Light green patches

[New cham owner]

Copy & paste with your answers.

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
• Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
• Location - Where are you geographically located?

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.

--------------

Please Note:

1. The more details you provide the better and more accurate help you will receive.
2. Photos can be very helpful.

Kiwi is a Female veiled chameleon, she is around 9 months old, i’ve had her since the end of may in 2020. I handle her maybe 2 times a week? I feed her 6 large crickets every other day or every other two days. She gets meal worms as a treat. I use calcium powder without d3 regularly, and i use one with d3 less often. I have a mister and i mist her cage for a bout one minute twice a day. her droppings are a normal dryish brown. I have a screen cage that is 18x18x uhh i forgot the other number. I use a uvb bulb and a heat lamp recommended to me by the pet store i got her from, i have it on for around 12 hours a day. I have fake plants in there (no she does not eat them, i keep an eye on that, she won’t eat something unless it’s moving fast), her cage is on top of my desk away from vents or fans.

 

[New cham owner]

You need a T5 HO linear light fixture either the length of your enclosure or a foot longer with either an Arcadia 6% or Zoo Med 5.0 strength linear UVB of the matching size. Replace Arcadia bulbs yearly and Zoo Med bulbs every six months if you don’t have a Solarmeter 6.5. Definitely get a Solarmeter 6.5 if you can afford it, it’ll give you precise UVI readings, tell you if a bulb is defective, and let you know when to replace a bulb (when the readings are cut in half)! Make sure the UVB linear bulb is at the correct distance from her top basking branch!

Put all of her fake plants on the outside of her enclosure to add more privacy for her. Get TONS of live chameleon-safe plants to put in ASAP. Make sure they are properly cleaned off beforehand and all the pots have rocks too big for her to eat covering the soil. Filling out the husbandry form will help tons, too!

I did have live plants at one point, but there was a lot of issues with it, i will see if i can get different ones that are on the safe list!

 

[New cham owner]

You need a T5 HO linear light fixture either the length of your enclosure or a foot longer with either an Arcadia 6% or Zoo Med 5.0 strength linear UVB of the matching size. Replace Arcadia bulbs yearly and Zoo Med bulbs every six months if you don’t have a Solarmeter 6.5. Definitely get a Solarmeter 6.5 if you can afford it, it’ll give you precise UVI readings, tell you if a bulb is defective, and let you know when to replace a bulb (when the readings are cut in half)! Make sure the UVB linear bulb is at the correct distance from her top basking branch!

Put all of her fake plants on the outside of her enclosure to add more privacy for her. Get TONS of live chameleon-safe plants to put in ASAP. Make sure they are properly cleaned off beforehand and all the pots have rocks too big for her to eat covering the soil. Filling out the husbandry form will help tons, too!

I filled out the form, let me know what i need to change please!

 

[cruz.m]

I filled out the form, let me know what i need to change please!

Start by ordering a new cage that’s 2x2x4
After you can start ordering the right lights which were mentioned here are the links make sure it’s at least 24”
https://www.pangeareptile.com/store/arcadia-prot5-uvb-kit.html
https://www.pangeareptile.com/store/zoo-med-reptisun-t5-ho-terrarium-hood.html
Next you want lots of new plants here’s a list I’d recommend the veiled tested ones
https://chameleonacademy.com/plants/
https://www.chameleonschool.com/safe-plants-for-chameleons/
Now it does not matter if she hasn’t ate any she could so take them out. Also the pet store lied. I wanna assume it was Petco/Petsmart but you can tell me where. You need proper gutloading for your feeders here are some pictures of feeders you can use and proper gut load. Laying bin sounds good but here’s a picture just in case.
The rest I’ll leave to someone else

 

[ERKleRose]

I’ve reorganized your info so it’s easier to respond to. My feedback and any questions will be in red. I’ve already posted helpful links and will post helpful images at the end:

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - Kiwi is a Female veiled chameleon, she is around 9 months old, i’ve had her since the end of may in 2020.
• Handling - I handle her maybe 2 times a week? Do you handle her because you want to or because she wants too (and not because she’s uncomfortable in her cage)?
• Feeding -I feed her 6 large crickets every other day or every other two days. She gets meal worms as a treat. She only needs 5 crickets (or the equivalent of) every other day. Soon (if not now) you’ll need to wean her down to around 2-3 crickets (or the equivalent of) either every other day or three times a week. Mealworms should only be a rare treat (if fed at all). What do you gutload with? It is extremely important! Add more variety in her feeders as well! I‘ve posted feeder and gutload charts below.
• Supplements - I use calcium powder without d3 regularly, and i use one with d3 less often. What are the brands? How often do you use the D3 calcium (this is extremely important)? She needs a quality phosphorus-free calcium without D3 on every feeding (like Zoo Med ReptiCalcium without D3), a quality phosphorus-free calcium with D3 once every two weeks (like Zoo Med ReptiCalcium with D3), and a quality multivitamin without D3 once every two weeks (like Zoo Med Reptivite without D3). For example, every feeding for one week will be calcium without D3, except for one day that week when you’ll rotate through the calcium with D3 or multivitamin without D3 on alternate weeks.
• Watering - I have a mister and i mist her cage for a bout one minute twice a day. She needs to be misted for a minimum of 2-5+ minutes for her daytime mistings. Try to only mist twice during the day, morning and late afternoon/night, when her cage is cooler if the humidity allows it. Do you use anything at night?
• Fecal Description - her droppings are a normal dryish brown. Take her to an experienced chameleon vet for a general check-up, including a fecal float (bring a fresh fecal sample with you), bloodwork, and x-rays. Also let them look at her patches. Make sure to drop off at least two more fresh fecal samples afterwards to make sure no parasites were missed.
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - I have a screen cage that is 18x18x uhh i forgot the other number. It is probably 36” tall. While it does work, the recommended minimum size is either 36” x 18” x 36” tall or 2’ x 2’ x 4’ tall, but preferably 4’ x 2’ x 4’ tall or bigger. Bigger is always better! She needs tons of live plants, vines, and branches in her cage, I’ll go over that in her plant category! I’ve also posted two helpful cage set-up links in my previous link post. Take the paper towels out of the bottom of her cage and make/buy an external drainage system.
• Lighting - I use a uvb bulb and a heat lamp recommended to me by the pet store i got her from, i have it on for around 12 hours a day. I’ve already gone over the type of UVB bulb and fixture you need to get. Make sure both heating and UVB bulbs are the correct distances away from her highest basking branch! Again, get a Solarmeter 6.5 if you can!
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? These are crucial! The max basking temp for her (where her casque/top of her back is when she‘s on her basking branch) should measure 78-80*F! We also need ambien’t and overnight temps. Get a digital thermometer with a probe to measure her basking temps (place the probe where I said to measure her basking temp), three digital thermometer-hygrometer combos, place one near the top, one in the middle, and one at the bottom of her cage, and possibly an infrared temp gun to spot check areas.
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? These are crucial, too! It should be bewtween 30-50% during the day and up to 100% at night. Do you use a fogger or anything? The thermometer/hygrometer combos will tell you humidity levels and ambient temps for different parts of her cage.
• Plants - I have fake plants in there (no she does not eat them, i keep an eye on that, she won’t eat something unless it’s moving fast) Take out all fake plants, fake leaf bunches, fake vines with leaves on them, etc. ASAP! As others have said, it is an impaction risk waiting to happen! Make sure all plants are chameleon-safe (I posted a list of them in my previous link post), properly cleaned off beforehand, and have rocks too big for her to eat covering the soil in the pots! She needs TONS more live plants, real dead and/or live vines and/or fake vines (fake without leaves only), and branches of multiple species and diameters (just not from any toxic or sap-producing trees)! Also, take out and replace all of her Exo Terra vines ASAP, they can cause health issues!
• Placement - her cage is on top of my desk away from vents or fans.
• Location - Where are you geographically located?

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.

Here are the images (read through all of the links I posted previously!):

 

[New cham owner]

Start by ordering a new cage that’s 2x2x4
After you can start ordering the right lights which were mentioned here are the links make sure it’s at least 24”
https://www.pangeareptile.com/store/arcadia-prot5-uvb-kit.html
https://www.pangeareptile.com/store/zoo-med-reptisun-t5-ho-terrarium-hood.html
Next you want lots of new plants here’s a list I’d recommend the veiled tested ones
https://chameleonacademy.com/plants/
https://www.chameleonschool.com/safe-plants-for-chameleons/
Now it does not matter if she hasn’t ate any she could so take them out. Also the pet store lied. I wanna assume it was Petco/Petsmart but you can tell me where. You need proper gutloading for your feeders here are some pictures of feeders you can use and proper gut load. Laying bin sounds good but here’s a picture just in case.
The rest I’ll leave to someone else

Pet co was the place, and i’m not sure if i can get a bigger cage but I can try, i will order the light and get new plants. Did everything else seem fine?

 

[cruz.m]

Pet co was the place, and i’m not sure if i can get a bigger cage but I can try, i will order the light and get new plants. Did everything else seem fine?

Someone else reviewed your husbandry look at that but you NEED the bigger cage

 

[New cham owner]

I’ve reorganized your info so it’s easier to respond to. My feedback and any questions will be in red. I’ve already posted helpful links and will post helpful images at the end:

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - Kiwi is a Female veiled chameleon, she is around 9 months old, i’ve had her since the end of may in 2020.
• Handling - I handle her maybe 2 times a week? Do you handle her because you want to or because she wants too (and not because she’s uncomfortable in her cage)?
• Feeding -I feed her 6 large crickets every other day or every other two days. She gets meal worms as a treat. She only needs 5 crickets (or the equivalent of) every other day. Soon (if not now) you’ll need to wean her down to around 2-3 crickets (or the equivalent of) either every other day or three times a week. Mealworms should only be a rare treat (if fed at all). What do you gutload with? It is extremely important! Add more variety in her feeders as well! I‘ve posted feeder and gutload charts below.
• Supplements - I use calcium powder without d3 regularly, and i use one with d3 less often. What are the brands? How often do you use the D3 calcium (this is extremely important)? She needs a quality phosphorus-free calcium without D3 on every feeding (like Zoo Med ReptiCalcium without D3), a quality phosphorus-free calcium with D3 once every two weeks (like Zoo Med ReptiCalcium with D3), and a quality multivitamin without D3 once every two weeks (like Zoo Med Reptivite without D3). For example, every feeding for one week will be calcium without D3, except for one day that week when you’ll rotate through the calcium with D3 or multivitamin without D3 on alternate weeks.
• Watering - I have a mister and i mist her cage for a bout one minute twice a day. She needs to be misted for a minimum of 2-5+ minutes for her daytime mistings. Try to only mist twice during the day, morning and late afternoon/night, when her cage is cooler if the humidity allows it. Do you use anything at night?
• Fecal Description - her droppings are a normal dryish brown. Take her to an experienced chameleon vet for a general check-up, including a fecal float (bring a fresh fecal sample with you), bloodwork, and x-rays. Also let them look at her patches. Make sure to drop off at least two more fresh fecal samples afterwards to make sure no parasites were missed.
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - I have a screen cage that is 18x18x uhh i forgot the other number. It is probably 36” tall. While it does work, the recommended minimum size is either 36” x 18” x 36” tall or 2’ x 2’ x 4’ tall, but preferably 4’ x 2’ x 4’ tall or bigger. Bigger is always better! She needs tons of live plants, vines, and branches in her cage, I’ll go over that in her plant category! I’ve also posted two helpful cage set-up links in my previous link post. Take the paper towels out of the bottom of her cage and make/buy an external drainage system.
• Lighting - I use a uvb bulb and a heat lamp recommended to me by the pet store i got her from, i have it on for around 12 hours a day. I’ve already gone over the type of UVB bulb and fixture you need to get. Make sure both heating and UVB bulbs are the correct distances away from her highest basking branch! Again, get a Solarmeter 6.5 if you can!
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? These are crucial! The max basking temp for her (where her casque/top of her back is when she‘s on her basking branch) should measure 78-80*F! We also need ambien’t and overnight temps. Get a digital thermometer with a probe to measure her basking temps (place the probe where I said to measure her basking temp), three digital thermometer-hygrometer combos, place one near the top, one in the middle, and one at the bottom of her cage, and possibly an infrared temp gun to spot check areas.
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? These are crucial, too! It should be bewtween 30-50% during the day and up to 100% at night. Do you use a fogger or anything? The thermometer/hygrometer combos will tell you humidity levels and ambient temps for different parts of her cage.
• Plants - I have fake plants in there (no she does not eat them, i keep an eye on that, she won’t eat something unless it’s moving fast) Take out all fake plants, fake leaf bunches, fake vines with leaves on them, etc. ASAP! As others have said, it is an impaction risk waiting to happen! Make sure all plants are chameleon-safe (I posted a list of them in my previous link post), properly cleaned off beforehand, and have rocks too big for her to eat covering the soil in the pots! She needs TONS more live plants, real dead and/or live vines and/or fake vines (fake without leaves only), and branches of multiple species and diameters (just not from any toxic or sap-producing trees)! Also, take out and replace all of her Exo Terra vines ASAP, they can cause health issues!
• Placement - her cage is on top of my desk away from vents or fans.
• Location - Where are you geographically located?

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.

Here are the images (read through all of the links I posted previously!):

I handle her if she allows me to take her out, I’ll minimize what she eats and like i said, the meal worms are just a treat, it’s not a meal. I cannot get her the bigger cage at the moment. My parents won’t allow me to and the vet i went to said it was okay. I will get the light and something to measure the heat. The humidity is in that range that you stated. I will also be changing the plants and removing the paper towels on the bottom!

 

[cruz.m]

I handle her if she allows me to take her out, I’ll minimize what she eats and like i said, the meal worms are just a treat, it’s not a meal. I cannot get her the bigger cage at the moment. My parents won’t allow me to and the vet i went to said it was okay. I will get the light and something to measure the heat. The humidity is in that range that you stated. I will also be changing the plants and removing the paper towels on the bottom!

At the age she is in that small cage I’m sorry I don’t mean to be rude but you need the new cage at least the 36x18x36 these are not super expensive. You can also make your own for cheaper if it’s money you are concerned about.

 

[New cham owner]

Start by ordering a new cage that’s 2x2x4
After you can start ordering the right lights which were mentioned here are the links make sure it’s at least 24”
https://www.pangeareptile.com/store/arcadia-prot5-uvb-kit.html
https://www.pangeareptile.com/store/zoo-med-reptisun-t5-ho-terrarium-hood.html
Next you want lots of new plants here’s a list I’d recommend the veiled tested ones
https://chameleonacademy.com/plants/
https://www.chameleonschool.com/safe-plants-for-chameleons/
Now it does not matter if she hasn’t ate any she could so take them out. Also the pet store lied. I wanna assume it was Petco/Petsmart but you can tell me where. You need proper gutloading for your feeders here are some pictures of feeders you can use and proper gut load. Laying bin sounds good but here’s a picture just in case.
The rest I’ll leave to someone else

is this light just a uvb? a heat lamp? or is it both?

 

[ERKleRose]

is this light just a uvb? a heat lamp? or is it both?

Her heat lamp is fine if it gives the correct temps. A proper linear UVB bulb and fixture is what’s needed ASAP

 

[New cham owner]

At the age she is in that small cage I’m sorry I don’t mean to be rude but you need the new cage at least the 36x18x36 these are not super expensive. You can also make your own for cheaper if it’s money you are concerned about.

how do i make my own? and it is the money i am concerned about, this cage was a bit over $100. i can afford it but i’m trying to save on that

 

[New cham owner]

Her heat lamp is fine if it gives the correct temps. A proper linear UVB bulb and fixture is what’s needed ASAP

okay, i’m going to get one from the links that were provided

 

[ERKleRose]

Her heat lamp is fine if it gives the correct temps. A proper linear UVB bulb and fixture is what’s needed ASAP

Edit: I read it wrong, that linear bulb is UVB only

 

[New cham owner]

Edit: I read it wrong, that linear bulb is UVB only

okay

 

[ERKleRose]

how do i make my own? and it is the money i am concerned about, this cage was a bit over $100. i can afford it but i’m trying to save on that

There are tons of threads on here and all over the internet and YouTube, etc. for how to build one. Just know that building a cage isn’t always cheaper

 

[New cham owner]

There are tons of threads on here and all over the internet and YouTube, etc. for how to build one. Just know that building a cage isn’t always cheaper

i really cannot upgrade it at the moment. i will definitely be upgrading it but for now she will have to stay with that one, but i am going to be changing the plants that are inside and getting her the different light. i’m ordering the light right now actually

 

[cruz.m]

how do i make my own? and it is the money i am concerned about, this cage was a bit over $100. i can afford it but i’m trying to save on that

Well you can make it out of wood or I made mine out of window screens and wood for $80 I had all the tools since I love making stuff I can try and find everything I bought but there are some other cages that are around the same price. Like @ERKleRose said homemade isn’t always cheaper and there are tons of videos and threads

 

[cruz.m]

Do you think you can return that cage it shouldn’t have been that much for that size. Where’d you purchase it from?
Edit: You can also try selling it for money to buy a new one

 

[New cham owner]

Well you can make it out of wood or I made mine out of window screens and wood for $80 I had all the tools since I love making stuff I can try and find everything I bought but there are some other cages that are around the same price. Like @ERKleRose said homemade isn’t always cheaper and there are tons of videos and threads

i might actually try this out, but as i said in another thread, i cannot upgraded it at the moment due to a few reasons, but she will be getting a bigger one in the future! i think it sounds pretty fun to make one for her