All,
I just wanted to take a minute to introduce myself and say thanks for all the great information that I've found on this forum. I've been doing a ton of research here over the past few months, but have never signed-up until this week. I currently have a possible problem that I could use some advise on, and I hope that in return I can share some of what I've learned with others in the future.
Back in May my GF came home with two Chinese Water Dragons after doing zero research (gotta luv her!
). Long story short - They went back to the pet store the next day and we came home with what we were told was a baby male veiled chameleon. After reading everything I could get my hands on (OCD) I realized two things... Our chameleon was a female and most of what the employees told us at the pet store was incorrect. 'Fergie' has been doing great despite our lack of knowledge in the beginning, but we're really in uncharted territory now and could use some advice.
Fergie is now over 4 months old and about three weeks ago her colors changed from just different shades of green/brown with the occasional yellow spot to some really amazing blues and tans/orange-ish colors. This happened about a week after moving her to the new cage described below. I assumed that the change was just a combination of reaching sexual maturity, better living conditions, and a general sign of good health. After doing some checking on the color change I started to find posts about females laying infertile eggs and now I'm concerned she might be ready to lay, but will not for some reason.
Here is some info that you might want to know based on posts that I've looked at and is not covered with the care sheet below.
- She has never been around other Chameleons while we've had her so the eggs (if any) would not be fertile.
- She seems overweight, but I never thought to weigh her until now (120g). I now think I've been overfeeding her and plan to put her on a better feeding and temp plan described by Lynda Horgan 's blog, but I don't want to change anything until I know what's going on with the possible egg situation.
- She has been pacing a lot at the top of her cage, but never at the bottom of her inside cage. I have caught her on the bottom of the outside cage a few times over the past couple of weeks.
- She has passed on cricket from time-to-time over the past three weeks, but she still eats 4 or more every day.
- I've never seen her sleep during the day and she seems really active (over active).
- She seems to have a movement everyday and all seems normal or explainable (see below).
- I've placed a bucket (8X6X12) of moist play sand in her cage but the only interest she has shown in it is eating some of the sand. I've caught her doing this twice. The top layer of the sand in the bucket is a different color so I can tell if she has been digging. I found it at the pet store and the label said it has calcium in it... I thought that was interesting, but she has been know to eat dirt from the plants as well before I put rocks over the soil.
- I've covered the cage area to provide complete privacy. I've also setup a web-cam so I can check on her without distributing. Works great.. FergieCam!
- I've started a tunnel (diagonal) with a spoon this morning, but still no interest.
- I have not tried the trash can idea since I can't seem to get her to dig in the pot I have for now. I would do it, but I had hoped she would show some signs first with the pot.
Some questions I have....
What does the sudden color change mean and will she stay this way? I've seen other adult Chams in stores, but they never look this way.
On the tunnel size... How wide/tall/deep should it be?
Should I try placing her in the tunnel? Which way? (head/tail first)
Does anyone have an Opinion of Tom Greek as a Vet in Southern California? I currently don't have a vet for her yet and hear he is really good. I would like to be ready to have a xray done if I don't get her to start digging soon.
How long do you have before there is a problem? Seems like it's almost too late by the time you find a problem.
Care Sheet Info
Your Chameleon – Veiled, female, 4-5 months old. We purchased her 4 months ago (5/21).
Handling – I handle her to move her between her two cages. This happens 2-5 times a week depending on my work schedule and weather conditions. I try to keep her outside during the day as much as my schedule and the weather will permit. I might stop for the occasional photo op, but normally she is in my hands less then 5 minutes during the transport. She seems to be use to the routine and once I coax her onto my hand there is little drama.
Feeding – She eats 98% crickets with the occasional super worm or bug from our organic garden. I have been feeding her 10-15 per day, but after reading the blog from Lynda Horgan I plan to cut back her diet. I keep two sets of crickets in different containers and stagger the purchase/uses of each by a few days so I can make sure she gets a constant supply of gut loaded well hydrated crickets. The gut load varies, but generally consist of romaine lettuce, carrots, sweet potato, apples, bananas, grapes, kelp, almonds, bee pollen, Fluker's orange cube, ReptoCal Calcium, Rep-Cal Herptivite, and anything else we might have on-hand when I make the gut load mix.
Supplements – I use ReptoCal Calcium with D3 and Rep-Cal Herptivite mulit. I dust the crickets twice a month with both.
Watering – I use a drip system called the little dripper that runs for about 3/4th of a day. It drips on the pothos leaves down to the floor of the cage where it is drained out. I also have a single valve MistKing system that runs 3 times a day for about 2 minutes each. The water is distilled and at room temperature. I have seen her drink, but it is rare.
Fecal Description – Dark brown/black pellets with the white/yellowish part. The last couple of days they have been lighter in color (tan), but I just caught her eating sand from the egg laying bucket so I think that explains the color change. She has never been tested for parasites.
History - I just move her from a glass terrarium on 8/29 to a new screen cage. Major color change (blue/tan/orange-ish) within two weeks and she appears to be much fatter now.
Cage Type - 18X18X36 aluminum screen
lighting - The new cage has 36” dimmable dual fixture with one ReptiSun 5.0 UVB and a 5K grow light. The basking light is a 150W halogen and a night light with a 75W infrared bulb. All the lights (and mister) are controlled by an EcoZone control unit. The UVB/grow light are ramped up in the morning from 10% to 100% over a 1.5 hrs and down in the evening from 100% to 10% (dawn/dusk effect). They are on about 11 hours a day right now. The basking light is controlled by a temperature probe mounted to the closest perch and is set to maintain 93 degrees after ramping up in the morning for about 30 minutes. It ramps down the same way later in the evening. The night light only comes on if the bottom probe drops below 67 degrees and will turn off after the temp goes back up.
Temperature – The high basking perch is set for 93 degrees and the bottom of the cage is normally 70 – 76 depending on room temperature. As mentioned above the night light will come on at 67 degrees. If warmer due to room temperature it will not come on. All temperatures are measured with temperature probs controlled by the EcoZone control unit.
Humidity – The humidity levels a always changing in the screen enclosure, but range between 40-90% depending on where you take the reading and how long it's been since the mister went off. I maintain the humidity by running the dripper ¾ of the day, misting three times a day for 2 minutes each and have 1-2 live plants in the enclosure and three live plants on the outside of the side screen walls. I use a humidity gauge that came with the original cage.
Plants – I always have 1-2 live plans in the enclosure along with a couple of fake plants to provide better cover for her. Inside they are pothos and hibiscus and outside they are hibiscus and grape vine.
Placement – My cage is in my office with limited traffic besides me and the occasional dog. The cage sits about 3 feet off the floor and the top is at about 6 feet. No fans in the air duct is on the other side of the room.
Location – I'm in Southern California
I just wanted to take a minute to introduce myself and say thanks for all the great information that I've found on this forum. I've been doing a ton of research here over the past few months, but have never signed-up until this week. I currently have a possible problem that I could use some advise on, and I hope that in return I can share some of what I've learned with others in the future.
Back in May my GF came home with two Chinese Water Dragons after doing zero research (gotta luv her!
). Long story short - They went back to the pet store the next day and we came home with what we were told was a baby male veiled chameleon. After reading everything I could get my hands on (OCD) I realized two things... Our chameleon was a female and most of what the employees told us at the pet store was incorrect. 'Fergie' has been doing great despite our lack of knowledge in the beginning, but we're really in uncharted territory now and could use some advice.Fergie is now over 4 months old and about three weeks ago her colors changed from just different shades of green/brown with the occasional yellow spot to some really amazing blues and tans/orange-ish colors. This happened about a week after moving her to the new cage described below. I assumed that the change was just a combination of reaching sexual maturity, better living conditions, and a general sign of good health. After doing some checking on the color change I started to find posts about females laying infertile eggs and now I'm concerned she might be ready to lay, but will not for some reason.
Here is some info that you might want to know based on posts that I've looked at and is not covered with the care sheet below.
- She has never been around other Chameleons while we've had her so the eggs (if any) would not be fertile.
- She seems overweight, but I never thought to weigh her until now (120g). I now think I've been overfeeding her and plan to put her on a better feeding and temp plan described by Lynda Horgan 's blog, but I don't want to change anything until I know what's going on with the possible egg situation.
- She has been pacing a lot at the top of her cage, but never at the bottom of her inside cage. I have caught her on the bottom of the outside cage a few times over the past couple of weeks.
- She has passed on cricket from time-to-time over the past three weeks, but she still eats 4 or more every day.
- I've never seen her sleep during the day and she seems really active (over active).
- She seems to have a movement everyday and all seems normal or explainable (see below).
- I've placed a bucket (8X6X12) of moist play sand in her cage but the only interest she has shown in it is eating some of the sand. I've caught her doing this twice. The top layer of the sand in the bucket is a different color so I can tell if she has been digging. I found it at the pet store and the label said it has calcium in it... I thought that was interesting, but she has been know to eat dirt from the plants as well before I put rocks over the soil.
- I've covered the cage area to provide complete privacy. I've also setup a web-cam so I can check on her without distributing. Works great.. FergieCam!
- I've started a tunnel (diagonal) with a spoon this morning, but still no interest.
- I have not tried the trash can idea since I can't seem to get her to dig in the pot I have for now. I would do it, but I had hoped she would show some signs first with the pot.
Some questions I have....
What does the sudden color change mean and will she stay this way? I've seen other adult Chams in stores, but they never look this way.
On the tunnel size... How wide/tall/deep should it be?
Should I try placing her in the tunnel? Which way? (head/tail first)
Does anyone have an Opinion of Tom Greek as a Vet in Southern California? I currently don't have a vet for her yet and hear he is really good. I would like to be ready to have a xray done if I don't get her to start digging soon.
How long do you have before there is a problem? Seems like it's almost too late by the time you find a problem.
Care Sheet Info
Your Chameleon – Veiled, female, 4-5 months old. We purchased her 4 months ago (5/21).
Handling – I handle her to move her between her two cages. This happens 2-5 times a week depending on my work schedule and weather conditions. I try to keep her outside during the day as much as my schedule and the weather will permit. I might stop for the occasional photo op, but normally she is in my hands less then 5 minutes during the transport. She seems to be use to the routine and once I coax her onto my hand there is little drama.
Feeding – She eats 98% crickets with the occasional super worm or bug from our organic garden. I have been feeding her 10-15 per day, but after reading the blog from Lynda Horgan I plan to cut back her diet. I keep two sets of crickets in different containers and stagger the purchase/uses of each by a few days so I can make sure she gets a constant supply of gut loaded well hydrated crickets. The gut load varies, but generally consist of romaine lettuce, carrots, sweet potato, apples, bananas, grapes, kelp, almonds, bee pollen, Fluker's orange cube, ReptoCal Calcium, Rep-Cal Herptivite, and anything else we might have on-hand when I make the gut load mix.
Supplements – I use ReptoCal Calcium with D3 and Rep-Cal Herptivite mulit. I dust the crickets twice a month with both.
Watering – I use a drip system called the little dripper that runs for about 3/4th of a day. It drips on the pothos leaves down to the floor of the cage where it is drained out. I also have a single valve MistKing system that runs 3 times a day for about 2 minutes each. The water is distilled and at room temperature. I have seen her drink, but it is rare.
Fecal Description – Dark brown/black pellets with the white/yellowish part. The last couple of days they have been lighter in color (tan), but I just caught her eating sand from the egg laying bucket so I think that explains the color change. She has never been tested for parasites.
History - I just move her from a glass terrarium on 8/29 to a new screen cage. Major color change (blue/tan/orange-ish) within two weeks and she appears to be much fatter now.
Cage Type - 18X18X36 aluminum screen
lighting - The new cage has 36” dimmable dual fixture with one ReptiSun 5.0 UVB and a 5K grow light. The basking light is a 150W halogen and a night light with a 75W infrared bulb. All the lights (and mister) are controlled by an EcoZone control unit. The UVB/grow light are ramped up in the morning from 10% to 100% over a 1.5 hrs and down in the evening from 100% to 10% (dawn/dusk effect). They are on about 11 hours a day right now. The basking light is controlled by a temperature probe mounted to the closest perch and is set to maintain 93 degrees after ramping up in the morning for about 30 minutes. It ramps down the same way later in the evening. The night light only comes on if the bottom probe drops below 67 degrees and will turn off after the temp goes back up.
Temperature – The high basking perch is set for 93 degrees and the bottom of the cage is normally 70 – 76 depending on room temperature. As mentioned above the night light will come on at 67 degrees. If warmer due to room temperature it will not come on. All temperatures are measured with temperature probs controlled by the EcoZone control unit.
Humidity – The humidity levels a always changing in the screen enclosure, but range between 40-90% depending on where you take the reading and how long it's been since the mister went off. I maintain the humidity by running the dripper ¾ of the day, misting three times a day for 2 minutes each and have 1-2 live plants in the enclosure and three live plants on the outside of the side screen walls. I use a humidity gauge that came with the original cage.
Plants – I always have 1-2 live plans in the enclosure along with a couple of fake plants to provide better cover for her. Inside they are pothos and hibiscus and outside they are hibiscus and grape vine.
Placement – My cage is in my office with limited traffic besides me and the occasional dog. The cage sits about 3 feet off the floor and the top is at about 6 feet. No fans in the air duct is on the other side of the room.
Location – I'm in Southern California
