquarium. It would have been nice if you happened to have had an intermediate sized enclosure with a tight weave screen to keep pinheads from getting through since Reptarium weave is a bit large for pinheads. But you might get away with the tank for a few more weeks and then bowl-feed pinheads for a few more weeks and then small crickets etc after that.

Originally Posted by ridethesky900

.........i keep one coil lamp uvb/uva 50 watt bulb on the 10 gallon during the day for about 17 hours because i was told it gives off barely any heat, but ive read 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness are much better. also because i leave for work at 430 with no one to turn it on any later, i never return home until about 930 to shut it off...

Buy a simple light timer. They're about $5-$10.QUOTE=ridethesky900].........i keep the coil lamp on top of the screen on the cage, but i was thinking since i leave it on so long i should keep it up maybe 4 or 5 inches higher. at night i use a 75 watt nightglo black bulb for extra heat, that i keep up higher than on top of the screen. during the day the temperature reaches about 75-80 degrees and about 80 solid at night with a fan on. ...[/quote] What mfgr and model UVB source? If your critter is 6"-12" away then he is probably not getting UVB over-cooked. His thermal basking spot should be about 90F with a heat gradient down to 70F in the cooler accessable spot. This may be tough to do in a tank, thus the reason we use screen. No nighttime heat should be supplied unless it is dropping below 65F or so. He benefits from a nighttime temp drop.

Originally Posted by ridethesky900

.........i mist about 2-3 times a day....

Keep up the misting!