Carpet Chameleon Care Page

Reptiles aren’t like dogs and cats that can simply roam around your house. They are very sensitive to their environment, and need their own enclosure set up according to their specific needs. This guide covers everything you will need to care for your pet carpet chameleon properly.

Carpet chameleons should be housed in an enclosure that is no smaller than 18″L x 18″W x 24″H. This is the bare minimum, calculated according to the reptile’s average size and activity patterns. While 24″ is the minimum height, length is also extremely important for carpet chameleons, which is why we recommend a 24″x24″x24″ cube as a more ideal minimum.

However, if you can provide an enclosure with more floor and vertical space, do it! Housing your chameleon in a larger enclosure allows for a broader temperature gradient and encourages them to be more active and demonstrate more natural behaviors.

We recommend solid-sided enclosures (glass, PVC, wood, etc.) enclosures for carpet chameleons, as these materials can best maintain the humidity and temperatures required for the species. Fully screened enclosures typically recommended for chameleons can also be used successfully, though they will require a higher wattage basking light, more frequent and prolonged misting sessions, and cannot support a bioactive setup.

Zen Habitats 2’x2’x2’

Zen Habitats 2’x2’x4’

C.R.H. 2’x2’x3’

“Substrate” is the material that you use to cover the floor of the enclosure. This aspect of the setup is important for chameleons because it contributes to overall humidity levels. For best results, you should have at least 3-5″ of substrate total, with 3 components:

1. Bottom (drainage layer): 1-2” gravel or clay balls + landscaping cloth
2. Middle (soil layer): 2-3” tropical loose substrate
3. Top (moisture layer): scattered leaf litter and sphagnum moss

Drainage layer
For a humid, tropical substrate, a drainage layer helps aerate the soil, preventing mold and bacterial growth and keeping live plants healthy. Just pour an inch or 2 of your chosen drainage layer into the bottom of the enclosure. You can also place a sheet of landscaping cloth on top to keep it separate from the soil. Here are some options we recommend:

The BioDude HydroGrow

Zoo Med HydroBalls

Soil layer
The best soil substrate for carpet chameleons is a DIY mix of roughly 40% untreated topsoil + 40% play sand + 20% coconut fiber (like Eco Earth). Topsoil must not contain any fertilizers, manure, or perlite/vermiculite - read the ingredients! Mix well, soak until muddy, then pack it down on top of the drainage layer.

Alternatively, you can use a pre-packaged soil substrate. Here are some commercial substrates we recommend for chameleons:

JF BioBedding Tropical

The BioDude Terra Fauna

Zoo Med Reptisoil

Moisture-holding layer
To better hold humidity, scatter some leaf litter on top of the soil. You can also add some sphagnum moss under the leaves or mixed into the soil. You can purchase leaf litter or collect some from outside. Just make sure to gather leaves from a clean, dry area that hasn’t been touched by chemicals, then boil or bake them in your oven at 200°F/100°C for 1 hour to kill microbes.

Leaf Litter

Sphagnum Moss

Bioactive substrate
While traditional housing depends on the keeper for maintenance, bioactive setups are more or less self-sustaining, miniature ecosystems. We highly recommend a bioactive substrate for carpet chameleons, as the high humidity can easily cause mold and bacterial growth otherwise. It can also support live plants, which are great for soil health and for the chameleon to climb on!

All of the above substrates can be made bioactive with the addition of a “cleanup crew,” or bugs. They hide beneath the leaf litter, cleaning up uneaten food, fallen leaves, and fecal remains, making bioactive substrates incredibly low maintenance. All you need to do is wipe off the glass and remove large pieces of waste.

Springtails and isopods (wood lice) make a good starter cleanup crew. For a quick and easy way to set up a bioactive substrate for humid, arboreal reptiles, check out The Bio Dude.

Reptiles are much more intelligent than we humans tend to give them credit for, and that means they need things to entertain them. Otherwise they exist in a state of perpetual boredom, which makes them dull, inactive, and overall less interesting as pets. When reptiles have objects to interact with in their enclosure, they become less stressed and more engaged with their environment. This practice is called environmental enrichment.

It’s important to choose enrichment items (a.k.a. enclosure decor) that are appropriate to your pet’s natural behaviors. Here are some objects that serve a vital function in a carpet chameleon terrarium:

UVB is important for enabling vitamin D3 synthesis, strengthening the immune system, and encouraging proper organ function. It also stimulates the production of serotonin, a feel-good hormone. UVB can’t just be replaced with a vitamin D3 supplement for carpet chameleons!

UVA is important for allowing full-color vision, because carpet chameleons can see UVA wavelengths (humans can’t!). It is suspected to play a role in mental health and appetite.

The 6500K daylight lamp provides extra illumination at a color temperature that is similar to sunlight. As diurnal reptiles, carpet chameleons are highly stimulated by having a well-lit environment during the day. Bright daytime lighting is likely to encourage more activity, better appetite, and better mental health.

Infrared radiation (i.e. heat) is important for reptiles' thermoregulation. As ectotherms, they rely on the heat of the sun to warm their bodies and stimulate their metabolism, digest their food, and stay alert and active. The shorter the wavelength, the deeper it can penetrate their muscle tissue. In captivity, we can provide this with specific heat bulbs that emit the most beneficial infrared wavelengths (IR-A and IR-B).

All light and heat should be kept on a regular schedule using outlet timers or done manually. This allows for a predictable day/night cycle which the chameleon can follow, allowing for natural hormonal rhythms and good mental health. We recommend the following schedule for carpet chameleons, based on their natural environment:

Carpet chameleons need plenty of UVB in order to stay healthy. This should be provided with a 5-7% UVB output T5 lamp or a 10% UVB output T8 lamp. We recommend Arcadia or Zoo Med brand linear fluorescent tubes, as these are the best and most reliable UV lamps on the market.

The bulb should span nearly the full width of the enclosure and be installed at the highest point in order to create an appropriate vertical UV gradient.

Best UVB bulbs for carpet chameleons:

Arcadia T5 HO 6%

Zoo Med Reptisun T5 HO 5.0

Zoo Med Reptisun T8 10.0

Distance and Mesh
The strength of the UVB lamp’s output varies according to distance from the bulb — stronger when closer, and weaker when further away. If you are using a Solarmeter 6.5 to measure your UVB lamp’s output, the UVI (UV Index) reading should be between 2.9-7.4 at the uppermost basking area, and down to 0.0-1.0 at the lowest perches or substrate level. If you don't have a Solarmeter, here is a rough estimate of how far your basking perch should be from the bulb, based on whether your lamp is above or below mesh:

1. 3-5” (lamp above mesh)
2. 7-9” (without mesh obstruction)

Fixture
To optimize your UVB bulb’s performance, you will need a high-quality reflective T5 HO or T8 fixture, depending on your bulb of choice. Some lamps come in kits that already include a fixture, such as the Arcadia ProT5 kit or Zoo Med T5 HO kit. Otherwise, Zoo Med and Vivarium Electronics make various fixtures for both T5 and T8 bulbs.

Arcadia ProT5 Kit

(6% option)

Zoo Med T5 HO 5.0 Hood

Zoo Med T8 Terrarium Hood

T5 bulbs last 12 months and T8 bulbs last 6 months before requiring replacement, as their UVB output decays over time. Off-brand UVB bulbs are likely to have shorter lifespans and unreliable output. Avoid “compact” and coil UVB bulbs, as these cannot distribute a proper UV gradient throughout the enclosure.

Carpet chameleons are heliophilic, meaning they seek out and thrive in sunlight. UVB and heat bulbs aren't going to be enough to provide the bright light that these diurnal lizards need for simulating natural sunlight. An LED bar with about 6500K color temperature is the best option to meet this need. The brightest reptile daylight fixture currently on the market is the Arcadia Jungle Dawn. They’re expensive, but the sheer output of bright, beautifully white light makes them worth the investment. Here are the daylight lamps we recommend:

Arcadia Jungle Dawn 12" LED

Josh's Frogs Green Glo 12" LED

Carpet chameleons need access to a variety of temperatures within a certain range in order to properly regulate their metabolism:

1. Basking surface (uppermost perch) — 85-90°F
2. Upper enclosure ambient — 80-85°F
3. Bottom of enclosure ambient — 70-75°F
4. Nighttime temperatures should drop to local room temps, but never below 40°F

All heat lamps should be plugged into an outlet timer or a thermostat with a built-in timer and set to the same schedule as the UVB and daylight lamps, allowing for a natural temperature drop and a healthy circadian rhythm.

To ensure proper temperatures in your carpet chameleon enclosure, you will need good thermometers. Temp gun-style infrared thermometers are useful for measuring surface temperatures anywhere in the enclosure. However, digital probe thermometers are useful for being able to track local air temperatures at a glance. It's best to have at least 2 thermometers to measure temps on each end of the vertical heat gradient. Here are some devices we recommend for measuring temperatures:

Zoo Med Digital Thermo& Humidity Gauge

Etekcity Lasergrip 774

Carpet chameleons come from a humid, tropical environment and require a broad range of humidity to replicate the fluctuations of the rainforest. Both daily and seasonal variations in moisture levels are beneficial to the health of your chameleon.

1. Daytime — 40%-70% humidity
2. Nighttime — 80%-95% humidity

You should mist 2-3 times a day for approximately 30-60 seconds per session, as needed, and be sure to mist once late in the evening to create a natural humidity spike overnight. The goal is to thoroughly cover the leaves of the plants and the sides of the terrarium with water droplets, stopping before the soil becomes overly saturated. It is important not to mist the enclosure again until all water droplets have evaporated and the top most layer of the soil/leaf litter has started to dry out. Proper ventilation must be present in the enclosure to allow this humidity regulation process.

Achieving these humidity levels can be as easy and cheap as a hand mister or as complex as an automated misting system - not to be confused with an automated fogger, which only increases general humidity and doesn't create the necessary water droplets for the chameleon to drink. Misting systems, like the MistKing, can be regulated precisely with a timer and don’t disturb your pet as much as opening the doors & hand-misting.

You can measure humidity with a hygrometer like the Zoo Med Digital Combo Gauge linked in the Measuring Temperature section. These are the products we recommend for misting your carpet chameleon:

Exo Terra 2L Mister

MistKing Misting System

Carpet chameleons don't brumate like many larger reptiles, but they should see a reduction in light and temperature in the winter, this precise schedule is covered in the "Lighting" section above.

Here is a basic feeding schedule for a pet carpet chameleon:

Offer as many appropriately-sized bugs as your chameleon can eat in about 10 minutes. Amounts will vary, but you can plan on 6 insects per meal for adults and up to 12 insects per meal for juveniles.

Appropriately-sized feeders should be about the length between the chameleon's eyes. Mealworms and other slender worms can be longer.

The key to a healthy, balanced diet is variety, so make sure to provide as many different kinds of safe insects in your chameleons' diet as possible!

Always offer live insects to your chameleon. Dead or canned insects don’t trigger their “hunting mode,” so they most likely won’t get eaten. Gutload all insects by allowing them to fill up on fresh produce at least 12 hours before feeding to your chameleon.

Here are some sites we recommend to buy feeders:

1. DubiaRoaches.com
2. PremiumCrickets
3. Josh's Frogs

To make sure that your carpet chameleon is getting all of the vitamins and minerals that its body needs, it’s important to use calcium and vitamin supplements as part of their diet.

All feeder insects should be lightly dusted with supplement powder and previously gut-loaded with fresh vegetables. Repashy Calcium Plus LoD is a great supplement to use for this species, as it provides both calcium and other necessary vitamins.

Carpet chameleons don't need a water dish. They prefer to lap up the water droplets that have accumulated on plant leaves and the sides of the terrarium after mistings. Since this method evaporates faster than a dish, it's important to mist the enclosure at least twice a day so they can stay properly hydrated.

Carpet chameleons are best as elegant display animals rather than a “pet” that gets taken out regularly, so handling is not recommended and should only be done out of necessity. However, it’s still important to be confident in your ability to interact when necessary and allow them to get somewhat accustomed to your presence to reduce stress. This requires careful movements, close observation, and respecting their boundaries during feeding, enclosure maintenance, and health examinations.

Possible illnesses and health problems in carpet chameleons include metabolic bone disease, intestinal parasites, impaction, and respiratory infections. Providing proper husbandry, diet, and supplements should help avoid most health issues, but if your chameleon is displaying potential symptoms of illness, it’s important to take them to an experienced reptile veterinarian right away for diagnosis and treatment. Do not try to treat them at home, as you could make the problem worse!