Meet Ivy...Also how do I know how old she is!!!

A

AwkwardZombie13

New Member
Chameleon Info:

  • Your Chameleon -Veiled Chameleon, Female, No clue how old, been in my care for almost a month.
  • Handling - 1 time, every 2 or so days, she's very sweet, and never shows stress signs when holding her. If she seems cranky, I leave her alone.
  • Feeding - Crickets, bok choy, collard greens, occasional wax worm or meal worm. 10 crickets/day. Once in the morning about 30 minutes after lights on. Once at night, about an hour and a half before lights out. Gut loading crickets with oranges, apples, broccoli, and flukers high-calcium cricket diet.
  • Supplements - Repti-Calcium w/o d3 every day in the mornings except 1 time/2 weeks when I use repti-vite or calcium w/ d3.
  • Watering - Misting 3-5 times a day depending on humidity. mist for a minute and a half. Yes she drinks often.
  • Fecal Description - Firm, brown, lubricated exterior. White urea attached not runny, not hard. only time it was different was when the urea was very runny. called vet was told it meant she was very well hydrated. Yes she's been tested for parasites.
  • History - None that we know of.
Cage Info:

  • Cage Type - mesh cage 18x18x36 but in the process of building a 3ftx3ftx4ft screen enclosure.
  • Lighting - reptisun ho t5. its not compact its a bar. this is being changed in less than a week to a 12%uvb.
  • Temperature -basking spot is 84. overall is 78. lowest night temp was 68. digital thermometer that I check more frequently than you can imagine.
  • Humidity - Humidity level is at 50% if it hits 40% I mist. Using a hygrometer for the pet store to measure.
  • Plants - Yes, I have a bonsai tree, and a pothos plant start that will be transplanted in bigger enclosure.
  • Placement - Cage is in my bedroom away from high traffic, air vent near by. enclosure is 3 and a half feet from the floor. she's the highest point in the room....99% of the time.
  • Location - Northern Idaho

    Please excuse my crap camera, I shattered the lens on my phone slipping on ice. Biggest question I have is how do I tell how old she is? And should I be concerned about eggs yet? Shes still eating actively as of now, I did put a pot in her enclosure and put a blanket around so she had privacy, but she didnt go down into it. I snuck a camera on top to see LOL
 

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AwkwardZombie13 said:
Chameleon Info:

  • Your Chameleon -Veiled Chameleon, Female, No clue how old, been in my care for almost a month.
  • Handling - 1 time, every 2 or so days, she's very sweet, and never shows stress signs when holding her. If she seems cranky, I leave her alone.
  • Feeding - Crickets, bok choy, collard greens, occasional wax worm or meal worm. 10 crickets/day. Once in the morning about 30 minutes after lights on. Once at night, about an hour and a half before lights out. Gut loading crickets with oranges, apples, broccoli, and flukers high-calcium cricket diet.
  • Supplements - Repti-Calcium w/o d3 every day in the mornings except 1 time/2 weeks when I use repti-vite or calcium w/ d3.
  • Watering - Misting 3-5 times a day depending on humidity. mist for a minute and a half. Yes she drinks often.
  • Fecal Description - Firm, brown, lubricated exterior. White urea attached not runny, not hard. only time it was different was when the urea was very runny. called vet was told it meant she was very well hydrated. Yes she's been tested for parasites.
  • History - None that we know of.
Cage Info:

  • Cage Type - mesh cage 18x18x36 but in the process of building a 3ftx3ftx4ft screen enclosure.
  • Lighting - reptisun ho t5. its not compact its a bar. this is being changed in less than a week to a 12%uvb.
  • Temperature -basking spot is 84. overall is 78. lowest night temp was 68. digital thermometer that I check more frequently than you can imagine.
  • Humidity - Humidity level is at 50% if it hits 40% I mist. Using a hygrometer for the pet store to measure.
  • Plants - Yes, I have a bonsai tree, and a pothos plant start that will be transplanted in bigger enclosure.
  • Placement - Cage is in my bedroom away from high traffic, air vent near by. enclosure is 3 and a half feet from the floor. she's the highest point in the room....99% of the time.
  • Location - Northern Idaho

    Please excuse my crap camera, I shattered the lens on my phone slipping on ice. Biggest question I have is how do I tell how old she is? And should I be concerned about eggs yet? Shes still eating actively as of now, I did put a pot in her enclosure and put a blanket around so she had privacy, but she didnt go down into it. I snuck a camera on top to see LOL
Click to expand...
The cage needs some work! I’ll tag a few people who can review you husbandry @ERKleRose @Beman but someone else might chime in instead! If you can post a better picture on her side and entire length would be better. @kinyonga @MissSkittles can help you set up a laying bin if you do not have one yet!
 
AwkwardZombie13 said:
Chameleon Info:

  • Your Chameleon -Veiled Chameleon, Female, No clue how old, been in my care for almost a month.
  • Handling - 1 time, every 2 or so days, she's very sweet, and never shows stress signs when holding her. If she seems cranky, I leave her alone.
  • Feeding - Crickets, bok choy, collard greens, occasional wax worm or meal worm. 10 crickets/day. Once in the morning about 30 minutes after lights on. Once at night, about an hour and a half before lights out. Gut loading crickets with oranges, apples, broccoli, and flukers high-calcium cricket diet.
  • Supplements - Repti-Calcium w/o d3 every day in the mornings except 1 time/2 weeks when I use repti-vite or calcium w/ d3.
  • Watering - Misting 3-5 times a day depending on humidity. mist for a minute and a half. Yes she drinks often.
  • Fecal Description - Firm, brown, lubricated exterior. White urea attached not runny, not hard. only time it was different was when the urea was very runny. called vet was told it meant she was very well hydrated. Yes she's been tested for parasites.
  • History - None that we know of.
Cage Info:

  • Cage Type - mesh cage 18x18x36 but in the process of building a 3ftx3ftx4ft screen enclosure.
  • Lighting - reptisun ho t5. its not compact its a bar. this is being changed in less than a week to a 12%uvb.
  • Temperature -basking spot is 84. overall is 78. lowest night temp was 68. digital thermometer that I check more frequently than you can imagine.
  • Humidity - Humidity level is at 50% if it hits 40% I mist. Using a hygrometer for the pet store to measure.
  • Plants - Yes, I have a bonsai tree, and a pothos plant start that will be transplanted in bigger enclosure.
  • Placement - Cage is in my bedroom away from high traffic, air vent near by. enclosure is 3 and a half feet from the floor. she's the highest point in the room....99% of the time.
  • Location - Northern Idaho

    Please excuse my crap camera, I shattered the lens on my phone slipping on ice. Biggest question I have is how do I tell how old she is? And should I be concerned about eggs yet? Shes still eating actively as of now, I did put a pot in her enclosure and put a blanket around so she had privacy, but she didnt go down into it. I snuck a camera on top to see LOL
Click to expand...
What’s the substrate at the bottom? I’d take it out substrate is unnecessary
 
cruz.m said:
What’s the substrate at the bottom? I’d take it out substrate is unnecessary
Click to expand...
It is coconut husk, and am working on bioactive which will be in larger enclosure. None of the pieces of husk are small* enough to ingest, they are very large pieces but helps keep humidity up, since we are in a place with very low humidity.
 
AwkwardZombie13 said:
It is coconut husk, and am working on bioactive which will be in larger enclosure. None of the pieces of husk are large enough to ingest but helps keep humidity up, since we are in a place with very low humidity.
Click to expand...
I don’t know have substrate nor a bio active enclosure so I’m not really sure hopefully someone else will chime in soon
 
cruz.m said:
Fake plants are not supposed to be used for veileds since they are known to eat plants and if they ever munched on the fake plant it could lead to impaction. Also you have no real sticks and I think you need some more foliage but that’s just my opinion
Click to expand...
She has never gone for any of her fake plants and the only one that she has in her enclosure is her night time spot, which she is quite fond of. I have lots of vines that she utilizes fully, and will be adding more plants in large enclosure like I mentioned. she hides quite well in her enclosure as I seem to really have to hunt to find her LOL. I will be removing all fake plants but pothos is easily shocked, so I do not want to transplant twice.
 
My feedback and any questions will be in red. I’ll also post helpful links and images at the end:

Chameleon Info:
  • Your Chameleon -Veiled Chameleon, Female, No clue how old, been in my care for almost a month. I’m horrible at aging veileds, so someone else will have to give you her age.
  • Handling - 1 time, every 2 or so days, she's very sweet, and never shows stress signs when holding her. If she seems cranky, I leave her alone. Do you handle her because she wants out of her cage? Do you just pick her up out of her cage or does she climb onto you? Whichever way, it’s probably because she’s so uncomfortable in her cage, not for wanting attention.
  • Feeding - Crickets, bok choy, collard greens, occasional wax worm or meal worm. 10 crickets/day. Once in the morning about 30 minutes after lights on. Once at night, about an hour and a half before lights out. Gut loading crickets with oranges, apples, broccoli, and flukers high-calcium cricket diet. Veileds only need live bugs only, no fruit or vegetables! Stop the broccoli and Fluker’s ASAP! Your gutload needs more variety, along with her feeder insects, I’ve posted images for both below. Waxworms should only be used as treats, along with mealworms (expect rarer or not at all). Her age will determine her feeding schedule.
  • Supplements - Repti-Calcium w/o d3 every day in the mornings except 1 time/2 weeks when I use repti-vite or calcium w/ d3. Does the Reptivite have D3 in it? Do you alternate weeks for the multivitamin and calcium with D3 or do something different?
  • Watering - Misting 3-5 times a day depending on humidity. mist for a minute and a half. Yes she drinks often. Daytime mistings should be a minimum of 2-5+ minutes long. Try to only mist in the morning and late afternoon/night for her daytime mistings when her cage is cooler if the humidity allows it.
  • Fecal Description - Firm, brown, lubricated exterior. White urea attached not runny, not hard. only time it was different was when the urea was very runny. called vet was told it meant she was very well hydrated. Yes she's been tested for parasites. Were any more of her fecals checked (while fresh) after the first one? It's recommended to drop off at least 2 more fresh fecal samples afterwards to make sure no parasites were missed.
  • History - None that we know of. When you went to the vet, did they do bloodwork or x-rays or anything else? Is the vet experienced with chameleons?
Cage Info:

  • Cage Type - mesh cage 18x18x36 but in the process of building a 3ftx3ftx4ft screen enclosure. Great! Can she easily get in and out of her lay bin, and is it the correct material and moisture level? What size is her lay bin? Take out all substrate ASAP, too! Get TONS more live plants, real or fake vines (no Exo Terra vines- so replace those, and no fake plants with leaves on them), and branches in there ASAP, as well! What are you going to use for your bioactive substrate and how deep will it be? I’ve posted two great cage set-up links below, along with a lay bin info image.
  • Lighting - reptisun ho t5. its not compact its a bar. this is being changed in less than a week to a 12%uvb. How long is the fixture? What strength and brand is the bulb in it? Don’t replace with an Arcadia 12%, that is way too strong for her current cage! It would have to be hung some distance away from the cage, and the cage would have to have TONS more foliage! Get either an Arcadia 6% (replace yearly) or a Zoo Med 5.0 (replace every 6 months)! Get a Solarmeter 6.5 if you can afford it! It’ll give you precise UVI readings, let you know if an UVB bulb is defective, and tell you when to replace the UVB (when the readings are cut in half). How far away is the UVB bulb from her basking branch? What type and color of basking bulb do you use? Do you use anything else besides UVB and basking bulbs (one of each)?
  • Temperature -basking spot is 84. overall is 78. lowest night temp was 68. digital thermometer that I check more frequently than you can imagine. Her basking spot (where her casque/top of her back is when she’s on her basking branch) shouldn’t go over 78-80*F max! Her ambient levels are high, too. Is that the lowest you can go at night? Veileds love a nighttime temp drop! Does the thermometer have a probe on it? You need a dedicated digital thermometer with a probe to measure basking temps (place where I said above) and two or more digital ones to measure ambient temps in different parts of her cage.
  • Humidity - Humidity level is at 50% if it hits 40% I mist. Using a hygrometer for the pet store to measure. That is the max level for during the day. For veileds, it should be between 30-50% during the day and up to 100% at night. Do you use a fogger or anything? Is the hygrometer digital? You need at least two.
  • Plants - Yes, I have a bonsai tree, and a pothos plant start that will be transplanted in bigger enclosure. Live chameleon-safe plants only! Veileds will try to eat anything, so fake plants are an impaction risk! Make sure properly clean the entire plant beforehand, as well as covering all soil in the pots with rocks too big for her to eat! Get a lot more live plants, real branches of multiple species and diameters (just not any from toxic or sap-producing trees), live or dead real vines and fake vines without leaves on them! The Exo Terra vines need to be taken out as they can cause health issues.
  • Placement - Cage is in my bedroom away from high traffic, air vent near by. enclosure is 3 and a half feet from the floor. she's the highest point in the room....99% of the time. Could you raise up her enclosure even more? Chameleons need to be high up and have tons of foliage to feel safe.
  • Location - Northern Idaho

    Please excuse my crap camera, I shattered the lens on my phone slipping on ice. Biggest question I have is how do I tell how old she is? And should I be concerned about eggs yet? Shes still eating actively as of now, I did put a pot in her enclosure and put a blanket around so she had privacy, but she didnt go down into it. I snuck a camera on top to see LOL
Here are the helpful links and images (make sure to read through every module and listen to as many podcasts as you can from The Chameleon Academy, as they have the most up-to-date and accurate info!):
https://www.chameleons.info/en/
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/keeping-female-veiled.html
http://www.muchadoaboutchameleons.com/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/external-resources/
https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-husbandry-program-getting-started-with-chameleons/
https://chameleonacademy.com/veiled-chameleon-care/
https://chameleonacademy.com/plants/
https://chameleonacademy.com/setting-up-a-chameleon-cage/
http://www.muchadoaboutchameleons.com/2012/04/how-to-set-up-proper-chameleon.html
 

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AwkwardZombie13 said:
She has never gone for any of her fake plants and the only one that she has in her enclosure is her night time spot, which she is quite fond of. I have lots of vines that she utilizes fully, and will be adding more plants in large enclosure like I mentioned. she hides quite well in her enclosure as I seem to really have to hunt to find her LOL. I will be removing all fake plants but pothos is easily shocked, so I do not want to transplant twice.
Click to expand...
Please remove the fake plants asap, you may think she wont eat them but you will regret not taking them out when she does
 
oof where to start.

Handling- I have watched videos saying you can keep them from being as cranky, if you handle them more frequently. So I've been trying to do that. typically she doesnt want to leave her cage. I will gladly stop handling her as often if that's a problem, or shouldn't happen. She is fine once she is out and displays no signs of stress. Most times though, she IS cranky if I go to handle her, again I leave her alone if she is cranky.

Food- I was told to offer edible plants to her, she never touches the bok choy or collard greens, but I have it there as an option because I was told to give her the opportunity to. I will stop offering those. She mainly eats crickets, when I say occasional wax worm or meal worm it is VERY seldom, but I have them in the house because my oldest daughter has a beardie. Can I ask why not to give flukers high-calcium diet in addition to leafy greens and fruit? I can understand giving more but why take away an option for the crickets?

Supplements- I am alternating between Calcium w/d3 and Reptivite (also with d/3) every other week.

Watering- I work from home so am around more often, I will mist for longer, and less frequently.

Fecal Descriptions- the pet store I purchased from had done fecal samples. It is a highly reputable and privately owned store, from which i've done business for many years. I trust that they are honest. They assumed she was about 5 months old.

Cage- I'm using the bio-guys' substrate for bio-active. Will replace the exo-terra and use branches instead. again adding pothos to larger enclosure, do not want to transplant twice as its highly susceptible to shock. She can easily get in and out of the laying bin when it is in her enclosure. should I keep it there all the time? was a large bucket probably a 3 gallon capacity but deep. substrate was moist enough for tunnels to be built without concaving.

Light- will only be replaced in larger enclosure.

Temp- I will move the basking spot lower so she is not too warm. I use a blue daylight bulb. I'm sure her cage drops lower as that reading is only a few hours after lights out, but i'm slightly narcoleptic so late nights and I don't get along.

Humidity- I was told between 40-60% humidity. I figured mid range was good. I can let it drop more if need be. I intend on having a fogger at night in larger enclosure.

plants- she has 1 fake plant total. I am removing it when she transfers to larger enclosure with (MORE PLANTS :p) Thank you so much for the input here. Pothos will be added. The bonsai is in the fern family and I have done lots of research on whether it is safe. I will add more plants in and more branches replace the exo-terra vines.

Height- Unfortunately that's the highest place I can put her until her other enclosure is finished, when it is she will be four feet from the ground or more.
 
AwkwardZombie13 said:
oof where to start.

Handling- I have watched videos saying you can keep them from being as cranky, if you handle them more frequently. So I've been trying to do that. typically she doesnt want to leave her cage. I will gladly stop handling her as often if that's a problem, or shouldn't happen. She is fine once she is out and displays no signs of stress. Most times though, she IS cranky if I go to handle her, again I leave her alone if she is cranky.

Food- I was told to offer edible plants to her, she never touches the bok choy or collard greens, but I have it there as an option because I was told to give her the opportunity to. I will stop offering those. She mainly eats crickets, when I say occasional wax worm or meal worm it is VERY seldom, but I have them in the house because my oldest daughter has a beardie. Can I ask why not to give flukers high-calcium diet in addition to leafy greens and fruit? I can understand giving more but why take away an option for the crickets?

Supplements- I am alternating between Calcium w/d3 and Reptivite (also with d/3) every other week.

Watering- I work from home so am around more often, I will mist for longer, and less frequently.

Fecal Descriptions- the pet store I purchased from had done fecal samples. It is a highly reputable and privately owned store, from which i've done business for many years. I trust that they are honest. They assumed she was about 5 months old.

Cage- I'm using the bio-guys' substrate for bio-active. Will replace the exo-terra and use branches instead. again adding pothos to larger enclosure, do not want to transplant twice as its highly susceptible to shock. She can easily get in and out of the laying bin when it is in her enclosure. should I keep it there all the time? was a large bucket probably a 3 gallon capacity but deep. substrate was moist enough for tunnels to be built without concaving.

Light- will only be replaced in larger enclosure.

Temp- I will move the basking spot lower so she is not too warm. I use a blue daylight bulb. I'm sure her cage drops lower as that reading is only a few hours after lights out, but i'm slightly narcoleptic so late nights and I don't get along.

Humidity- I was told between 40-60% humidity. I figured mid range was good. I can let it drop more if need be. I intend on having a fogger at night in larger enclosure.

plants- she has 1 fake plant total. I am removing it when she transfers to larger enclosure with (MORE PLANTS :p) Thank you so much for the input here. Pothos will be added. The bonsai is in the fern family and I have done lots of research on whether it is safe. I will add more plants in and more branches replace the exo-terra vines.

Height- Unfortunately that's the highest place I can put her until her other enclosure is finished, when it is she will be four feet from the ground or more.
Click to expand...
Your supplements and schedule is 😬. I’ll let someone else review your husbandry though. Also when will you be transferring her to the bigger enclosure?? The sooner the better
 
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