Help with stressed out veiled chameleon!

[suheyls]

Hi everyone i'm new here and also a first time chameleon owner! Since I have very little experience with this little guy his stressed out behavior has me worried!

A bit of background on Simon:
He is a male veiled chameleon, not sure of his exact age but i want to say around 6 months? I got him from petsmart (where i work) this past Saturday morning. I felt bad for this little guy since he is growing rapidly and his enclosure was too small, it seems a little bigger than a shoe box! He barely had space to move up or down and to the sides. I thought I could give him a better life than that, but now i'm not so sure...I've handled him since he arrived at the store and i would hand feed him every day i was there. Simon has always been friendly and he would beg to come out of his enclosure! Always has been very light green with some brown lines on the side. Even though he lived in such a small place he never showed any signs of stress (no dark colors or spots).

I took him home Saturday morning where i had his enclosure already set up in my room and gave him some dusted crickets which he gladly took from my hands. I had to go to work so I knew he was going to have all day to get acclimated to his new home which is WAY bigger than his previous one and he seemed to be doing ok. But around Sunday afternoon when i went to mist him he seemed really stressed out! It was the first time ever that i had seen him change colors. He was mostly brown spots and it looked like he expanded his body to look bigger. He started hissing at me BIG time and attempted to bite me multiple times when i tried to hand feed him! He is also climbing upside down trying to get DIRECTLY under the dome lights which i know is bad since he can get badly burnt!!!

I dont understand what went wrong. One day he is the friendly Simon that i've known, the next he is this really mean chameleon!

His enclosure:
medium Repti-breeze cage (16x16x30)
I'm using 60W Daylight bulb (came with kit)
Repti-sun 5.0 mini compact fluorescent 13W
I mist him 3x a day manually with a misting/spray bottle (?)
He eats about 5-7 large crickets that i dust with Exoterra calcium
I have a light timer that turns on at 9 am/ off 9 pm

Here are some pictures
his new home

How he normally looks when i handle him and how he always looked at the store

 

[suheyls]

THIS IS HOW HE LOOKS NOW


This is him climbing upside down to reach the lights



p.s He refuses to eat any type of worm, it gets him even more upset if i try to get one close to him. I've tried the normal sized mealworms, the giant mealworms and the superworms and all that happens is him trying to bite me and hissing. Any ideas why?

 

[Kath44]

Hi and welcome to the forum. It's a great place with great folks.
My thinking is in his old home, small and unsuitable, his 'friendlyness' is more than likely "get me outta here, it's too small"
Now he's in larger one he's not that bothered about venturing out as such.
You will need a bigger enclosure soon, 2x2x4ft is what's recommended.
Check out the caresheets.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/veiled/

And jannbs blog is a great read.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...-keepers-young-veiled-panther-chameleons.html

He will need time to settle in to his new home, so try to leave him be, keep trying the hand feeding.
Kath.

 

[suheyls]

Hi and welcome to the forum. It's a great place with great folks.
My thinking is in his old home, small and unsuitable, his 'friendlyness' is more than likely "get me outta here, it's too small"
Now he's in larger one he's not that bothered about venturing out as such.
You will need a bigger enclosure soon, 2x2x4ft is what's recommended.
Check out the caresheets.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/veiled/

And jannbs blog is a great read.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...-keepers-young-veiled-panther-chameleons.html

He will need time to settle in to his new home, so try to leave him be, keep trying the hand feeding.
Kath.

Shouldn't he be green and happy in his new home? Instead of brown and grumpy? He gets green when he does DECIDE to come out, but as soon as he is put back inside he turns into brown spots.

I will definitely look into getting a bigger home for him soon. Any other advice is welcomed!!! Also any opinions on the worms?

 

[Petmason]

He needs time to become more familiar with his new place. I would say stop handling him for a bit and let him really adjust. He acted and wanted certain things when in the old environment and now everything is different so his needs and wants might as well.

Good luck.

 

[waynek]

He needs time to become more familiar with his new place. I would say stop handling him for a bit and let him really adjust. He acted and wanted certain things when in the old environment and now everything is different so his needs and wants might as well.

Good luck.

great advice . he will likely come around in time . I have 2 veileds that I got in may . the female tolerates some handling but the male still is not into it . now I kept them outside right until the daytime temps were less than 70 and sunny , about a week ago . now that they are inside I guess they have to adjust again . but they will in time .

 

[Kath44]

Some just don't like worms. They may not move as quick or sudden. Those aren't a great nutritious meal anyway. Try silkworms or hornworms. Calci worms are good too.
Kath.

 

[jpm995]

His behaviour may not be a bad as you think. He probably didn't consider the tiny cage a 'home' just a place that he was trapped in. With a more normal sized and decorated cage he may consider it his home and is defending his territory from you. Unless you can pass yourself as a female cham he may continue to get pissed when you approach his cage. Chams have very diverse personalities some friendly, some mean as junk yard yards. a 2'x2'x4' is a good size for an adult. Give him time hopefully he'll come around.

 

[suheyls]

Some just don't like worms. They may not move as quick or sudden. Those aren't a great nutritious meal anyway. Try silkworms or hornworms. Calci worms are good too.
Kath.

I'll see where I can find them. Petsmart doesn't carry those types of worms, and last time I went to petco I couldn't find them. I don't want Simon to get tired of crickets so I need variety for his diet. Thank you!!!

 

[suheyls]

His behaviour may not be a bad as you think. He probably didn't consider the tiny cage a 'home' just a place that he was trapped in. With a more normal sized and decorated cage he may consider it his home and is defending his territory from you. Unless you can pass yourself as a female cham he may continue to get pissed when you approach his cage. Chams have very diverse personalities some friendly, some mean as junk yard yards. a 2'x2'x4' is a good size for an adult. Give him time hopefully he'll come around.

That makes a lot of sence! Leaving him alone is the easy part. I have two jobs that keep me out of the house from 6am-11pm with an hour break in between that I use to go home and mist him. Besides that he gets a quiet apartment for the rest of the day!until about 8pm when my mom gets home and mists him again.
Another question: I have his timer turn on the lights from 9-9 but unfortunately since I wake up so early and have to turn the room lights on to get ready he wakes up! And when I leave I turn the room light back off so he is back to darkness. I don't want to confuse him about when the lights go on and off. Should I change his timer to a different setting? Same thing when I get home at 11pm

 

[Coheed]

Putting plants at the front of your enclosure will help with his stress, he may feel too exposed.

 

[Busdriversrock]

I have 2 veileds and a panther. I also own 4 dumpy frogs, 2 peacock frogs, 2 green tree frogs, 1 cuban frog, 2 toads, 2 anoles and a large african fishtank. I buy my hornworms from greatlakeshornworms. When you are feeding that many animals, you need to buy in bulk. I also know you can buy better types of worms from Mulberry farms. That's where I do most of my food buying. It's cheaper in the long run. My Cham's can pack away the hornworms.

 

[ThePantherBaron]

He just needs time to adjust to his much larger cage. Just be patient with him and try not to disturb him too much other then misting and feeding. Keep us updated!

 

[suheyls]

Putting plants at the front of your enclosure will help with his stress, he may feel too exposed.

I'm going to Home Depot this weekend to find live plants for him! I know I need to re-plant them with organic soil and out rocks on top of the soil but how do I clean the plant itself without hurting it? And do I need a new pot?