Female veiled chameleon dark while basking

[TheronJ]

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Female Veiled Chameleon, young, have had her for 2 weeks
Handling - Once every 2-4 days. Short periods of time while feeding mealworms
Feeding - Crickets, 3-6 daily depending on how many she'll eat. The crickets eat Rep-cal maintenance formula cricket food and potato.
Supplements - I've dusted them with Zoo med reptivite once. I've heard doing so once monthly is good.
Watering - Reptifogger terrarium humidifier and twice daily misting with a spray bottle.
Fecal Description - Mushy brown log with a smaller white log, about 1/3 the size. Not tested for parasites.
History - Recently obtained from Petco. Seems to be in good health and shed two days ago.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Reptibreeze open air enclosure from the Zoo med chameleon kit.
Lighting - UVB and heat lamp from zoo med chameleon kit on a timer from 9am to 9pm
Temperature - 85f in basking spot, 75f-ish elsewhere. Gets down to about 65f at night in the coldest part of the enclosure 68 at the warmest.
Humidity - The reptifogger humidifier keeps it at about 50% humidity but my chameleon likes to hang out above the spout that feeds in the fog, sometimes drinking from it
Plants - Plastic plants only.
Placement - Warmest room in the house, some air flow, one heater vent in the room, opposite side of her enclosure.
Location - Kenai Alaska

Current Problem - My chameleon is very dark while basking sometimes. I'm not sure if it's normal.

 

[happy]

very normal, they change like that to absorb the heat quicker.... or deeper, or both... lol

 

[Miss Lily]

The blotchy dark patches are her showing her 'angry colours' - mine used to do that if I so much as looked at her when I first got her! Basking tends to show as a more uniform dark green, rather than the patterning you are seeing here. Most probably she didn't like the camera much either, lol!

 

[TheronJ]

Well she stays dark like that sometimes but now she's brightened up a bit. She still has the dark bands though.

I wish I didn't have to go to work and leave her alone but maybe I'm just worrying too much.

 

[TheronJ]

She is even darker when basking today. Not sure if something's up. How long are they supposed to bask for? Seems like she's been up there all day...

I cleaned out her habitat today and gave her some new plants.

 

[Emieloss]

I would try to up the humidity a bit until about 70%.

 

[Carlton]

She is even darker when basking today. Not sure if something's up. How long are they supposed to bask for? Seems like she's been up there all day...

I cleaned out her habitat today and gave her some new plants.

She'll bask until her internal organs have warmed up. Turning darker while basking is totally normal. You may notice she'll be darker on the side closest to the heat. If there is a steeper gradient of temp from the basking area and the rest of the room she may spend more time in one spot. What's the temp in the room? If she feels exposed to view she may feel insecure and show more stress coloration (the blotchy pattern) as opposed to an overall darker color. Maybe she needs more foliage cover.

BTW, your feeder diet could use some improvement as well as your supplement dusting schedule. As you are not in the "big city" I know you won't have as much choice (I know...I live in Gustavus), but there are some really good gutloads available from forum sponsors that may help. If not, you can offer your insects crushed Total fortified cereal, trimmings from salad greens, and pieces of fruit and veggies (don't use iceberg lettuce, spinach or broccoli). Bee pollen is a great additive if you have a natural foods store there.

Your supplement dusting schedule should be:

Dust lightly with plain calcium (no added vitamin D3) daily. If you can't get plain calcium you could grind up a cage bird calcium block or cuttlebone.
Dust with calcium (with added D3) once every two weeks.
Dust with a reptile multivitamin once every two weeks.

 

[TheronJ]

She'll bask until her internal organs have warmed up. Turning darker while basking is totally normal. You may notice she'll be darker on the side closest to the heat. If there is a steeper gradient of temp from the basking area and the rest of the room she may spend more time in one spot. What's the temp in the room? If she feels exposed to view she may feel insecure and show more stress coloration (the blotchy pattern) as opposed to an overall darker color. Maybe she needs more foliage cover.

BTW, your feeder diet could use some improvement as well as your supplement dusting schedule. As you are not in the "big city" I know you won't have as much choice (I know...I live in Gustavus), but there are some really good gutloads available from forum sponsors that may help. If not, you can offer your insects crushed Total fortified cereal, trimmings from salad greens, and pieces of fruit and veggies (don't use iceberg lettuce, spinach or broccoli). Bee pollen is a great additive if you have a natural foods store there.

Your supplement dusting schedule should be:

Dust lightly with plain calcium (no added vitamin D3) daily. If you can't get plain calcium you could grind up a cage bird calcium block or cuttlebone.
Dust with calcium (with added D3) once every two weeks.
Dust with a reptile multivitamin once every two weeks.

Thanks for the advice. I'll see what I can find next time I hit up the pet store.

To the other poster, unfortunately I can't get it any more humid.

 

[TheronJ]

This morning she's super dark again and kind of laying on the plants in her basking area.

 

[Carlton]

This morning she's super dark again and kind of laying on the plants in her basking area.

She may be leaning so one side is more exposed to the heat. Chams will flatten their bodies and change their posture so more of one side can absorb the heat. Its a normal behavior.

 

[TheronJ]

She may be leaning so one side is more exposed to the heat. Chams will flatten their bodies and change their posture so more of one side can absorb the heat. Its a normal behavior.

Makes sense. She ate a mealworm out of my hand so she can't be too upset.

 

[Carlton]

Thanks for the advice. I'll see what I can find next time I hit up the pet store.

To the other poster, unfortunately I can't get it any more humid.

Your humidity is fine.

 

[TheronJ]

Your supplement dusting schedule should be:

Dust lightly with plain calcium (no added vitamin D3) daily. If you can't get plain calcium you could grind up a cage bird calcium block or cuttlebone.
Dust with calcium (with added D3) once every two weeks.
Dust with a reptile multivitamin once every two weeks.

Going to the pet store today for this.

Would you recommend any other feeders or gutload? I've been giving the crickets potato and carrot with their normal food.

Haven't tried any other feeders but I think they have some other types of worms and roaches.

 

[TheronJ]

I grabbed these at the local pet store.

The Repashy is the only reptile calcium I could find that doesn't mention D3 on it.

Will these do?

 

[kiapolo2002]

Yeah, this is normal. I mentioned it to the breeder that I got mine from and was informed that they do this to absorb the heat better.