Is my veiled chameleon stressed??

[Maddiemooperz]

Hi! I’m Maddy. I own a small 3-4 month old Veiled chameleon. When I first got him, his colors were always bright greenish colors, but it’s been 2-3 weeks and he’s maintained a dark brown color. I’m so worried about him, as I just want him to be healthy. I keep my room about 72-76 degrees, his basking spot is about 79-83 degrees. I just recently got a golden Pothos plant at the bottom of his cage going upward to the top, and a bunch of other fake plants full of hiding spots. I keep his dripper running during the night, and I mist him down 3-4 times during the day but, when I try to mist him he runs away(I have a gentle sprayer) so I just spray the rest of his cage down. I do keep my TV on in my room at night while I sleep but the volume is muted (I can sleep with it off if I have to). I use a bowl to feed him, it sits in a secure spot in his cage and I feed him on average 8-9 crickets daily. I’m scared of what’s happening to him, and I really don’t want it to become worse. PLEASE HELP!!

 

[Maddiemooperz]

That’s him at the top

 

[CJ's Exotics]

He is probably stressed. You should not handle him at all right now if you are, many people think it is a good idea to hold them after unboxing them (like your avatar). So please include close ups if you can.

 

[kinyonga]

TV on at night might be upsetting him. Maybe you could cover the cage at night. Does he trun back to plain green at night when it sleeps?

Other comments....
There is no reason to run the dripper all night...the cage should dry out at night.
Do you have a UVB light on the cage?
Fake plants should be replaced with real ones since veileds eat vegetation.
What supplements SPECIFICALLY do you use and how often for each? What do you feed/gutload the insects with?

 

[Maddiemooperz]

He is probably stressed. You should not handle him at all right now if you are, many people think it is a good idea to hold them after unboxing them (like your avatar). So please include close ups if you can.

Ever since he had started looking stressed out, I stopped handling him. After I got him(pfp) I never handled him until he got used to his cage set up

 

[Maddiemooperz]

TV on at night might be upsetting him. Maybe you could cover the cage at night. Does he trun back to plain green at night when it sleeps?

Other comments....
There is no reason to run the dripper all night...the cage should dry out at night.
Do you have a UVB light on the cage?
Fake plants should be replaced with real ones since veileds eat vegetation.
What supplements SPECIFICALLY do you use and how often for each? What do you feed/gutload the insects with?

He does turn to a light green while sleeping. I have one real plant in his cage but I can get more! No, the UVB light is far enough from the cage where he can’t get burnt up. I feed him crickets and super worms with calcium every other day. I can turn off the dripper and cover the cage at night if that’ll help him. I’m just super concerned about him.

 

[BabyChamCham]

Could be cold.
You may want to try either moving the light to the center of the top, and closer to the cage, or move the branches a bit closer to the light, but not to the point were it's too hot, you may have to test it with your hand.
But it could be stress, etc, so just start with the heat. Do you have a temp gauge?

 

[BabyChamCham]

Not to mention, just to make him feel more at home, add some more plants! Real or fake

 

[Joseph 1233]

Hi! I’m Maddy. I own a small 3-4 month old Veiled chameleon. When I first got him, his colors were always bright greenish colors, but it’s been 2-3 weeks and he’s maintained a dark brown color. I’m so worried about him, as I just want him to be healthy. I keep my room about 72-76 degrees, his basking spot is about 79-83 degrees. I just recently got a golden Pothos plant at the bottom of his cage going upward to the top, and a bunch of other fake plants full of hiding spots. I keep his dripper running during the night, and I mist him down 3-4 times during the day but, when I try to mist him he runs away(I have a gentle sprayer) so I just spray the rest of his cage down. I do keep my TV on in my room at night while I sleep but the volume is muted (I can sleep with it off if I have to). I use a bowl to feed him, it sits in a secure spot in his cage and I feed him on average 8-9 crickets daily. I’m scared of what’s happening to him, and I really don’t want it to become worse. PLEASE HELP!!

What lights do you you have you need uvb and a heat source

 

[Joseph 1233]

He does turn to a light green while sleeping. I have one real plant in his cage but I can get more! No, the UVB light is far enough from the cage where he can’t get burnt up. I feed him crickets and super worms with calcium every other day. I can turn off the dripper and cover the cage at night if that’ll help him. I’m just super concerned about him.

The uvb dosent even heat up barley they need proper uvb lighting

 

[CJ's Exotics]

What is the distance of his basking branch to the UVB bulb? UVB bulbs produce little or no heat. Why do you think he will burn up? We need a picture or the lights, I think you are only using a basking bulb.

 

[kinyonga]

You said...."I have one real plant in his cage but I can get more!"...the point is to REPLACE the artificial/fake ones so that your chameleon won't try to eat the fake ones and if it does eat any it will likely become impacted and die.

You said..."No, the UVB light is far enough from the cage where he can’t get burnt up"...I meant did you use a UVB light. It's good for the UVB light to be close to the lid of the cage so the chameleon can get proper exposure to it...as long as you can hold your hand under the UVB !light inside the cage just below the UVB light and not have to move your hand. Most UVB lightsarent hot enough to burn him. You should have a basking area that is in the low to mid 80's though.

You said... "I feed him crickets and super worms with calcium every other day"... Is the calcium phosphorous-free? What brand? That's why I asked for you to be specific....so you would tell me these things.

Do you feed/gutload your insects before feeding them to the chameleon? With what?

You said..."I can turn off the dripper and cover the cage at night if that’ll help him. I’m just super concerned about him"....I would not run the driooer at night. It could lead to hewlthnissues. And when you leave the TV on I would cover the cage.