DarkRapture
New Member
ok. i've had my male veiled chameleon for 13 days now (boxing day, actually). his name is Marley (like 'bob marley') and he was born july 2007. he's 4" long from nose to bum. the first couple days were alright as we were both adjusting to him being here but now things seem to be amiss...
i use a ZooMed 75W infrared basking spotlamp that's always on - i recorded at 10F deg. drop at night in the ambient temp, but the basking spot is about 90.3 at the moment, with ambient temp of 76.6. i have a new 4' long ZooMed 5.0 UVB tube that is within a foot of his 2 upper basking areas. i use a seperate lamp on top of the cage just for lighting. the temp in his basking spot goes down at night to about 80F and the ambient temp is down to 65F.
his cage right now is an upright tank with a soft chicken wire type side for maximum airflow 30" tall X 18" wide and 12" deep [however, i am in the process of building a 5' tall X 2.5' wide and 2' deep. it is made from 1"x2" red cedar, i will be using black aluminum screen (patio door stuff).]. his main plant is a ficus - which have tiny little bite marks here and there (i've even seen him eat a couple whole!). he has treated driftwood for climbing and a cup for crickets.
the humidity is about 70% and when i mist it goes a bit higher about 80% or more. i mist right near his basking spot at least 2X a day and about 3X on my days off. i preboil and use some cooled water mixed with boiled to create a hot temp in the spraybottle. about 10" away from the spray it is lukewarm to touch. every other misting i will use ExoTerra's "calcimize", a water conditioner, and "electrodize", a supplement containing electrolyte and vitamin D3. i wasn't sure how to mist at first even though i read a lot about it. i just spray near him - he is usually near the basking spot anyway - and if he runs away i will spray further away. the times where he turns towards me i will spray him directly and he licks his chops and drinks the water. last night he drank for almost the whole time i misted! - about 2 min. the first few days he barely drank from what i could see, but i think that he is coming to like the warm mistings. i think that i will make a dripper system for his big cage so i can have some reassurance that he can have water when he desires. i bought a water based sealant for the wood that protects against water/rain and uv, and have 'slate' style bathroom floor stick-on tiles for the bottom so i don't have to worry about wood rotting! at first i was using the additives for all the mistings but he was getting nose crusties and i read in a few sites that it could be from over supplementing, so i cut back and he has been crusty-free since.
every morning i have been feeding/offering 6-8 1/2" and some full size crickets as a staple each day, and have also given wax worms once last week (2) and 2 butter worms/day for the last 3 days. i use T-Rex 2:0 Calcium/no Phosphorus powdered supplement with vitamins {Calcium carbonate, ascorbic acid, vit A acetate, cholecalciferol *D3*,and stabilizers} to dust the crix a few days in a row and then no dust for a day. the crix stay in the cup below his fav spot and he climbs down every so often and eats one or two. he was eager to eat in the beginning but the last 2 days he has eaten very minimal. yesterday he only had the 2 butter worms and refused the crickets,and in the morning he has the most massive poop!! i could never imagine all that poop in one little body. it was like 3 cricket sized bits and one watery + jelly part and then the calcium part - white and a bit yellow . today he has only eaten one cricket and he pooped only once.
[wow im talking a lot about poop, huh?]
i also offer chopped kale & bok choy, grated carrot, diced green bean etc. (veggie mixture i have for my bearded dragon and also for my crickets and mice) in the cricket cup. i have seen him eating some when he was snatching the bugs.
i don't know why he has stopped being interested in the food all of a sudden... he even had an appetite when he started shedding on Dec 29. i got all worried about him then because he was closing his left eye a lot and started 'popping' it out when i misted. his little problem seemed to fix itself after a couple days and all his shedding was complete.
he is quite shy and does not like his space invaded even when i clean his cage he gapes and bobs towards me. i have been concerned that he is stressed in his new environment, and have noted that he was a greyish green for a few days this last week. today was the first time that ive seen him his bright lime/blue spots in a while.
today i covered the front of his cage with a towel so that he wouldn't be bothered as much by me, my husband, and our 2 yr old daughter. Marley is located in our office where we spend a couple hours in each day and a bit more on the weekends.
he is right by a single pane window, but when i have the full size cage set up he will be perpendicular to the window so the temp will be unaffected by the single pane. its kinda cold out there lately and the temp there is about 10F difference from the rest of the room. it makes the nights a bit cooler and that's why i have kept the heat lamp on for him.
so what i would like to know is why has he stopped wanting crickets? i am going to go tomorrow and get some silk worms and other bugs to see if he is just bored... is it possible that he is really stressed out and its now just starting to show? i just want to make sure that i am doing absolutely everything i can to make his transition smooth. i would be heartbroken to find that he is having some more serious problem!!
i never paid attention to his bum area before, but it looks kind of bulgy since he had that major poop yesterday...
if anyone has any ideas i am open to suggestions!
i use a ZooMed 75W infrared basking spotlamp that's always on - i recorded at 10F deg. drop at night in the ambient temp, but the basking spot is about 90.3 at the moment, with ambient temp of 76.6. i have a new 4' long ZooMed 5.0 UVB tube that is within a foot of his 2 upper basking areas. i use a seperate lamp on top of the cage just for lighting. the temp in his basking spot goes down at night to about 80F and the ambient temp is down to 65F.
his cage right now is an upright tank with a soft chicken wire type side for maximum airflow 30" tall X 18" wide and 12" deep [however, i am in the process of building a 5' tall X 2.5' wide and 2' deep. it is made from 1"x2" red cedar, i will be using black aluminum screen (patio door stuff).]. his main plant is a ficus - which have tiny little bite marks here and there (i've even seen him eat a couple whole!). he has treated driftwood for climbing and a cup for crickets.
the humidity is about 70% and when i mist it goes a bit higher about 80% or more. i mist right near his basking spot at least 2X a day and about 3X on my days off. i preboil and use some cooled water mixed with boiled to create a hot temp in the spraybottle. about 10" away from the spray it is lukewarm to touch. every other misting i will use ExoTerra's "calcimize", a water conditioner, and "electrodize", a supplement containing electrolyte and vitamin D3. i wasn't sure how to mist at first even though i read a lot about it. i just spray near him - he is usually near the basking spot anyway - and if he runs away i will spray further away. the times where he turns towards me i will spray him directly and he licks his chops and drinks the water. last night he drank for almost the whole time i misted! - about 2 min. the first few days he barely drank from what i could see, but i think that he is coming to like the warm mistings. i think that i will make a dripper system for his big cage so i can have some reassurance that he can have water when he desires. i bought a water based sealant for the wood that protects against water/rain and uv, and have 'slate' style bathroom floor stick-on tiles for the bottom so i don't have to worry about wood rotting! at first i was using the additives for all the mistings but he was getting nose crusties and i read in a few sites that it could be from over supplementing, so i cut back and he has been crusty-free since.
every morning i have been feeding/offering 6-8 1/2" and some full size crickets as a staple each day, and have also given wax worms once last week (2) and 2 butter worms/day for the last 3 days. i use T-Rex 2:0 Calcium/no Phosphorus powdered supplement with vitamins {Calcium carbonate, ascorbic acid, vit A acetate, cholecalciferol *D3*,and stabilizers} to dust the crix a few days in a row and then no dust for a day. the crix stay in the cup below his fav spot and he climbs down every so often and eats one or two. he was eager to eat in the beginning but the last 2 days he has eaten very minimal. yesterday he only had the 2 butter worms and refused the crickets,and in the morning he has the most massive poop!! i could never imagine all that poop in one little body. it was like 3 cricket sized bits and one watery + jelly part and then the calcium part - white and a bit yellow . today he has only eaten one cricket and he pooped only once.
[wow im talking a lot about poop, huh?]
i also offer chopped kale & bok choy, grated carrot, diced green bean etc. (veggie mixture i have for my bearded dragon and also for my crickets and mice) in the cricket cup. i have seen him eating some when he was snatching the bugs.
i don't know why he has stopped being interested in the food all of a sudden... he even had an appetite when he started shedding on Dec 29. i got all worried about him then because he was closing his left eye a lot and started 'popping' it out when i misted. his little problem seemed to fix itself after a couple days and all his shedding was complete.
he is quite shy and does not like his space invaded even when i clean his cage he gapes and bobs towards me. i have been concerned that he is stressed in his new environment, and have noted that he was a greyish green for a few days this last week. today was the first time that ive seen him his bright lime/blue spots in a while.
today i covered the front of his cage with a towel so that he wouldn't be bothered as much by me, my husband, and our 2 yr old daughter. Marley is located in our office where we spend a couple hours in each day and a bit more on the weekends.
he is right by a single pane window, but when i have the full size cage set up he will be perpendicular to the window so the temp will be unaffected by the single pane. its kinda cold out there lately and the temp there is about 10F difference from the rest of the room. it makes the nights a bit cooler and that's why i have kept the heat lamp on for him.
so what i would like to know is why has he stopped wanting crickets? i am going to go tomorrow and get some silk worms and other bugs to see if he is just bored... is it possible that he is really stressed out and its now just starting to show? i just want to make sure that i am doing absolutely everything i can to make his transition smooth. i would be heartbroken to find that he is having some more serious problem!!
i never paid attention to his bum area before, but it looks kind of bulgy since he had that major poop yesterday...
if anyone has any ideas i am open to suggestions!
o) so if you said you were getting a new enclosure then you're covered.
