Male Veiled digging hole

WelshOneEmma

WelshOneEmma

New Member
Hi, i have just come home to find the bum of my veiled chameleon sticking out of a tunnel he has dug in the bottom of the cage. I am pretty sure it's a male, and we have had him for 6 weeks. For the first 4 we haven't had any issues with him, and within 2 days of having him he was taking waxworms by hand and eating a lot of crickets. The crickets are fed on fresh fruit, veg and a little bee pollen and are dusted with calypso dust and nutrobal.

2 weeks ago Draig (my chameleon) started going off his food, and started drinking loads (he gets misted 4 times a day as it is, but we ended up misting him more). He then started shedding a week a go, and has just finished. Since he shed, he has been a lighter green, but we are struggling to get him to take the crickets and he will take a few waxworms by hand.

Now i have come home and found him buring himself. the tunnel then collapsed on him, and i managed to get him out. He shot up one of his branches and then fell off, so has now curled up underneath the ficus with his eyes closed. i am taking him into the vets tomorrow am (the emergency vet wasn't much good) but am worried he might not make it til tomorrow morning. this is just so sudden and i was wondering if anyone had any idea what it could be?

Thanks, Emma
 
Any pictures? Sounds like you have a female. Apparently there is already substrate deep enough to dig a hole in? Males will have a bump on their back heel-females will have none.
 
'He' definately has bumps on the back of the heels. The substrate is deep in certain parts as the plants are buried in in (we were told at the specialist reptile store we got him from we could do this). I have checked the thermometer (i will never complain about my boyfriend buying gadgets) and the main tank temp was 23C and 37C under the heatlamp, with the humidity at 69%. i turned the heatlamp down low (its on a dimmer) and he woke up a bit, and has now started climbing up to the top of the tank (he usually stays there). Maybe he was too hot? There was no gaping though......
 
That is way too hot-esp. in a tank. I would go no higher than 90F in a glass tank only in the basking spot-rest of tank should be in 70'sF.
 
WelshOneEmma said:
'He' definately has bumps on the back of the heels. The substrate is deep in certain parts as the plants are buried in in (we were told at the specialist reptile store we got him from we could do this). I have checked the thermometer (i will never complain about my boyfriend buying gadgets) and the main tank temp was 23C and 37C under the heatlamp, with the humidity at 69%. i turned the heatlamp down low (its on a dimmer) and he woke up a bit, and has now started climbing up to the top of the tank (he usually stays there). Maybe he was too hot? There was no gaping though......
Click to expand...

Just curious what the name of the specialist reptile store is lol..
Not being funny just curious..
 
I third the Female thing... I have never heard of a male digging a nest... Their butt sticking out of a hole is exactly how the feamles dig their nests.
 
That's a female for sure!
That is 100% typical, almost everything you described is female behavior.
Get her a proper egglaying bin, or explain to us what she is currently digging in.
Also, could you post some pictures for us.
You were dropped into a precarious position right off the bat, as a new chameleon keeper.

Good Luck!
Justin

Edit*
The digging, going off food, and drinking like a fish are all signs of a gravid veiled.
The second two things are precursors to the actual digging.
 
Ok, Brit here! What is that temp in degrees celcius? we have a heater that is programmed to go on at certain temps, but its never been used as the tank goes to about 18C at night. the temp is purely from the UV light and the heatlamp. i have turned the lights off now so he is going to sleep, so will take some pics tomorrow. i am just so worried as i thought we were doing ok with him.
 
Well, the store is called Aquasplash but they deal with reptiles, have tons of the buggars. Admittedly when i asked for an age, they said 'he was definately born in 08', which could give a variety of ages. 'He' was about 4-4.4 inches long (plus tail) when we got him, and is a little bigger now. After the hole was dug, he then tried to turn round in it, and just sat in it until it collapsed on him. Should the substrate not be that deep?
 
Emma,
I got to agree on everybody else here.
So far, your description seems to fit the behavior of a female veiled.
Try to take a pic of that spur on his back leg.

Try to lower your temp to an appropriate level per Julirs' advise.
And see if he still digging.
 
Thanks for all the advice. Hoping its not a female as we specifically decided not to get a girl because of the egg laying thing! And the fact that the rest of the animals in the house are girls and my boyfriend was feeling an oestrogen overload! Draig is now sleeping at the top of the cage in the ficus, so we will see what the vet says tomorrow. On another note we will have the heatlamp a bit dimmer and see if that gets the temp down (although its normally at about 32C under the heatlamp - bit of a freak temp today).
 
Well, since you haven't posted any pics for us, then I will.
You can easily determine the sex of a veiled chameleon by looking at the back of it's hind feet.
You will see a little bump called a tarsal spur. Notice the bump on his ankle.

Male Tarsal Spur:
picsfromwork049.jpg


Male Veiled:
Chester079.jpg


Female lacks tarsal spur:
picsofchams251.jpg


Female Veiled. Look at the casque hight differences:
0470001.jpg
 
I haven't posted any pictures yet as the only way i could get Draig to calm down was to turn the lights off so he has gone to sleep and i didn't want to disturb him as he's now back at the top of the tank (its also 11pm). He definately has a lump at the back of the foot, but it doesn't look that pronounced. He is booked in to the vets first thing tomorrow morning so we will see what they say. He is now his usual sleep colours and looking very happy (even though he's asleep), so i am feeling slightly better. I just dont want another he/she animal - they are a lot of work! :)
 
He definately has a lump at the back of the foot, but it doesn't look that pronounced.
Click to expand...

Based on this, I would again say female... If the spur does not appear as in the pics Justin posted... then you have a female. I have seen some females that have what looks like a tiny little spur, but is really just the bone structure of their foot. A males spur is really unmistakeable...and if you are having doubts on if it is actually a spur or not... then you most likely have a female. The spur on the foot of a male.. Is very pronounced and obvious.

Also like has been touched on a little... Males have taller casques in proportion to the rest of the body compared to females. That and males when mature, display verticle bars in their pattern where females patterns will end up more spotty or blotched in their pattern and tend to lack any real barring.

I am 99.9% sure based on your descriptions of what is going on that your boyfreind has yet another Lady in the house! poor guy...;)

Maybe I missed it... But how long have you had the cham... and when you bought it how was it being kept prior to your ownership? Was it housed with other chams? Any idea on age?
 
Haha, if it is a female that is me and 8 female animals in the house - oestrogen overload!! Draig's normal colouring is pale green with yellow and white vertical stripes. i must admit i thought it was a male, and was told thats what i was buying. i did a lot of internet research, and bought books before we made the decision to get him so that we knew what we were taking on, which is why this has thrown me. The casque is quite high, but again not as high as the male in the pic. We have had him/her 6 weeks, and he was kept in a small tank, on his own i believe (it was high up in the shop and i am small!). I think he's about 6 months old, and has shed once since we had him.
 
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