I got a one year old veiled chameleon two days ago. She has been at my local pet store for 3 months and has been very happy and healthy there. Since we brought her home and got her cage set up she hasn't moved. She sits in one spot on her vine. She was very active at the store. I have 2 vines in there, a wood climbing branch, a fake plant and a potted plant. She won't eat or drink and if we walk over to her cage she hisses at us, leans away and puffs up. I know she needs to to adjust to her new place, my concern is that she's not moving around the cage and every once in a while she makes a strange noise and lifts her head up towards the ceiling. If I had to describe it it's kind of like a squeaky cough. I don't see any drainage or mucus in her mouth, eyes or nose. I'm just really worried and don't know how long to let it go. Is she just stressed with the New surroundings. We have her in the living room.
need advice new veiled owner
- Thread starter emerald76
- Start date
jannb
Chameleon Enthusiast
Welcome to the forums. I'm sorry to hear that your new girl is not settling in nicely. Do you have a laying bin in her enclosure for her? At her age she could definitely lay eggs, not that it's eggs causing the problem now but could be down the road. Please post some photos of your girl and her enclosure. If you will also fill out the Ask For Help Form and give as much detail as you can with your answers, we will try to help you figure out what's going on with her.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/
Ok here we go. I uploaded an album on my profile page of her. Now here's do backgrOund info. As far as handling we have done as little as possible. Just once to put her into her cage. But my hands have been in her cage twice to rearrange some things.
Feeding - she hasn't eaten for me but I have crickets, meal worms, super worms and mustard greens. I also have repti-cal for dusting
water - I Read that they don't like to be sprayed so I have missed her plants and let some water drip from the top of her cage
fecal - she has had one dropping, it was Brown and white and both solid with a little liquid
cage - right now she is in a16x16x30 all screen enclosure but am hoping to get her a24x24x48 in a few weeks
Lights - we have 3 lights a uvb and 2 basking/heat lights. One for night time
temperature - top of cage 75-80 bottom 65-70. I have 2 thermometer in the cage
humidity - have a gauge in there and it stays between 50-60. She has a potted golden pothos and misting
placement - she is in the corner of our living room. Next to the couch on top of an end table. Is about 3 feet of the floor.
location -i live in Massachusetts. So it has starts to get cold. The heat is on and it gets down to about 65 in the house at night.
I don't have a laying bin but I have 4-5 inches of reptile soil. Can't remember the name. On the bottom of her cage. But like I said my concern is that she's not moving from that one area on the vine that she's sitting in the picture. I posted a close up too
Feeding - she hasn't eaten for me but I have crickets, meal worms, super worms and mustard greens. I also have repti-cal for dusting
water - I Read that they don't like to be sprayed so I have missed her plants and let some water drip from the top of her cage
fecal - she has had one dropping, it was Brown and white and both solid with a little liquid
cage - right now she is in a16x16x30 all screen enclosure but am hoping to get her a24x24x48 in a few weeks
Lights - we have 3 lights a uvb and 2 basking/heat lights. One for night time
temperature - top of cage 75-80 bottom 65-70. I have 2 thermometer in the cage
humidity - have a gauge in there and it stays between 50-60. She has a potted golden pothos and misting
placement - she is in the corner of our living room. Next to the couch on top of an end table. Is about 3 feet of the floor.
location -i live in Massachusetts. So it has starts to get cold. The heat is on and it gets down to about 65 in the house at night.
I don't have a laying bin but I have 4-5 inches of reptile soil. Can't remember the name. On the bottom of her cage. But like I said my concern is that she's not moving from that one area on the vine that she's sitting in the picture. I posted a close up too
Attachments
jannb
Chameleon Enthusiast
Phoebe is quite the lovely little lady. I love veileds and the girls are so sweet. My guess is the reason she is sitting in the same place is because there's not much in her cage and it's to small for a year old female veiled. I'm attaching a thread where other members have posted pictures of there enclosures so you can get ideas how to set hers up. This is one that i really like. https://www.chameleonforums.com/mem...luminum-cage-picture4609-cage-laying-bin.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/official-enclosure-picture-thread-49688/
Also there's a few things that need to be changed in the way you are keeping her. Her basking temps should be a little higher....82 to 83. No night light. They need at least a 10 degree drop in temps at night. If it falls below that get a ceramic heat bulb or even better a small heater for her room. You need three supplements to keep her healthy. Calcium without d3 at just about every feeding, calcium with d3 twice a month and a multi vit. twice a month. I'm going to attach my blog below for how I keep my guys. She needs nothing on bottom of the cage floor because once she starts moving veileds eat everything and can be come impacted. She also looks like she could have eggs. She needs a laying bin 10 to 12 inches deep to lay in. I recommend keeping a bin in the enclosure at all times after they reach 4 months old. I'm also attaching links for female care, egg laying and how to set up a laying bin video.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...-keepers-young-veiled-panther-chameleons.html
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/keeping-female-veiled.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/jannb/345-egg-laying-laying-bin.html#comment2073
https://www.chameleonforums.com/laying-bin-set-up-educational-video-77225/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/official-enclosure-picture-thread-49688/
Also there's a few things that need to be changed in the way you are keeping her. Her basking temps should be a little higher....82 to 83. No night light. They need at least a 10 degree drop in temps at night. If it falls below that get a ceramic heat bulb or even better a small heater for her room. You need three supplements to keep her healthy. Calcium without d3 at just about every feeding, calcium with d3 twice a month and a multi vit. twice a month. I'm going to attach my blog below for how I keep my guys. She needs nothing on bottom of the cage floor because once she starts moving veileds eat everything and can be come impacted. She also looks like she could have eggs. She needs a laying bin 10 to 12 inches deep to lay in. I recommend keeping a bin in the enclosure at all times after they reach 4 months old. I'm also attaching links for female care, egg laying and how to set up a laying bin video.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...-keepers-young-veiled-panther-chameleons.html
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/keeping-female-veiled.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/jannb/345-egg-laying-laying-bin.html#comment2073
https://www.chameleonforums.com/laying-bin-set-up-educational-video-77225/
Thank you so much. I am going to look into all your info after work today. I feel so bad that she is stressed out. I thought it might be the small cage. She was a gift to me from my daughter and I don't have the cash at the moment but I'm hoping I can find a big enough one on sale somewhere this week. I need to look around. Any suggestions would be great as to where to purchase a cage.
RyU
New Member
You can try craigslist to find a used cage if you can't afford a new one. I made all of mine using wood from old bedframes. They are ugly as hell but they keep the chameleons inside and are pretty big.
Try to find something leafy that your chameleon can hide behind. Wrap it around your vines.
You can also look into a free range setup. Some of mine simply include a big artificial plant with plastic under it for droppings and water, with lamps on top.
Carlton
Chameleon Enthusiast
I agree with what others have already suggested. One thought I did want to offer though:
When you say she seemed active at the pet store, you might be misinterpreting her behavior there. A busy pet shop can be a stressful place for a cham especially if they didn't have much hiding cover. What you saw as happy (brighter color and activity) might have actually been anxiety and agitation. She may have been moving around a lot more because she was constantly trying to escape a small display setup, too many fingers tapping on glass, prying eyes, and constant motion around her.
A healthy relaxed cham that feels secure may not be all that active during the average day. Their color won't be as brilliant and once they settle in to their new territory they find a couple of favorite perches from which they can sit and watch the world go by.
So, make the changes suggested and let us know how she does, OK?
update
just a quick update. Phoebe seems to be doing a little better today. for the first time since we brought her home she was exploring her cage today. she walked from the top to the bottom and hung out down there for a few minutes before making her way back to her favorite spot on her vine at the top of her cage. it was super warm here today and the top of her cage reached 87 degrees. so maybe that's part of the reason she was moving. she still won't take any food or water from me but I put 3 crickets in her cage this morning and don't currently see them so here's hoping she ate something!
on a different note I just ordered her a cage from diycages! it should be in with in the next week. it measures 24x24x48! with a fluorescent light. hopefully she will be happier in there. I will go out this weekend and get more vines, plants, and a box for her to lay eggs. once it is all set up I will post pictures and updates on my little friend!
just a quick update. Phoebe seems to be doing a little better today. for the first time since we brought her home she was exploring her cage today. she walked from the top to the bottom and hung out down there for a few minutes before making her way back to her favorite spot on her vine at the top of her cage. it was super warm here today and the top of her cage reached 87 degrees. so maybe that's part of the reason she was moving. she still won't take any food or water from me but I put 3 crickets in her cage this morning and don't currently see them so here's hoping she ate something!
on a different note I just ordered her a cage from diycages! it should be in with in the next week. it measures 24x24x48! with a fluorescent light. hopefully she will be happier in there. I will go out this weekend and get more vines, plants, and a box for her to lay eggs. once it is all set up I will post pictures and updates on my little friend!
jannb
Chameleon Enthusiast
That's excellent news! She will love it. I would recommend putting something, even if it's small, in with her now to dig in......just incase. You don't want her to become egg bound and going to the bottom, she could have been looking for a lay bin. If you see her digging in the small container you could always take her out of the cage and put her in a big laying bin. I use a big trash can. You can see a picture of it in my egg laying blog linked above.
RyU
New Member
Awesome! Looking forward to seeing the new setup!
inlinefourpower
New Member
Seconding what everyone else has said. She's probably nervous but she's not hiding behind her plants, she's staying up right underneath the basking bulb. She needs a little bit higher of temps. So, that indicates to me that she's a little cold. If you elevate the temps a little bit and give her some more plant cover I think she'll be in good shape shortly.
She's a nice green color, though, so I don't think she has huge amounts of stress, though, I think she'll be happy very soon!
Also, the new cage you ordered is excellent! 24x24x48 is a perfect size!
And one last piece of advice, if you don't see your chameleon drinking try not to worry too much. Keep the cage misted if you're worried and keep droplets of water on the leaves near where she hangs out. Most people don't see their chameleons drink, though. Read this thread ( https://www.chameleonforums.com/poop-101-a-120171/ ) and pay attention to her urates and you'll know if there's a problem.
She's a nice green color, though, so I don't think she has huge amounts of stress, though, I think she'll be happy very soon!
Also, the new cage you ordered is excellent! 24x24x48 is a perfect size!
And one last piece of advice, if you don't see your chameleon drinking try not to worry too much. Keep the cage misted if you're worried and keep droplets of water on the leaves near where she hangs out. Most people don't see their chameleons drink, though. Read this thread ( https://www.chameleonforums.com/poop-101-a-120171/ ) and pay attention to her urates and you'll know if there's a problem.
I haven't heard her make any strange noises in the past 2 days. and I haven't seen her in that position either. it was like she was coughing or choking. scared the crap out of me.
so I looked up all your info and watch the video on the laying bin. I couldn't make one as big as suggested in her temporary cage, but I found a good size flower pot that is 8 inches deep that I got to fit in there for now. I will make a bigger one on Tuesday when her cage comes in. what is a good bin to use? do I leave the bin in her cage all the time? how often does it need to be rehydrated so it doesn't dry out?
also she was used to hand feeding at the store but still cannot get her to eat anything!!!! I have had her since Saturday and I don't think she has eaten anything. I'm getting nervous. I made her a hanging feeder out of a to go soup container and she has some worms in it, but she won't touch it. I have put 2 crickets in her cage every day but I have taken a couple dead ones out. I just don't know what to do until I get her big enclosure next week. I don't want her to die from not eating. I also put up a sheet on the side of her cage where the bin is in hopes to give her more privacy.
