Help my baby veiled chameleon

[leoandjulia]

Hello. I’m turning to this website for help because I don’t know what to do. I have a male baby veiled chameleon, and his name is Leo. I believe he’s around 3 months old. We got him January 3rd, and it’s now February 10th. At first, he was eating very well. He would eat 3-5 small crickets a day, and was quite active. His poop is brown with occasional white, and I dust his crickets with calcium powder almost every feeding. He’s in a smaller cage, which measures about 16x20x12 inches. I mist his cage 2 to 3 times a day. I handle him almost every day, and he is comfortable around people. He has only hissed twice at me, they were very soft hisses, and those were more recently, within the pst few weeks. I am not sure why he did, but I left him alone after, both times, to prevent stressing him out. He’s always been a brighter green, and rarely a tan or black color. He also shows darker stripes sometimes when so take him out of his cage. Then, a few weeks ago, I discovered he was constantly keeping his eyes closed. He kept them closed even when I brought him out of the cage. I figured, he must be getting eye damage. So, I switched his UVB bulb from a 26 watt, swirled bulb, to a 13 watt prong/straight bulb, and keep it a good 6 inches from his basking spot. After that switch, he seems to keep his eyes open much more, however he still closes his right eye more often, while leaving the left open. He has yet to shed. Now, Leo isn’t eating. He hasn’t eaten in 2 days, and before that, he hasn’t eaten in 3. He’s only eaten 2 crickets in the past 5 days. I’m very worried. He looks skinny, I can see his ribs at times, and he is not very active. Sometimes, I find him in the lower parts of his cage. Not the bottom, but beneath some leaves on lower branches. His water source is currently a waterfall system. He drank from the waterfall the day we got him, and he knows that’s where water is, however I may be changing it soon because it’s a breeding area for bacteria and I can’t be sure if he is going to the bathroom in it. So, I have tried to hold crickets up to his face, leave them in a bowl, and let them roam the cage- he won’t eat any. I’m very worried and would love to hear what I should do.

 

[jannb]

Welcome to the forums. What a cute little guy. I’m sorry he is not doing well. Please post photos of his small enclosure and fill out the form attached below. A young veiled should be eating 12 to 15 well gutloaded crickets a day. Often some lights can bother their eyes. The more details you give in your answers the better chance that someone here might can see what the problem is.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/how-to-ask-for-help.66/

 

[leoandjulia]

Welcome to the forums. What a cute little guy. I’m sorry he is not doing well. Please post photos of his small enclosure and fill out the form attached below. A young veiled should be eating 12 to 15 well gutloaded crickets a day. Often some lights can bother their eyes. The more details you give in your answers the better chance that someone here might can see what the problem is.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/how-to-ask-for-help.66/

12-15 crickets? I had no idea... That many can fit in their stomach?

 

[jannb]

12-15 crickets? I had no idea... That many can fit in their stomach?

Yes. What size crickets were you feeding. It they are to large they want eat them.

 

[leoandjulia]

Yes. What size crickets were you feeding. It they are to large they want eat them.

Small crickets

 

[leoandjulia]

Welcome to the forums. What a cute little guy. I’m sorry he is not doing well. Please post photos of his small enclosure and fill out the form attached below. A young veiled should be eating 12 to 15 well gutloaded crickets a day. Often some lights can bother their eyes. The more details you give in your answers the better chance that someone here might can see what the problem is.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/how-to-ask-for-help.66/

My Chameleon:
Male, 3 month old (approximately) veiled chameleon. I’d guess he’s around 5 or 6 inches long, including his tail. His name is Leo. I’ve had him for a little over one month.
Handling:
I handle him almost every day. He comes out to see my family, or to hang out on one of his fake plants.
Feeding:
He didn’t eat much when I first got him. After a day or two, he started eating the crickets I offered. I feed him small crickets, gut loaded with vegetables like cucumber, zucchini, and carrot, and one time apples. Before, he was only eating 3-5 crickets a day, usually 2 crickets around noon and 3 crickets around five. He rarely eats more than 5 crickets a day, even if I offer him more.
Supplements:
I dust Leo’s crickets with Zoomed Repti Calcium without D3 almost every feeding.
Watering:
Currently, Leo has a drinking waterfall system. It’s a water feature with a pump that allows continuous water flow. He drank from it the very first day we got him, and continues to today, however I’ve learned that this isn’t the best form of watering and I am looking to change it out.
Fecal Description:
His fecal matter is usually solid brown and white. He hasn’t been tested for parasites.
History:
A few weeks ago, I discovered that Leo kept closing his eyes. He left them closed even when I took him out of the cage. I turned off his old UVB bulb, and shortly after he was opening them a lot more. So, I switched his old bulb, a 26 watt spiral UVB bulb for a 13 watt 5.0 UVB prong/ straight bulb. His eyes seem much better, however he still closes his right eye a little more than usual, while leaving the other open. I bought Leo from Underground Reptiles. Other than that, Leo is always a bright green color, with occasional dark stripes. He’s never really tan or brown or black, and still appears to be fairly happy.
Cage Type:
He lives in a screen cage build by Zalla, I’m pretty sure (ordered from amazon) and the dimensions are about 16x20x12 inches (LxWxH).
Lighting:
His UVB bulb is a Zoomed 5.0 UVB, tropical mini compact fluorescent bulb, 13 watt. His heat bulb is an Exo Terra bulb, and I believe it’s 13 watts. They’re kept roughly 5-6 inches from his basking spot, the top of his ladder, in a dual lamp by Zoomed. I leave both of his lights on from 7:30 in the morning to 7:30 in the afternoon.
Temperature:
Unfortunately, I don’t have a thermometer in his cage to tell the exact temps of the cage. I have been meaning to get one, and plan to get one today to see if that could be a possible issue. My home stays at around 69-70° during the day, and only drop to like 67° at night. Right now, I’d say his basking spot is probably near 83-88°. I’m not sure about the bottom of his cage.
Humidity:
Again, I don’t have a humidity reader, although I’m planning to get one of those as well. Right now, I spray his cage about 3 times a day. Once in the morning, once in the afternoon, and once at night. He also gets to occasionally spend time in the steamy bathroom on his fake plant while I shower.
Plants:
All of Leo’s plants are fake, I don’t have any live plants for him yet. They’re terrarium made fake plants.
Placement:
His cage is on a dresser, in my room, putting him about 5 feet above the ground when he’s in the higher parts of his cage. It’s not in a high traffic area. It is close to an air vent on my ceiling, but that’s several feet in height and distance away from him.
Location:
I’m located in Oregon, south of Portland. It’s winter, and it can get very cold, but I keep the house warm.
Current Problem:
Leo isn’t eating. He hasn’t eaten in 2 days, and before that he hadn’t eaten in 3. He’s only eaten two crickets in the past 5 days. I’ve very worried about him, he looks skinny, I can see his ribs, and he’s not very active. I would love to hear some suggestions as to what I can do to help him, I really don’t want to lose him.

 

[Jesspete]

The waterfall needs to come out, now. He could already be I'll. You have some other tweaking to do, especially with lighting and gutloading, but the waterfall needs to go. @Brodybreaux25 brodhas some excellent t graphics he can post about lights and gut loads. Brody, will you post?

 

[leoandjulia]

alright, will do. thank you

 

[Bigsky]

His eyes look like he might be a little dehydrated. Can you put a plastic cup with pin holes filled with water on top of the cage? The dripping water should fall onto the plants. Catch the water in a tray under the cage. My relative humidity here in Montana is low, yours probably is also. Good job with the cage furnishing.

 

[leoandjulia]

His eyes look like he might be a little dehydrated. Can you put a plastic cup with pin holes filled with water on top of the cage? The dripping water should fall onto the plants. Catch the water in a tray under the cage. My relative humidity here in Montana is low, yours probably is also. Good job with the cage furnishing.

Yes, I will do that. The waterfall is removed. Thank you for the tip!

 

[leoandjulia]

The waterfall needs to come out, now. He could already be I'll. You have some other tweaking to do, especially with lighting and gutloading, but the waterfall needs to go. @Brodybreaux25 brodhas some excellent t graphics he can post about lights and gut loads. Brody, will you post?

what else about the lighting and gutloading?

 

[Beman]

Hi there. Lighting needs to be upgraded asap. You need a T5 or T8 fixture with a 5.0 Uvb linear bulb. The fixture should run the length of your cage. You need a thermometer as soon as possible as well babies should not have a basking over 85 so without a way to check it could be much too hot for him.
Misting the enclosure for a minimum of 2 minutes. You can get an automated misting system like a Mistking which is wonderful!
I would add a live plants such as a pothos. They help with your humidity levels. You should get a hydrometer as well to measure your levels. Add more horizontal vines. Exo terra makes a wonderful bendable vine that you can attach to the sides of your cage with zip ties.
Here is a link to your care sheet. https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/veiled/
Read through it and ask questions. This will tell you more info and allow you to correct things.

 

[leoandjulia]

Hi there. Lighting needs to be upgraded asap. You need a T5 or T8 fixture with a 5.0 Uvb linear bulb. The fixture should run the length of your cage. You need a thermometer as soon as possible as well babies should not have a basking over 85 so without a way to check it could be much too hot for him.
Misting the enclosure for a minimum of 2 minutes. You can get an automated misting system like a Mistking which is wonderful!
I would add a live plants such as a pothos. They help with your humidity levels. You should get a hydrometer as well to measure your levels. Add more horizontal vines. Exo terra makes a wonderful bendable vine that you can attach to the sides of your cage with zip ties.
Here is a link to your care sheet. https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/veiled/
Read through it and ask questions. This will tell you more info and allow you to correct things.

Okay! thank you so much.

 

[Beman]

Okay! thank you so much.

This resource link will give lots of additional info as well https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/
But the lighting is the main priority. The compact bulbs are really bad and do not provide the right UVB levels at all.
If you decide to hand mist get a pressurized bottle trust me on this lol.

 

[Brodybreaux25]

The waterfall needs to come out, now. He could already be I'll. You have some other tweaking to do, especially with lighting and gutloading, but the waterfall needs to go. @Brodybreaux25 brodhas some excellent t graphics he can post about lights and gut loads. Brody, will you post?