baby not eating

[lottie]

Hi

Me and my husband have just purchased a 2.5 month old veiled chameleon (thurs 5th Jan). He was purchased to order from a reputable pet shop who looked after him for a while to make sure he was healthy after getting him for the breeder.

We did a lot of research before we brought him and made sure the set up was perfect before we brought him home.

He lives in a 30x30x45cm glass tank with a mesh roof (its too cold in the UK to have a complete mesh tank) He has a 50W basking bulb and a UVB bold both placed a few inches above the tank. The tank temperature varies between 21- 25 degrees C in the day and drops to about 16 - 19 degrees overnight. The basking light is about 30 - 33 degrees and we leave it on in the evening for a few hours after lights out for warmth. Daytime hours are about 7:30am - 8pm depending on our work hours. He has lots of different branches and fake leaves in the tank.

We mist the tank for about 10 minutes 2-3 times a day and have seen him drink a few times. At the moment we don't have a dripper.

The pet shop recommended we feed him small locusts as that's what he had been eating at the store but he won't touch them. He has had plenty of opportunities to catch them but isn't interested. After 2 days we tried mini meal worms. He will take them from your hand and eat them without hesitation but we understand you can't feed them many a week due to digestion problems. We have a multi vit that was recommended to us by pet shop but he hasn't eaten anything with it on!

Any recommendations? We noticed today he was asleep when we got home from work today at 6pm. Is this normal? We thought he would only sleep once the lights were off as he seems to fall asleep almost immediately when it goes dark and wakes up with the lights. We also read he shouldn't sleep in the day.

Perhaps we are worrying too much about him but we really don't want him to get sick. We have noticed no faeces in the tank at all. He has eaten 3 meal worms since we have had him. (didn't want to give him any more because of tummy issues and also addiction to them!!) Can i give him any more?

The locusts we brought were the smallest we could get but some are quite large and they seemed to have grown since we put them in the tank! Could it be this? or is it just he's a bit stressed being in a new home?

Thor seems happy, although very shy. He stops when you go near the tank and sometimes hides, although he does walk onto your finger if you hold it near him. He spends most of his time basking or wandering around the tank.

Any advice appreciated. We just want to know if his eating habbits are normal or should we look into it further. Is there anything we can do to make him a happier cham.

Thanks
Lottie

 

[camimom]

Welcome!
it can take a baby a few days to get adjusted to a new home, so thats probably whats going on with the eating.
Can you post a pic of your setup?
also, waht are those temps in fareinheit??

he can eat crickets, locusts, and dubias as a daily feeder.

 

[carol5208]

Unfortunately I know farenheit and not celcius. So that being said I cannot tell you if your temps are wrong or right. Often times chameleons will not eat at all or very little when they are moved and put into a new surroundings. My cham ate as soon as I put him in the cage, but I see on here so many times it is the opposite. I would not keep feeding him the meal worms, cause yes he will probably wind up just wanting to eat those and not the locuts. If they have grown too big, then that could be the problem as he may intimidated by their size. If he is drinking that is great. Give him a few more days and see if he does not come around. As far as him sleeping, if it is close to the time he goes to bed, then that is not bad as sometimes they will do that.

 

[lottie]

Hi
Thanks for the advice. We think he is eating now. I haven't seen him actually pick off a locust but i have seen him chewing and there has been droppings in the cage now so i'm guessing he has eaten some! Tried with a wax worm today. He wasn't interested at all so not treats for him!

day time temp is between 72 and 80 ish
basking light is about 85 - 90
night temps about 60 - 70 farenheit if i've converted right!

For some unknown reason Thor keeps trying to climb on the mesh ceiling!! He has succeeded to go upside down across the cage a few times but we're worried he may fall and hurt himself. He often sits and reaches up for it. Any ideas on why he is doing this?

Pics attached.
They are not great pics
p.s food bowl is not balanced there permanently!

 

[camimom]

Im hoping in the first pic it was his bedtime. and hes not sleeping during the day.
if the sun goes down around 6 your time, then him being asleep then is no biggie.
my guys often go to sleep when the sun goes down, even if their lights are still on.
if those are your temps, converted correctly. you may want to reduce his basking temp just a bit. basking for a baby should be bwteen 80-83 F.

all babies crawl upside down. no worries. they are built to fall smalll heights. and most often they wont, but if he does, and it happens repeatedly, then it is something to be concerend about.
but if you walk in the room, and hes upside down, and he suddenly lets go and falls, its the suicide drop (they do it to get away from the big bad thing asap).

 

[lottie]

Yes it was his bedtime! we snuck in a quick photo before we turned his basking lamp off.

He does tend to be asleep when we get home from work but it is dark at the moment from 5pm onwards. Its the first whole day i've spent with him today and he's really active! Although a big wimp. Caught him running away from a small locust earlier!!

I will raise the lamp up a bit higher so its not so warm underneith

Thank you
lottie

 

[camimom]

Yes it was his bedtime! we snuck in a quick photo before we turned his basking lamp off.

He does tend to be asleep when we get home from work but it is dark at the moment from 5pm onwards. Its the first whole day i've spent with him today and he's really active! Although a big wimp. Caught him running away from a small locust earlier!!

I will raise the lamp up a bit higher so its not so warm underneith

Thank you
lottie

ok then. yea if its 5 and dark out (and he can see its dark out or your hosue gets dark) and hes asleep, i wouldnt worry.
raising it will help.
and he serously ran away from a bug? hah thats funny.

 

[Slyfox]

Mine does exactly the same thing, he crawls upside down across the mesh roof and gets into some right weird shapes.. I often hold my breath incase he falls but he hasn't yet, he is only a juvenile too.

Mine will not eat from my hand and always hides as soon as anyone gets near until he feels brave enough to show his face.

My basking temps are between 76 and 86f and have a thermostat to cut the bulb off if it goes above 88.

You are exactly the same as me I'm always worrying and panicking that I'm doing something wrong as since I've had him he has remained a dark brown colour... I notice your charm is a beautiful green.. I rush back from work every day to see if he has turned green lol but no luck as of yet.

Did your charms poop have White tips?

Edit: I'm from the UK too

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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=52.456579,-2.072878

 

[lottie]

Hi!

I know! I rush in every day from work to see him and most of the time he is sat asleep at the top of the cage!

His poop seems to be brown with orange/white tip? He does drink but I wonder if he has enough. We are going to put a dripper in there soon as even though we mist it loads it seems to dry out pretty quick. Our humidity ranges from 30 - 80%. We've even tried putting real/different plants in there to hold the water on the leaves better. Sadly I think all we succeeded in doing was peeing him off!! Although he is currently sat in his new tree so perhaps he's forgiven us

Thor has always been green, occasionally he turns black or gets dark stripes (usually when basking) but no other colours yet.

When we first got him he ate meal worms from our hands but since then nothing. Maybe he was just starving!

We are in Wiltshire