Help - 1st time owner

[leafr]

• Your Chameleon - veiled chameleon, male, maybe 5 months? As he is around 2-2.5” without the tail. in my care since Sept 27, 2024
• Handling - Just once, when I got him inside the cage
• Feeding - feeding small crickets from petstore (petsmart), I put 4 daily at 3:30pm, they’re gutloaded by them
• Supplements - I started yesterday with ZooMed Repti Calcium without D3,
• Watering - misting with Moistenland Reptile humidifier and a dripper all day with a drop every 5-7 seconds, but from today started with a deop every second, I haven’t seen him drink nor eat
• Fecal Description - fecal is light brown, seems to have cricket parts in it. Never been tested for parasites
• History - 1st day ate the 4 crickets, normally just find 2 to 3 missing crickets in his plate, but hasn’t eaten any in the last 3 days, I introduced a fly 3 days ago and I believe he ate it

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - ZooMed ReptiBreeze XL Deluxe screen with acrylic front door 24x24x48
• Lighting - UVB 6% (borrowed by the store) from 8am to 8pm; tomorrow will arrive an arcadia lamp Forrest UVB 6% 24”
• Temperature - temp cage floor 69 to basking spot 79. Lowest overnight temp 65, measured with a temperature gun
• Humidity - 41, at 7:58am a mister for 5 mins and again at 7:58pm
• Plants - using live plants golden pothos at the top, marble queen photos on the top back, pearl jade photos and split leaf philodendron at the bottom
• Placement - located inside a bedroom with roof fan on all time, height is 73” at the top of the cage relative to room floor
• Location - El Paso, Tx.

Current Problem - Worried he hasn’t eated, that I haven’t seen him drink and yesterday he spent all day in the top mesh under the light. Today he’s been all day on the top of the side mesh. Before that he was moving around the enclosure. Today I took out the marble queen photos and the pearl jade photos as they were dying.

Photos: 5028-5031 from Sep 27, first day at home — 5045 from Sep28 — 5033 from Sep 29 — 5034-5035 from Oct 03 — 5036-5038 from yesterday —

 

[leafr]

Today photos, he’s been there all day

 

[MissSkittles]

Hi. I’m currently at a vet appointment, but if no one helps you, I’ll try when I get home.

 

[MissSkittles]

Although right away & without reading anything, I see you are lacking uvb. You need asap a linear T5 with a 5.0 or 6% bulb (ReptSun or Arcadia are the only ones I trust). Then you need a distance of 8-9” from lights to basking branch.

 

[MissSkittles]

I’d like to see pics of the back heels of the back feet to confirm gender. Baby is at high risk for burns so basking light needs to be raised a few inches above the screen. I use wire baskets from dollar store for that.

 

[leafr]

Thank you all for your help, it’s greatly appreciated… Not sure if It’s a male

 

[leafr]

Although right away & without reading anything, I see you are lacking uvb. You need asap a linear T5 with a 5.0 or 6% bulb (ReptSun or Arcadia are the only ones I trust). Then you need a distance of 8-9” from lights to basking branch.

 

[leafr]

I’d like to see pics of the back heels of the back feet to confirm gender. Baby is at high risk for burns so basking light needs to be raised a few inches above the screen. I use wire baskets from dollar store for that.

Thank you for your help, I have 7” from the light to the baskin branch, I already ordered a

Arcadia Reptile Pro T5 UVB D3+ Forest 6%UV-B 24 inch​

And should arrive tomorrow

 

[leafr]

Thank you for your help, I have 7” from the light to the baskin branch, I already ordered a

Arcadia Reptile Pro T5 UVB D3+ Forest 6%UV-B 24 inch​

And should arrive tomorrow

Si I’ll look to raise the lamp 2”

 

[leafr]

I ordered an arcadia 6%

 

[leafr]

This is my son chamelleon but we’re toghether in this Adventure, he wants to become the “youngest breeder” one day (when he/we learn to Keep them alive )

 

[leafr]

Hi. I’m currently at a vet appointment, but if no one helps you, I’ll try when I get home.

Thx a lot, all guidance is well appreciated

 

[MissSkittles]

Am home now. Give me a bit and I’ll go thru your husbandry.

 

[leafr]

Thx

 

[MissSkittles]

I’ll be putting my feedback in bold and also for ease, breaking this into two parts.

• Your Chameleon - veiled chameleon, male, maybe 5 months? As he is around 2-2.5” without the tail. in my care since Sept 27, 2024She looks much younger and I’d guess maybe around 3 months old or so. Yes, she. I believe you have a little girl. Boy veileds have what are called tarsal spurs, which are prominent nubs on their back heels. Some girls may have tiny nubs. Boys also have vertical bands of patterns and colors, unlike immature girls who are a solid green (at rest). 1st pic is young male. 2nd is young female.
• 
  
• Handling - Just once, when I got him inside the cage Ok, very good. You will want to work on building and then maintaining trust. This is a great blog on that. https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/building-trust-with-your-chameleon.2396/
• Feeding - feeding small crickets from petstore (petsmart), I put 4 daily at 3:30pm, they’re gutloaded by them Little one needs to eat more than that to grow. She should be getting around 20+ feeders once daily in the morning, which gives her time to bask and digest her food. Crickets are ok, but you want much more variety of feeders. You do want to make sure that the feeders are small enough for her. Anything larger than the space between her eyes is too big. I would be giving maybe 1/4” sized feeders. Usually it’s best to order on line. Not only do most pet stores not stock the feeders we need and in the right sizes, but there’s always a risk for contamination. Escaped cricket wanders the store, walking in poo of various (possibly sick) animals in the trash and where ever, employee catches cricket and puts it back in the feeder bin. There are several vendors who sponsor the forum and are excellent. https://www.chameleonforums.com/sponsors/?tag=food Some even sell variety packs for specific animals, which are awesome if you only have 1-2 insectivores. Now about gutloading. I’m not sure how many of us actually truly gutload, but we all keep our feeder bugs as healthy and well fed as we can with a variety of fresh produce and some add commercial diets. It’s pretty much impossible to buy gut loaded crickets because their food passes thru them so quickly. I’m attaching some graphics to help guide you. Do avoid the orange cubes, jelly pots and things like that. They will hydrate the bugs, but lack anything of nutritional value.
• Supplements - I started yesterday with ZooMed Repti Calcium without D3, Excellent! Now you’ll want to buy Repashy Calcium Plus LoD (or ReptiVite with D3). These are multivitamin and D3 combos that you’ll use for one feeding every other week. Usually these aren’t sold by the chain pet stores and you’ll need to order on line. When using a supplement, dust lightly. You don’t want them to look like powdered donuts. I put a tiny pinch in a tall deli cup and then add my feeders. As they move around, they dust themselves.
• Watering - misting with Moistenland Reptile humidifier and a dripper all day with a drop every 5-7 seconds, but from today started with a deop every second, I haven’t seen him drink nor eat You only want to use a humidifier or fogger at night and only if your temp is below at least 68. Drippers are ok, but misting/spraying is the preferred primary hydration method. You want to mist/spray the leaves of the plants for a good 2 minutes twice a day - right before lights go on and then off. The dripper can be used in the afternoon for maybe about 15-29 minutes. You want the enclosure to have time to dry out. Don’t worry if you don’t see her drinking. Many chameleons are secretive when they drink. We look at the urate part of the poos to check hydration.
• Fecal Description - fecal is light brown, seems to have cricket parts in it. Never been tested for parasites Coming from a chain pet store and having some undigested bug parts in her poo, I strongly suggest getting a fecal parasite check. Afraid there’s no way to do that without a vet visit. I’ll have to find our vet list for you. The urate is, or should be the white or cream colored part of the poo. It’s ok if one end is yellow or even a touch orange. If it’s all dark or orange, that means your chameleon is most likely dehydrated.
• History - 1st day ate the 4 crickets, normally just find 2 to 3 missing crickets in his plate, but hasn’t eaten any in the last 3 days, I introduced a fly 3 days ago and I believe he ate it I suggest getting a feeding station. There’s several types available to buy, or you can make your own. I like the Shooting Gallery https://tkchameleons.com/products/shooting-gallery (also sold by Rainbow Mealworms), some like the Full Throttle https://www.fullthrottlefeeders.com/ and others like the Lunch Log https://sunsetchameleons.com/product-category/chameleons/chameleon-feeders/ Anything which will keep the feeders contained until your girl eats them will work.

To be continued….