First time veiled mom!! Does this look ok?

[Mariekey29]

JD (short for Johnny Driskel) is here!! I couldn't be more excited! I ordered him from FLChams yesterday and he was a vibrant green when he arrived this morning. I was a little peeved at my UPS driver because he just threw him on my porch and didn't knock so he was pretty cold when I opened the box. I let him just roam around on me for a bit to warm up slowly instead of sticking him straight in his cage. Though he did concern me when I did put him him. He turned so dark he was almost black but as soon as I stuck my hand in close to him he hopped right on and lightened up. He's actually spent the majority of his time here so far perched on my shoulder. He is getting used to his habitat now though. He's picked his favorite spot already and I've caught him basking a couple times. At least he's green in there now instead of black. I think I may need some more vines but my main concern right now is the humidity. I've filled out the form and attached some pics. Any help or advice is greatly apprieciated.

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. Veiled, Male, 2 1/2 months
• How long has it been in your care? About 8 hrs lol
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? Quite often. He seems to rather be on me than in his habitat.
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? Gutloaded, Dusted Crickets today. Going to try a Dubia tomorrow.
• What amount? Three 1/4" today.
• What is the schedule? Planning on 10am feedings. Mixing it up with crickets, dubias, micro superworms and phoenix worms.
• How are you gut-loading your feeders? Gutloaded last night with Rainforest Junky's Cricket Gutload and organic kale, collards, & carrots. I'll be making my own wet gutload for the crickets and dubias starting tomorrow.
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? Repti Calcium with and without D3 and Herptivite Multivitamin. I'm doing Cal w/o D3 Monday - Saturday and alternating multivitamin and Cal w/D3 every other Sunday.
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? Monsoon RS400 misting system
• How often and how long to you mist? System is set to mist every 2 hours for 2 minutes
• Do you see your chameleon drinking? Not yet
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Not sure yet.
• Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? Not yet
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) Screen ReptiBreeze
• What are the dimensions? 2x2x4
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? ReptiSun 5.0 UVB, 100W ZooMed Basking Bulb, 75W ExoTerra Night Heat Bulb
• What is your daily lighting schedule? 9am - 9pm
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Around 85 basking & around 70 mid to lower part of the cage.
• Lowest overnight temp? Around 65 ambient and 70 basking.
• How do you measure these temps? 2 ZooMed probe thermometers which I'm not very fond of. Ordering a laser gun thermometer tomorrow.
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? 40% - 45%
• How are you creating and maintaining these levels? Misting system and some hand misting
• What do you use to measure humidity? Dial Hydrometer
• Plants - Are you using live plants? Yes.
• If so, what kind? Added to Pothos plants today along with plastic foiliage.
• Placement - Where is your cage located? In my room.
• Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? No.
• At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? 49 inches
• Location - Where are you geographically located? North Carolina

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about. I've been running the lighting and misting system for about a week before he got here today to make sure everything was working properly. My concern is the humidity levels. I just feel like 40% is on the low side. I had them up to 50% a couple days ago but I was misting every hour for 60 sec to get it there and keep it there. After reading that his cage needs to dry out between mistings, I switched it to every 2 hours and 120 sec.

 

[brownie64]

Welcome to the forums, He is real nice looking cham congrats. You can ditch the heat light at night they don't need it just keeps them awake, and they need a cool down at night. So unless your temps drop below 55-60 degrease at night you are good to go. You might want to back off and give him some time to settle in also. Your buddy might look like he likes being held, but the truth is they are not real social, so your probably stressing him more than you think. Good luck

 

[CaseyP]

Following. I'm a new chameleon owner and looking for any helpful advise. I have a little female maybe 3 months old not real sure how to tell her age

 

[brownie64]

Following. I'm a new chameleon owner and looking for any helpful advise. I have a little female maybe 3 months old not real sure how to tell her age

She looks about three months to me. Here is a link to help you.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/veiled/

 

[carol5208]

Following. I'm a new chameleon owner and looking for any helpful advise. I have a little female maybe 3 months old not real sure how to tell her age

Does your chameleon keep its eyes closed during the day? If so, that is not a good sign.

 

[Mariekey29]

Following. I'm a new chameleon owner and looking for any helpful advise. I have a little female maybe 3 months old not real sure how to tell her age

She's beautiful! Congrats! I'm not sure how to tell their age honestly. I just asked the breeder for a hatch date.

 

[carol5208]

Congrats on your new chameleon! Do not always associate bright colors with being happy! Bright colors can also indicate your chameleon is scared or upset. Also, he should be eating more than 3 feeders a day. I don't know if that is all you offered him or all he was willing to eat. They are little eating machines as babies and can easily eat 20 mor more apropriately sized feeders a day.

 

[CaseyP]

Does your chameleon keep its eyes closed during the day? If so, that is not a good sign.

No, she is alert during the day that was taken about 11 last night I removed her from the plant I had her on to put her back in her cage, she was dead asleep

 

[Mariekey29]

Congrats on your new chameleon! Do not always associate bright colors with being happy! Bright colors can also indicate your chameleon is scared or upset. Also, he should be eating more than 3 feeders a day. I don't know if that is all you offered him or all he was willing to eat. They are little eating machines as babies and can easily eat 20 mor more apropriately sized feeders a day.

That's what I was thinking but 3 is all I could get him to eat earlier today. He did end up eating 5 Phoenix worms a couple hours ago. I wasn't really sure if I should feed him that late in the day but he was trying to eat his plastic plants so I got him out and he ate until he was full and has been basking since. Going to try to get him on a feeding schedule starting tomorrow.

 

[Decadancin]

You can ditch the heat light at night they don't need it just keeps them awake, and they need a cool down at night. So unless your temps drop below 55-60 degrease at night you are good to go.

You can actually even have lower temps then that overnight! No Heat needed during sleep time. Looks like you've done some good research prior to getting your new chameleon! Great work so far! I would also suggest letting him settle in a bit with some alone time, but every animal is different.

 

[zlew]

Be careful! Veileds are known to eat plant leaves and fruits and veggies. You have a beautiful cage, but you may have to swap out those fake plants for non-toxic live ones, because it can be very dangerous for him to start munching on the plastic.

 

[Mariekey29]

Be careful! Veileds are known to eat plant leaves and fruits and veggies. You have a beautiful cage, but you may have to swap out those fake plants for non-toxic live ones, because it can be very dangerous for him to start munching on the plastic.

I was hoping to only use live plants but the only safe ones I could find in my area were pothos. I have one large (but short) one in the back and one in the front. Kinda waiting on them to take over the cage so I can remove the fake stuff. I did however make sure it would take a lot of force to get the fake leaves off before I purchases the ones I did, so I don't think he can actually eat them at his size right now but he suite was trying lol.

 

[Mariekey29]

You can actually even have lower temps then that overnight! No Heat needed during sleep time. Looks like you've done some good research prior to getting your new chameleon! Great work so far! I would also suggest letting him settle in a bit with some alone time, but every animal is different.

Thank you! I actually live in a basement apartment and it does get pretty chilly at night. With the moonlight bulb the temp is 67 ambient and 74 basking. I turn the misting system off at night now so that helped raise it somewhat. I'm almost afraid it will get too cold if I stop using the moonlight bulb all together.

 

[Mariekey29]

You can actually even have lower temps then that overnight! No Heat needed during sleep time. Looks like you've done some good research prior to getting your new chameleon! Great work so far! I would also suggest letting him settle in a bit with some alone time, but every animal is different.

I'll try no heat tonight and see how cold it does get. What would be too low of a temp for him?

 

[Sarabeth71]

I'll try no heat tonight and see how cold it does get. What would be too low of a temp for him?

Around 6o °F is considered a good night time temp.

 

[MissMaisie]

It probably went all black under the heat lamp to soak up the heat as it was cold seems like a really friendly cham you got! I wouldn't mist when the lights are off for sleepy time, the cage needs to dry out between mists or you can get mold.

 

[Decadancin]

What would be too low of a temp for him?

Many keep their chameleons in outdoor enclosures. Temps can be in the low 50's and a healthy veiled should be fine. My enclosure never gets near that in my house.

 

[Mariekey29]

How late is too late to feed him? I know it's best to feed during the first half of the day so he can digest better but he doesn't seem to want to eat much until later in the evening. Two 1/4" is all I could get in him this morning. He ate those then turned around and walked away like he was done. I am cup feeding and waited 30 more mins to make sure he wasn't going to eat anymore before I put him back in his cage.

 

[zlew]

I would leave an hour and a half or so, so that he can bask and start the digestive processes before going to sleep. Also, many chams refuse to eat outside of the cage, so it's impressive that you can get him to eat at all. You can actually cup feed him in his cage, just stick the cup in there, and he might feel secure enough to eat more. I would also try letting the crickets free in his cage, some chameleons like the hunt and a cup feeder can be boring.
Usually, they are stressed out the first couple of days in their new cage, and don't even eat at all. But after a week or so, if he doesn't start eating more, then it becomes time to worry about fixing whatever might be causing the problem. You are a very good cham mom!!! He's lucky to have you!

 

[Mariekey29]

I would leave an hour and a half or so, so that he can bask and start the digestive processes before going to sleep. Also, many chams refuse to eat outside of the cage, so it's impressive that you can get him to eat at all. You can actually cup feed him in his cage, just stick the cup in there, and he might feel secure enough to eat more. I would also try letting the crickets free in his cage, some chameleons like the hunt and a cup feeder can be boring.
Usually, they are stressed out the first couple of days in their new cage, and don't even eat at all. But after a week or so, if he doesn't start eating more, then it becomes time to worry about fixing whatever might be causing the problem. You are a very good cham mom!!! He's lucky to have you!

Thank you. I tried cup feeding inside his cage first and he wasn't having it. He would just run up my arm and perch on my shoulder from the cup. As soon as I sit down with him he goes right back to it and he'll eat a little. He did this yesterday morning and this morning. Last night I offered him some phoenix worms inside his cage and he would touch them but as soon as he came out he gobbled up 5 of the 8 I offered him then ran up my arm to perch on my shoulder like before. I'm assuming that's his cue to me that he finished for now lol. I'm afraid to just throw them in his cage because he's so small and the cage is so big with so much foliage that he won't find them and I like to know how much he's eating. I even tried a large plastic bin this morning with a piece of Eco Carpet in the bottom so he could get some grip and just dumped the insects in there and he wasn't having that either. From what I can tell so far is that he likes the cup outside his cage. I even have a hard time getting him to let go of my fingers when I'm trying to put him back in the cage. I know they're not normally social animals but he doesn't seem to be normal lol.