Dark Veiled Cham

[ChamZeus]

So Zeus is dark green and like a dark red and i'm just concerned because I see all these pictures of Veiled Chams and they are pretty much neon and bright greens. the only time he gets somewhat brighter is when he looks in the mirror or when he sleeps then he's a bright green and black almost I'm thinking maybe he's just special and that's his natural color??? I'd appreciate any feed back thanks!! I'll up load some pics of him.

Chameleon Info:
Zeus- Veiled Chameleon translucent , Male, and he's about 11 months and I've had him for 10 months
Handling - I hardly handle him only when I Clean his cage.

Feeding - I feed him 10-13 LG crickets daily/ bi-daily depending if he doesn't finish the ones the day prior, and maybe 6-7 mealworms once or twice a week. I feed him a little after 4 when I get off of work and sometimes a little sooner on my days off. I use cricket crack for gut-loading.

Supplements - I use Repashy calcium plus LoD Most feedings.
Watering - I have the Mistking goes off at 8 am, 12 pm, 330 pm, and 730 pm.
sometimes i'll spray him just to make sure he's drinking enough.

Fecal Description - poop is dark in color and somewhat moist and pee is white with very little yellow at tip
History - I've never had any problems with him in the past

Cage Info:
Cage Type - a 30x30x40 mesh cage that i built myself
Lighting - I use 2 heat lamps with 150w bulbs and a exo-tera 10.0uvb tube light
Temperature - I have 2 exo-tera thermometer/humidity gauge one next to basking area which is usually around 90-95 and the other maybe 6" from the bottom which is usually 70-75
Humidity - is between 45-50
Plants - I have fake vines and leaves and 2 live Plants one is a ficus and the other i'm not sure what kind it is, I bought it from LLLreptile they told me the type but i forgot but they said it was fine for my Veiled.
Placement - the cage is about 3' off the ground and its not a high traffic area its in the corner of my room.
Location - southern California

 

[ChamZeus]

Pics

 

[Djturna4thakidz]

Hello and Welcome!

First thing i notice right off the back is that your enclosure leaves a lot to be desired. I would prob scrap the layout and start over. In my opinion, you need a ficus or schefflera that is much more bushy and will fill the cage to about 6" below the top. Your plants are in pretty bad shape. They may come back with natural light but it will take a while. I would just get a new plant. One reason his colors are darker is he may be stressed because he has no foliage to hide behind.

Another thing I saw is that you have two heat lights. I too live in california and I definitely do not need two lights. You may want to remove one. Your temps look good but if I had two heatlamps my temps would be much higher than those.

 

[chascarpenter1]

The cage looks a little sparse and might cause him stress. However, one of my veileds, also bought from LLL, looks to be about the same age and markings, he could be related to your little guy, and tends to be more brown than my other one unless he is directly under the tube light and my kids are not around. He is moody.

 

[ChamZeus]

Hello and Welcome!

First thing i notice right off the back is that your enclosure leaves a lot to be desired. I would prob scrap the layout and start over. In my opinion, you need a ficus or schefflera that is much more bushy and will fill the cage to about 6" below the top. Your plants are in pretty bad shape. They may come back with natural light but it will take a while. I would just get a new plant. One reason his colors are darker is he may be stressed because he has no foliage to hide behind.

Another thing I saw is that you have two heat lights. I too live in california and I definitely do not need two lights. You may want to remove one. Your temps look good but if I had two heatlamps my temps would be much higher than those.

Yeah i'm in the process of getting more foliage and nursing my plants to good health and yeah I mostly had the 2 heat lamps for the winter. I have the other one off especially with the blazing heat we had last week!! Thanks for the tips!!

 

[ChamZeus]

The cage looks a little sparse and might cause him stress. However, one of my veileds, also bought from LLL, looks to be about the same age and markings, he could be related to your little guy, and tends to be more brown than my other one unless he is directly under the tube light and my kids are not around. He is moody.

Yeah sounds like mine but I got him from Reptropolis in San Clemente.