Contstant Shedding

[sbrepenth]

My veiled chameleon never completes a shed before beginning a new shed.

He lives in a 4ftx2ftX2ft screen cage with just has a plastic bottom (no bedding). In his cage, he has a hibiscus in a plastic pot that he munches on from time to time. There is also a small fountain.

He is ~10 months old, body length is ~6 inches with a tail that is longer than his body. He is an avid eater (We feed him crickets, meal worms and occasionally wax worms).

I am not sure why he can't complete a shed and was hoping to get some help.

 

[voxxom]

hmm.

whats your humidity level at? do you spray him frequently?

my chams start thier shedding and in about 2 1/2 hours later, they are completely done

 

[emersonc]

are you giving him suppliments. I am not possative, but if he is not getting the right ammount of vitamins he may have trouble shedding....maybe...

 

[sbrepenth]

We use 'Calcium with Vitamins from Rep Cal' from PetSmart to dust to crickets but do not dust the worms. His humidity is around 50%, but the humidity drops on hot days.

Should he be misted daily? Will that help the problem?

 

[ChameleonsTree]

I would mist him 2-3 times daily for a total time od 20-30 minutes...you need to get that humidity up to at least 60% and the misting may take care of that.

 

[voxxom]

Hmm emersonc had a very good point i think. the vitamin defficiancy (err grammar?) may have a leading role to play in the problem, BUT you did say that you dusted their food.. so im really not sure.

i would just spray around in his cage alot, like Chameleonstree said, at least 5 minutes of light misting a few times a day.

and if you want to take it a step farther, you can put you chameleon in the shower (along with the plant obviously) and spray the plant down with him in it. dont spray them directly because the water can be too hot and too much force against their bodies which will lead to stress, so just spray a wall next to the plant so the rebound water is caught by the plant.

 

[ChameleonsTree]

Look into some of the setups people have shown on here for directing a portable humidifier right into the cage. That will help keep the humidity up

 

[Frank Castle]

There is also a small fountain.

You may want to remove the fountain. It is not recomended that you keep a resivior of water in the cage. Bacteria can build up and cause a problem. As for shedding, If you up your humidity to about 65-75%, It would help out with speeding up the shedding process. Also you should be Misting 2-3 times a day minimum as said in previous posts.

Frank

 

[sbrepenth]

I will attempt to raise the humidity in the room he is in and will endeavor to mist him 2-3 times a day. Thanks for the help.

 

[westcoastchameleons]

We use 'Calcium with Vitamins from Rep Cal' from PetSmart to dust to crickets but do not dust the worms. His humidity is around 50%, but the humidity drops on hot days.

Should he be misted daily? Will that help the problem?

He should be misted daily of course, and in fact 2-3 times every day

 

[ChameleonsTree]

Yea no water fountains...they are a breeding ground for bacteria

 

[IvorySerpent]

Hi,
Thought I'd throw this bit in also..... we bought these handy sprayers from Walmart in the garden section. They are pump sprays that keep preasure in the bottle to offer a continual spray and adjustment of the nozzle wil give you the ability to spray a fine mist or a steady stream. We fill them up with tepid (room Temp) water and pump them up and let them go while sitting on top of the cages, it makes for a nice gentle rain and they seem to enjoy it as long as the water temp is warm. We do this at least 2 times daily because our humidity levels here are fairly high. I will post a pic of one in the gallery.

IvorySerpent

 

[Brad]

Those pressurized sprayers can make things a lot easier, especially if you are not using a automated misting system. Spraying manually for 5-10 minutes can do a number on your hands.

 

[Eric Adrignola]

If you are just providing rep-cal, I believe the problem is more nutritional than humidity. I've kept veileds (in th epast) with lower humidity than that, with infrequent mistings, and never had a shedding problem.

Rep-cal is just calcium and vitamin D3. you should also provide a multivitamin supplement, such as herptivite, and feed your insects a good gutload. This is what balances their diet. If he's just gettign rep-cal with D3, it's very likely he's got some vitamin deficiencies that are making this a big problem.

The low humidity is not helping, either.

Feed your crickets some fresh greens and veggies, and dust some with herptivite. Also, try to increase the humidity in the cage.

It's my personal belief that misting for extended periods of time(10+ minutes), several times a day, is unnecessary for veileds. For now, however, it will help. A shower may or may not be stressful, so try this if it doesn't work:

Get a pump sprayer from Walmart, homedepot or lowes. Fill it with very warm water - not hot, but close. This, when misted, will cool down considerably and just be slightly warm on their skin. Spray him all over for several minutes with this. It helps to cover the back and sides of the cage with plastic, to retain humidity. Keep doing this, every day, until all his shed skin is removed - you may need to use tweezers. The misting sessions will make the skin much easier to remove.