Meet Frank
Frank is the latest addition to the Armstrong family. He is a male Veiled Chameleon and I will blog about him and keeping reptiles.
18th March 2009
We are definitely getting there with the feeding. After some perseverance Frank has decided that it is not so bad taking food from a humans fingers, to the point where he ate 9 small locusts on Sunday! Now when Frank sees me arriving home, he is torn between coming down to me to get some grub, and running away if he sees the water bottle appear, he is still not keen on his daily shower. So far it is the only time he has changed colour, when he gets his misting, he is getting quite good at pulling stroppy faces when the water comes out.
31st January 2009
This week I am changing Frank from crickets onto locusts as he is starting to grow rapidly and these carry more nourishment. They still need to be dusted with a calcium and vitamin supplement before feeding to ensure he doesn’t develop any problems with his bones.
I placed 6 nutrobal dusted small locusts in the pot that I used for the crickets. Frank appeared to appreciate the change in diet as he came running down from his perch to investigate. Unfortunately the locusts are much bouncier that the crickets and within 20 seconds they had all climbed or bounced out of their pot and were starting to munch large holes in the vegetation. Frank did help me out here buy rapidly clearing half of them, but then decided to return to his perch to digest his lunch, so I had to catch the rest while I still had some plants left in the terrarium. Now I can really understand how locusts can really decimate crops!
I think its time to teach Frank to take food out of my hand so we have no more escapees.
18th January 2009
Frank is settling well in his new terrarium. A terrarium is like an indoor greenhouse. It has been planted up with lots of greenery that will allow Frank to feel at home by replicating his natural environment. It is important to get all the environmental factors right, so special UV lighting must be used, over a gap that is free from glass (glass absorbs the UV rays) this is critical for his bones to develop properly. The lights are on a timer, again to mimic the natural length of day in his native environment. At the moment they are on for 12 hours a day. The temperature in the terrarium is kept at 70-80 degrees Fahrenheit, he also has a basking spot with an infra red spot bulb in case he wants to get any warmer: this is left on overnight. It is important that all lighting is boxed in a way that ensures the reptile cannot get burnt by it.
Humidity and ventilation are also very important. I maintain the humidity at 50-70% by regularly spraying the plants with water. The heat then evaporates the water and creates a humid environment. The terrarium also has ventilation slots in the roof and the base to allow air movement.
Today frank got stuck in the pot used to hold the insects, he was determined to get the last one out and so tried to use his tail to hold onto the rim of the pot while the rest of him vanished inside. Unfortunately he didn’t coordinate it too well and he ended up at the bottom of the pot along with the cricket. Needless to say the cricket didn’t last too long, but he didn’t look very amused at having to be rescued.
New Arrival - 4th January 2009
Chameleons are widely known for their ability to change colour, and their 2 eyes which work independently and can look in 2 completely different directions at the same time. Veiled Chameleons are generally a pale green in colour, but darken when stressed. When we went to look at Frank at the breeders, we picked out one that stayed this colour when we handled him, so hopefully he will continue to be responsive to handling and not get stressed.
Frank was collected from his breeder on Friday and is settling in well in his new home. It is a lot bigger than the one he was previously kept in and so he has spent most of the weekend exploring it and making sure there is nothing scary lurking in the undergrowth. Veiled Chameleons are arboreal, meaning they spend most of their time high up in the trees, so I have created walkways along the top of the terrarium and Frank likes to spend most of his time up on these surveying his kingdom. However he has also discovered he can do a spiderman impression and walking upside down holding onto the roof of the terrarium
For the first few weeks I am going to let Frank settle in to his new home, ensure he is eating and drinking enough, and then start some gentle handling, so he learns that humans are not something to be scared of. This will allow me to take Frank with me if I am doling a talk at a school, but also will be important if he ever gets ill and required treatment; as often with reptiles the stress of handling to administer medication is as dangerous as the condition that we are treating them for.
Frank’s diet at the moment is crickets. These must be dusted with a special powder to ensure he gets enough calcium and vitamins for his rapidly growing body. The crickets are placed in a measuring cup that keeps them contained, and Frank perches on the rim and uses his special tongue to catch them and pull them back into his mouth. He also needs to be “misted” daily using a spray bottle and filtered water. I also mist the plants in the terrarium as chameleons only drink drops of water off leaves, and will not take water out of a bowl.