5 week old male veiled chameleon questions

[shilka]

Good day CF! New member here and at the same time, newbie chameleon owner. I have recently purchased a veiled chameleon. He is 5 weeks old now and regardless of all the research and forum readings I did here (trust me, I did made some readings ), I still have some questions that I encounter each day I watch my little chameleon buddy.

I have decided to make a list and put them here so it will not just widen my knowledge about these interesting creatures but will also make me worry less. Thank you very much in advanced for the answers.

Again, please take into account that my chameleon is 5 week old, male, veiled.

• My chameleon's legs are skinny. Is this normal?
• I can see the shape of ribs pushing out on his sides. Again, is this normal?
• Is it okay to feed my chameleon blatta lateralis(nymphs) on a regular basis?
• How hardy are veiled chameleons?
• I am currently housing my chameleon in an aquarium. At what age can I transfer him to a much larger screen cage? Four months is ok?
• My chameleon is eating but not always pooping. Is this normal?
• Do veiled chameleons dehydrate fast? I have a day job so I can only mist him twice a day. One in the morning before I leave (6:00am) and one when I return (7:00pm). So basically my chameleon have only one chance to drink the whole day (unless if he is drinking on the dripper that I made).
• When I'm misting my chameleon's tank, some of the mist is hitting him no matter how I try to avoid it. He is freaking out by changing colour, opening his mouth (threat like gesture) then he flees away. Will this not kill him? I mean, for sure it stresses him when bits of water touches his skin. I'm always worried when I spray his tank.

Thank you very much! I hope everything is ok and normal with my chameleon.

 

[Dave85731]

I would get him out of the aquarium

 

[Hollywhyte]

You should get a automatic mister if that is not possible at the moment you should get a dripper and as @Dave85731 said out of that aquarium

 

[Hollywhyte]

Sorry just read you have a dripper

 

[Hollywhyte]

http://veiledchameleon.blogspot.ca/2016/01/baby-veiled-chameleon-care.html?m=1

 

[brownie64]

• My chameleon's legs are skinny. Is this normal? Yes this is normal

• I can see the shape of ribs pushing out on his sides. Again, is this normal? Somewhat normal, but need to see a pic sounds like he may be a little under fed. Are his eyes sunk in?

• Is it okay to feed my chameleon blatta lateralis(nymphs) on a regular basis? Not sure what these are. I use crickets, cockroaches, and supper worms as staples, and add a variety of other insects.

• How hardy are veiled chameleons? IMO they are the hardiest species.

• I am currently housing my chameleon in an aquarium. At what age can I transfer him to a much larger screen cage? Four months is ok? He shouldn't be in an aquarium those are for fish. He needs good ventilation, and a good heat gradient.

• My chameleon is eating but not always pooping. Is this normal? It is normal as long as there isn't a long gap in-between if his poop is brown with white urates he is fine.

• Do veiled chameleons dehydrate fast? I have a day job so I can only mist him twice a day. One in the morning before I leave (6:00am) and one when I return (7:00pm). So basically my chameleon have only one chance to drink the whole day (unless if he is drinking on the dripper that I made). Yes all chameleons are water dependent and should be provided with lots of water. Like was suggested if you cant be there to water him enough might want to consider an automated system like Mist-King.

• When I'm misting my chameleon's tank, some of the mist is hitting him no matter how I try to avoid it. He is freaking out by changing colour, opening his mouth (threat like gesture) then he flees away. Will this not kill him? I mean, for sure it stresses him when bits of water touches his skin. I'm always worried when I spray his tank. Again if the urates are white he is okay. They all freak out when hit with water as long as you are not drowning him he is fine. The benefits from the water far out way any stress he may incur.

 

[shilka]

Thank you all for your replies. It help me a lot on understanding my first chameleon. I checked his urate and so far it is white with brown. I found few pieces of it lying around. By the way, here is a photo of my 5 week old. I'm not sure if his eyes are shrunken but is there really a lining around their eyes? Because that lining makes his eyes look shrunken. And look at those legs and ribs. This is why I think he's skinny. Thanks!

 

[Andee]

He looks fine to me, but honestly I am not sure if he is a veiled. His body is not right. I am surprised someone would sell any chameleon at 5 weeks old. That's not a safe age in my opinion. In order for him to be more accepting of mist hitting him, when you mist by hand and only when you mist by hand, you can fill the bottle with hot water so when the mist comes out its warm. Usually they will react in the beginning but are less likely to run and more likely to drink. Other than that he looks a perfectly healthy weight. And the roach nymphs you are feeding are a perfect feeder for one his age. However feed then and dust them before giving them to him. And don't limit his feedings like you would other reptiles. Let him eat as much as he would within a couple minutes. So at his age I would say he should be eating at least 6 roach nymphs. Eating more is great.

 

[Peachypink]

He looks fine to me, but honestly I am not sure if he is a veiled.

I kinda wondered that as well.

 

[Andee]

Well his head shape isn't correct at all in my opinion for a veiled but his coloring isn't correct either. If he was that young of a veiled he would be pale green and that's it. I am honestly not sure what type he is. I think maybe a Senegal or flapneck? But I am not sure. I have never seen either sold at such a young age. Which worries me for his ability for surviving at this age.

 

[shilka]

Thanks. Will be trying the warm mist. I haven't seen some baby chameleons yet so I'm not also sure if he will turn out as a veiled or some other type. I'll do my best to keep him healthy so he will survive then I'll update you guys when he starts to have a form.

Anyway, regarding the pale green colour, he is pale green. But when I attempt to clean up his cage, he starts to change colour and will start to have a pattern and dots. But when nothing is going on, he is pale green or really green. I hope he is a really veiled though.

Here is picture of him in green colour by the way:

 

[Andee]

Is he sleeping with the lights on? And I am almost certain he isn't a veiled but someone else would have to comment who knows what itty bitty veileds look like. I will look into some neonate pictures of them myself.

 

[shilka]

Nope, he's not sleeping with the lights on. I just turned it on this morning because I need to go to work. I'm using a Reptisun 13w 5.0 UVB.

 

[Andee]

His head isn't right for a flapneck but it is possible he is a Senegal, I don't know enough about their shape as neonates to be able to tell for sure. I think maybe @MeruJack might know, or @kinyonga. Does he have spurs? He might be a graceful. The patterning is correct and the head shape is closer to that than of a veiled in my opinion.

 

[Andee]

If he is a Senegal or graceful they stay rather small as adults unlike veileds. And they have a dusting schedule like a veileds so no worries there. However what I'd worry about is the fact that if he is a Senegal or graceful I would be extremely surprised if he was captive bred. Almost every single one you find in captivity is originally from the wild. Which can be a problem especially since he is so young and acclimating him successfully can be a problem. He could also have left over parasites. But you say he's eating well and drinking well generally? How many prey items does he eat on average?

 

[shilka]

Yup he is eating well. About the drink, I only saw him drink twice. Maybe he is drinking a lot when I'm not at home since his poop are all brown with white. Regarding how many prey he is eating, it's around 6 - 8 blatta lateralis nymphs. before I put 10, he ate them all. Then I put another 10 next day, he only ate 4 then 8. I noticed that sometimes he is eating a lot and sometimes not. Tomorrow I will have dubia nymphs coming, I'll introduce them to him. Pinhead crickets are very hard here in our country so I'm very limited with blattas and dubias. When he grow up a little bit more, I'll try superworms.

 

[Andee]

Roaches are my preferred feeders instead of crickets. I also feed isopods for a good source of calcium and a different feeder that's easy to gutload. Super worms are rather easy to breed if you want to some that are his size. 8 roaches on average is a good number. What are you gutloading them with? Not seeing him drink regularly is a good sign actually, since his urate is white, usually only thirsty chameleons drink in front of you. Unless you have my chameleon Hope who is obsessed with mistings and is never really thirsty but loves just drinking and being misted, though then again she is a Jackson. Anyway, my feeders I raise consist of isopods, dubia, green banana roaches, silkworms, super worms (I got tired of my pet shop notbhaving the size I needed and have decided to raise my own), stick insects when I have ova that hatch. I also buy wax worms to feed to everyone once every other week or so. I often allow them to pupate and feed off their moths, I also get black soldier fly larvae when I can and feed both them and their flies off, I feed butter worms on occasion. And when I can get a good deal on a small amount of hornworms at a small size I get them. I do feed crickets too, but only to my male panther, as I only trust them with him as my female Jackson is not healthy enough to chase them down, nor fast enough. I don't know if she ever will be. However I am proud to say none of my reptiles are ever bored with the amount of different feeders I regularly have on hand and with the occasional additions I throw in I hope I make their menus interesting.

 

[shilka]

Wow! That's a lot of feeders! I'm sure your chameleon is happy. Anyway, I'm gutloading them with carrots and bok choy greens. I'm thinking about cabbage before but I read on one site that cabbage is not good for gutloading...

 

[Andee]

Anything in the cabbage family is generally not recommended. That means brussel sprouts, broccoli etc. Carrots are good, sweet potatoes, sweet bell peppers, apples on occasion. I do strawberry tops.

 

[shilka]

Great. Thank a lot for this. I'll be preparing my dubia bins later when I get home. I hope they are really nymphs and not too large for my chameleon. By the way, I'm planning to build a screen enclosure this weekend so I can transfer my chameleon out of his current cage (a glass aquarium with a screen top), what would be the suggested dimension to house one five month old chameleon? I have read it's around 18 inches x 18 inches wide and 3 feet tall but is not that too large for a single 2.5 inch chameleon? I want to keep him in his glass aquarium enclosure since the top cover is made of screen mesh anyway but if this is really not good for my chameleon, I will build him a screen cage this weekend. Thanks!