New Chameleon owner questions.

drshaw6

drshaw6

Member
I actually found this guy/gal in San Diego in a very rural area. The kids and myself fell in love with it so we decided to keep it. Obviouslly its an escaped pet so I checked with some local sites and neihboors of where I found it and got no feedback. I got the screened cage with uvb and basking light with a dripper sytem dripping onto a ficus tree. I noticed some black around the eyes and veil and was told that it may be dehydrated. Ive only seen it drink once from my mister and it ate about 7-10 crickets in two days. ill post some pics and hopfully people on here can tell me how its health is looking.
Thanks!
Dave
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he looks good to me... make sure you supplement his crickets lightly with calcium without d3 every feeding, calcium with d3 twice a month, and a multi vitamin twice a month... make sure the crix are very lightly dusted though with the vitamins... good luck :)
 
he looks in good shape:Dbut there are a few things youll need to start doing but ill let the experts chime in and tell you. how big is his cage? can you post sum pics of the setup?
 
Heres the cage setup. Im a little confused on the lights. Which light to be on when and for how long? Ive noticed she likes to slep from about 6:30pm to 8:00am. Should turn both lights off when she is asleep? Im refering to it as she because I dont see any spurs on the rear legs. How often and how much should she drink? Sorry to unload so many question at once. Its only been two days since we ve had her and I definatly want to keep her healthy. Any ideas on the age?
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She was sleeping during the pics of course.
 
I cannot see a clear view of the back heels of the back feet but to me your chameleon looks like a male with his markings and large casque. The tarsal spurs are on the back heels, not the legs. Here is a link for you to compare what I am talking about(post #4).If for some reason you have a female(but I don't think so) then you have to provide a laying bin as females can lay eggs at any time without being mated. Lets find out first what sex it is before we get into the specifics of that. A couple of things here. That cage is too small and you really need something withmore heighth. 24 X 24 X48 preferred for adult veilds. You need more climbing branches and vines. Your lights need to be on 12/12, that includes both the basking and UVB. With the time change approaching you can adjust your lights accordingly with the sunrise and sunset so you may cut back a few hours on the lights. Normally it is 12 on 12 off. No lights at night and no heat needed unless temps drop in the low 50's. Remove the substrate from you cage floor. You chameleon can injest the bark and die or become very ill by becoming impacted. If he shoots at a cricket and gets a mouth full of bark...well you get the picture. Get the supplements that the other member suggested and dust your feeders. Get some other feeders besides crickets. Variety is best. Make sure you gutload your crickets with fresh fruits and vegetables. Dark leafy greens such as Kale and mustard greens, collard greens etc, carrots, apples ... Meaning feed your feeders well so your chameleon benefits. Try some silkworms, superworms, hornworms, moths etc. You can go online and find companies that sell the worms or you may be able to find them locally. Get your chameleon outside for as much sun as possible. The UVB light can never replicate the sun. just make sure to hydrate your chameleon at all times if in the heat and always provide shade. What type of UVB light do you have and how old is it? UVB lights should be changed out every 6 months or so. Just becuase they are shining does not mean they are still effective. What are your cage temps and what humidity range are you keeping. Temps are important. The black is more than likely just its coloring. If he was dehydrated the eyes would be sunken in.
 
Welcome to the world of chameleons!

Here's some information I hope will help you with things like supplements, gutloading, etc.....
Appropriate cage temperatures aid in digestion and thus play a part indirectly in nutrient absorption.

Exposure to UVB from either direct sunlight or a proper UVB light allows the chameleon to produce D3 so that it can use the calcium in its system to make/keep the bones strong and be used in other systems in the chameleon as well. The UVB should not pass through glass or plastic no matter whether its from the sun or the UVB light. The most often recommended UVB light is the long linear fluorescent Repti-sun 5.0 tube light. Some of the compacts, spirals and tube lights have caused health issues, but so far there have been no bad reports against this one.

A wide variety of insects that have been well fed and gutloaded should be fed to it.

Since many of the feeder insects we use in captivity have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorus in them, its important to dust the insects just before you feed them to the chameleon at most feedings with a phos.-free calcium powder to help make up for it. (I use Rep-cal phosphorus-free calcium). Not sure how to tell you to dust WC insects if that is what you will be doing.

If you also dust twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder it will ensure that your chameleon gets some D3 without overdoing it. It leaves the chameleon to produce the rest of what it needs through its exposure to the UVB light. D3 from supplements can build up in the system but D3 produced from exposure to UVB shouldn't as long as the chameleon can move in and out of it. (I use Rep-cal phos.-free calcium/D3).

Dusting twice a month as well with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A will ensure that the chameleon gets some vitamins without the danger of overdosing the vitamin A. PrEformed sources of vitamin A can build up in the system and may prevent the D3 from doing its job and push the chameleon towards MBD. However, there is controversy as to whether all/any chameleons can convert the beta carotene and so some people give some prEformed vitamin A once in a while. (I use herptivite which has beta carotene.)

Gutloading/feeding the insects well helps to provide what the chameleon needs. I gutload crickets, roaches, locusts, superworms, etc. with an assortment of greens (dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, zucchini, etc.)

Calcium, phos., D3 and vitamin A are important players in bone health and other systems in the chameleon (muscles, etc.) and they need to be in balance. When trying to balance them, you need to look at the supplements, what you feed the insects and what you feed the chameleon.

Here are some good sites for you to read too...
http://chameleonnews.com/07FebWheelock.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200605020...Vitamin.A.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200406080...d.Calcium.html
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
http://web.archive.org/web/200601140...ww.adcham.com/
If you can't access the sites above that have the word "archive" in you can do it through the WayBackMachine.
 
Welcome to the forums, the eyes would be sunken in during the day if he was dehydrated and you will want to keep the lights on for a 12 hour cycle
 
drshaw6 said:
Jamul, pretty far east. found him on the ground in some thick leaves along side a road
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wow thats trippy..right where i lost my chameleon....LMAO jk..he's a nice find!!! super rare in sandiego, seems to be pretty chill with people from the looks of it too!:D
 
He is lucky you guys found him!! Congrats and Welcome to the forums. You came to the right place for advice on anything you can think of when it comes to chameleons!
 
Wow I had no idea I would get such a response so fast! Thanks for all the help. Ill be visiting the pet store tomarrow to pick up a few things. The cage is going to have to do for now since I just bought it but Ill be saving up for a larger one. Im so curious how long he was in the wild for becuse it seems like these little guys need special care to survive.
 
sdheli420 said:
wow thats trippy..right where i lost my chameleon....LMAO jk..he's a nice find!!! super rare in sandiego, seems to be pretty chill with people from the looks of it too!:D
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oh he wasnt chill when I went to grab him! He was hissing and trying bite and running pretty fast too. Now that he is here at home he super kick back. Ive only seen him get dark and frustrated once when I moved to fast with.
 
Don't be surprised if the owner finds him because of this thread. There are lots of members from the San Diego area. My first thoughts when I read the original post was Pretty in Ink and Jandie. They are both out in that neighborhood.
 
Man I would be super bummed to let him go but I guess this guy would be more happy with his rightful owner than some newbee like me. I guess Ill consider it foster care untill someone speaks up.
 
drshaw6 said:
Man I would be super bummed to let him go but I guess this guy would be more happy with his rightful owner than some newbee like me. I guess Ill consider it foster care untill someone speaks up.
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I think that's a good way to view it. I'd say if you haven't had an inquiry in 3 or 4 days, the owner is not a member of the board. Of course, you could be a real sport and send PM's to the San Diego members to see if they've lost a cham.

He's beautiful and has obviously been well cared for, so it's reasonable to think the owner did not just dump him.
 
well if it turns out that way, you did a great thing as you will find these guys become a part of the family real quick and if someone lost him, they are probably heartbroken! And now that you've got the chameleon "bug" you can always buy another one seeing that you have everything you need now! Welcome to the forums!
 
Thanks for the kind words. Ive been scanning craigslist "lost &found" and evan googling "lost chameleon san diego" and nothing come up yet. Maybe I should start a thread here. I definatly have the "bug" and I wouldnt want someones family heartbroken.
 
well, worst case you can find a baby veiled for something like $35-40 from one of the local breeders, so it wouldn't cost too much to get your own little baby if his parents do turn up :)


as for your question on lights, I personally run both my UVB + bask bulb on almost the same schedule.

My basking bulb is on for about 8 hrs/ day and my Uvb for 12hrs/day. However, this is entirely a personal choice and I think you will be perfectly fine if you turn both on and off at the same for 10-12hrs/day.

My personal schedule is:
-UVB ON @ 9:00AM
-Bask ON @ 11:00AM
-Bask OFF @ 7:00PM
-UVB OFF @ 9:00PM

my idea here is to simulate a bit of a dusk/dawn effect....but to be honest on most standard/small cages I don't really think it makes any difference at all


EDIT: also, I'd suggest doing the time window a little earlier as they tend to go to sleep somewhat early (my panther goes to bed around 6-7pm usually) but due to my work schedule I use the slightly off timing.... a window of like 7AM-7PM is probably much better if you can do it
 
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