couple concerns- experienced keepers please comment

[bassjunkie]

Your Chameleon - Veiled cham, approx. 3 months, had him for 6 weeks
Handling - handle him every few days by guiding him onto my hand
Feeding - 10 crickets/day
Supplements - Calcium dust, 2x/mo Reptivite, 2x/mo Calc+D3
Watering - I mist the cage by hand 3/4x daily until it's pretty wet (30 seconds) and I never see him drink.
Fecal Description - black/white with a little yellow. Never tested for parasites.
History - moved about 2 weeks ago to a larger terarrium

Cage Info:
Cage Type - 18x18x36, vertical 60g aqarium with screen front
Lighting - reptisun UVB 5.0 on side so it goes through the screen, ceramic heat lamp above. 2 40 & 60w incandescent bulbs aimed into the tank from the side for more basking.
Temperature - 85-90 in the warmest spots, 75 in the cool spots
Humidity - not measuring humidity
Plants - 4 smaller potted pothos and a large schefflera
Placement -cage is in the corner of my living room. I have 2 dogs and a cat but they never pay any attention to the cage.
Location - austin tx

I'm concerned he might be dehydrated, his eyes appear a little more sunken than when i got him but i'm not sure what to look for as i'm not an experienced keeper. Is there anything other than more misting that I can do to make sure he's hydrated? He's also changed from a bright baby green to a duller brownish green that varies from light brown to dark (almost gray) with a lot of pattern showing. he's about 3 months old, is this a normal color change?

He's also been hanging out as close as possible to the UVB bulb on the inside of the screen. Why does he do that?

If you have any other suggestions or recommendations, i would value opinions on my setup.

thanks~!

 

[ataraxia]

i would like to see pics of this set up.

 

[lindawaz]

I mist 4 times a day for 5 minutes. Cage is 2x2x48 My vield is 8 months old.
Many people use the dripper for more water available to drink

 

[carol5208]

I don't suppose you can use a dripper if you have a tank turned on its side. Aquariums are reallynot set up for chameleons. If there is some way for you to get an area where water would drip onto a leaf or branch it may entice him more to drink. My chameleon rarely drinks from any type of misting. He only drinks from dripper. If you can get near him enough, you can also try and eye dropper filled with water and keep dripping that on his nose. Di it for a few minutes if he will let you. That may get him to drink. I would just use the one bulb, the 40 watt for basking.

 

[BocaJan]

It is not uncommon to not see the little guys drink. They like to hide in the leaves and lick them when you're not looking. I have some adults that still do that. If your plants are dripping water you are probably spraying enough, but please post a picture of your little one so we can take a look at your cham. We need to take a look at it's eyes.

Thank you.

PS Be sure to get a face shot and a body shot.
PPS Plant on getting a full screen cage very soon.

 

[bassjunkie]

thanks folks. Here is a picture of him and of the setup. I think i have all the basics covered but i'm a little concerned cause he's been darker than i've seen him before and i'm not sure whether it's cause he's growing and changing colors as he ages or if it's stress because of something wrong with the conditions.

 

[okiroo]

thanks folks. Here is a picture of him and of the setup. I think i have all the basics covered but i'm a little concerned cause he's been darker than i've seen him before and i'm not sure whether it's cause he's growing and changing colors as he ages or if it's stress because of something wrong with the conditions.

in the 3rd pic he looks fine. i've noticed chams do this is watched 2 often or they dont like their home for some reason. for an example: when clai had her glass cage she was always dark. gave her a all screen huge cage and she was happy...untill he wasnt and started getting dark. now i FR her and shes happy 70% of the time but still turns dark here an there(talk about her "bars".) i think they just get moody like anything else. nothing to worry about if you know your doing everything right UNLESS shes shwoing other problamatic signs such as not eating/ not drinking/ basking to much or not enough ect.

ps- to me your cham looks fine and you cage looks gr8. could use a little mroe vines but it really does look good.

 

[ataraxia]

are you soaking up the water in the bottom of the cage? you might want to get a humidity gauge. you dont want fungus :/

what size crickets are you feeding her? are they free ranged or container fed?

as far as colors go she looks fine.

i would recommend buying a screen cage.

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

I personally don't recommend compact fluorescent bulbs for chameleons. We have had people bring young blind veiled chameleons who spent a few weeks under a compact bulb. You have the right idea of having the uvb filter through the screened area rather than the glass but I would rather see a linear Reptisun tube bulb there than the Reptisun compact UVB. Just my opinion due to personal observation.

 

[BocaJan]

I know there have been improvements on the spiral bulbs in the last year, but when I got my first cham he was almost blind from a spiral bulb I got for him and couldn't shoot at his food, poor thing. I always recommend getting a linear bulb to be safe, I believe that all lighting should be kept at the top of the enclosure like sunshine would be. Otherwise your little guy looks pretty good. You can always set up a dripper, just have the water run down into something at the bottom. I cover my container with some chicken wire so my cham can't fall into the container and drown. Be sure to empty the container daily because for some reason the chams seem to like to poop into the container. Go figure....

 

[Elizadolots]

Can you get some tubing and run a dripper into the enclosure? I think that would help.

I congratulate you on putting the lighting where it would work.

 

[ncrippen]

your Veiled Cham

I would get him a screen cage as well, get a linear UVB bulb and ofter the UVB from the top of the screen cage. Air circulation is very important to Chameleons. I provide a mist spary and most of my chames drink right from the stream of water from the sprayer. I would try the eye dropper method. It may take several trys...drip it in his nose and drops in front of him so he can see it.

As far as his color. They are moody and he may be trippin about his larger cage. It can take them a while to get used to it. They try to tell you about what they want. I had an ambilobe lick the side of his screen cage when he was thirsty to tell me....I yes I offered him water everyday.

Thanks,
Nan Crippen

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

I believe that all lighting should be kept at the top of the enclosure like sunshine would be.

I think they have the UVB light directed at the screen on the front because UVB won't penetrate glass effectively. But I agree that when (if?) they get a screen cage that UVB should be moved to the top.