Brown Veiled

Samhain138

Samhain138

New Member
I've had my baby veiled for about 2 months now and she was staying a light green color up until the last week. I WAS using a UVA bulb but changed to a UVB bulb. That's the only thing thats changed that I can think of really. Her temperatures always 80+ unless I open the enclosure doors. I suppiment her with calcium powder about once every 2 weeks.

She's active and eats well. She turns green when she is feeding and when I handle her, or when I'm in the general area. I've read conflicting info about her being a brown color. I've heard it can mean she's stressed or angry but I've also heard that the younger ones go through a drab phase. Even when she's green it seems to just be a darker color than she was before.

I know she JUST shed her skin and that may be around the time the darker coloring started. She's indoors but I wondered if maybe the weather outside has any effect on her, since she seems to turn dark on days it rains. I figured it was just a coincidence.

I'm just alarmed because of the change in appearance, but behavior wise she seems just fine. She's eating well, she climbs all over her enclosure and I even handled her the other day. Thanks for the feedback in advance!
 
She may not be hot enough and is turning darker to absorb more heat, is she basking all day and do you have a basking spot for her? My female Veiled (3-4 months old) is dark sometimes when she is basking and she loves to bask a lot. That may be it, if she is getting a pattern when she turns dark with like black dots that would be stress otherwise she just might not be warm enough
 
I just checked her temperature again and its strangley low, about 78. It's normally about 85 or higher. I keep her in front of a window where the sunlight I guess helps warm her enclosure. This would explain the correlation between the cloudy rainy days and her darker color.

I just turned her night lamp on as well to raise the temperature, is there anything I can get to raise it? I already use a 100 wat bulb. I don't know that our store carried a more powerful one.
 
The enclosure is glass, I emulated a friends setup who's had his chameleon for a long time. It's a tall terrerium with swing open front doors. As cold as my house is, she'd probably freeze in an open air screen cage.

I don't know if I could afford to re-do the entire setup but could one of you point me in the direction of what I should have?
 
Samhain138 said:
The enclosure is glass, I emulated a friends setup who's had his chameleon for a long time. It's a tall terrerium with swing open front doors. As cold as my house is, she'd probably freeze in an open air screen cage.

I don't know if I could afford to re-do the entire setup but could one of you point me in the direction of what I should have?
Click to expand...

ok. first of all dont let everyone discourage you. a glass enclosure is ok as long as it has the proper venting. as in the exotera one it has the front doors that have a vent below them and the open screen top......as long as it has the proper ventilation then you will have no problem you just have to make sure you have a lot of byways and highways for her to climb on and explore the enclosure and you need lots of leafy plants. real cham safe plants are best but you can use the fake plastic ones as well. the cham drinks off the leaves not from still standing water.

second on to the coloration. i have adult and baby veiled chams. it is a phase. right now my one female 5 to 6 month old girl is starting to get her pattern. when this happens sometimes it comes in as brown usually lines but i would assume it can be brown over her entire body if she develops he pattern that way.

if she has very dark like almost black striped or spots that most likely means she is just stressed. 80 degrees is all the higher you want your basking area for your cage. the cage temp away from basking should be between the 73 and 80 deg or so. so you temp i personally feel is fine.

post some pics and let me see her and i can give you more sound advice. i would like to see the enclosure as well
 
I have lots of plants for her to climb, I've got the exoterra enclosure with the vents that you desribed.

She's not a particularly dark brown, and some of her patterns are showing through, I'll get right on taking some pictures.
 
Samhain138 said:
I have lots of plants for her to climb, I've got the exoterra enclosure with the vents that you desribed.

She's not a particularly dark brown, and some of her patterns are showing through, I'll get right on taking some pictures.
Click to expand...

then your enclosure is fine so dont worry. and good on the plants. once the pics are posted ill give you feedback more on the colors and moods and patterns...you will find that owning a cham is an ever learning experience. i am every day learning something new. its amazing!
 
She's not feeling very photogenic today, but I got a shot that shows her coloration pretty well. She usually starts to turn a green color whenever she spots me.

I've not posted much on forums so forgive me if I post the images wrong.

First, this is her enclosure.
DSCF3960.jpg


And here she is
DSCF3971.jpg
 
Samhain138 said:
I just checked her temperature again and its strangley low, about 78. It's normally about 85 or higher. I keep her in front of a window where the sunlight I guess helps warm her enclosure. This would explain the correlation between the cloudy rainy days and her darker color.

I just turned her night lamp on as well to raise the temperature, is there anything I can get to raise it? I already use a 100 wat bulb. I don't know that our store carried a more powerful one.
Click to expand...

Youre using a night light?

if so, stop.

first they need a temp drop at night for a healthy cham.

and second- they need total darkness to sleep.
 
camimom said:
Youre using a night light?

if so, stop.

first they need a temp drop at night for a healthy cham.

and second- they need total darkness to sleep.
Click to expand...

camimom is absolutely right im not sure how i missed that when i read your original post. it can make them very ill having a night light.

as for the color. mine goes through phases. where she is brown for a few days then normal then brown and when she goes normal you can see that there is a pattern starting to develop under the brown. so in personally opinion i would say she is fine but if it keeps up for a week or so i would post again and maybe someone like camimom can help ya out more. she knows a lot more then i do. she helps me out all the time lol.
 
What should the night time temperature be? It's normally about 85 during the day and 70 at night with the red lamp. My house is quite cold, but you all know better than me so I will heed your advice.

Any thoughts about her pattern/color that I should be concerned about? She's had the coloring about a week where as she was a very light green before.
 
Last edited:
night temp is arround 65 or so. a good day temp outside the basking area is like 70 or 75 some where around there. the basking spot should be about 80
 
They can take temps down to 50 at night and be fine. so long as basking temp stays at around 85.

if temps drop below 50, get a ceramic heat emitter.

but the temp drop at night is beneficial for a healthy cham.
 
Samhain138 said:
I suppiment her with calcium powder about once every 2 weeks
Click to expand...

This needs improvement. Veiled chameleons require phosphorus free calcium (no d3) with every feeder. She also needs calcium with d3 once every two weeks and a multivitamin also once every two weeks.

The supplementation schedule above is imperative to keeping your chameleon healthy.

If you stick to your current schedule your chameleon will most likely develop hypocalcemia which is a form of metabolic bone disease (MBD). It's really nasty.

I think, although I'd like a more experienced member to comment, that 2 months under-supplementation shouldn't cause any negative long term effects.

I hope your girl is ok :).
 
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