I'm Worried I'm Doing Something Wrong

[AbnormalZA]

Hey there guys, just to give some context before I get to the base of my question:
I've got a juvenile Veiled Chameleon,

She's a female and around 2inches in BODY length, from nose to base of the tail (some help on the determining of her exact age would be awesome).
She's been in my care for around 2 weeks
She is in a home with bars as well as mesh about 800cm in height, 900cm length and 30cm in width. This is only a TEMPORARY home as I am building a custom home for her at the moment. (I have included pictures)

I feed her crickets coated in calcium power.
I do not gut-load.
I try to put the crickets on the plant leaves themselves when feeding.
Feeding times are around 8:30 in the morning when the sun is up quite nicely already.
I mist the home 3 times a day, I try not to mist her as it seems to agitate her but I make sure the plant has a decent amount of water droplets on them when I'm done. I've never seen her drink.

Okay so there's the basic info that I think would suffice as suggested by the "How to ask for help" thread.
In a nutshell, I am worried that I am doing something fundamentally wrong. She doesn't seem to be the same cham that I bought 2 weeks ago. For example, while she was still in the tub I bought her in she literally sniped a cricket out of the cricket tub when I put it in front of her, albeit it was a rather lethargic action (in my opinion).
I have seen her literally crawl to the ground and start chasing the crickets around (I thought they were supposed to be ambush predators?) but very recently she doesn't seem to be eating as much as she used to as I still find left over crickets at the end of the day (after putting around 5-7 crickets in the morning).

She seems to be rather lethargic (I know they're not the speediest of creatures) and when I took her out today, and into the sun, she was very dark in colour (perhaps due to the dark colour of the mesh she likes to cling onto) and she took quite longer than usual to go her usual bright green with dark markings. When we first took her out she was very quick to change colours to suit whatever surface she was on and seemed to walk around a lot more and perhaps explore(?).

I'd just like for someone to take a look at the pictures I've provided and to inform me if they notice that I'm doing something fundamentally wrong. It IS just a temporary home for her but I still don't believe that should mean compromising on the quality of her health and wellbeing.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Denverbug]

One thing wrong for sure is not gut loading. Feeders don't carry all the essential nutrients your Cham needs. Gut loading is a must! As far as dusting she should get calcium w/o d3 every feed, calcium with d3 twice a month and a multi vit. Without d3 twice a month. As far as you temp enclosure goes I would add more foliage and make sure her permanent enclosure Is Well planted. If u haven't already read the care sheet on this forum and fill out the ask for help.

 

[AbnormalZA]

One thing wrong for sure is not gut loading. Feeders don't carry all the essential nutrients your Cham needs. Gut loading is a must! As far as dusting she should get calcium w/o d3 every feed, calcium with d3 twice a month and a multi vit. Without d3 twice a month. As far as you temp enclosure goes I would add more foliage and make sure her permanent enclosure Is Well planted. If u haven't already read the care sheet on this forum and fill out the ask for help.

Okay I do need to do more research into gut loading then!
Also, if it's any help, I use Komodo brand Calcium Plus, which contains D3 and Calcium (at least it says so on the tub) Also, thanks for your input! I appreciate it.

 

[Denverbug]

Okay I do need to do more research into gut loading then!
Also, if it's any help, I use Komodo brand Calcium Plus, which contains D3 and Calcium (at least it says so on the tub) Also, thanks for your input! I appreciate it.

Some calciums contain d3 others do not. You want calcium no d3 every feed and calcium with d3 twice a month. Read the care sheet it is very helpful.

 

[AbnormalZA]

Some calciums contain d3 others do not. You want calcium no d3 every feed and calcium with d3 twice a month. Read the care sheet it is very helpful.

Thanks a lot man, I will do that

 

[carol5208]

Are you sure she cannot escape through those bars? What about the feeders escaping?. Both of your lights should be on the top of the cage. The bar light...what exactly is it? How many watts in your basking light?? You should be using a 5.0 uvb light. What are your cage temps, humidity, basking temp?... all important. You need more plants, vines, branches and walkways. For basking are you should have a branch or vine that your chameleon can comfortably stretch out on to bask. Put that down about 8 inches below your basking light.
Do not use calcium with d3 at every feeding. Chameleons can be overdosed on artificial d3. Read up on gutloading as advised.

 

[AbnormalZA]

Are you sure she cannot escape through those bars? What about the feeders escaping?. Both of your lights should be on the top of the cage. The bar light...what exactly is it? How many watts in your basking light?? You should be using a 5.0 uvb light. What are your cage temps, humidity, basking temp?... all important. You need more plants, vines, branches and walkways. For basking are you should have a branch or vine that your chameleon can comfortably stretch out on to bask. Put that down about 8 inches below your basking light.
Do not use calcium with d3 at every feeding. Chameleons can be overdosed on artificial d3. Read up on gutloading as advised.

Hey carol, the bars are surrounded by a fine black rubbery mesh The feeders are not able to escape through the mesh. Ive put the basking lamp on top of the cage and already I can see the difference in her movements, I think she was preferring the height over the heat and thats why she wasn't getting enough heat. The bar light is indeed a 5.0 UVB light. Things I'm not aware of how to do are checking humidity, cage and basking temps in a MESH enclosed environment. I've had plenty experience with glass tanks with other reptiles but I've never had a mesh enclosure before! I will get right on installing a platform that she can bask on immediately! Also, as I've said I will definitely read the caresheet as well as research gutloading so that I can start asap! Thank you for your help!

I've added a thick branch underneath her basking lamp, but she still climbs onto the mesh and onto the roof of the enclosure to try get closer to the lamp. I then tried moving the log a bit higher but to no avail :| Any suggestions?

 

[AbnormalZA]

Hey carol, the bars are surrounded by a fine black rubbery mesh The feeders are not able to escape through the mesh. Ive put the basking lamp on top of the cage and already I can see the difference in her movements, I think she was preferring the height over the heat and thats why she wasn't getting enough heat. The bar light is indeed a 5.0 UVB light. Things I'm not aware of how to do are checking humidity, cage and basking temps in a MESH enclosed environment. I've had plenty experience with glass tanks with other reptiles but I've never had a mesh enclosure before! I will get right on installing a platform that she can bask on immediately! Also, as I've said I will definitely read the caresheet as well as research gutloading so that I can start asap! Thank you for your help!

I've added a thick branch underneath her basking lamp, but she still climbs onto the mesh and onto the roof of the enclosure to try get closer to the lamp. I then tried moving the log a bit higher but to no avail :| Any suggestions?

I really hope someone can help me with this :/ The lack of replies to my main is worrying me... even if someone could just say "Relax, you're doing fine." that would be a big help

 

[symphonica]

You need way more vines/plants, even with a temporary set-up. That's how they'll feel comfortable and secure.

As some of the others have mentioned...

Use plain calcium without D3 or phosphorus every day. Use multi-vites and D3 twice a month. Too much D3 will make them very ill.

Feeders are completely useless, unless you gutload them properly. Consider them the delivery trucks. You have to load into the trucks what you want to deliver to the cham.

Make sure you have an accurate thermometer and hydrometer to measure your temps. Make sure you have a basking spot with appropriate temps, as well as ambient spots with various temperatures. That temperature gradient is very important for them.

Humidity should rise and fall. When you mist, it should go up to about 70%. Then, you should be letting the cage dry completely and have the humidity drop down to about 30% before misting again. This rise and fall is very important for them. A constantly low humidity will cause dehydration, whereas a constantly high one will cause respiratory and skin infections.

Make sure it is pitch black and quiet while they're sleeping. No lights, not even the red nighttime ones. There should be about a 10-degree drop in temp at night, and as long as it's at least 55-degrees, they don't need a heat source. You shouldn't be misting at night. You should stop misting at least an hour before bed time, and should be letting the cage dry completely before they go to bed.

Make sure you have good UVB lighting. T5HO tube bulbs are best, followed by T8 tube bulbs, and lastly the coiled bulbs. ReptiSun is better than ReptiGlo. 5.0 is ideal, although some people do use 10.0. Some people say 10.0 is too strong and that too much UVB can cause burns, boils, and blindness, but that may have just been back when bulbs weren't as involved as they are today.

If he's new, leave him be for a week or two, undisturbed, to settle in.

I think I've covered most of the important basics.

 

[carol5208]

Babies like to hang upside down from the top for whatever reason. They like hanging under the uvb lights too like that. The uvb will not hurt your chameleon as you are probably aware, as they do not really produce heat. The basking lamp can burn them, but they kinda just have to learn to move out of the way. It is nerve racking, but he should be ok. I know you cannot be there every minute to watch and remove her from under the light. You really don't need a platform so to speak, but just something they can hold onto to bask like a sturdy branch or vine.

 

[Olimpia]

Turning dark in the sun is normal, they do that to absorb more heat (just like dark shirts retain heat and white shirts bounce heat away). It can also be stress, but turning dark when in real sun sounds very normal to me.

Here is a bunch of reading that I recommend:

The general chameleon care resources: https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/chameleons/

The Veiled-specific caresheet: https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/veiled/

On the specific care of females: http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/keeping-female-veiled.html

And a video on how to make a laying bin for when she's 5-6 months old: https://www.chameleonforums.com/laying-bin-set-up-educational-video-77225/

 

[brownie64]

Possible age

She's a female and around 2 inches in BODY length, from nose to base of the tail (some help on the determining of her exact age would be awesome).
[/QUOTE]

They grow very fast they reach sexual maturity in only 6 months. Based on the size of your cham I would guess she is little over 2 months, But I can't be exact just a guess based on my experience raising them. They can be a little sensitive at this age, and I would highly recommend you take the advice of the others who have posted. Might even want to get some live plants. Like a Pothos. Just make sure you wash it to make sure there are no pesticides on it, you definitely need more foliage, and a dripper also helps them to drink.

 

[symphonica]

I'd also guess 2-3 months. If you decide to use a live plant, just make sure you wash the plant and re-pot it in organic soil to get rid of any pesticides. Then, put stones that are too large to fit in his mouth atop the soil, so that there's no risk of the cham ingesting any of the soil, which could cause impactions.

And make sure you're using a plant that's not toxic to them:
http://www.flchams.com/safe_plant_list.asp

I'd recommend running out to Home Depot and grabbing a $10 palm plant, schefflera (umbrella) plant, or pothos, repotting it and putting in stones to cover the soil, and throwing it into the cage. He'll be much happier, and if this is a temporary situation, you can easily pull the plant out of this cage and place it into his permanent cage once that's ready.