Everybody enjoys a friendly exotic pet. Okay, not everyone, but you already know who you are. Additionally, it’s critical to be informed if you’re thinking of bringing a fascinating reptile, bird, or amphibian into your home terrarium. While it’s nice to have an exotic pet at home, it’s crucial to understand that they frequently have a lot of unique care needs.
The best example is the chameleon, one of the most popular pet reptiles.
If you’d want to learn more, keep reading this article:
1. Caring for a Chameleon as a Pet Can Be Difficult
They are unusual beings with the capacity to alter their skin tone. They are a popular option for reptile lovers because of this and their intriguing personalities and mannerisms. However, because it is a pretty sophisticated creature, you may face challenges while petting a chameleon.
Chameleons demand complicated and particular care, which is why they are difficult to maintain. If their care requirements are not properly maintained or set up, your chameleon might become unwell rapidly and recover slowly.
For the health and pleasure of your chameleon, it is essential to maintain the following enclosure parameters. The biggest reason for unintentional death in pet chameleons is improper upkeep of one or more of these settings.
Overall, keeping chameleons as pets takes a lot of work..
2. Food
For chameleons to be happy and healthy, their diet must include a variety of insects. Check out Top Flight Dubia Roaches for Sale to source premium quality feeders for your chameleon if you’re considering purchasing one.
They tend to get bored if they are fed the same insects repeatedly. They may go days or weeks without eating if they become bored with their diet!
3. Water
Chameleons don’t hydrate from a dish of water. Standing water is not recognized as water by their minds! They consume only water droplets on plants and other surfaces.
A misting or fogging system focused on a particular leaf or branch will continuously release droplets. You may buy or create a dripper to give your chameleon enough water to hydrate.
Chameleons frequently experience dehydration, which, if untreated quickly, can be lethal. See our article on identifying and treating a dehydrated chameleon!
4. Ventilation and Enclosure
A screened enclosure is required for chameleon housing. This is because they become anxious when they encounter another chameleon. Sadly, they cannot identify their image in a glass enclosure since their brains have not yet developed enough!
In captivity, chameleons also require a lot of airflows. For lizards like chameleons, screened cages with several small holes throughout offer sufficient airflow. This is advantageous since stagnant (non-moving) air makes chameleons sick. Chameleons frequently get respiratory ailments as a result of stagnant air.
Additional ventilation is necessary to maintain your enclosure’s humidity and temperature settings. If there is too much air movement, you must closely check these levels and change the misting cycle or temperature settings.
A trustworthy hygrometer and thermometer are essential for monitoring humidity and temperature in chameleon enclosures. A combination hygrometer and thermometer would be a fantastic purchase for the warm side of your chameleon’s habitat. For more precise readings, some reptile experts even suggest installing a dual hygrometer/thermometer on both the warm and cool sides of the habitat.
5. Temperature
The enclosure for a chameleon has to have a warm side and a chilly side with a mild temperature gradient between them. This is due to chameleons’ ectothermic nature, which employs outside heat sources to control their body temperatures and metabolic rates.
To control itself, your chameleon has to be able to travel between various temperature ranges or up and down the temperature gradient. The temperature gradient must be adjusted adequately since chameleons are arboreal animals rarely descend to the ground in their enclosures.
The temperature settings will vary significantly depending on the chameleon species. The chilly side’s average temperature is around 75°F, while the basking area’s typical temperature is 90°F. The area of the cage that is the hottest is the basking area. Typically, it is right beneath a heating lamp.
To carefully monitor the temperature gradient, the cage needs two thermometers—one on the chilly side and one beneath the basking area. To conveniently monitor temperature and humidity, it is recommended to choose a dual thermometer/hygrometer, as we briefly mentioned previously.
6. Humidity
The humidity levels in your chameleon must be between 65% and 80%. Your chameleon has a great danger of dehydration if the humidity falls below 65%. However, your chameleon risks respiratory issues if the humidity level rises above 80%.
If the cage is in a room with adequate airflow and does not dry up easily, humidity may be managed by misting the enclosure twice daily with a handheld mister.
If you need to go away for the weekend or are concerned that you might forget to spray manually, installing a misting or fogging system is an excellent method to keep the humidity levels in the enclosure healthy.
7. Stress
Chameleons are well known for being sensitive lizards. As we’ve already said, they get anxious by looking at their mirror.
Stress can also cause chameleons to cease eating and drinking completely. Their surroundings are typically the source of their stress. They will become stressed if the settings for their enclosure need to be corrected.
In addition, their habitat is surrounded by a lot of activity, loud noise, or bright lighting. In such circumstances, they are particularly susceptible to stress, especially if their cage requires more decorations or vegetation for them to hide in. Keep your chameleon’s cage in a peaceful, quiet area of your home that is distant from any disturbance or traffic.
Wrapping Up
Given their incredible traits, it is understandable why chameleons are becoming a more common option for pets. Although intriguing, they are challenging to care for and maintain; therefore, a more seasoned reptile keeper would be better suited to keep them.
There are alternatives to chameleons if you’re seeking a pet that requires less upkeep daily, but if you’re up for the task, many resources support you. After reading this post, we hope you are more aware of the challenges of keeping a chameleon as a pet.