New Chameleon owner concerns and questions

[quiisk]

Hey guys meet Roy G. Biv ( Roy for short ), Hes my new 3-4 month old Veiled Chameleon
I have never owned a chameleon before so I have been worried every minute since I've brought Roy home. So here are some of my concerns that I'd like to put to rest.

- If I am moving in the near future whats the best way to do it? do I keep home in the cage and maybe wrap it in a towel? while hes asleep? its like a 8 min drive but I know Ill have to do it in about a month.

- I'm using evaporative humidifiers with a filter, how often should I change the filters? is tap water ok in humidifiers? (I spray his cage 3 times a day with purified drinking water) I hear they commonly have respiratory infections and I don't want that to happen. Also how would I spot an issue like that? Im also using a heat evaporator humidifier, are those ok to use?

- Do noises stress chameleons out? I find myself acting like there's a sleeping baby in my room. I don't think I need to do this but I want some of you to tell me that hhaa

I'm sure if I looked I could find all this info on here, but I wanted to make new friends and show off Roy
and ill probably think of more things to ask as I go a long

heres more info about my set up and stuff if you wanna read it and flag anything that is not good for him.
more info:

CAGE: I currently have him in a 16''x16''x30'' reptibreeze. I have a exo terra 125W solar glo (UVB, UVA, HEAT) light about a foot up from the top of the cage. The cage is in an empty walk in closet with the door half open. I don't have any live plants at the moment but for his future cage I plan on getting a ficus with some pothos. His future cage will also have a section that sits near a window so he can get natural light. kinda like an extra room for him.

TEMPS/HUMIDITY: At the top of his cage it ranges from 85-92. Bottom 73-78. Humidity usually sits at about %60 but during the day when I'm at work it will drop to %40 so I mist his cage right away, I do this 3-4 times a day. at night the cage sets at about 73, I'm in Arizona so I get worried when its 120 out.

FOOD: So far I've fed him 7-9 carrot loaded small crickets (dusted in calcium) a day. I put them in in the morning. around lunch time there might be 1-2 that linger but he has eaten every cricket by the end of the day so far. He wont eat any mealworms, maybe ill try something else...

ROY: Roy seems to be doing great, his poop looks normal, his color seems good until he sees that im looking at him haha.

 

[bloftis1]

I don't have much experience with veiled chameleon BUT I will say chameleons actually can't hear. They can barely hear, from 200hz to 650hz I believe. They have microscopic ears basically. But other people on here can definitely be more knowledgeable on them more than me!

 

[bloftis1]

Also I just read that he wont eat mealworms. Now I do know mealworms are actual a terrible feeder for them. 1st, they are a bit troubling to digest due to their hard shell. I would use as feeders in general, crickets, superworms, silkworms, hornworms, you can use dubia roaches if you aren't afraid of them LOL!

 

[bloftis1]

Also how long are you misting for? And his supplementation such as Calcium w/D3 and Multivitamins? I read you are dusting with the calcium which I believe you are referring to calcium w/o D3

 

[quiisk]

Also how long are you misting for? And his supplementation such as Calcium w/D3 and Multivitamins? I read you are dusting with the calcium which I believe you are referring to calcium w/o D3

I'm misting for 2-3 min usually, it gets nice and wet. I dust with calcium w/o D3. I haven't started his vitamin schedule just yet, was planning on this weekend, I have the supplies but Ive read to be careful about over supplementing.

 

[quiisk]

I'm misting for 2-3 min usually, it gets nice and wet. I dust with calcium w/o D3. I haven't started his vitamin schedule just yet, was planning on this weekend, I have the supplies but Ive read to be careful about over supplementing.

I also just got him on the 17th

 

[bloftis1]

I'm misting for 2-3 min usually, it gets nice and wet. I dust with calcium w/o D3. I haven't started his vitamin schedule just yet, was planning on this weekend, I have the supplies but Ive read to be careful about over supplementing.

Yes definitely! I do my little guys Calcium w/D3 and Multivitamins both twice a month. Misting is very well, I just do a 4-5 minute mist session in morning and 3 min a couple hours before lights out

 

[bloftis1]

I also just got him on the 17th

So cute! It's awesome to watch them grow up I've had my guy for a month now

 

[quiisk]

So cute! It's awesome to watch them grow up I've had my guy for a month nowView attachment 208272

That lil guys so cute! he looks so soft hahah. How old is he? and thats a panther right?

 

[bloftis1]

That lil guys so cute! he looks so soft hahah. How old is he? and thats a panther right?

Yup! Red bar ambilobe panther, he's about just turned 6 months!! Thank you!

 

[bloftis1]

 

[Remkon]

Hey guys meet Roy G. Biv ( Roy for short ), Hes my new 3-4 month old Veiled Chameleon
I have never owned a chameleon before so I have been worried every minute since I've brought Roy home. So here are some of my concerns that I'd like to put to rest.

- If I am moving in the near future whats the best way to do it? do I keep home in the cage and maybe wrap it in a towel? while hes asleep? its like a 8 min drive but I know Ill have to do it in about a month.

I would move him outside of his cage in a (styrofoam) box with a horizontal branch glued into it so he has something to sit on.
You can put a towel on the bottom in case he falls, if it's cold where you are you can fill a waterbottle with warm water and wrap it into the towel for some heat.

Hey guys meet Roy G. Biv ( Roy for short ), Hes my new 3-4 month old Veiled Chameleon
- I'm using evaporative humidifiers with a filter, how often should I change the filters? is tap water ok in humidifiers? (I spray his cage 3 times a day with purified drinking water) I hear they commonly have respiratory infections and I don't want that to happen. Also how would I spot an issue like that? Im also using a heat evaporator humidifier, are those ok to use?

I would change the filter as often as the product manual prescribes
Tap water often has higher levels of calcium which may shorten the lifespan of your device, if your area has good quality tap water I think it should be OK to use.
You can check the quality of the water at the company that cleans your water tap water.

RI typically don't appear because of water quality but because of humidity + draft or stale humid air.
So you want proper ventilation and no draft, you want to make sure the enclosure gets a chance to dry out completely everyday.
An RI you will notice by your chameleon gaping constantly with bubbles in his mouth and you will usually hear him breathe.

- Do noises stress chameleons out? I find myself acting like there's a sleeping baby in my room. I don't think I need to do this but I want some of you to tell me that hhaa

You probably noticed chameleons have no not have ears or even ear holes, they do have the internal organs for hearing but overall their hearing is very poor and is mostly limited to feeling vibrations and hearing low tones.
So if a woman is talking to a chameleon you can tell her she's being silly because her high pitch voice won't be heart/felt by the animal while a man talking to a chameleon in his low pitched voice may well get trough to him.
(score: men - women 1 - 0)

I'm sure if I looked I could find all this info on here, but I wanted to make new friends and show off Roy
and ill probably think of more things to ask as I go a long

heres more info about my set up and stuff if you wanna read it and flag anything that is not good for him.
more info:

CAGE: I currently have him in a 16''x16''x30'' reptibreeze. I have a exo terra 125W solar glo (UVB, UVA, HEAT) light about a foot up from the top of the cage. The cage is in an empty walk in closet with the door half open. I don't have any live plants at the moment but for his future cage I plan on getting a ficus with some pothos. His future cage will also have a section that sits near a window so he can get natural light. kinda like an extra room for him.

TEMPS/HUMIDITY: At the top of his cage it ranges from 85-92. Bottom 73-78. Humidity usually sits at about %60 but during the day when I'm at work it will drop to %40 so I mist his cage right away, I do this 3-4 times a day. at night the cage sets at about 73, I'm in Arizona so I get worried when its 120 out.

The 16' enclosure will be to small very soon, for animals that grow as fast as chameleons do it's kinda useless to invest in a smaller cage for them growing up as they will outgrow it within 8months or so.
125Watts is to much for a panther (unless you live in an iglo), you will either have a baskingspot that's to hot or hang it to far from the baskingspot for optimal UVB to reach the animal.
It's recommended to use a linear tube light for UVB, place it around 12" from the animal (so around 14-15" from baskingspot), then use a regular household bulb of 60, maybe 70 watts as baskingspot...

Now my panther has the luxury of having 2 baskingspots as his enclosure is 6.5 foot wide and I have different wattage bulb in each baskingspot, 40watts in the left and 70watts in the right and I can honestly say I only see him under the 40Watt so it could be that the 70Watt is already on the warm side (or he just likes the baskingspot with the window view more.)

You should also measure temperature with an IR temperature gun (you can buy em for like 7$ of ebay/aliexpress) as normal thermometers will measure air temperature and not surface temperature... results may differ quite a bit.
How do you mist? and how long do you mist?

FOOD: So far I've fed him 7-9 carrot loaded small crickets (dusted in calcium) a day. I put them in in the morning. around lunch time there might be 1-2 that linger but he has eaten every cricket by the end of the day so far. He wont eat any mealworms, maybe ill try something else...

While carrots are good as a part of the gut load there's many more fruits and vegetables that you can feed the feeders to make an even more nutritional meal for your chameleon.
You should also powder the feeders with a multivitamin once every other week... Your regular calcium supplement for daily use should be without D3, if the multivitamin has D3 in it you do not need calcium with D3, if not you will need to get calcium with D3 and dus the feeders lightly with that once every other week... Here's all info you need on food & nutrition: https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/food/

You should also just ditch the meal worms (or put them in lolly's and sell em to a hippy), they are not good food, nutrition wise they are very poor and their shells are thick and are known to cause constipation.
Use superworms instead.
Try to also feed a wider variety of feeders, like silkworms, phoenixworms, dubia roaches (good staple), other species of roaches, hornworms etc.

ROY: Roy seems to be doing great, his poop looks normal, his color seems good until he sees that im looking at him haha.

View attachment 208264

Hi Roy.

 

[Curlytails]

I don't have much experience with veiled chameleon BUT I will say chameleons actually can't hear. They can barely hear, from 200hz to 650hz I believe. They have microscopic ears basically. But other people on here can definitely be more knowledgeable on them more than me!

as a veiled/cham owner myself i can tell you that if your setup has sufficient cover the chameleon doesnt really give a damn of what you do. they feel secure so they can just hide from any threats. also i suggest you change to a linear bulb for the uvb. when moving make sure the cham cant see. they cant hear so they only use eyesight to find predators. throwing a towel over the cage will work. good luck on your move!

 

[JacksJill]

Im also using a heat evaporator humidifier, are those ok to use?

These are not recommended the cool mist humidifiers are the way to go.
Welcome to the forum.