I think my baby veiled hates me, help?

C0nwayy

Member
Ok so, I got him on saturday. He’s been eating and drinking ever since the first day, which reliefs me because I heard they don’t eat when they come to a new home. Only thing is, he only ate a few crickets, 3-4 per day. I couldn’t get him to eat more. I ran out of crickets and yesterday he had 4-5 mealworms gutloaded with carrot, potato, spinach, and apple.

He was eating more and more each day, little by little but yesterday, I took him out to try to get him to eat a worm on my hand and start gaining his trust but he ignored the worm and began to climb my arm, so he slipped and fell.
It wasn’t so tall, it was 2 feet because we were on my desk. But he got a small bruise on his cheek arm and side which faded after a few minutes. There is no black on him from the bruise anymore. But, today he didn’t eat nor bask. (He only basked for a minute or two) And he would stare at me and curl his tail. I tried to put him near his feeding cup but he legit threw himself off a branch to avoid me so I just let him be. What do I do? I don’t want to stress him to the point of death but everytime I walk by his enclosure he judges me with his sight. (LMAO) On the other hand, my mom walked in my room because there was a wasp by my window and she went to kill it and he just looked at her but he was chill. No dull colors, no running away, no defensive position, no curly tail. He just watched and then minded his own business. But when I’m around he’s been hating me since yesterday. I have pictures.
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All veileds hate their owners, you're gonna have to get used to it :)

LMAO I know they’re sassy as hell, and can either hate you or tolerate you and climb on you. Especially males. But mine just gets hella stressed when he sees me ever since he fell down yesterday and refused to eat today. Before falling he tolerated me more and wouldn’t run away nor get defensive. And most importantly, he would eat. Today he didn’t eat.
 
LMAO I know they’re sassy as hell, and can either hate you or tolerate you and climb on you. Especially males. But mine just gets hella stressed when he sees me ever since he fell down yesterday and refused to eat today. Before falling he tolerated me more and wouldn’t run away nor get defensive. And most importantly, he would eat. Today he didn’t eat.
Like you said, he's stressed. Leave him alone if your presence is stressing him out.
 
Like you said, he's stressed. Leave him alone if your presence is stressing him out.

That’s what I’m doing. I only come by to mist his cage. I watch him from the other side of the room where my presence won’t bother him :,))
Funniest thing is, he’s in my bedroom. ???
 
How will I get him to trust me tho, how long do I wait until working with his trust? He’s so tiny (and sassy) and I’m scared to hurt him. Should I wait until he grows more? Maybe 3-4 months?
 
Your taking him out when he is already stressed... This is not how you hand feed. You hand feed by slowing gaining their trust and leaving them in the enclosure to do so. He has to have a proper enclosure and set up with UVB he can get to. So he is getting what he needs before you ever start trying to take him out. THey will jump, they will fall, and they can hurt themselves trying to get away from you.

Mealworms are a poor choice for a feeder and at his age he should be eating more like 20 a day easily. So he is showing stress signs and that is why he is backing off eating. Additionally Spinach binds calcium and should not be used in a gutload.

I highly suggest you read the following to get a better understanding of their care.
https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-husbandry-program-getting-started-with-chameleons/
 
How will I get him to trust me tho, how long do I wait until working with his trust? He’s so tiny (and sassy) and I’m scared to hurt him. Should I wait until he grows more? Maybe 3-4 months?
Wait until he at leasts eats consistently and everything is working smoothly for a month.
 
Your taking him out when he is already stressed... This is not how you hand feed. You hand feed by slowing gaining their trust and leaving them in the enclosure to do so. He has to have a proper enclosure and set up with UVB he can get to. So he is getting what he needs before you ever start trying to take him out. THey will jump, they will fall, and they can hurt themselves trying to get away from you.

Mealworms are a poor choice for a feeder and at his age he should be eating more like 20 a day easily. So he is showing stress signs and that is why he is backing off eating. Additionally Spinach binds calcium and should not be used in a gutload.

I highly suggest you read the following to get a better understanding of their care.
https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-husbandry-program-getting-started-with-chameleons/

I know mealworms are poor and I cut off the spinach as well. I’m buying crickets tomorrow.

How do I know when he’s not stressed?
Also I have a T8 5.0 that I’m upgrading to 10.0.
 
Or get a t5 5.0....

I don’t have a T5 fixture, that’s the issue. Since the terrarium he’s in is small as hell, (60 cm tall) when he outgrows it, and we build him a 120 cm tall x 60 cm wide and deep enclosure, I plan to get a t5 fixture and a 5.0 HO from reptisun
 
I don’t have a T5 fixture, that’s the issue. Since the terrarium he’s in is small as hell, (60 cm tall) when he outgrows it, and we build him a 120 cm tall x 60 cm wide and deep enclosure, I plan to get a t5 fixture and a 5.0 HO from reptisun
He pretty much already outgrew it already... Might as well get the t5 and get to buildin' :)
 
I don’t have a T5 fixture, that’s the issue. Since the terrarium he’s in is small as hell, (60 cm tall) when he outgrows it, and we build him a 120 cm tall x 60 cm wide and deep enclosure, I plan to get a t5 fixture and a 5.0 HO from reptisun
If you do not have the proper set up with proper UVB he will not make it to maturity. We see it all the time here... MBD sets in and chameleons die. Thermal burns disfigure them. Without having a solarmeter you will not know what your distance to basking will need to be with a T8 inside the enclosure. But the output is not the same at all as a T5HO.... Your choice in what you do but you should know the risks.
 
Crickets are good, but I suggest Dubia roaches, black soldier fly larvae, and super worms on occasions. Don't put calcium with the larvae, they are already high In calcium. Also, it takes time to build a relationship with your cham... try hand feeding, Building that trust relationship
 
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Crickets are good, but I suggest Dubia roaches, black soldier fly larvae, and super worms on occasions. Don't put calcium with the larvae, they are already high In calcium. Also, it takes time to build a relationship with your cham... try hand feeding, Building that trust relationship

Thank you! I didn’t know that about the larvae. Do you mean black soldier fly larvae or any type of larvae? Because soldiers are hard to find here. I would rather get dubias before crickets because dubias don’t fly nor jump or smell and crickets, well, as far as I do like their singing, they creep me out and I have to take their hind legs off before dropping them in my cham’s cup so it’s somewhat hard. Thing is my cham is small so I’d need small dubias.
 
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