Umberlee168
New Member
Hi, all--I have a re-homed 2 or 3 year-old (his owner wasn't sure) veiled chameleon (Spike) who has spent his entire life in a drab, empty 30-gallon glass terrarium. We just got him set up with a lovely 4-foot tall and 2x2 wxd mesh cage. We have lots of plants in there and I'm wondering if it's just maybe too much or if he doesn't know where his food will be or what. It's a large parlor palm that pretty much fills the whole darn cage, as well as a pothos and hoya on the floor of the cage with some of his old climbing pieces strung up in between. I have some pics on my phone that I'll try to upload.
The room he's in is pretty cold. I had LOTS of issues with getting him a comfortable ambient temp and basking temp before he moved to his mesh cage, and now I'm even more confused. He has a 65-watt floodlight as his basking light and he pretty much avoids the area now, whereas he loved it before. I checked the temp and it was about 75 on the resting spot below his light, which means as tall as his casque is the temp should be higher and a little warmer which should be fine, right? I think he has had his casque scalded in the past as it's discolored a little gray so I'm afraid of burning him. But anyway, the temp in the room itself is typically around 65 and since the bulb isn't high-wattage I went ahead and bought a ceramic heating element for another dome light which is sort of beside the basking area to try and just keep the temps in the upper part of the cage reasonable. There is no trellis or anything beneath the heating element but lately I've found him clinging to the mesh near the heating element where there is nothing stable to grasp and I'm worried he will sleep there and fall. He isn't dark in color. He seems happy enough. He just isn't leaving certain two or three areas of his cage now at all.
The first thing we fed him after he moved was a dozen crickets. Not sure how many of them he got, but I know they were climbing up the mesh so they were probably easier for him to see. I just gave him a little bowl of mealworms which I brought in and made sure he saw before I placed them in the pot of the palm. He hasn't eaten in a few days and when I went back to see if he was eating he still hadn't left the top of his cage. Basically he will explore all around the top EXCEPT for under his basking light, and I'm not sure he'll go down below to "hunt" at all. I wonder if it's just all too weird for him to have all this space and because the space down below is so naked compared to the chock-full top, where the palm fronds are all squished in, that he isn't going to use the bottom 3/4 of his cage at all?
Anyway I haven't seen mention of anyone else using a ceramic heating element but I really felt like it was necessary in this chilly basement room. Does anyone else use them? Do you all think maybe he's just still adjusting to the move? He just moved from his glass enclosure about five days ago. Total chameleon n00b here, so thanks for your input very much. Been learning a lot from these forums to try and do right by this poor little neglected fella.
The room he's in is pretty cold. I had LOTS of issues with getting him a comfortable ambient temp and basking temp before he moved to his mesh cage, and now I'm even more confused. He has a 65-watt floodlight as his basking light and he pretty much avoids the area now, whereas he loved it before. I checked the temp and it was about 75 on the resting spot below his light, which means as tall as his casque is the temp should be higher and a little warmer which should be fine, right? I think he has had his casque scalded in the past as it's discolored a little gray so I'm afraid of burning him. But anyway, the temp in the room itself is typically around 65 and since the bulb isn't high-wattage I went ahead and bought a ceramic heating element for another dome light which is sort of beside the basking area to try and just keep the temps in the upper part of the cage reasonable. There is no trellis or anything beneath the heating element but lately I've found him clinging to the mesh near the heating element where there is nothing stable to grasp and I'm worried he will sleep there and fall. He isn't dark in color. He seems happy enough. He just isn't leaving certain two or three areas of his cage now at all.
The first thing we fed him after he moved was a dozen crickets. Not sure how many of them he got, but I know they were climbing up the mesh so they were probably easier for him to see. I just gave him a little bowl of mealworms which I brought in and made sure he saw before I placed them in the pot of the palm. He hasn't eaten in a few days and when I went back to see if he was eating he still hadn't left the top of his cage. Basically he will explore all around the top EXCEPT for under his basking light, and I'm not sure he'll go down below to "hunt" at all. I wonder if it's just all too weird for him to have all this space and because the space down below is so naked compared to the chock-full top, where the palm fronds are all squished in, that he isn't going to use the bottom 3/4 of his cage at all?
Anyway I haven't seen mention of anyone else using a ceramic heating element but I really felt like it was necessary in this chilly basement room. Does anyone else use them? Do you all think maybe he's just still adjusting to the move? He just moved from his glass enclosure about five days ago. Total chameleon n00b here, so thanks for your input very much. Been learning a lot from these forums to try and do right by this poor little neglected fella.