Advise

[katekob]

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Female Pet Store said she was anywhere from 4 to 6 months
Handling - Once Daily (she is fiesty)
Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? 1/2 crickets (but I do have some full sized since the pet store only put what they had in the bag) What amount? I give her about 12 daily in her cage. What is the schedule? I feed her in the morning and she usually eats about 2-3 crickets with supervision then a few more. How are you gut-loading your feeders? Calcium drink & carrots and Kale
Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? flukers calcium with d3 once so far (only have had her for a week) EXXO Terra Calcium every other day and Rep-Cal multi-vitamin once a month.
Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? Fogger 15mins once every hour she is drinking from her plants.
Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? White/Yellow nearly bird looking, she has not been tested (so few reptile vets near by about an hour to the closest one) I would def. like to get her in.
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. Light are setup for 7 until 7 both night and day. It looks to me she may be shedding soon? She is about 3 and a half inches long. Since I'm not sure on age I keep a laying bin in her cage as well. But if she starts to scratch at it I will be moving her to a larger plastic container filled with filtered play sand.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? Screen cage 18x18x34
Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? All bulbs are ZOO MED Basking 75 watt 75 watt 10.0 Rep UVB (too high)(she hangs right on top of this light) and a Night Light 75 watt because it can get cool in the basement temp is usually at 70 at night.
Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? 75-80F during the day and 83F in basking Lowest overnight temp? 70 How do you measure these temps? Temp and Humidity guage
Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? 65-70% humidity
Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? Ficus, Pothos, and Parlor Palms
Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? The cage is in our living room which is a one bedroom apartment in the basement. The cage is about 3 ft off the ground.
Location - Where are you geographically located? North Eastern PA

Current Problem - Is she eating enough? She is eating about 2 larger gutload crickets a day plus about 4 smaller crickets. Also, at night about an hour before her night time she is in her sleeping spot. Is that normal? I have been reading a miss kitty's blog and would like to keep her from laying so that's why the temps might be low.

 

[Kate]

Hi welcome to the forum. I may have missed it but what type of Cham do you have?

 

[katekob]

Sorry! I forgot to put it! I have a Veiled Chameleon.

 

[Kate]

At 4-6 months I would think adult crickets would be too large for her. Her feeders should be no larger than the width between her eyes. Have a look at sandrachameleons blogs on gut loading. What food you feed your feeders go into your girl. Your feeders should be dusted lightly with calcium without d3 daily, calcium with d3 twice a month and a multivitamin twice a month. Yellow urate is a sign of dehydration. Try spraying her leaves three times a day. Ditch her night light as she needs to reduce her temps at night in order to slow her metabolism down in order to sleep also a light will disturb her sleep. They can take temps of mid 50s at night.
6 crickets a day is not enough for a 4-6 month old. Getting ready for bed an hour before lights off is normal.

 

[katekob]

Thanks! She is getting fogged 15 mins every hour for 8 hours but the place I got her from did not look like she was getting a lot of water there the cage was nearly dry. Also I will be getting smaller much smaller crickets this weekend based on what you said it is probably why she won't eat very many. How many should she be eating? Well at least she is normal in one respect!

 

[Kate]

I would give her as much as she will eat in 15 mins twice a day until she gets settled. Make sure the viv dries out between misting you don't want constant high humidity. You want it to peak and fall 3-4 times a day.

 

[katekob]

I feed her in the morning and she only is eating about 3 of the large ones or 4 small. Thanks for the advise on the humidity I am worried with living in a basement with the humidity at 55% all the time and her cage is at 70% how do you suggest I keep in down?

 

[Kate]

I don't use a fogger but 15 mins every hour seems excessive. A good mist 4 times a day is what I use, that way everything is dripping and it all dries out before the next one. Does the fogger soak everything or does it just make things damp?

 

[drcrossfire]

A fogger vs a mister are different things. Foggers up the humidity.. but do little with regards to drinking water. Make sure you are spraying her cage as well so dripping water can be drank.

Also.. I have plenty of younger chameleons (4/6 months) that will eat larger crickets. If she eats them fine then keep feeding them to him/her. Bigger is better IMO if they can handle it.

Calcium cricket food/water will cause you problems in the long run... High calcium gel will kill your crickets. It's best to feed fresh fruits and veggies. I recommend reading sandrachameleons blog on gutloading.

 

[katekob]

Okay, I will nix the calcium cricket food. The fogger is making things damp but not overly so. It does dry out in between. When the fogger is on the humidity is going down but if it is not on the humidity is high around 75-80% due to the basement. That is why I am running it during the day. She is drink and eating from her plants and she is eating large and small crickets just not as much as she should I think. She may be eating when I am not around I put about 12 crickets in her cage a day and when I get home there usually is about 4 left. I do feed the crickets kale and carrots as well. She I twister feed her to make sure she is eating enough? Last night I turned the night light off and she seemed to sleep more.

 

[katekob]

Okay, I will nix the calcium cricket food. The fogger is making things damp but not overly so. It does dry out in between. When the fogger is on the humidity is going down but if it is not on the humidity is high around 75-80% due to the basement. That is why I am running it during the day. She is drink and eating from her plants and she is eating large and small crickets just not as much as she should I think. She may be eating when I am not around I put about 12 crickets in her cage a day and when I get home there usually is about 4 left. I do feed the crickets kale and carrots as well. She I twister feed her to make sure she is eating enough? Last night I turned the night light off and she seemed to sleep more.

^ The cricket count was from yesterday. I try to watch what she is eating daily. The days before she didn't eat nearly as many.

 

[Kate]

It would be good if you could cup feed crickets. That way you will know how many she is eating. Crickets are not good to have loose in viv as they could bite her. If you are wot tied about how many she is eating could you weigh her regularly, that way you will know if she is eating.

 

[sandrachameleon]

They all eat and grow at different rates, so there's no set amount she should be eating. So long as she is eating and gaining weight /growing its good. I generally give young ones as much as they can eat within about 5 minutes, 2-3 times daily.
sometimes they will stop eating or eat less when about to shed/shedding.

get a mix of sizes and see what she prefers. 4-6 months she can likely handle 1/2 crickets, but may prefer smaller ones. and Bigger is not necessarily better for a young chameleon. Small crickets have more moisture, lower % fat and higher % protein than adult crickets.

please try to provide her with a range of well gutloaded prey, not just crickets eating carrots. Aim to have at least 5 types of prey every month, with no single type of feeder/prey form more than 40% of her total monthly diet.

make sure she is getting enough drinking water - a dripper as well as spraying/misting. drcrossfire is right that a fogger wont help much for drinking water hydration

 

[katekob]

Thanks again for all your help everybody! Just by the looks of her I would say she is about to shed she is darker. I used to have an iguana and he would get darker so I would assume it is the same? I am going to weigh her tonight but it seem she has gotten a bit big since I got her. I am going to try the cup feeding I think with more than just crickets too and a dripper. Thanks so much again for the advise!

 

[drcrossfire]

Night lights are bad news.. keep it off unless you're just turning it on quick to sneak a peak

Keep up with the fresh fruits and veggies... Mustard greens, turnip greens, carrots, apple.... etc. And just keep giving your little one as many crickets as she will eat!

 

[katekob]

Night lights are bad news.. keep it off unless you're just turning it on quick to sneak a peak

Keep up with the fresh fruits and veggies... Mustard greens, turnip greens, carrots, apple.... etc. And just keep giving your little one as many crickets as she will eat!

So I got some smaller crickets and mealworms, she still hasn't eaten many she did knock over the cup so seems to be eating (trying) out of it. I am trying to leave her alone she doesn't really mind me that much you should have seen her spots when she saw the mealworm. She is drinking and eating her plants still. So maybe she is getting ready to shed? Just worried about her not eating!

 

[JDumire]

Just to give you an idea of feeding...I have a 17 week old male veiled..this is what he eats on a daily basis.. 15-20 small dubia(I do roaches instead of crickets) 1-2 hornworms, 1-2 silkworms, and 1-2 supers, +\- a few Phoenix worms. Hope this helps.

 

[katekob]

I give her about 12-13 small crickets a day (she has about 3-4 large crickets in her cage as well) and 5-6 mealworms a day, yesterday she knocked her cup over so I have no clue what she ate. This morning I gave her the same amount but put the cup in a more stable place. I have watched her eat her plants and drink water but I have seen her eat nothing (crickets and worms) in about 3 days. She may be eating do to the lose crickets and mealworms in her cage though. I understand what she is suppose to be eating but I don't see her eating anything. Just worried! but she looks health a nice green, she doesn't look skinny, lots of exercise, and she has plenty of water stool is white. I must say I am a crazy pet mom haha.

 

[jmacphee9]

At 4-6 months I would think adult crickets would be too large for her.

my 6 month old veiled is eating 20-24 "large" crickets a day, although i think some stores sell different size large chameleons. they are still much smaller then the large black crickets i see outside. also worth noting that i slowly started switching him from small to large at about 4 months, at first he would eat. when he got to the point that he was eating 36 small crickets a day i just said time for large cricks for you there.

 

[katekob]

So she is eating but I feel like it still isn't enough, but from what I understand she is much younger than i previously thought, compared to anywhere from 4-6 months I was told she maybe 3-4 months. I have had her about a month now and she hasn't really shed yet, is that okay? Her urate is still white. So she is not dehydrated. She seems stressed possible, so I cover her cage mostly. I tried to get some repta-boost into her but it seems impossible to get it in the tiny mouth! She mostly alone during the day. I think I am going to add another UVB bulb to her take as well her ambient temp is still hanging around 76-80 and the basking temp is about 83-84. She moves around so not very lazy. Still a little worried about her.