My first veiled (Female? Adolescent?)

[Dave]

Greetings everyone,
This is my first post/thread on this forum. Checked out a few threads and I'm very pleased with the amount of information I've absorbed from the site. I'd like to introduce you to Liz, my first female Veiled. I adopted her from my local Petco, which I work at as well. A father and younger child about 11 years old brought her in, sayin the child lost interest and didn't give her the proper care. I adopted her, and now she's staying in a temporary 20"L x 11"W x 22"H cage. I'm currently in the process of buying supplies to build a 2.5'L x 2.5'W x 5'H cage, should be built in a couple weeks. Any comments or advice on the cage would be much appreciated.

Also, I've noticed she really doesn't change any other colors away from green, and brown when she's stressed. Will this change with maturity? What's the approx. age of her, just curious? Any advice, comments, or suggestions is very appreciated! Thanks!

And here she is!

And the cage..

Also...are majestic palms bad for veiled chameleons? She seemed to like chillin at the top.

-Dave

 

[Julirs]

She is a cute little thing-and yes her colors will change with age, though not as much as a male. You will need a UVB light-preferably a Zoomed Reptisun 5.0 flourescent linear tube, not a coiled lamp.

 

[Dave]

She is a cute little thing-and yes her colors will change with age, though not as much as a male. You will need a UVB light-preferably a Zoomed Reptisun 5.0 flourescent linear tube, not a coiled lamp.

Thanks!! That small light at the top is actually equipped with a Powersun UVB lamp. I figured it would be sufficient temporarily until I can complete my new, larger enclosure and I put a couple florescent bulbs in addition to the Powersun and a ceramic heater. 2 Reptisun 5.0's should be sufficient for a 5' tall cage, right?

 

[Cally95]

Hey Dave,

I am sure others will chime in, but I dont think you need the ceramic heater. Some people start out saying they are going to use it at night, but unless your temps drop below about 60 (some even say 50)degress you dont need heat at night. The temperature drop is good for the cham, they need it for there systems to work properly. It sounds wierd the way I am saying it, but if you search around here you will find its true. All you need for lights is the Reptisun 5.0 linear flourescent tube bulb and a heat spot light. Be careful with that powersun I think they are ranked pretty high in watts, especially until you get a bigger cage. Those glass cages will heat up a lot quicker then you would think and could cook a little cham. For heat/spot light you can just use a regular house bulb or a special reptile spot bulb, but you might want get a good (they arent expensive)digital thermometer with a probe on it so you can test your temps in different areas of the cage. Good luck and she is a cutie!!

Dell

 

[kinyonga]

Welcome to the forum!
The chameleon looks quite good!

Do you know about supplementing? Gutloading? Watering chameleons?

With all female veileds you should have a suitable place for her to dig in the cage so that if she needs to lay eggs she has a place. Unmated female veileds can lay eggs...and failure to provide a suitable place for her to do so can lead to eggbinding.

Here are some sites with good information...
http://www.adcham.com/
http://www.chameleonnews.com/
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/index.htm
http://web.archive.org/web/20060502...als.com/vet/index.php?show=8.Gout.Basics.html

 

[Dave]

Hey Dave,

I am sure others will chime in, but I dont think you need the ceramic heater. Some people start out saying they are going to use it at night, but unless your temps drop below about 60 (some even say 50)degress you dont need heat at night. The temperature drop is good for the cham, they need it for there systems to work properly. It sounds wierd the way I am saying it, but if you search around here you will find its true. All you need for lights is the Reptisun 5.0 linear flourescent tube bulb and a heat spot light. Be careful with that powersun I think they are ranked pretty high in watts, especially until you get a bigger cage. Those glass cages will heat up a lot quicker then you would think and could cook a little cham. For heat/spot light you can just use a regular house bulb or a special reptile spot bulb, but you might want get a good (they arent expensive)digital thermometer with a probe on it so you can test your temps in different areas of the cage. Good luck and she is a cutie!!

Dell

Thank you for all the advice and comments. I've got 2 zoomed therometers posted on each end of the glass aquarium, and I can't seem to get that reading higher than 80 degrees, even with 3 heating pads and the powersun lamp running. That's why I was considering a ceramic heater.

Would the temperature close to the lamp (the basking spot) still be close to 90-100 degrees, even with the reading of 80 degrees inside the glass aquarium???

 

[Dave]

Welcome to the forum!
The chameleon looks quite good!

Do you know about supplementing? Gutloading? Watering chameleons?

With all female veileds you should have a suitable place for her to dig in the cage so that if she needs to lay eggs she has a place. Unmated female veileds can lay eggs...and failure to provide a suitable place for her to do so can lead to eggbinding.

Here are some sites with good information...
http://www.adcham.com/
http://www.chameleonnews.com/
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/index.htm
http://web.archive.org/web/20060502...als.com/vet/index.php?show=8.Gout.Basics.html

I've read up on all the subjects, but any advice would be great. I unfortunately don't have room in the temporary cage I have now for a 5 gallon bucket half full of playsand (obviously), so I'm trying to get the new cage done ASAP. How soon would she be ready to lay eggs? Is she close??

And as I said, even though Ive read up on gutloading and supplements, any pointers would be great. As of right now, I drop about 12 large crickets in the tank every 4 days or so, after dusting them with Jurassi-Vite Vitamin supplement. Should I take another method? I also feed her 5 waxworms a week by placing them in a bowl inside the cage. Where can I get silkworms? Ive heard them to be a great source of calcium.

-Dave

 

[Brad Ramsey]

http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/

-Brad

 

[Dave]

http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/

-Brad

Thanks! I read the whole site, very informative, felt like I got a real expert's first hand advice from it.

 

[Cally95]

Dave,

Hello, I think you have probably read this but the heating pads will not do you any good. You want the heat in a spot area at the top of the cage, not the bottom or glass area. The stick on the glass thermometers will not give you an accuate reading. They are junk in my opinion (when it comes to chams) You will want to get a thermo with a probe so you can place it right under the spot area to get an accuate temp. You can move the probe around and test various areas. I think it is great that you read Brad's link that he posted. Also, regarding the silkworms...go the the chameleon food forum and search there, there is tons of info on silkworms.


Dell