Girlfriend got me a veiled cham for xmas

[Mikew2006]

Hi, just joined up, names mike.

My girlfriend gave me the biggest surprise ever when we visited her parents and Nemo (the name I gave her) was waiting in her tank for me, She is 1 month old.

Got all the gear...uvb light, basking light 150w which is 6in from the nearest branch and the calcium dust, cricket feed and vitamins.

Been told to feed her once a day 5-10 crickets (about 6mm length) and mist the tank 3-4 times a day.

so i should calcium dust every feed and vitamin dust the crickets every 4 days? sound right?

any advice would be much appriciated.

 

[Stuey!]

AWSOME man. welcome to the forums! very nice veiled. have fun with him...or her

 

[Tiesto]

hey mike, congrats on your new veiled..!!.. ......looks like we have the exact same enclosure and foam/faux background. do take as many pics as you can for us visual peeps......

 

[scooter4n]

Congrats man.
150W seems little to much for the baby cham.You want to have him at about mid 80's at this age in basking spot. Get like 50-70W light
Get thermometer and measure temp, you don't want to burn your present first day
Enjoy

 

[ChameleonsTree]

Yea 150 is too much...for some reason babies dont know to go to a lower branch and they get burned

 

[Dave Weldon]

Howdy,

A quickie test is to stick you hand at the closest point that he can get to and if it feels warm after 1 minute then it will probably end-up being too hot for him. As was mentioned in a previous post, it is easy to cook a baby chameleon in as little as a few minutes. I usually use a 50 watt flood placed at a point where the temp is around 85F max at their basking spot.

 

[Mikew2006]

how soon can they be handled? she backs up away when I approach her with hand/finger, I tried both but I dont want to cause her too much stress and not able to handle her.

is 1 month too young to be handled?

More pics

 

[Stuey!]

very cool. i wish MY girlfriend would do stuff for me like that

you can handle them at a young age, it would be better cause then they learn not to be to afraid of you a an early age.

 

[Mikew2006]

In regards to maintenance, how often should the tank be cleaned? its got nambia terra soil in the bottom.
and should i remove the poo at first oppertunity or can it be done every few days?

 

[Stuey!]

i remove it every few days, to handle her just put your hand near your cham and let it crawl onto your hand

 

[Jordan]

I could not get 100% confirmation from the picture but are you sure that is a female. The one picture shows to many side stripes that I would not normally associate with a female, even that young. At the back of the rear feet there should be a bump if it is a male. Not sure, post a picture of this area.

 

[Mikew2006]

Pics as requested.
I cant see any "bumps/lumps" on the back feet so im 90% sure its a female, pet shop said its a female which would be better for me, being less grumpy etc.
See what you think

 

[Vampire.queen]

That´s awesome that u got a chameleon Wish you happy time with your cham.
But one thing- I don´t think that you should mist so many times- twice a day is enough. Veiled chams don´t need such humidity.

 

[Mikew2006]

quick question,

Does anyone know how good thier eyesight is?
Obviously its good but how far can they see? because its on a cabinet in my front room near the window for natural light but i sit next to the tank and having people around regularly i thought she might be getting too stressed? shes not going crazy with colour changes. I will be moving the tank to a less active part of the room soon, il be making a cabinet to put the tank on so i can store the vits, crickets etc and out of reach of my cat.
speaking of which, he hasnt shown any interest yet, but im sure he will when nemo gets bigger.

misting advice taken on-board VQueen, cheers

 

[Will Hayward]

I cant see any "bumps/lumps" on the back feet so im 90% sure its a female, pet shop said its a female which would be better for me, being less grumpy etc.

For veiled, it seems to be more on the individual, not the sex, as to which are more defensive/grumpy. I don't see females being any less 'grumpy' than males.

The very serious problem with females is, that they can produce eggs without need of a mate. They will be infertile, but nonetheless the egg making process is very hard on the chameleon, and shortens their lifespan substantially. Not to mention the complications possible throughout the egg brooding/laying period that could easily put a chameleons life at risk. I suggest that you look into correct feeding of female veileds. By limiting diet, and changing what they eat, you can dissuade their body to not flip the trigger that makes them produce the eggs.

Just alerting you, I don't want to make it sound grim, but females have more responsibility involved than males. However, I do think of a female veiled of mine as the "Best in Personality" of my collection. She is quite the card.

 

[kinyonga]

You said..."its got nambia terra soil in the bottom"...I don't know what that is, but I do not use any substrate in my (arboreal) chameleon cages. Its too easy for a chameleon to become impacted with most substrates...and I'd rather not risk that.

You said..."its on a cabinet in my front room near the window for natural light"...you will be providing light by having the cage near the window, but you are not providing UVB from the light when it passes through the glass.

Regarding the cat...I have heard of cats jumping onto the screen lids and falling through and then going after the chameleon, so be careful.

Regarding watching the chameleon...it would be better if you can watch her from a distance just to be sure you aren't stressing her out. It would also be better for her to be in an area where the traffic isn't constant. Some of them get used to the traffic and others don't.

Female veileds can lay eggs without having been mated. Its important that they have a place to lay them when they become sexually mature so that they will not become eggbound and die.

By controlling the diet of the females once they are old enough to lay eggs, I have found that they will not produce eggs at all or produce very few. You need to learn how to do this properly though before you attempt it.