lizardsister2
New member
Okay, I am a fairly seasoned reptile keeper but a brand new chameleon Mommy. My fiance and I recently acquired a male and a female veiled chameleon between 7 and 8 months old from a coworker of my fiance's who was selling out of all his reptiles. They are beautiful animals and they eat well, but when we got them they were a little thin, they were being kept together in a glass tank, which far from being well ventilated, has only a screen top which is mostly blocked off by heat and uvb lamps. They were also a little dehydrated and the tank was too dry. We're feeding them up and watering them more, but obviously our big priority is to separate them and construct more ventilated enclosures.
One book we read suggested that chameleons are very territorial and that if they have food and water, they will not leave their space. They recommended totally open plants even above screened in enclosures as long as there aren't other animals in the house that can hurt them. Our local rep store expert comfirmed that they are territorial and loathe getting on the floor and so will not climb down to escape. Our idea was to purchase two full heavily branched plants, probably one of the hibiscus plants and put them in deep planter or garbage cans so that crix can't easily escape and supplement the plant with fake plants and vines so that there's plenty of climbing room. We would put them by a North facing window as the book suggested and include a cool air humidifier in their room. In addition we were going to construct stands out of pvc pipes to be able to suspend drippers and uvb/heat lamps over the plants close enough for basking but far enough above that the chams can't actually touch them. We would also be keeping them in a room that can be entirely closed off for their safety and where the vents can be closed so that air conditioning won't bother them.
Has anyone tried anything like this? Have any opinions or advice?
One book we read suggested that chameleons are very territorial and that if they have food and water, they will not leave their space. They recommended totally open plants even above screened in enclosures as long as there aren't other animals in the house that can hurt them. Our local rep store expert comfirmed that they are territorial and loathe getting on the floor and so will not climb down to escape. Our idea was to purchase two full heavily branched plants, probably one of the hibiscus plants and put them in deep planter or garbage cans so that crix can't easily escape and supplement the plant with fake plants and vines so that there's plenty of climbing room. We would put them by a North facing window as the book suggested and include a cool air humidifier in their room. In addition we were going to construct stands out of pvc pipes to be able to suspend drippers and uvb/heat lamps over the plants close enough for basking but far enough above that the chams can't actually touch them. We would also be keeping them in a room that can be entirely closed off for their safety and where the vents can be closed so that air conditioning won't bother them.
Has anyone tried anything like this? Have any opinions or advice?