New Chameleon Owner

[rgreen]

I am new to being an owner of a Veiled Chameleon as of 2.5 weeks ago and I am hoping to get as much information as I possibly can about this little guy!

I was very misinformed from the pet store I purchased him from on how to care for him. I barely received simple details such as what he was eating and how often. Aside from this, I have had to resort to online research to try and find out how to care form him properly.

I had a 10 gallon fish tank that I thought was adequate for him to be in and purchased a screen for the top, foliage, and reptile soil, as well as a humidity /thermometer gauge. After further research I found that this was no where near what he needed so I quickly found a used all screen enclosure that is 12x12x18 online who had been keeping her chameleon in as well. I also found a misting machine and a dripper that I read was needed.

I am having issues keeping his humidity levels up and cannot for the LIFE of me get the percentage to go above 35% both day and night. I read that they need to be close to 100% at night so I am concerned. I do know how to tell if this is negatively affecting him or not. I thought maybe this was due to the mesh enclosure so I found an old cheap thin vinyl table cloth that I cut up and taped to 3 sides of the enclosure in hopes it would help to keep some of the heat/humidity inside but this has not made a bit of difference either. The bottom of his cage has some type of brown mulch looking material that was also given to me by the chameleon owner that sold me the cage. I read that I should have NOTHING at the bottom of the cage so I wonder if that could be one issue, and I also read that having a LIVE plant in the cage would also help humidity levels but this scared me because I have read very contradicting suggestions about what plants are okay and not okay. I found a Monstera plant, is this okay for him to be around?

Another issue I have is that he has not been wanting to be held/touched at ALL the past 3-4 days! When I brought him home I held him and even had my family members hold him. He was very well tempered and almost seemed to like the attention. During my research I read that they should be handled at the earlier stages to get them used to being handled especially by a single person for bonding. For this reason, I would take him out each day (only once) to handle him for just a few moments and I would feed him 2-3 worms which he LOVED. As of about 3-4 days ago, when I reach in to grab him he immediately puffs out his neck, has sometimes opened his mouth like a yawn, and one time VIBRATED when I tried to peel him from his vine. I of course have not pushed him in any way so each time I attempted and one of these things happened I simply talked to him and walked away. I do not want him to be afraid of me and I want him to get more familiar with me so I have left him alone and not attempted to reach into his cage at all unless placing his food.

Any feedback is greatly appreciated. -Thanks

 

[Beman]

Welcome to the forum. First off here are your go to accurate resources and then ask questions in the forum. Neptune the Chameleon youtube videos and chameleon academy at this link are good resources when you are new to chameleons. https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-husbandry-program-getting-started-with-chameleons/


Remove all the mulch in the cage. Needs to be bare bottom the mulch is an impaction risk.
Humidity at 35% daytime is perfectly fine for a veiled.
Night time humidity increase is only done when your temps are below 67. If you can not get temp drops you do not increase the humidity. This is actually another hydration method. It is not a have to do thing for night because you can add a dripper to the cage along with misting sessions to supplement the hydration.

See image for plants. You want the veiled tested ones. Go to home depot or lowes indoor plants and you can very commonly find most of these veiled options.

Chameleons do not typically like to be held or messed with. Most are like having a fish tank. Holding them can cause quite a bit of stress and reduce their immune system. In the beginning before you start trying to build trust by interacting they need to be left alone in their correctly set up enclosure to get acclimated. Never want to grab them. They need to walk up on you. Once the acclimation period ends and they are eating and basking as they should be then you can work on trust building. See this blog link. https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/building-trust-with-your-chameleon.2396/

Puffing up and vibrating are their signs telling you to back off. If they continue to feel threatened some will try to bite. You do not want to push anything because this can backfire when you do start trying to build trust through hand feeding. They end up seeing your hands as a threat not something that bring the things they like.

This is going to be a crash course in information. And it is going to be a lot so I highly advice starting out with the resources I have given you above. You have a small window of time to get everything set up properly before it starts impacting the health of the chameleon.

So to start off... Can you post some pictures of the chameleon and of the cage set up including the lighting on top?

 

[rgreen]

Thank you very much! I will certainly look into these links you have provided! Here are 2 pictures. One is the tank that I had initially but I have since removed all water dishes as I ready also that they do not need this. The second picture you can see his mesh enclosure that I have attached the cloth to the exterior. Atop the enclosure, there is a dripper in the left corner, a dual lamp that I leave BOTH lights (UVB light and a blue light) on during the day and BOTH off during the night, and the misting machine in the front that I turn on for about 2-3 minutes twice daily (morning and late afternoon).

 

[Beman]

Thank you very much! I will certainly look into these links you have provided! Here are 2 pictures. One is the tank that I had initially but I have since removed all water dishes as I ready also that they do not need this. The second picture you can see his mesh enclosure that I have attached the cloth to the exterior. Atop the enclosure, there is a dripper in the left corner, a dual lamp that I leave BOTH lights (UVB light and a blue light) on during the day and BOTH off during the night, and the misting machine in the front that I turn on for about 2-3 minutes twice daily (morning and late afternoon).

Ok so you will need to overhaul the screen cage completely. You need a new UVB light. A T5HO fixture with either the 5.0 or 6% bulb type. Buy a 24in fixture if you can because you will need to increase the cage size to a 2x2x4 ft enclosure. The two that work are Arcadia ProT5 with 6% bulb or zoomed Reptisun T5HO with 5.0 bulb. Petsmart sometimes has the arcadia brand. Most pet stores have the zoomed brand. This is one of the most important areas that has to be addressed. The compact bulbs do not work well enough. So this is an asap purchase.

Correct lights are on for 12 hours and totally off for 12 hours.

All fruit and veg remove. They are insectivores and their bodies digest this correctly. They do not digest fruit or veg correctly.
Based on the size of that baby you want small sized insects. Crickets would be the best option.

Chams like height so you need all of your fake vines tied in 8-9 measured inches from the top screen (this distance is what you need with the UVB I told you to get and puts them in the correct exposure level). Use floral wire to secure them to the screen all sharps on the outside of the cage away from the cham. Buy flukers vines avoid the black jungle vines you have in there. The surface of their vines flakes off in the chams eyes. No moss vines at all. Your shooting for more of a set up inside the cage like in my media album for my cages. https://www.chameleonforums.com/media/albums/my-enclosures.6672/


Live veiled tested live plants to fill out the cage. Remove all fake plants. You can attach them to the outside if needed.

Pull dripper line up to the very top of the screen. Need to have plants directly below it to drip on for baby to drink.

Pull out all the stuff off the bottom.

Start diving into the resources I gave you. This will be a ton of info but both will get you on the right path.

 

[rgreen]

Thank you so very much! I will start working on this asap!! My husband just let me know he bought a GLASS enclosure that is 12x12x24 - so this is still too small? He also said he bought a 60w Zoomed Blue daylight bulb. The T5HO light is only the UVB correct? So I still just need the 2 lights but need to update the UVB to the one you listed? As well as get a different lamp stand? So have 2 separate lamps for each bulb instead of the dual lamp?

 

[Beman]

Thank you so very much! I will start working on this asap!! My husband just let me know he bought a GLASS enclosure that is 12x12x24 - so this is still too small? He also said he bought a 60w Zoomed Blue daylight bulb. The T5HO light is only the UVB correct? So I still just need the 2 lights but need to update the UVB to the one you listed? As well as get a different lamp stand? So have 2 separate lamps for each bulb instead of the dual lamp?

Tell him to return that cage before you open it or cancel the order. You will have to have 2x2x4 foot tall. Most of us use screen then modify it for our ambient conditions... At the following link you will see two different Neptune the chameleon kits. Either of these would save you on buying a ton of wrong things. https://www.pangeareptile.com/collections/reptile-kits


You would not want more than a 60 watt for basking. Remove the compact all together when you get the T5HO fixture and bulb. Yes this is the only one you want to use with chams. The zoomend day blue is fine. Hold that as a back up in case the other one burns out. you can keep using the dual bulb fixture unless later you want to get a single bulb deep dome fixture to take up less space.

 

[MissSkittles]

Hi! You’re getting help from one of the best but I just wanted to pop in and welcome you to the forum. I’m so happy that you found your way here.