Check my care

ShadowChaos

ShadowChaos

New Member
Alright, new young male Veiled! (photos soon)
Please post and advice you might have for me to better this guys life quality.


Your Chameleon - Veiled chameleon, young male about 3 inches long (-tail)
Handling - Very little
Feeding - Dubia, crickets, baby super/meal worms, offering of various vegis hanging on the side of cage.
Supplements - Calcium, reptile vitamin.
Planned vitamin schedule.
calcium without D3: at every feeding
calcium with D3: twice a month
multi vitamin: twice a month

Watering - I mist the cage about 2-3 times a day, morning afternoon, evening, using a spray bottle, warm, clean water. ( i use warm or room temperature water)
Fecal Description - looks regular, small, white/brown
History - From petco.

Cage Type - Large open top hexagonal tank (glass). With mesh lid.
Lighting - Repti-glo 5.0 UVB, Heat lamp is a zoo-med (blue) "day bulb" day, 75 wat. no night heat lamp.
Temperature - 75-80 during the day, about 60-65 at night. In the middle of the cage, hotter near the top.
Humidity - 2 humidity gauges, one digital one is regular. It drops to about 50% when I don't mist, and I mist the cage until it is about 80% or so.
Plants - No live plants, has plenty of fake plants (for reptiles ) and a big vine through out the cage from top to bottom.
Placement - Low traffic room, on top of a desk, quiet most of the day.
Location- Washington State, pacific north west.

The room does drop to about 62f at night, is that to cold? Should I add a heater?

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D6yRi9c.jpg

Yeah the lid is screen, but kind of a hack.. hence the duct tape, its still a wip. I made it myself since hexagonal screens are hard to come by. But I did make two support rails with counter top peices for the lights to sit on.
Edit: added photos.

Thanks!
 
Looks like you got most of it! I've heard mealworms aren't the best tho and should probably be completely replaced my superworms :)
Would you like to post a picture of your enclosure?
 
First off, not sure how but I got regular member. That's cool I guess. Anyway, 63 degrees is just about right if I recall, maybe a few degrees higher or lower (60-67). White poop means he's hydrated, what are your cage dimensions? Is it atleast 2 feet tall? You'll have to upgrade to atleast a 3 foot tall cage in about 6 months I believe (this is based on basic information and when I planned to get a veiled). Your little guy seems healthy to me. Best of luck.
 
Your temperates are actually a bit low. You want mid 90's basking spots for a veiled and mid to low 70's for ambient/night time temperatures. Adding a ceramic heater (Non light emitting) might not be a bad idea. Ditch the mealworms.
 
All seems perfect but the temps...also screen verse glass is highly debated, when you do upgrade her cage i suggest the XL repribreeze thats what my female veiled is in now, she loves it. Its 2'x2'x4'. 62° atnight is fine they can handle 40's they need a good drop of temps at night, so you are fine with that even cooler would be better but by no means is that too cold.
 
Also they love hornworms, they are nice and juicy and easy to keep. They grow fast though, so if you buy a bunch get smallest size possible. I bought 25 and I have some that went from 1"-1 1/2" to 3" in weeks...way too big to feed now, so just watch when you order and how many so youre not wasting any.
 
NickyChameleon said:
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Thanks a bunch, I have waiter to get a veiled cham for a long while, had to saveup and do research first! Yes the tank is over 2 feet tall.

GrimCamel said:
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Photo added! I will feed more superworms instead of mealys, thanks.

Wowbango said:
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I thought so... would a regular ceramic bulb like this be good? http://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-ReptiCare-Ceramic-Infrared/dp/B0002AQCPK

Onemorecast said:
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Yes! that is what my next paycheck will probably go towards. I read that a tank is better for keeping in the humidity, as I can not afford a automated misting system right now,what do you think ? Does the humidity % need to be constant or reach the ideal percentage then drop back a few times a day? (at misting)

Thanks all.
 
DITCH THAT FLOOR SUBSTRATE. Use reptile mat (indoor outdoor carpet) nothing, or paper towels. The cham can ingest it while hunting for food or just nosing about and it can cause a fatal impaction. Deff loose the flooring.
 
There is nothing wrong with the glass tank per say as long as you know what you are doing. Because your tank it's not like an exo terra that has the ventilation holes you need to pump some air to the bottom of the tank so it doesn't become stagnant, and all that moisture without air circulation could cause bacteria to grow which in turn could make your cham sick. But if your going to change it out real soon, "and I emphasize soon" for the screen cage it should be ok especially because your chams still small.
 
Last edited:
Onemorecast said:
DITCH THAT FLOOR SUBSTRATE. Use reptile mat (indoor outdoor carpet) nothing, or paper towels. The cham can ingest it while hunting for food or just nosing about and it can cause a fatal impaction. Deff loose the flooring.
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Depends. If you only have fake plants then its ok to ditch it but if you're like me with some alive ones you would at least want it to be covered up by moss for example. Chameleons digesting substrate arent too common but it happens. I would recommend large, thick pieces of moss. Keeps the humidity more stable and your cham should not be able to eat it :)
 
thanks for the responses so far.
brownie64 said:
you need to pump some air to the bottom of the tank so it doesn't become stagnant, l.
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would using a small, low rpm fan work well for now?

Also: Should I be giving him a warm shower a few times per week? I read this helps them, or is it more of a treatment after some kind of sickness happens, as opposed to a preventative measure.
 
I'm not an expert by any means at all so maybe someone could verify this but I heard that room temperature water comes out too cold out of the mister and that you should warm your water up so your cham is freezing. Not sure if it's a huge deal but I definitely use warm water when misting my cham and his enclosure.
 
ShadowChaos said:
thanks for the responses so far.

would using a small, low rpm fan work well for now?

Also: Should I be giving him a warm shower a few times per week? I read this helps them, or is it more of a treatment after some kind of sickness happens, as opposed to a preventative measure.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure a small rpm fan(I assume you are talking about a computer fan) would work in this situation. It needs to circulate the air not sure if pushing air down into a closed aquarium would do that. It really needs to come from the bottom up. If you have it an aquarium air pump you use for fish tanks would work by just putting the tubing down to the bottom of the tank. too much wind on them continuously isn't good really. It affects the heat gradient. I have a computer fan blowing lightly on mine at night to help with the cool down, but the heat lamp isn't on so heat gradient isn't an issue.

Yes a shower is good for getting them hydrated, and they don't have to be sick to do it. If you feel he isn't getting enough to drink thin I would highly recommend a shower. Hope this helps :)
 
brownie64 said:
. Hope this helps :)
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yes thank you, I am actually going for it and spent my paycheck on an extra large retpibreeze cage. 24x24x48. I hope this will be good for his life time.
I added a ceramic bulb with a dimmer so I can can control the heat during the day and night. I keep the water mister bottle in the warm closet where the bugs are kept so the water mist is nice and warm for him now.
 
ShadowChaos said:
yes thank you, I am actually going for it and spent my paycheck on an extra large retpibreeze cage. 24x24x48. I hope this will be good for his life time.
I added a ceramic bulb with a dimmer so I can can control the heat during the day and night. I keep the water mister bottle in the warm closet where the bugs are kept so the water mist is nice and warm for him now.
Click to expand...

That cage will be fine for him through out the rest of his life. Now the heater you bought is it a heat emitter,( not real clear on what you're talking about) if not actually a light it won't really work for the basking spot. It needs to shine light to attract your cham. Now it will work ok for night time heat if your house gets cold enough to need it, but veiled can withstand temps down in the 50's at night without any problems.
 
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