Need Chameleon Advice

KDaters

KDaters

Member
Hello all, I’m new to Chameleon ownership and unfortunately fell into this with zero research. I Saw what conditions this Cham was dealing with and couldn’t Not rescue it.

I have a veiled Chameleon from PetsMart. I’m on day two of this and from what I have researched I’d guess this Chameleon is about 4”-5” from nose to vent max. 5-6ish months old? I have the Reptibreeze Chameleon kit. 16x16x30 terrarium. It came with a 5.0 UVB 13 watt bulb, a 60 Watt daylight blue bulb. A mini combo deep some dual lamp. Repti Calcium sample, reptivite vitamins and reptisafe water conditioner.

I’m misting the cage by a little hand bottle until I can pick up an automated rain dropper or mister. Day one I only fed it two super worms and read that I didn’t feed it nearly enough so I bought small crickets, fed them oranges, apples, cricket calcium and cat food. Then released maybe 15 into the cage today (two left).

I don’t know if it’s a male or female but found this forum and am looking to all of you for your guidance on being a successful owner for this little one. Any feedback and advice is greatly appreciated!

Thank you -Kyle
 

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Hi Kyle, glad you're here so we can help you to help your cham. I'm going to need you to fill out this help form, itll make it easier for everyone involved to give you the guidance you need to make sure your cham lives a long and healthy life with you. Please be as specific as possible with as much detail as possible, and take as many pictures as you can. Of the cham and the entire enclosure top to bottom. If you are wanting a sexing on your cham, take close up pictures of the backs of its feet as well as full body profile pictures. If I had to guess I would say you have a female on your hands, which is more work and responsibility than a male. Others will chime in as well.

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.
 
Think (forest canopy) is where they live, get a 24 x 24 x 48 cage any brand... find a mulberry tree or oak tree cut branches, a bunch!!! I put 150ft of cut up branches in mine get a pothos and zip ties!!! Bam...put it together, also need a linear uv light I would get a 24" 32 watt fixture for a uv light at home depot costs 15.00 uv light cost 22.00 and get 2 seperate single dome light fixture from home depot 7.00 each put a 6500k plant light in 1 and a 25 watt house bulb for heat light in another total cost should be about 100.00 to 150.00
 
Thank you Daesie!

Chameleon Info:
  • Your Chameleon - Veiled, sex Not Sure, Approximately 5-6 months old. Two Days in my care.
  • Handling - I have only Handled the chameleon once.
  • Feeding - Two superworms Yesterday and about 13 crickets today (I am looking for help creating a schedule) The crickets I have in a critter keeper with orange and apples slices, cat food and Flukers high-calcium cricket diet.
  • Supplements - The Chameleon Kit came with Repti Calcium but from what I've read so far it's pretty much garbage?
  • Watering - I am using a hand held squirt bottle until I can pick up an automated mister. I am doing this several times a day, saturating the fake plant (It dries up pretty quickly so I am trying to stay on top of it). I'm looking for a pothos plant to put in the cage but so far I haven't found them anywhere. I haven't seen the cham drinking yet and this is concerning to me.
  • Fecal Description - Has not been tested and so far I haven't seen a fecal dropping.
  • History - No history as this is day two for me. It looked to be starving and not in great shape at PetsMart which is why I decided to do this. I understand it's not an ideal circumstance but that's why I'm happy to have found this forum.

Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - It is a 16x16x30 ReptiBreeze Screen Terrarium. (I'll attach pictures of the whole cage after this post).
  • Lighting - The Kit came with a ZooMed 60W Daylight Blue Bulb and a ZooMed 5.0 UVB ReptiSun 13W Tropical Bulb (Mini compact Fluorescent.
  • Temperature - Cage floor is at around 65 Degrees, Basking spot is at around 81 degrees. Overnight temperature of the house is set to 65 degrees. This is measured using the gauge that came with the Kit.
  • Humidity - At the moment I don't have a way to measure the humidity. I have been misting often since the fake plants the kit came with seem to dry up quickly. I do not want the Chameleon to be dehydrated.
  • Plants - I'm looking for a pothos vine to put in the cage. We have a grape vine in our backyard, I have placed some of the larger leaves in the cage (not pictured) to try and hold some humidity and provide some hiding spots.
  • Placement - Cage is located on top of a dresser in a bedroom. Top of cage to the floor would be about 6 and half feet. Not located near any vents or fans. The only traffic would be us entering and leaving the bedroom.
  • Location - Reno, Nevada.
 
Will add a live pothos vine and automated mister soon, also looking for a waterfall to place in the bottom of terrarium.
 

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My edits will be in red!
Chameleon Info:
  • Your Chameleon - Veiled, sex Not Sure, Approximately 5-6 months old. Two Days in my care.
  • Handling - I have only Handled the chameleon once.
  • Feeding - Two superworms Yesterday and about 13 crickets today (I am looking for help creating a schedule) The crickets I have in a critter keeper with orange and apples slices, cat food and Flukers high-calcium cricket diet. Superworms are to be given as treats only. Its recommended to max out at 3 a day. Super worms are known to be really addictive to chams and they can refuse other food in favor of supers. They dont gutload well, which is why they arent recommended as staple feeders. Crickets are great for when they are young, but they are also known to carry a lot of parasites so you have to be careful where you get them from. Rule of thumb is to not get them from a place that also sells chams! We have a ton of great site sponsors that offer a variety of feeders. Your gutload will need improvement, I'll add a care image at the end that outlines the best gutload. Get rid of the cat food asap.
  • Supplements - The Chameleon Kit came with Repti Calcium but from what I've read so far it's pretty much garbage? Yep, the cham kit is garbage. I would recommend getting the Repashy plus LoD. It's an all in one supplement that can be given at every feeding.
  • Watering - I am using a hand held squirt bottle until I can pick up an automated mister. I am doing this several times a day, saturating the fake plant (It dries up pretty quickly so I am trying to stay on top of it). I'm looking for a pothos plant to put in the cage but so far I haven't found them anywhere. I haven't seen the cham drinking yet and this is concerning to me. Dont be too concerned about not seeing him drink. They are shy animals and probably wont drink while you're watching. You want to pay attention to the fecal to get an idea of whether he is hydrating. You'll definitely want an automated mister, it makes things easier. But IMO it's more of a luxury than a necessity, so if money is an issue you can put it off until a later paycheck.
  • Fecal Description - Has not been tested and so far I haven't seen a fecal dropping. I can not stress enough how important it's going to be for you to take your cham to a reputable vet with chameleon experience for a checkup and a fecal exam done. Not only will it give you peace of mind, but you have no idea what it has been exposed to at PetSmart. Do it sooner rather than later.
  • History - No history as this is day two for me. It looked to be starving and not in great shape at PetsMart which is why I decided to do this. I understand it's not an ideal circumstance but that's why I'm happy to have found this forum.

Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - It is a 16x16x30 ReptiBreeze Screen Terrarium. (I'll attach pictures of the whole cage after this post). You need to upgrade this to a 2x2x4 enclosure at minimum.
  • Lighting - The Kit came with a ZooMed 60W Daylight Blue Bulb and a ZooMed 5.0 UVB ReptiSun 13W Tropical Bulb (Mini compact Fluorescent. This is going to be one of the most important things to fix. You need to get rid of the blue bulb, you can just use a normal household incandescent bumb. 60W is good. More importantly, the UVB bb that it came with is garbage! You're going to need to upgrade to a T5HO linear fixture. I recommend a quad fixture. I used the Odyssea fixture which can be found on Amazon. It's much cheaper than other options. If you get a quad you'll want either an arcadia 12% or a 10.0 bulb. The other slots can be plant grow bulbs.
  • Temperature - Cage floor is at around 65 Degrees, Basking spot is at around 81 degrees. Overnight temperature of the house is set to 65 degrees. This is measured using the gauge that came with the Kit. @JoXie411 I'm not sure about veiled temps and humidity, can you give OP some tips?
  • Humidity - At the moment I don't have a way to measure the humidity. I have been misting often since the fake plants the kit came with seem to dry up quickly. I do not want the Chameleon to be dehydrated.
  • Plants - I'm looking for a pothos vine to put in the cage. We have a grape vine in our backyard, I have placed some of the larger leaves in the cage (not pictured) to try and hold some humidity and provide some hiding spots.
  • Placement - Cage is located on top of a dresser in a bedroom. Top of cage to the floor would be about 6 and half feet. Not located near any vents or fans. The only traffic would be us entering and leaving the bedroom.
  • Location - Reno, Nevada.

You're on the right track, but you have a lot to adjust still. Take it one at a time and you'll find it's not as overwhelming as it seems. Youre going to want to get a lot more plants. Lots more than just one more pothos plant. You want to have it be very dense foliage so your cham has plenty of places to hide both from you and the "sun"! There is a cham sage plant list on FLChams website.
 

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KobaOregonherper said:
...when someone says "they rescued" and they spent $$$. Atleaat youre here now I guess.
Click to expand...
I don’t agree with that statement, when you “rescue” a dog from a shelter it’s a rescue you paid for. So did you really rescue it?

I found Imelda on craigs list at deaths door I could t talk the person into just giving her to me because they just wanted what they paid for her because they were trying to help a friend then realized they messed up because they didn’t know what there where doing and didn’t want to kill her, so I think of the payment as a rehoming fee
 
JoXie411 said:
I don’t agree with that statement, when you “rescue” a dog from a shelter it’s a rescue you paid for. So did you really rescue it?

I found Imelda on craigs list at deaths door I could t talk the person into just giving her to me because they just wanted what they paid for her because they were trying to help a friend then realized they messed up because they didn’t know what there where doing and didn’t want to kill her, so I think of the payment as a rehoming fee
Click to expand...

Rehoming from a shelter doesnt promote a large business to keep putting an animal into that situation. So were goi g to have agree to disagree.
 
KobaOregonherper said:
What others imply? So you promote buying chameleons from petco and petsmart got it lol.
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I do not think @KDaters needs your definition‘s . She has a chameleon that she needs help with . She has upgrades to get done . To come In This thread to fight about where she got him from is useless . Please add useful information .

@KDaters where are you located . We can see what vets you have in your area . Or maybe you know if a good one ?
 
If it's done, it's done. I don't see any reason to bother arguing semantics. Kyle's here looking for help, not to be berated for an impulse purchase. Many of us have done the same. Heck, I did the same with Lily - she was in moderately rough shape at a mom and pop store, and I felt badly enough that I gave the manager a long talking to, got a steep discount, and took her home.

Let's stay on topic and get this cham set up properly. (y)

You've been given lots of great advice @KDaters - welcome to the forums! Read, read, and read some more; always something to be learned! :)
 
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