New baby veiled chameleon owner-help

[Avani016]

Hello everyone,


So I have had my baby boy chameleon for about four to five days now. Speedy is his name. He is about 3in long not including tail length. When I bought him I purchased the reptibreeze chameleon kit. He seemed great when he arrived with a beautiful green to lime green color, but now for the past day or so he’s black, dark brown, green with black or dark brown stripe pattern on his back. I set up the Monsoon misting kit yesterday mind you he hates it. I know I need to add more plants in his cage which I will do tonight when I get home from work. He has been handled 3 times since we got him and I have been feeding him 15 crickets. He just ate about 5 of them already today and I will add the rest before I leave to go to work. I have meal worms in the cage which he has not touched since he arrived. I am a little worried because I have not seen him drink any water either. What I used before for water was a spray bottle. While I been reading the forum his poop seems normal. Since these past couple of days he runs away from me today he hiss at me when he was trying to run across while I was fixing his branch and the mist nozzle because I did not tie it right.

HE HATES ME and I adore him SMH !! =(

I hope he is not getting sick... Here is a picture of his enclosure so far

 

[macyb-vancouver]

-It is normal for them to feel stressed during their first few days, and it is really important that he has a proper setup, so I would get more vegetation and things for him to climb on as soon as you can. Real plants are best. Check the plant list in the resources section of these forums for what is safe to put in there.
-Meal worms are not recommended for chameleons because of their high fat content. Are you gutloading/dusting the crickets? This is very important.
-He probably hasn't had any water because there are not enough leaves, or a water dripper for him to drink from (or is that a water dripper in the picture)?
-Although they're convenient, if he doesn't like the monsoon misting, then I would try to find a different way to mist his cage.
-Because of the lack of vegetation, the humidity in his cage probably drops very quickly after misting, and that could be another reason why he is unhappy.
-You want to raise the heat lamp up off of the cage because it can burn him if he gets too close to it. I believe the nerve endings in a chameleon's skin are not at the surface, so it is easy for them to burn, especially if he is crawling on the top directly next to the lamp. I used bungie cords to hang the lamp from the ceiling, you might have to get creative here!
- Last thing, avoid handling him until he is more comfortable, you do not want to stress him out right now.
As long as you provide him these things, he will get more comfortable with you, it just takes patience!
Also, remember to keep asking questions and posting pictures, we are all happy to help!

 

[Daypaul]

As was said he is most likely stressed from all that had happened. He needs Way more to crawl on here's my blanche's setup for example. Try hand feeding some he'll warm up quicker to you seeing that you are providing him with something he likes. Blanche likes to be misted but rarely drinks from the most she would rather go lick all her leaves so he may be getting some water but probably not near enough, is there any yellow or orange in the urate? Nothing I like more than to see those snow white urates for me to pick up!

 

[Avani016]

Hi Macyb-vancouver

Thank you for the advice. I will work on the lighting ASAP. As for the meal worms can I use them as a treat? The crickets I am doing both gutloading and dusting I feed them apples, banana, chines plums and cricket feeders from the pet store. I had him for almost a week and I gave him 3 days of dust crickets because I know he is a baby and I do not want him to be malnourished (hope I am not over doing it). As for the water dripper, I did not know I needed that as well since I had the monsoon mist because the lady at the pet store told me to spray him and the leaves with warm water. I am going to see if he like the monsoon mist now that I gave him more vegetation and things to climb.

 

[Avani016]

Daypaul,

love your set up! I am going to need to get some real plants for sure in the future as for your question on the urate it is all white with a pinch of yellow so I am assuming he is a little dehydrated. I will give him some time to get use of us and try your idea on the hand feeding.

Thanks for the help

 

[Avani016]

Almost forgot here is some improvement

 

[Charmeleon005]

Hi Macyb-vancouver

Thank you for the advice. I will work on the lighting ASAP. As for the meal worms can I use them as a treat? The crickets I am doing both gutloading and dusting I feed them apples, banana, chines plums and cricket feeders from the pet store. I had him for almost a week and I gave him 3 days of dust crickets because I know he is a baby and I do not want him to be malnourished (hope I am not over doing it). As for the water dripper, I did not know I needed that as well since I had the monsoon mist because the lady at the pet store told me to spray him and the leaves with warm water. I am going to see if he like the monsoon mist now that I gave him more vegetation and things to climb.

I don't think mealworms are very good because I read that they are mostly made of their exo-skeleton which cannot be good for a chameleon to try and digest regularly.

 

[KapitalJ]

Almost forgot here is some improvement

Looking much better! Like you said... a nice live plant in there will be great!!

 

[JGspecial]

id get rid of the substrate and just use a layer of paper towels. he might eat it and paper towels make cleanup way easier.

 

[Avani016]

id get rid of the substrate and just use a layer of paper towels. he might eat it and paper towels make cleanup way easier.

Funny you mentioned the substrate because I was reading up on it last night and already got rid of it this morning

 

[Avani016]

Looking much better! Like you said... a nice live plant in there will be great!!

Thanks New mom trying her best

 

[Avani016]

My morning project before work
Thank you all so much!

Quick question how high should the lamp be because I read up different suggestions, so want to have an idea, how high you guys have yours?

 

[KapitalJ]

I think a good rule of thumb would be to ret and have it so your cham can get within 6-8" of the light.

 

[Avani016]

I think a good rule of thumb would be to ret and have it so your cham can get within 6-8" of the light.

Ok thank you

 

[JGspecial]

yeah, i have mine just sitting on all my cage tops and i make sure i have the 6-8" clearance in my foliage.