Gloriawood
Chameleon Enthusiast
My feedback will be in red. I will also talk about things I previously mentioned just to keep myself on track. I will also split it into two parts. Hopefully someone will correct anything I miss!
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
Veiled Chameleon, male, ~5 years old. Had him since 2019 when he was 4 inches long, including tail length.
Five years is a long time for a veiled. Congrats! You must have taken good care of this guy! I don’t think you’ve told us his name yet?
Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
I let him climb up my arm and onto my head about once a week or whenever he wants, other than that we just hold hands unless he wants to climb on that too. (These past few days, he just weakly grabs onto me, nothing more)
it’s good to build trust with them and it sounds like you have. Veileds especially are grumpy and don’t like people, so it’s fantastic that you have built trust in a way that he will actually climb on to you!
Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
Dubia roaches, crickets, mealworms, waxworms. I stick a whole bunch in a small cup, shake it around and he just goes at it, so im not sure how much of which insect he eats. I'd say he stops at around 15 to 20 total. The roaches have this dubia roach diet thing I bought at the store, I'll throw cooked peas in there. The crickets have this orange jelly thing I bought for them. My chameleon himself won't eat anything that won't move, but I occasionally try to trick him into eating omnivore mix stuff (I'll add a picture of a little bag I brought with me). He eats every 2-3 days. (Or used to, he hasn't eaten in several days and shows no interest in doing so. I've been using flukers repta boost AMP to try to get him to eat again)
you have a great variety of bugs here! That is really important. I would however drop the mealworms. They can eat them, however they don’t really provide much nutrition. Wax worms are super fatty and should be given more like treats. I’ll attach a feeder and gutload list for you as well. He should be eating 3-5 bugs every other day or every three days.
Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
ZooMed Repticalcium (half of the little spoon in it is thrown into the cup of insects about every other feeding), Flukers Liquid Vitamin (I put 2 drops on the top of the insect cup he eats, and I do that once a week)
as mentioned before, drop the calcium with D3 and switch it for calcium without D3. Use this at every feeding. Then twice a month (say the 1st and 15th) skip the calcium and use a multivitamin. I use repashy plus LoD. This is a great product as it has your multivitamin and the D3 in one.
Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
I don't know if this is normal, but he drinks straight from the mist bottle thing I have, I just lightly press on the lever and he goes straight for it. He never drank off the dripper I bought for him or anything. I let him drink until he gets bored of it and leaves twice a day, (but he hasn't been drinking the past few days unless I give it to him through the syringe)
chameleons are shy drinkers and lots of people never see them drink. They typically drink off of leaves. Be careful with the bottle and syringe because their airway is right in the front and it’s easy to aspirate them. @Ghostbirb do you have the photo of nachito that shows this?
Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
Brown and white-ish yellow, but the last time he used the bathroom was the other day and it was more liquid with yellow. I don't really know what it used to look like before he got sick. And no he hasn't been tested for parasites before.
mostly white urates indicate hydration. More than half yellow or orange would indicate dehydration. It’s important to monitor this as they are so shy about drinking. Even if you never see them drink, you can use their urates to make sure they are. When you go to the vet tomorrrow, take a fresh sample of poo if you have one and get a parasite test. Liquid poo can sometimes be a sign of parasites.
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.
He's been sick once before, about a year go with almost similar problems but without the sunken in cheek bones and breathing weird. The hollow face/head area slowly became more apparent about 2-3 months ago.
Cage Info:
Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
For the weekend, he is with me away from home, so he's in a screen cage that could fit in the car. At home, it's a bedroom, but also there's an old 20 gallon glass fish tank I reused and combine two of the screen cages together for the top, it coves 2/3rds of the tank itself though. It's not pretty looking, but I DIYed it together and it's pretty spacious. When I get home Monday, I'll take a picture of it. I'll take a picture of the part I brought with me. It's pretty bare because I couldn't take a lot with me since I'd have to carry it and him.
recommended minimum size is 2x2x4 or equivalent. Glass fish tanks hold a lot of humidity so they are not recommended, but it’s not impossible to make it work with proper ventilation. We can talk more about the enclosure when you have photos of his regular set up.
Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
Double dome light fixture, Aqua Culture Daylight Bulb Incandescent Reptile Lighting, and Red Heat Bulb Reptile Incandescent Lighting, both 75 watts. After dark, I turn the red light on, during the day the day light is on. I don't know if there's any difference to those two bulbs besides color.
no colored lights and no light at night like said before. Your plain white heat bulb should be fine during the day. Get a linear T5HO fixture with a 05 or 6% bulb. There are a couple options, but next to the enclosure this is the most expensive piece of equipment. Arcadia makes the best, but also most expensive. Reptizoo is more affordable. If you need help choosing correct lighting, don’t be afraid to ask. This was the most confusing part for me when getting everything just right. Once you have it, his basking branch will need to be 8-9 inches below the bulb so he gets the correct amount of UVB.
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
Veiled Chameleon, male, ~5 years old. Had him since 2019 when he was 4 inches long, including tail length.
Five years is a long time for a veiled. Congrats! You must have taken good care of this guy! I don’t think you’ve told us his name yet?
Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
I let him climb up my arm and onto my head about once a week or whenever he wants, other than that we just hold hands unless he wants to climb on that too. (These past few days, he just weakly grabs onto me, nothing more)
it’s good to build trust with them and it sounds like you have. Veileds especially are grumpy and don’t like people, so it’s fantastic that you have built trust in a way that he will actually climb on to you!
Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
Dubia roaches, crickets, mealworms, waxworms. I stick a whole bunch in a small cup, shake it around and he just goes at it, so im not sure how much of which insect he eats. I'd say he stops at around 15 to 20 total. The roaches have this dubia roach diet thing I bought at the store, I'll throw cooked peas in there. The crickets have this orange jelly thing I bought for them. My chameleon himself won't eat anything that won't move, but I occasionally try to trick him into eating omnivore mix stuff (I'll add a picture of a little bag I brought with me). He eats every 2-3 days. (Or used to, he hasn't eaten in several days and shows no interest in doing so. I've been using flukers repta boost AMP to try to get him to eat again)
you have a great variety of bugs here! That is really important. I would however drop the mealworms. They can eat them, however they don’t really provide much nutrition. Wax worms are super fatty and should be given more like treats. I’ll attach a feeder and gutload list for you as well. He should be eating 3-5 bugs every other day or every three days.
Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
ZooMed Repticalcium (half of the little spoon in it is thrown into the cup of insects about every other feeding), Flukers Liquid Vitamin (I put 2 drops on the top of the insect cup he eats, and I do that once a week)
as mentioned before, drop the calcium with D3 and switch it for calcium without D3. Use this at every feeding. Then twice a month (say the 1st and 15th) skip the calcium and use a multivitamin. I use repashy plus LoD. This is a great product as it has your multivitamin and the D3 in one.
Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
I don't know if this is normal, but he drinks straight from the mist bottle thing I have, I just lightly press on the lever and he goes straight for it. He never drank off the dripper I bought for him or anything. I let him drink until he gets bored of it and leaves twice a day, (but he hasn't been drinking the past few days unless I give it to him through the syringe)
chameleons are shy drinkers and lots of people never see them drink. They typically drink off of leaves. Be careful with the bottle and syringe because their airway is right in the front and it’s easy to aspirate them. @Ghostbirb do you have the photo of nachito that shows this?
Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
Brown and white-ish yellow, but the last time he used the bathroom was the other day and it was more liquid with yellow. I don't really know what it used to look like before he got sick. And no he hasn't been tested for parasites before.
mostly white urates indicate hydration. More than half yellow or orange would indicate dehydration. It’s important to monitor this as they are so shy about drinking. Even if you never see them drink, you can use their urates to make sure they are. When you go to the vet tomorrrow, take a fresh sample of poo if you have one and get a parasite test. Liquid poo can sometimes be a sign of parasites.
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.
He's been sick once before, about a year go with almost similar problems but without the sunken in cheek bones and breathing weird. The hollow face/head area slowly became more apparent about 2-3 months ago.
Cage Info:
Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
For the weekend, he is with me away from home, so he's in a screen cage that could fit in the car. At home, it's a bedroom, but also there's an old 20 gallon glass fish tank I reused and combine two of the screen cages together for the top, it coves 2/3rds of the tank itself though. It's not pretty looking, but I DIYed it together and it's pretty spacious. When I get home Monday, I'll take a picture of it. I'll take a picture of the part I brought with me. It's pretty bare because I couldn't take a lot with me since I'd have to carry it and him.
recommended minimum size is 2x2x4 or equivalent. Glass fish tanks hold a lot of humidity so they are not recommended, but it’s not impossible to make it work with proper ventilation. We can talk more about the enclosure when you have photos of his regular set up.
Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
Double dome light fixture, Aqua Culture Daylight Bulb Incandescent Reptile Lighting, and Red Heat Bulb Reptile Incandescent Lighting, both 75 watts. After dark, I turn the red light on, during the day the day light is on. I don't know if there's any difference to those two bulbs besides color.
no colored lights and no light at night like said before. Your plain white heat bulb should be fine during the day. Get a linear T5HO fixture with a 05 or 6% bulb. There are a couple options, but next to the enclosure this is the most expensive piece of equipment. Arcadia makes the best, but also most expensive. Reptizoo is more affordable. If you need help choosing correct lighting, don’t be afraid to ask. This was the most confusing part for me when getting everything just right. Once you have it, his basking branch will need to be 8-9 inches below the bulb so he gets the correct amount of UVB.
)))
