just got our first veiled chameleon

[Stahlzoo]

We got a veiled chameleon from my mother in law for christmas, we have to learn not to mention things to her or she goes out and gets them for us, like the chameleon, anyways we had nothing for our guy and when i say nothing i mean NOTHING!! I had just bought a new hamster cage which is actually a rat cage for our hammie and we had to put lil rango into it for the time being and get lights and crickets for him, we've had him now for about a month and he seems to be doing fine. I ordered a 260 gallon mesh reptarium from lllreptile and it got here today and is all put together but need to get stuff to put in there for him to climb on. so my questions for you all is:

1. how do you get sticks and such for them to climb on to fit in a habitat this large? i went bigger is better for this guy so we wouldnt have to buy another one, and i didnt want him to have a small space to climb in.

2. best plants to get, i have bought a few plants but because of the freezing cold weather here in minnesota and when my plants finally got here via fedex they are froze and i dont know if they will come out ok. I would love to get a ficus and a hibiscus plant, ive also heard of fruit trees going in?

3. vitamins and such for the lil guy? we are feeding him crickets and meal worms, dusting them with a multivitamin, petstore lady said we wouldnt need to dust them with anything else as the vitamin we have has everything in it, what do you think?

4. how to tell the age of your chameleon?

I know i know a lot of questions but were new to this and are trying to get everything perfect so we dont do any harm to our new friend. ive looked on youtube for ways to set up a large cham habitat but cant seem to find one for this large of a habitat

 

[Defianceofexistence]

Awe congrats on your new baby.

I am by no means an expert so hopefully some of our senior members will give you some input as well. I have had my veiled for a few months now.

So you will need to get calcium to dust his crickets with as well. Some without the D3 in it for everyday and some with D3 in it to do twice a month. The multivitamin only twice a month as well.

If you post a picture of your little man I'm sure someone can give you a good idea as to how old he is. Only give mealworms every now and then as a treat so I've been told.

Make sure you are gut loading your crickets before feeding them to him. Get a good dry gut load and then give fruits and veggies for them to eat before feeding them to him.

That's all the info I can give you, Im a novice myself lol....but this is an awesome site full of awesome reptile lovers that will help you

 

[Djturna4thakidz]

Hello and welcome!

I get all my sticks from the yard. They need to be cooked in the oven to kill all the bad stuff. You can search for instructions on how to do this. You can also buy flexible vines at your petstore.

The plants I use are schefflera (dwarf umbrella tree) or pothos. Both can be found at Home Depot or lowes for cheap.

 

[jannb]

Welcome to the forums and congrats on your first chameleon. The most important thing that you have to have to keep him from getting MBD (https://www.chameleonforums.com/wha...ase-mbd-looks-like-how-happens-how-fix-95071/) is a UVB light and calcium with and without D3. If he hasn't had these three things the past month he could already have MBD. Please post some pictures of him.
Below I'm attaching my blog that will answer most of your questions and another link for more detailed info.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...-keepers-young-veiled-panther-chameleons.html

More info here:https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/chameleons/

 

[Djturna4thakidz]

Yes vitamins are very important

Calcium powder without D3 everyday
Calcium with D3 twice monthly
Multivite twice monthly

 

[Veiled chameleons121]

1. Buy lots of stick and vines of amazon and stuff then even get sticks from ur garden

2. u can buy large pothos or umbrella that should cover most of the cage

3.Calcium powder without D3 everyday Calcium with D3 twice a month a Multivite twice monthly

 

[himynameiznick]

Im still fairly new to chameleons so I'm sure there are people on this great forum with more experience who can assist you a little more
1. For sticks, I like to shop in the bird section of Petco because all the perches have clamps at the end that allow you to safely fasten to the sides of your cage. They come in a variety of sizes, even for large cages like yours.
2. Umbrella Plant
Ficus
Spider Plant
Spanish Moss
There are tons more different plants and I know there are resources available on this forum that list off all cham-safe plants. Just make sure all plants are pesticide free and are repotted with fertilizer-free potting soil (you can get that at Home Depot)
3. My supplementation goes as follows
Calcium WITHOUT D3 3 times a week
Calcium WITH D3 once every 3 weeks (some people argue once a month)
Multivitains once every other week
Remember to mix up your cham's diet. Incorporate phoenix worms, superworms, hornworms (my panther chameleons love), dubia roaches, and crickets. Too much of one thing is never good, so always keep a vast diet.
4. Post a picture and someone on here will probably be way more accurate than me at guessing age

Once again, Im still fairly new and this is what has worked for me so far

 

[Stahlzoo]

the vitamin i give him says theres d3, beta carotene and calcium along with a bunch of other stuff, its the exo-terra multivitamin, we have a uva/uvb light and a night basking light which we keep on 24 hrs due to it being so freakin cold here, waiting for the reg basking light, getting that tomorrow. hes a very active lil man, we have branches in his temp home and hes always all over his cage.

 

[Stahlzoo]

the vitamin i give him says theres d3, beta carotene and calcium along with a bunch of other stuff, its the exo-terra multivitamin, we have a uva/uvb light and a night basking light which we keep on 24 hrs due to it being so freakin cold here, waiting for the reg basking light, getting that tomorrow. hes a very active lil man, we have branches in his temp home and hes always all over his cage.

he looks a lot bigger in these pics than he really is i will try to take one where hes in my hand to give you a better idea

 

[Stahlzoo]

Hello and welcome!

I get all my sticks from the yard. They need to be cooked in the oven to kill all the bad stuff. You can search for instructions on how to do this. You can also buy flexible vines at your petstore.

The plants I use are schefflera (dwarf umbrella tree) or pothos. Both can be found at Home Depot or lowes for cheap.

thank you I dont not know why i didnt think about going to lowes or home depot for plants, duh me here ive been searching online for good plants and where i can order them from. grr this just has me all stressed out at the moment.

 

[Stahlzoo]

ok here are a couple more pics

 

[Stahlzoo]

Welcome to the forums and congrats on your first chameleon. The most important thing that you have to have to keep him from getting MBD (https://www.chameleonforums.com/wha...ase-mbd-looks-like-how-happens-how-fix-95071/) is a UVB light and calcium with and without D3. If he hasn't had these three things the past month he could already have MBD. Please post some pictures of him.
Below I'm attaching my blog that will answer most of your questions and another link for more detailed info.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...-keepers-young-veiled-panther-chameleons.html

More info here:https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/chameleons/

i posted some pics, and thank you for replying

 

[jannb]

i posted some pics, and thank you for replying

He looks good in the pictures. No signs of MBD.

 

[Stahlzoo]

He looks good in the pictures. No signs of MBD.

thanks, we tried to get everything as soon as financially possible, hoping to get his new habitat set up for him to go into by this weekend.

 

[FlChamMom]

He is a good looking boy! All of the care sheets here will put you on the right track. I have a 6 month old veiled, I love his personality and little dinosaur looks!

 

[Defianceofexistence]

He looks to be about the same age as my little man....and Loki is about 5.5 months...

He is very cute!!

 

[Stahlzoo]

He is a good looking boy! All of the care sheets here will put you on the right track. I have a 6 month old veiled, I love his personality and little dinosaur looks!

thank you, im looking through all the care sheets now
so far it looks like we have everything he could possibly want, just need to get his new enclosure the same way lol. my husband tells me i need to start treating him the same way i treat our pets, spoiled that is between 2 dogs, 1 cat, 1 chameleon and at the moment 14 hamsters due to ours having 12 babies, a lot of my check goes to keeping them healthy and happy but its worth it.