Help! New to chameleon care!

bethl

New Member
Chameleon Info:
• Your Chameleon – Sahel Chameleon, male, 2 months old. It has been in our care for 6 days.
• Handling – Not at all yet. I tried once and I could not get him out of the cage.
• Feeding – ¼” crickets, I am offering 10 a day, but he is only eating 1 or 2 each day. I feed him in the morning within a half-hour after his lights turn on. Gut-loading with cricket chow, potato and oranges. I tried a mealworm, but he was not interested.
• Supplements – ZooMed ReptiCalcium (with D3 & Without D3) Exo Terra Multi Vitamin. Calcium w/o D3…6 days a week (Sun. thru Fri). I am planning on alternating Calcium w D3 and the multivitamin on Saturdays, so will get these 1x every 2 weeks.
• Watering – Misting by hand for 3-5 minutes. I am misting 3 times each day. I have not seen him drink at all. I am also using a drip cup, which sits on top of cage and drips down onto leaves below.
• Fecal Description – Dropping are formed and brown. I am not sure if he has been tested for parasites, but not while in my care.
• History – His history is unknown to me. I asked his seller what he was eating, and they were feeding him ¼" crickets and fruit flies.

Cage Info:
• Cage Type - Modified Reptibreeze xl- My husband built a box which is placed inside the cage to make the cage smaller for now. interior measurements are currently 24x24x22
• Lighting - Heat Lamp: 60 watt incandescent light bulb
UV Lamp: ReptiSun 10.0 UVB Mini Compact Fluorescent Lamp - 13W
(they were out of the 5.0 UVB)
lighting schedule: 7:30a-7:30p
• Temperature – basking temp: 86°F ambient temp 72 °F Lowest overnight temp: around 70. temps measured by 2 separate thermometers fixed at top and bottom of cage.
• Humidity – between 65%-85% created and maintained through hand misting. Measured with hygrometer placed at bottom of the cage
• Plants - Live Plants: Anita Dracaena (in the middle) and Spike Dracaena (2 on the sides). I also have a fake vine type plant, which he really likes.
• Placement – Cage is located in our bonus room between the garage and the main living area of the house. It is a moderate to low traffic area. No vents or fans in the room. height of top of cage to floor: 5ft 8in
• Location - Pennsylvania

Current Problem – Our chameleon is not eating well at all. He is only eating one or two crickets a day and he will only eat them if I kill it first and place it on a leaf near him. He will not hunt for the crickets, or eat them out of a cup. I have tried releasing crickets in the cage and keeping some in a cup near where he likes to hang out. I am concerned because he is not eating much or hunting for his own food. Saturday night he slept near the bottom of the cage on the screen, besides that, he has not spent any time at the bottom of the cage or even in the lower part of the cage. During the day he is always on the top of the plants and occasionally hanging upside down on the screen under one of the lamps. I have thought of buying silkworm eggs and feeding him those after they hatch, (I had already planned on breeding them, but wasn’t sure when to begin introducing silk worms). Please advise me whether I am doing something incorrect or what I could do to help him eat more or if I should just keep killing the crickets and placing them in front of him to eat. Thank you in advance for all of you help and advice.

Pictures of set up are here: https://www.chameleonforums.com/help-determining-age-care-133796/
 
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the crickets may be too big for him, he may be bored of them also. It is normal for chameleons not to eat for a few days while they get settled in their new home.
 
Welcome to th forums. I'm sorry to hear that your baby in not eating much. I looked at his picture in your other thread and he is really tiny so he will need very small feeders. Try some flies and some small worms. They usually live Phoenix worms. I buy mine at phoenix worms.com. You could get him some flies too. They normally love things that fly around. Since you only have one baby you could contact Linda at lindasgonebuggy.com and ask her to make you a tiny baby value pack. She sales value packs of 4 or 5 different feeders for $20. You get a small amount of each feeder and that's nice when you only have one or two chams. Have you contacted the breed for suggestions on him not eating? I would recommend you do that right away. I would also recommend moving that UVB light way up off the top of the cage. A 10.0 compact is allot of UV for a baby and I've had babies close their eyes before because the UVB bothered them.

This is a link to how I raise my babies: https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...-keepers-young-veiled-panther-chameleons.html
 
I don't know how close to Reading, PA you are but I have extra fruit fly and bean beetle cultures.

Carl
 
It is abnormal for a chameleon to eat dead feeders and it may be that he is having trouble seeing them because of eye troubles from the 10.0 bulb.

I would get rid of the 10.0 and order a 5.0 before it causes eye damage.
A spiral 10.0 puts out an extremely concentrated beam of UV and serious eye issues are the result, especially with babies.
A few days without a UVB bulb would be better for him than the 10.0 .



As other have said, make sure the feeders are small enough.

I hope you are near CarlC , as he has generously offered you some feeders.
If you're near Centerville, That Fish Place/That Pet Place generally has a variety of feeders.

Other small feeders you can get would include silkworms and Phoenixworms.
 
Thank you all for your great advice. I was expecting my little guy to be closer to 4 months when I got him. I have been researching and preparing for months to make sure I was providing the right environment for him, so I am feeling a little overwhelmed since he is so small and worried for the little guy. I did email the seller this morning before my post, but I was not sure when I would hear back from them.

Jannb, thank you for your advice and link. I moved the bulb up right away, but per Lovereps recommendation, I am thinking I may turn it off and order a 5.0 bulb online tonight.
Carl, thank you so much for your offer of appropriate feeders. I will pm you.
 
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