New baby cham. Helppp!

[ChamEden]

hello I just bought a new veiled chameleon about 5 days ago. She is a baby still, but im not sure how old. I only handle her when I take her out of the cage to attempt to feed her. I have gut loaded my crickets, by feeding them the quencher and the feed, as well as dusting them with the reptocal calcium supplement with D3. I mist about 4 to 5 times a day. about 3 to 4 hours apart. I havent seen any fecals in the cage, she hasnt eaten anything except one cricket.

cage info:
Aluminum screen cage 16x16x36 (large screen cage)
Lighting- the zoo med 5.0 UVB linear light, with an 50W intense basking spot light
temp- lowest is 70 at night highest 85 during the day
humidity-not sure
plants- live hibiscus plants, all cleaned and cared for before putting in the cage.
placement- on top of a little stand thats about two feet high. Right by the bathroom hallway, low to moderate traffic during the afternoon only.
location- chicago, Il, summer time now so avg temp around 75-90 fareinheit

problem- not eating crickets or tiny meal worms. Ive only had her for 5 days, so maybe she is not acclimated to her new environment? she lives in ideal conditions for the most part. She is very active in her cage as well during the day. she usually is a light green color, but sometimes when she moves around she gets darker (not sure if this helps).
Ive also tried leaving a cup of a few crickets in her cage and she didnt even touch them, as well as taking her out and putting her in a bin with 4 or 5 crickets and leaving her alone, still no luck with that.
Im new completely to chameleons. Any help would be great!

 

[Djturna4thakidz]

Hello and congrats for your new chameleon!

First off, they do need about a month to get used to their cage and you should handle them as little as possible in that time. Some people say two weeks is good but I have found that is not enough time for some chams.

You should not be taking her out to feed. Putting her in a new cage to feed is stressing her out more and that is probably why she is not eating. I would let the crickets run free in her cage. Throw like 10-15 in in the morning and keep an eye on them over the course of the day.

You should only be dusting your crickets with Calcium w/ D3 twice a month. You want to get calcium without D3 and use that daily. D3 is not an everyday thing. You will also need a multivite, which you will use twice a month.

Your temps are very important. You said 70 at night and 85 during the day. Please expand your description. What are the temps at the bottom of the cage during the day? What are your temps right under the basking light during the day? What is the temp of the cage at night when all lights are out? Chams need complete darkness at night, so no red heat lights or anything. Your daytime temp at the bottom of the cage should be 70, your basking temp should be 85. At night you aim for a temp drop of 10 degrees, so the whole cage should be 60 at night, if you can get it lower that is good too. Anything above 50. You said you had a high intensity heat bulb? For a young cham, those can get pretty hot, most people on here recommend a regular house bulb with wattage of 40-75 depending on the temp in your house.

 

[redsfandrew]

Unless I missed it. I didn't see any of your watering habits. Not knowing the humidity can be critical as well. Please let us know your watering habits.

 

[ChamEden]

Hello and congrats for your new chameleon!

First off, they do need about a month to get used to their cage and you should handle them as little as possible in that time. Some people say two weeks is good but I have found that is not enough time for some chams.

You should not be taking her out to feed. Putting her in a new cage to feed is stressing her out more and that is probably why she is not eating. I would let the crickets run free in her cage. Throw like 10-15 in in the morning and keep an eye on them over the course of the day.

You should only be dusting your crickets with Calcium w/ D3 twice a month. You want to get calcium without D3 and use that daily. D3 is not an everyday thing. You will also need a multivite, which you will use twice a month.

Your temps are very important. You said 70 at night and 85 during the day. Please expand your description. What are the temps at the bottom of the cage during the day? What are your temps right under the basking light during the day? What is the temp of the cage at night when all lights are out? Chams need complete darkness at night, so no red heat lights or anything. Your daytime temp at the bottom of the cage should be 70, your basking temp should be 85. At night you aim for a temp drop of 10 degrees, so the whole cage should be 60 at night, if you can get it lower that is good too. Anything above 50. You said you had a high intensity heat bulb? For a young cham, those can get pretty hot, most people on here recommend a regular house bulb with wattage of 40-75 depending on the temp in your house.

I was talking about her basking area. I not sure of the temps in the lower area. Maybe I should get some more thermometers for the bottom. I actually figured out she'll eat if I just throw the crickets in there. Thank you for input! I hace some questions about the handling and all that. Maybe I'll post in a dif forum

 

[ChamEden]

Btw the temps are usually 85 in her basking spot. So why does it matter on the bulb? Just wondering.

 

[ChamEden]

Unless I missed it. I didn't see any of your watering habits. Not knowing the humidity can be critical as well. Please let us know your watering habits.

her humidity is always around the 40-60 range in the upper portion of the cage. not sure how to keep it stable at 60 I did say my watering habits, but I usually mist about 4 times a day now. once at 1030, then 2, then 5, then once more at around 9. I have one drip system going, its home made (idk if that matters) and i have it dripping twice a day for about 10 mins or so. itsk if that helps!

 

[brownie64]

her humidity is always around the 40-60 range in the upper portion of the cage. not sure how to keep it stable at 60 I did say my watering habits, but I usually mist about 4 times a day now. once at 1030, then 2, then 5, then once more at around 9. I have one drip system going, its home made (idk if that matters) and i have it dripping twice a day for about 10 mins or so. itsk if that helps!

Your humidity level is just about right for a veiled. You want it to be around 60-70 percent when you mist. Then you let it dry out, and let the humidity drop to about 40% you need that 20% variation. You might look into a infrared heat gun to check the temps in your cage. They are fairly reasonable I seen one on ebay for $11.00 shipping paid. That way it could be easier to check your temps to make sure she can regulate her body temp by moving from one area to the other in your enclosure. Your drip system sounds fine as well just make sure you see her drink from it, and position it to where she will. For a Veiled your misting seem a bit excessive, but then again that depends on how much you mist at one time. If your humidity levels are what you say they are you should be OK. You will eventually need to put a laying ben in the enclosure because she will lay eggs whether she is mated or not. Good luck and welcome.

 

[Hoj]

seems like you are getting the right advise biggest thing is letting her settle and as said allowing the crickets to go free in the cage usually stimulates a more natural feeding behaviour
hope everything works out great for you and your lil girl

 

[junglefries]

Often very young veils will not eat in front of anyone. Some can be extremely shy. Just watch for little poops and you will know he is eaten.

 

[SycoSquirl]

if you put in a lot of crickets to roam make sure there are no more then 2 or 3 at the end of the day in the cage because they could try and eat your cham while it is sleeping