rcc760
Member
Hello all!
Two weeks ago we purchased our first chameleon, a female veiled named Charlie. We got her from PetSmart so we don't know her exact age, we're guessing about 4-5 months. I have a couple concerns. First, here is Charlie's info:
Chameleon Info:
Cage Info:
Current Problem A couple things:
- last week her appetite was pretty ravenous. She was going through crickets like crazy. Now she doesn't seem to be eating as much, maybe a few crickets a day. I don't have a cricket tank yet, it's been daily trips to the store for crickets, and I feel like I'm wasting money because they've been dying before she decides to eat them. Could she just be bored of the crickets? I've never witnessed her drinking, but her urates look good, so I assume she's hydrated enough. The first couple days we had her, we were having trouble keeping her hydrated/humid. Her humidity kept dropping and her urates were yellow/orange (not the whole thing, maybe half of it), but we've since gotten it under control.
- She keeps sitting at her basking spot with her mouth open as if she's warm, but the temperature seems to be fine. She's also been making trips to the bottom of the cage a few times over the last couple days. I only ever see her on her way back up, not what she's doing while she's down there. I *think* she's going down there to do her business, if you know what I mean
- When I went to get crickets for her today the lady told me about eggbinding and now I'm terrified. I feel like she's quite young, and she's pretty small still. She hasn't changed to be any crazy colors, like blue or orange -- that's a sign she's getting ready to lay eggs, right? But like I said, she's been going down to the bottom of the cage, and the substrate (coconut fiber recommended by the workers at PetSmart) looked a little mussed up. That could have been from me or my sister though, I can't remember. Could she be ready to lay eggs? Should I get a laying bin ready?
- Her colors. Sometimes she's a really pretty like lime green with a few yellow spots along her sides. Other times she's brown, usually when basking or when agitated. When she's *really* bothered, she can get pretty close to black. lately she's been darker and darker, and I'm worried that she's stressed. Could it be from us trying to handle her increasingly? We want to be able to handle her as needed, and we're having issues. But maybe she's also just trying to soak up some warmth?
Any advice and help would be greatly appreciated! This is very new to me, as is she, but I already care about her greatly and would hate for her to get sick.
Two weeks ago we purchased our first chameleon, a female veiled named Charlie. We got her from PetSmart so we don't know her exact age, we're guessing about 4-5 months. I have a couple concerns. First, here is Charlie's info:
Chameleon Info:
- Your Chameleon Veiled chameleon, female, in my care 2 weeks, assuming 4-5 months old, body is about 4 in long.
- Handling Has yet to let us hold her, occasionally lets us touch her without running, but sometimes she runs. We're working on it.
- Feeding 10-15 medium crickets a day, usually. She eats a lot. That's one of my concerns. Haven't tried worms yet. She had no interest in fresh produce.
- Supplements Calc w/o D3 every feeding. So far we've given her reptivite multivitamins once (about a week ago). As I've said, we've had her two weeks.
- Watering Misting about 3-4 times a day, have a dripper as well that's on continuously, lightly
- Fecal Description pretty regular, every other day or so. Feces is brown, maybe a little gray, but seems solid. Have not noticed any cricket bits in it. Urate is nice and white, maybe a little on the watery side. Wondering why, actually.
Cage Info:
- Cage Type Screen ZooMed Reptibreeze enclosure 16" x 16" x 30"
- Lighting 100 watt basking bulb (the 60 that the kit came with was not strong enough and the store didn't have 75. Thought this was fine, but she's been sitting with her mouth open (thermoregulating I hope?) quite often over the past few days, but she doesn't move down from her perch), reptisun 5.0 UVB bulb. Red night light to keep the temperature up (it's kinda cold where we are).
- Temperature Basking temp is between 75 and 80, ambient temp is about 70
- Plants no live plants yet, just artificial ones and some branches.
- Placement in my sister's room on a shelf, maybe 5 ft from the ceiling?
Current Problem A couple things:
- last week her appetite was pretty ravenous. She was going through crickets like crazy. Now she doesn't seem to be eating as much, maybe a few crickets a day. I don't have a cricket tank yet, it's been daily trips to the store for crickets, and I feel like I'm wasting money because they've been dying before she decides to eat them. Could she just be bored of the crickets? I've never witnessed her drinking, but her urates look good, so I assume she's hydrated enough. The first couple days we had her, we were having trouble keeping her hydrated/humid. Her humidity kept dropping and her urates were yellow/orange (not the whole thing, maybe half of it), but we've since gotten it under control.
- She keeps sitting at her basking spot with her mouth open as if she's warm, but the temperature seems to be fine. She's also been making trips to the bottom of the cage a few times over the last couple days. I only ever see her on her way back up, not what she's doing while she's down there. I *think* she's going down there to do her business, if you know what I mean
- When I went to get crickets for her today the lady told me about eggbinding and now I'm terrified. I feel like she's quite young, and she's pretty small still. She hasn't changed to be any crazy colors, like blue or orange -- that's a sign she's getting ready to lay eggs, right? But like I said, she's been going down to the bottom of the cage, and the substrate (coconut fiber recommended by the workers at PetSmart) looked a little mussed up. That could have been from me or my sister though, I can't remember. Could she be ready to lay eggs? Should I get a laying bin ready?
- Her colors. Sometimes she's a really pretty like lime green with a few yellow spots along her sides. Other times she's brown, usually when basking or when agitated. When she's *really* bothered, she can get pretty close to black. lately she's been darker and darker, and I'm worried that she's stressed. Could it be from us trying to handle her increasingly? We want to be able to handle her as needed, and we're having issues. But maybe she's also just trying to soak up some warmth?
Any advice and help would be greatly appreciated! This is very new to me, as is she, but I already care about her greatly and would hate for her to get sick.
