Hello! New chameleon owner here, feedback greatly welcomed.

[cheesechameleon]

I just got my chameleon three days ago, his name is Goose and he climbed and eats like a champ. He is doing very well, I have lots of plants and am letting him adjust. His previous owner claims that he doesn't like to be held very often so I sit by his terrarium and observe him while I do my work. He sits on his perch by the window for many hours and enjoys climbing on the pothos plants outside of his cage. He has an Exo - Terra glass terrarium that has screen doors that I keep open for him to climb to the pothos from. I have been feeding him small pieces of carrots, calcium dusted dubia roaches, and hibiscus flowers. I have seen many photos of chameleons and many of them looks look mostly green, my chameleon is grey, green, and yellow. Is this normal? ?

 

[CrisBruns]

Welcome to the forum! It’s a good idea to get your husbandry looked over which is what the form below is for. See attached for feeder and gutload info. Chameleons are insectivores but you can and should gutload with fruits and veggies. Off the bat it looks like you’ll need a t5ho linear uvb fixture and more plants and branches. Photos from top all the way down would be good. Coloring looks normal for a veiled.

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
• 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?) What are the dimensions?
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
• Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
• Location - Where are you geographically located?

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.

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Please Note:

1. The more details you provide the better and more accurate help you will receive.
2. Photos can be very helpful.

Last edit

 

[CrisBruns]

Also be sure to check out gingero’s YouTube videos at Neptune the chameleon and www.chameleonacademy.com. Care sheet also attached.

 

[cheesechameleon]

Thank you so much! I will definitely check out ww.chamelonacademy.com to see what more I can do for Goose. I have checked out one of Gingero's videos on fecal checks. I am planning to send my chameleon's fecal record/dung to the vet on Saturday.

• Your Chameleon - I have had my Veiled chameleon for four days, he is 6-7 months old.
• Handling - The previous owner of Goose claims that he does not like to be held often, so I have just been sitting by his terrarium and observing him. I plan to begin interacting with him after/when he feels comfortable to his new habitat and me.
• Feeding - I have been feeding my chameleon a variety of wax worms, dubia roaches, horn worms, collared greens, hibiscus flowers, and carrots. I feed him two times a day with usually 4 - 7 insects mixed with finely sliced carrots, hibiscus flowers and collared greens per meal. I have not started gut loading yet, but I will definitely start doing that soon. ( Photo of feeding schedule is attached)
• Supplements - Every other meal, I dust with non D3 calcium power because my chameleon has UBV lighting. From research, I have learned to feed the chameleon a multivitamin once a month, I plan to mash the vitamin with his food at the end of the month.
• Watering - I use a mister machine and mist my chameleon's cage every two hours, I mist for five minutes and enjoy watching my chameleon shooting his tongue at the sliding water droplets.
• Fecal Description - My chameleon's dung used to be brown/black with some white, now his dung is all black/brown occasionally with white colors. Goose has never been tested for parasites, I am sending in his fecal records on Saturday though.
• History - Goose was raised by a previous owner at Lllreptiles. I adopted him three days ago.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Goose's terrarium is a, Exo-Terra glass and screen combo. The dimensions include: width: 18 inches, height: 36 inches, length: 36 inches
• Lighting - During the day, I use a 100 watt basking bulb, the sunlight from the window, and a reptile daytime bulb. At night, I use a nocturnal heat and lighting reptile bulb ( it is red ).
• Temperature - Goose's terrarium temperature is usually ranging from 90 degrees- 70 degrees at the top of his terrarium to 70 degrees - 60 degrees at the bottom of the terrarium. The lowest overnight temperature is usually 70 - 65 temperature. I have a zoo med temperature and humidity gauge to measure temperature and humidity.
• Humidity - During the day, the terrarium is at 60 - 70 percent humidity and 40 - 50 percent humidity at night. Pryor to the days I have owned Goose and after many hours of binge reading, I am not sure how to maintain humidity. If anyone knows how, please reply. To measure humidity, I use a temperature and humidity gauge.
• Plants - I use ficus and pothos both in and out of the terrarium.
• Placement -Goose's terrarium is located right infront of a window that can open. He can see the driveway and has access to sun rays. (Photos are attached) Goose's terrarium is 15 inches above the ground and has plants that he climbs on that are 44 - 65 inches above the ground.
• Location - Goose is located in San Diego ten minutes away from the beach.

* In the sleeping v.s awake photos, does Goose look dehydrated, or is that normal when he is sleeping?

 

[CrisBruns]

@Beman

 

[Beman]

@Beman

Just woke up and in need of coffee then I will dive into the help form if no one else does.

 

[Beman]

Hi There. Welcome to the forum. Please see my feedback in red bold.

• Your Chameleon - I have had my Veiled chameleon for four days, he is 6-7 months old.
• Handling - The previous owner of Goose claims that he does not like to be held often, so I have just been sitting by his terrarium and observing him. I plan to begin interacting with him after/when he feels comfortable to his new habitat and me.
• Feeding - I have been feeding my chameleon a variety of wax worms, dubia roaches, horn worms, collared greens, hibiscus flowers, and carrots. I feed him two times a day with usually 4 - 7 insects mixed with finely sliced carrots, hibiscus flowers and collared greens per meal. I have not started gut loading yet, but I will definitely start doing that soon. ( Photo of feeding schedule is attached) So you should be just giving him insects no fruit and veg. The hibiscus are fine if they are fresh and live not dried but really not a staple part of their diet. You want to gutload your insects with a variety of leafy greens and fruit. You have been given the gutload image for that. See the feeder image for the variety on staple feeders. As far as amounts per day that is fine for his age. If he is in fact 6-7 months old then you can do more like 8 a day well gutloaded feeders all fed in the morning so he has the day to digest. This will curb down as he matures (12 months old) to 3-4 every other day or every 3 days if he starts gaining too much weight.
• Supplements - Every other meal, I dust with non D3 calcium power because my chameleon has UBV lighting. From research, I have learned to feed the chameleon a multivitamin once a month, I plan to mash the vitamin with his food at the end of the month. What multivitamin are you using? Supplements should be lightly dusted on all feeders given that day. You want Calcium without D3 at every feeding except two times a month you need to give a calcium with D3 and two times a month you need to give a multivitamin. These two get rotated week to week say on Saturdays.
• Watering - I use a mister machine and mist my chameleon's cage every two hours, I mist for five minutes and enjoy watching my chameleon shooting his tongue at the sliding water droplets. 5 minutes is quite a long time to be misting in a glass cage without the proper drainage. Also with the cage being in front of windows I would imagine this is giving you high periods of humidity. 2-3 minutes is good especially since you have a little dripper.
• Fecal Description - My chameleon's dung used to be brown/black with some white, now his dung is all black/brown occasionally with white colors. Goose has never been tested for parasites, I am sending in his fecal records on Saturday though. I highly recommend getting the fecal done so this is great that you already are planning it.
• History - Goose was raised by a previous owner at Lllreptiles. I adopted him three days ago.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Goose's terrarium is a, Exo-Terra glass and screen combo. The dimensions include: width: 18 inches, height: 36 inches, length: 36 inches This must be set up appropriately for him. With glass your looking at set up with a bio active layer. He needs lots of plants and branches. https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/intro-to-bio-activity.2429/
• Lighting - During the day, I use a 100 watt basking bulb, the sunlight from the window, and a reptile daytime bulb. At night, I use a nocturnal heat and lighting reptile bulb ( it is red ). Absolutely NO light at night. it disrupts their sleep. The red bulbs are really bad for them as well. Take that back to the store. We do not heat the room or area at night with light. If it is below 50 degrees you can heat with another method but most houses do not get that cold. How far away is the closest place he can get to the 100 watt bulb? Thermal burns are a risk with high wattage bulbs if they do not have enough distance between. For UVB you need a T5HO linear fixture that runs the width of your enclosure and a 5.0 or 6% uvb bulb. This should be set on the top and you want to have a distance of 9 inches to the closest branch. This is extremely important. Compact bulbs are useless and UVB rays are blocked by glass and reduced with screen material. Without the proper UVB light he will develop MBD.
• Temperature - Goose's terrarium temperature is usually ranging from 90 degrees- 70 degrees at the top of his terrarium to 70 degrees - 60 degrees at the bottom of the terrarium. The lowest overnight temperature is usually 70 - 65 temperature. I have a zoo med temperature and humidity gauge to measure temperature and humidity. 90 is quite warm for him. At his age he needs more like 85. 90 is the very max for an adult Male Veiled. If you are using analog gauges these are not accurate and you want to get digital ones with probes.
• Humidity - During the day, the terrarium is at 60 - 70 percent humidity and 40 - 50 percent humidity at night. Pryor to the days I have owned Goose and after many hours of binge reading, I am not sure how to maintain humidity. If anyone knows how, please reply. To measure humidity, I use a temperature and humidity gauge. So humidity is quite high for daytime. they need a 30-50% max daytime level. Being placed in front of the window and the long mistings are raising the humidity levels in the glass cage too high. At night you can have humidity levels up to 100% we use foggers or cool mist humidifiers for this. And only run them at night when the cage is its coolest. They should never be run during the day.
• Plants - I use ficus and pothos both in and out of the terrarium.
• Placement -Goose's terrarium is located right infront of a window that can open. He can see the driveway and has access to sun rays. (Photos are attached) Goose's terrarium is 15 inches above the ground and has plants that he climbs on that are 44 - 65 inches above the ground. Be extremely careful with this placement.... I would move the enclosure away from the window because you can not control temps and humidity levels with the heat that comes in from the sun. Also he is in a glass cage. This can turn into a hot box on him very easily with direct sun.
• Location - Goose is located in San Diego ten minutes away from the beach.

* In the sleeping v.s awake photos, does Goose look dehydrated, or is that normal when he is sleeping? Normal when sleeping.

I highly recommend these two links for information. Everything on both is accurate.

This is a fantastic source that will walk you through every part of their husbandry https://chameleonacademy.com/

This is a podcast with tons of interviews on multiple show topics. https://www.chameleonbreeder.com/

 

[CrisBruns]

Just woke up and in need of coffee then I will dive into the help form if no one else does.

Thank you!

 

[cheesechameleon]

Thank you so much @Beman, I didn't notice how much I was doing wrong! Goose is not usually inside of his terrarium during the day very often, this is probably because of the high temperatures. These are my new adjustments:
1. No light at night
2. Move terrarium away from the window, look into screen terrariums. Replace analog humidity and temperature gauge.
3. lower misting times and add UBV and T5HO fixture to terrarium.
4. More plants and climbing structures.
5. Buy fogger, always run at night.
6. Calcium without D3 at every feeding except two times a month. Goose needs calcium with D3 and two times a month he needs a multivitamin. These two get rotated week to week on Saturdays.
7. Gutload insects, no veggies at meals ( exception of hibiscus ), 8 a day well gutloaded feeders all fed in the morning so he has the day to digest.

I am using Exo Terra multi vitamin reptile and amphibian supplement

 

[Beman]

Thank you so much @Beman, I didn't notice how much I was doing wrong! Goose is not usually inside of his terrarium during the day very often, this is probably because of the high temperatures. These are my new adjustments:
1. No light at night
2. Move terrarium away from the window, look into screen terrariums. Replace analog humidity and temperature gauge.
3. lower misting times and add UBV and T5HO fixture to terrarium.
4. More plants and climbing structures.
5. Buy fogger, always run at night.
6. Calcium without D3 at every feeding except two times a month. Goose needs calcium with D3 and two times a month he needs a multivitamin. These two get rotated week to week on Saturdays.
7. Gutload insects, no veggies at meals ( exception of hibiscus ), 8 a day well gutloaded feeders all fed in the morning so he has the day to digest.

I am using Exo Terra multi vitamin reptile and amphibian supplement

Your welcome! Those links I gave you will be very helpful as well.

Ok so with the Exo terra multi vitamin. It has D3 in it as well. So you can use this one 2 times a month and do not use a calcium with D3 2 times a month. Then you just need the calcium Without D3 for the other feedings.

Enclosure set up you want to think in the canopy. You could leave his pothos in front of the window to free range on. But an enclosure in front of a window is much harder to regulate temps and humidity.

Here are some things I like.
Cages: www.dragonstrand.com
fogger: It is a top fill which is ten times easier. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07V39ZYJB/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_vplXDb9GMSZDZ
plants: see the Veiled tested ones https://chameleonacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Chameleon-Plants-122819.pdf
I like these fixtures... They come with a daylight bulb. You could buy two and then get a 6% UVB bulb for one of them. You want this fixture to be the width of the cage.
https://www.pangeareptile.com/store/t5-uvb-light-fixture.html
https://www.pangeareptile.com/store/arcadia-6-uvb-t8-reptile-bulb.html

Branches you can get from your yard or environment. Just not from sap producing trees. No pine, eucalyptus etc.

These are the cages for my boys... So lots of plants in the cage with branches.

 

[Gingero]

Dropping in a link to my YouTube channel and some helpful videos https://www.youtube.com/c/NeptunetheChameleon?sub_confirmation=1

 

[cheesechameleon]

Thank you so much! I was looking for videos like these but couldn't find them! I am starting gutloading my dubia roaches so this is great!

Thank you everyone that helped me adjust Goose's original terrarium! I really appreciate all of the podcasts and videos, they were really helpful. I will send photos of Goose's final terrarium after I buy some more necessary items.

 

[Gingero]

I have over 40 chameleon videos on my channel. Feel free to check them out