New Chameleon Owner

[jmmitchell]

I just got a veiled from petsmart about a little over a week ago and was wondering if my setup was suitable without any red flags. I am gone the majority of the day with work so most of my equipment is on timers. He hides a lot especially on the back of cage on the screen. i feed him in the morning about 30 minutes after the lights turn on. I also haven't noticed any poop yet.
Call me paranoid but i check this forum religiously so i have everything he needs to take good care of him.

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Veiled Chameleon, Male, i believe very young juvenile (roughly 5 inches in length) Belly is sorta big compared to the female they had at petsmart.

Handling - I have handled him a bit probably more than i should. You could call me impatient wanting him to like me

Feeding - I am feeding crickets as a stable. roughly 10 crickets a day with the occasional mealworm twice a week.
Suppplements - Rep Cal w/ D3, Rep Cal w/o D3, Exo terra multivitamin
Watering - Big Dripper on all day, Monsoon Mister every three hours for 30 seconds
Fecal Description - None so far
Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? No.
History - Got her from PetSmart

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Zoomed Reptibreeze Small 16x16x20 (i know probably too small i will be upgrading to the extra large size in the next month or so)
Lighting - Linear 18 inch reptisun UVB 5.0, zoomed 75 watt basking bulb
Temperature - 90-100 basking area, around 70-80 bottom of cage How do you measure these temps? with 2 thermometers/hygrometers
Humidity - 50-60% with help of reptifogger and hygrotherm .
Plants - fake plants and two golden pathos
Placement - Where is your cage located? corner of living room
Location - Where are you geographically located? Jackson, Mississippi

 

[zsazsa85]

Welcome to the forum and in the wonderful group pf chameleon owners!
Congratulations for your new boy!
Your set up sounds good, just few things:
Your supplements: use calcium without D3 every feeding, calcium with D3 once every two weeks and multivitamin once every two weeks.
Your basking temp is a bit too high. Check out this:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/veiled/
If he eats about 10 crix a day, he should've pooped for sure! While they are babies,they poop every. Check the plants!

Can you post pictures about the enclosure and him? And his back feet (just to make sure HE IS A BOY)

 

[hpc1979]

Good start for a beginner. So, first of all....welcome. You've come to a great place to get a lot of information. So, to start off with, do us a favor and take some pictures of your enclosure so we can check it out. When you end up getting that bigger cage, you are going to want lots of highways and byways going all over your cage. Here is an example of how two of my cages look. The small I have has a Panther chameleon in it and the other has a Veiled Chameleon in it. Just a side note...live plants will help with the humidity. I think your reptifogger is a little too much, but it doesn't hurt.

 

[jmmitchell]

Yea I'm still tinkering with the set up. I actually ordered a 50 watt basking bulb for him and should receive it today in the mail. Im not near the cage but i do have two pictures saved on my phone. i will upload them now and upload better pictures when i get home

 

[jmmitchell]

 

[jmmitchell]

 

[jmmitchell]

 

[hpc1979]

If any of those sticks are from outside, you might want to bake them in the oven for 30 minutes or so to kill all the parasites.

 

[jmmitchell]

oh yeah they were washed and baked 10 minutes at 350

 

[jmmitchell]

BTW thanks for the replies. Speaking of the reptifogger I'm debating on returning it. The past couple of days it has a loud start up noise when it turns on; much louder than it was when i first got it. With it turning on and off every couple of minutes, i couldn't imagine him liking it at all. I'm gonna monitor the humidity without it and probably settle with a cheap humidifier when i need it. Any suggestions?

 

[jmmitchell]

 

[codiwatkins]

The cage looks great! I would add live plants for sure! I love the picture of him with one eye looking backwards at you!

I just noticed the staples in the green net stuff. Watch out for those..If one comes out it could hurt your baby.

 

[jmmitchell]

Thanks! There are two golden pathos hiding in the back. Hopefully they will grow some.
Staples got removed also.

 

[codiwatkins]

Thanks! There are two golden pathos hiding in the back. Hopefully they will grow some.
Staples got removed also.

Oh Cool!! Any sign of poop?

 

[jmmitchell]

Checked the golden pathos and lo and behold there it is. Very sneaky

 

[zsazsa85]

You see? I told you there must be somewhere!
Good news!