Help with my new veil cham...

[loosekannon]

Hi im new to the site and i also have yet to take pictures or anything because my little guy is still settling in(i think)... heres the problem he has yet to eat any of the crickets I let loose in there and he's been staying up near the basking spot almost the entire time unless i spray him and the fake plants to get a drip going on even then i have to spray him untill he licks his upper lip...
I know im suppose to fill something out if you could post that i will fill it out and let you know everything i have... ill tell you this for now my basking spot is about 90F and humiditity is at 60ish could it just be the first couple of days he gets used to here? oh yeah he looks to be about 2 months old.

-Devin

 

[BocaJan]

https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

This is the sticky on how to ask for help. It asks all the questions for evaluating your husbandry.

 

[loosekannon]

Cage: 30x30x18 or 24 im not 100%

Lighting: ZooMed COmbination reptile hood 30" with a 100 watt daytime blue bulb and a uv long bulb i believe its a 5.0 name brand ive seen mentioned. Also i use a 100watt ZooMed basking light that i keep in one corner...I turn the light off at 8pm and back on at 8am-ish.

Temperature: In the basking area its 90ish an in the middle to bottom it ranges from 80-70, humidty ive been keeping around 60 and i havnt got a chance to pick up a photos plant or something yet...

Cage: The cage is located in my dining room on a table so its raised up no fans or anything.

Species: Its a veiled chameleon and i believe its a boy its pretty hard to tell because the bumps are very small on the back of the feet.. ill have pictures soon so you guys can maybe tell me.

Handle: only from the petstore to my house.

Feeding: I tried small crickets an i gutloaded them with this carrot gutloader
its a food and water in one. Ive dusted 4 of the 5-7 i put in with this calcium/ d3 dust mix.

Water: i mist the fake plants i have in there and i also mist him and he licks it off his nose so far from what ive seen.

Fecal: none yet. or atleast from what ive seen.

Ive had the chameleon for about a day an a half it has drank a little but I havnt seen it eat.. i let about 5-7 small crickets in the cage from last night to today and i dont think its eatin any of them i want to know if this is normal for him not to eat the first day.. i mean today is the second day the crickets are still in there and im gonna check to see if theres any missing but its hard because these suckas are small lol i just want to make sure this is normal..
he's also a little dark today and he was nice and green earlier he got a little dark after i misted him..

 

[Julirs]

Is the cage glass? You really want a screen cage for your Veiled Chameleon.

A couple things, you need to back down the temps to around 80 if it is a 2 month old. Basking temps should be low 80's and the rest of the cage should be room temp or in the 70's. You can quickly dehydrate to death babies with too high heat.
He is just adjusting and that is probably why he is not eating.
You actually need 3 supplements...

You can overdose on D3, so use the calcium without D3 lightly 4-5 times weekly, the D3 2X monthly, and the Herptivite 3-4X monthly, never on the same days.

 

[loosekannon]

I got pics.

 

[Chameleon Nation]

Cleaning

Waterfalls are not recommended with chameleons. When I first started out I had a few of them. They are a pain to clean, crickets get down into the water and die, and they provide perfect conditions for bacteria to thrive. I would be careful on the substrates too. I have seen a lot of chameleon deaths due to them not being able to digest it.

 

[Julirs]

Actually you are so on the right track! Great cage. Just a few modifications needed. Get rid of the substrate. It is a big impaction risk AND if you are watering like you should be it will be a nasty soupy mess. You don't need a thing on the bottom. You NEED a digital thermometer-they are about $9.00 and have a probe. This is the only way to accurately guage temps. Go grab a live ficus, pothos, or shefflera, wash it good in soapy water, rinse well, and either repot in organic soil or cover the soil so the cham cannot get to it. You can use those flukers orange cubes for water, but feed your crickets some green leafy lettuce, fresh carrots, sweet potatoes to make them nice and nutritious. Get the supplements I suggested above and you have a nice setup.
WAIT-get rid of that waterfall-dangerous bacteria breeding ground. Do a search for waterfall on this forum and see all about how bad they are. You really need to mist, mist, mist for 3-5 minutes about 3 times a day. If you get the live plant that will help keep up the humidity and they drink off of the leaves.

 

[loosekannon]

I read that yesterday and i never hooked up the pump.. i was using icecubes on it and letting them drip but then i read that was bad... im getting rid of it as soon as i have something to replace the space lol.

 

[loosekannon]

I just want to make sure my little guy will be jumping around eating everything shortly and that he wont be so scared and stay near the basking area so much
also was 2 months a good guess on his age?

 

[Chameleon Nation]

Well put Julirs, I think we were replying at the same time lol

Actually you are so on the right track! Great cage. Just a few modifications needed. Get rid of the substrate. It is a big impaction risk AND if you are watering like you should be it will be a nasty soupy mess. You don't need a thing on the bottom. You NEED a digital thermometer-they are about $9.00 and have a probe. This is the only way to accurately guage temps. Go grab a live ficus, pothos, or shefflera, wash it good in soapy water, rinse well, and either repot in organic soil or cover the soil so the cham cannot get to it. You can use those flukers orange cubes for water, but feed your crickets some green leafy lettuce, fresh carrots, sweet potatoes to make them nice and nutritious. Get the supplements I suggested above and you have a nice setup.
WAIT-get rid of that waterfall-dangerous bacteria breeding ground. Do a search for waterfall on this forum and see all about how bad they are. You really need to mist, mist, mist for 3-5 minutes about 3 times a day. If you get the live plant that will help keep up the humidity and they drink off of the leaves.

 

[loosekannon]

oh yeah lol as soon as i got home with him i knew the pet store owner was a complete moron so i instantly looked for a forum as i do with everything


one last question, does it matter if i let about 5 crickets run around untill he gets them? since he hasnt eating and the crickets have been in there since yesterday

 

[Julirs]

Awesome-Welcome to the club.

 

[Dave Weldon]

...im getting rid of it as soon as i have something to replace the space lol.

Howdy,

How about a nice Schefflera plant... maybe two .

 

[loosekannon]

Ok i know im asking alot now but i got your attention
I just want you guys to look at the pictures and tell me what you think about my little guy is he in good shape? so far from what i read he looks good but you guys know quite a bit more then me

 

[Julirs]

He looks good-pics are a little fuzzy but I am venturing to say that it is a 3 month old-ish male. If he has tiny bumps on the back of his feet that confirms it.