Cam the Chameleon

[Conundrums]

Hey guys, So my wife and I rescued an abandoned veiled Chameleon 3 days ago he's probably about 8 inches in length with tail. We have zero experience with Chameleons. We decided to name him Cam. (I know so original.) We have him under a UVB and Heat lamp. We have one Temp/Hygrometer on the top of the cage under his UVB. We plan on getting another one to put at the bottom of the cage as well. I ordered a dripper last night to help keep water in there for him to drink while we are away at work. I was worried about his humidity levels while at work today but upon arriving at home I saw his humidity at the top of the cage under the UVB was sitting at about 55%. It might have to do with the Fogger I purchased. It turns on for 45 seconds at 45 minute intervals. My biggest problem is when I'm in his cage refilling the fogger, feeding him, or misting he turns spotted and lunges at me. I know I'm not to pull away quickly as it can create bad behavior but I can't help it (I'm working on it). Is there anything I can do to help get him to trust me more? When I pull away I take my hand and put it somewhat near him to help him see that I'm not trying to harm him. I do it until he hisses about 3 times then go back to doing what I was doing in the cage. Another thing I've noticed is at night when I turn the lights off, his cage humidity gets up to 80%-85%. Is that to high at night? If it is what can I do to lower the humidity at night. Any other advice or tips are greatly appreciated.

Edit:
Straight up Copy Paste
Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - Veiled Chameleon, Male, Age Unknown had him 3 days. He's about 8 inches Long with Tail.
• Handling - Never, since he hates me. lol
• Feeding - Crickets and Meal worms with a dusting. We kinda just keep the cage with six or so crickets and six meal works. Pretty much feed him when we notice he's out of food. How are you gut-loading your feeders? What is gut-loading? Crickets eating on carrots?
• Supplements - Reptical dusting
• Watering - Spray bottle misting Twice a day. Dripper will be here Firday. He does not eat or drink in front of me he gets pretty pissed.
• Fecal Description - Has not been tested or to the vet yet. Fecal looks somewhat orange
• History - Got him this past Saturday

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Mesh Cage not sure dimensions.
• Lighting - UVB Lighting and a Heat lamp. Schedule is UVB on 30 Minutes before turning on Heat. Heat off 30 Minutes before turning off UVB. 12 hour intervals.
• Temperature - Temp under UVB sits about 70F day and Night.
• Humidity - Humidity when I got home from work today was at 50% under UVB gets up to about 85% at night. Using a fogger and spray bottle getting a dripper Friday.
• Plants - Only live plant is a money tree
• Placement - On my dresser in the corner of the room.
• Location - Live in Southern TN area.

 

[Nursemaia]

First you have to change his name. My female is named Cam.
I recommend checking out the care sheets and filling out the how to ask for help form in the health section.
You may never get him to like you, veileds tend to be miserable and are not all that friendly

 

[Andee]

Maia you sound far too serious in the first line lol.

 

[Conundrums]

First you have to change his name. My female is named Cam.
I recommend checking out the care sheets and filling out the how to ask for help form in the health section.
You may never get him to like you, veileds tend to be miserable and are not all that friendly

I'll have to ask the wife about changing the name. I have been googling and checking on this forum about to high humidity at night most everything I have found is issues with the opposite. I will check into how to ask for help form thanks.

 

[Decadancin]

https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/how-to-ask-for-help.66/

 

[Conundrums]

Edited with how to ask filled out thanks guys.

 

[Nursemaia]

Maia you sound far too serious in the first line lol.

Another cham named Cam is serious

 

[kinyonga]

Welcome to the world of chameleons! Nothing like jumping in with little experience but this is the right place to come to when you do.

Gutloading is feeding the insects with nutritious things so they will end up in the chameleon. Crickets, roaches, superworms can be dusted with greens such as dandelion greens, kale, collards, endive, escarole, etc and veggies such as carrots, squash, zucchini, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, etc and a bit of fruit such as apples, pears, berries, Nelson, etc.

Mealworms are not a good choice for them but can be given once in a while. Crickets, roaches, superworms, hornworms (captive bred only) and silk worms are a few good choices.

For supplements...its recommended that you use a phosphorous-free calcium powder at almost every feeding lightly to help make up for the normally poor ratio of calcium to phosphorous found in most feeder insects.
It's recommended that you dust twice a month with a phosphorous-free calcium/D3 powder to ensure that the chameleon gets some D3 without overdosing it and leaving it to produce the rest from its exposure to the UVB light. D3 from supplements can build up in the system and lead to health issues but D3 produced from exposure to the UVB light won't as long as the chameleon can move in and out of the UVB at will.
It's also recommended that you dust twice a month with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene prOformed source of vitamin A. PrOformed sources won't build up in the system like prEformed sources will so you don't have to worry about overdosing the vitamin A... But this leaves younin charge of providing the prEformed if/when it's needed.

For a dripper you can use a deli cup with a tiny hole punched in the bottom of it so it drips at the rate of one or two drops per second.

What is the heat lamp? Is it a red light? What brand?
Basking temperature is important for digestion....so if its too low the chameleon's eating will be affected.It should be in the mid 80's F for a veiled male.

Are you sure it's male?
Please post a photo of the chameleon and it's setup.

 

[Conundrums]

Welcome to the world of chameleons! Nothing like jumping in with little experience but this is the right place to come to when you do.

Gutloading is feeding the insects with nutritious things so they will end up in the chameleon. Crickets, roaches, superworms can be dusted with greens such as dandelion greens, kale, collards, endive, escarole, etc and veggies such as carrots, squash, zucchini, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, etc and a bit of fruit such as apples, pears, berries, Nelson, etc.

Mealworms are not a good choice for them but can be given once in a while. Crickets, roaches, superworms, hornworms (captive bred only) and silk worms are a few good choices.

For supplements...its recommended that you use a phosphorous-free calcium powder at almost every feeding lightly to help make up for the normally poor ratio of calcium to phosphorous found in most feeder insects.
It's recommended that you dust twice a month with a phosphorous-free calcium/D3 powder to ensure that the chameleon gets some D3 without overdosing it and leaving it to produce the rest from its exposure to the UVB light. D3 from supplements can build up in the system and lead to health issues but D3 produced from exposure to the UVB light won't as long as the chameleon can move in and out of the UVB at will.
It's also recommended that you dust twice a month with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene prOformed source of vitamin A. PrOformed sources won't build up in the system like prEformed sources will so you don't have to worry about overdosing the vitamin A... But this leaves younin charge of providing the prEformed if/when it's needed.

For a dripper you can use a deli cup with a tiny hole punched in the bottom of it so it drips at the rate of one or two drops per second.

What is the heat lamp? Is it a red light? What brand?
Basking temperature is important for digestion....so if its too low the chameleon's eating will be affected.It should be in the mid 80's F for a veiled male.

Are you sure it's male?
Please post a photo of the chameleon and it's setup.

Kin
Thanks for all the info! I was reading tonight Meal worms are high in fat so to be careful feeding them to him, so thank you for reassuring that. Right now I am using Retipi Calcium (no Phosphorous) with D3, tomorrow I will pick up some Calcium without D3 in it to feed him daily. My wife is going to rearrange his cage tomorrow so that he can go in an out of both lights freely. Like I said he's a rescue so the only thing we have done to the cage was replace the soil medium on the bottom of the cage. Most everything was left as is. So the sticks that were in there were almost vertical giving him no horizontal movement. That's something she had mentioned last night she was planning on fixing.

I ordered a 70 ounce Zoo Med Little Dripper. I didn't think about a deli cup. That's a good idea.

As for the heat lamp...I have no idea. It's not a red light, like I said everything we have is pretty much what he came with, two lights UVB and Heat, Lamp mesh cage and his living environment. If I can get him to move around a bit I'll try to move the thermometer under his basking light. He does not like me invading his space. One thing I am concerned about is that the Humidity gets as high as 85% up by the UVB light at night. I read it can cause respiratory problems for him.

Here are a couple of pictures of him. One is from the day we got him. The other is from tonight.

 

[kinyonga]

What a difference!

The humidity at night could be a concern if the cage gets chilled at night or gets a draft from a fan or window or vent.

 

[Scottsquatch]

Do you have the fogger coming on at night? If so, I'd set it so it stops kicking on when the lights are off. Then your humidity shouldn't get so high at night.

 

[Conundrums]

Temp stays around 70F day and Night. When I woke up this morning humidity was up to 80%. So it makes me afraid to spray the leaves. My wife mentioned this morning. His front leg looks a little bendy. I hope there's no issues. He's still holding onto branches though.