New Chameleon Owner

[chascarpenter1]

My family welcomed an early Christmas gift, a medium sized, 4-6 mo. old, Veiled Chameleon, named Charlie the Lizard. We have set him up with a nice little home in the form of a well decor-ed glass and screen custom cage. His lights, 1 100w UVB and 1 night time black light, are set on automatic timers. I have chosen to keep him in the family room, which, based on his color, does not seem to mind.

My only concern is that, he does not seem to be overly interested in food. While he did eat two meal worms from a feed cup on day one, he does not seem interested now on day 3. I have let some crickets free roam, and I do believe he is consuming some of these, but I can't be sure because they have a tendency to hide in the coco husk substrate. I know it is common for most animals to fast when introduced to a new environment, but I don't know how long a veiled can go be for I should be concerned.

Oh, I almost forgot, I purchased him, in person, from LLL reptiles in Oceanside, CA.

 

[Mystic]

Welcome to the Chameleon Family World.

Just give him some time to relax and get use to his new home. I am a new owner myself and learning very quickly. I hope he comes around.
I am sure someone else that is seasoned in the cham world could give more help !

 

[Slug]

Welcome, I am not as seasoned as some of the other members, but I am sure that they will jump in soon enough.

First thing you will need to do is get rid of the coco fiber substrate. They can ingest it and it may cause impaction in their bowels and they can die. It is better to have nothing in the bottom of the enclosure than a loose substrate. I personally just use the pvc floor that came with my reptibreeze. It is easy to clean, and also is easy to modify to allow for drainage due to frequent mistings and drips from my rain system.

Also, no night time lights! All you will need is a 40-60 watt regular house bulb (it varies depending on the needs of the chameleon). DO NOT BUY RED NIGHT TIME BULBS FOR NIGHT TIME VIEWING. That is a lesson I learned early on. They are a waste of money for chameleon owners since they are diurnal (awake during the day, asleep at night). Also, they will stress out your animal by keeping them awake.

You don't mention how big your enclosure is, but bigger is always better, and always go with taller rather than long, since they like to climb.

Please post pics of your enclosure, we would love to see your set-up, plus other members will gladly give you constructive criticism on how to improve it.

And don't be too worried about them not eating right away, my first one took almost a week to adjust, plus that is when you will be making adjustments to make them as happy as possible. The slightest change can mean the world to a chameleon. In my case, simply changing the bulb (increasing the basking temperature) caused my first to be far more active and started eating shortly after that happened.

Oh, and fill out the HOW TO ASK FOR HELP form. It will give us a better idea of what changes will need to be made.

Chameleons are an investment, but once you have made that investment, you will want to protect it...and end up getting more chams. Trust me it will happen.

 

[Rango183]

it seem to be a uva problem what are u using for uva?

 

[Rango183]

pics of current set up will help very much

 

[DavidBuchan]

Hello, welcome to the forum It does very often take a few days to a couple of weeks to settle in properly. Give him as much peace as you can for the first two weeks with no handling (just feeding and cleaning). This plus plenty of foliage to hide in will get him settled as quickly as possible.
Here is a great basic caresheet I recommend to all new people with Veileds - https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/chameleonsinmyhouse/395-veiled-chameleon-care-sheet.html

 

[cwinder1]

My veiled did the same thing when we first got him. He would only eat a max of 2 crickets a day and sometimes none. A couple of weeks later he started to eat more. We have had him 3 months and he eats up to 15 crickets a day!

 

[chascarpenter1]

Charlie Update

Charlie seems to be doing just fine. I am letting some crickets free roam, around the cage, so that he can eat at will and explore his new home without any distractions. He does get upset each time the cage is misted, turns real dark and hides, but after the deed is done, he will eagerly drink. To answer some questions.

-Cage size: 14w x 17d x 29h
-His size: aprox. 6in or less nose to vent
-Day Bulb: 100w Powersun UVA UVB combo Mercury Vapor Lamp
-Night Bulb: 100w black light
-Day temp: Aprox. Basking 90 deg, Top 86 Deg, Bottom 73,
-Night Temp: Basking 75 deg, top 70 deg, bottom 67 deg
-Substrate: Because the cage is glass, the store instructed me to put in a layer of large size coco bark to avoid ingestion, and act as a barrier for any water that collects on the bottom.
-As for as waste goes, I see some black droppings and some white droppings in the cage.

I have included so photos of Charlie and his habitat.
-Sorry they are incorrectly oriented, there seems to be a problem with meta data between iphone and win8

 

[Lathelia]

Hi and welcome,
I will repeat what others have already said:
It's best not to use any substrate, there were cases when chameleons died after eating it. It's especially important if you let crickets loose, he can shoot at them and digest substrat with the cricket.
Do not use any type of night bulb. It will disturb your baby and he/she won't be able to sleep properly. Also, they need temp drop at night.
I'm not sure if you have proper UVB bulb, cause I'm not familiar with it, so I will let others comment on that.
Good luck with your sweet baby!

 

[dom1959]

welcome to the forum, i am also newbie, there is great info here and a lot of great folks. just remember it is the internet so don't take anything personally.

fabulous looking beast u have there

 

[lysinlight87]

I love your set-up! Wish my first set-up looked that good

I'd just take on board the tips people have given you, just see them a little tips- every first time owner & even experienced ones have to tweak a few things here & there.

 

[DavidBuchan]

Good stuff, Charlie the Lizard and his set up look great - I'm sure he'll be very happy there, eating and getting used to his mistings in good time for you

 

[chascarpenter1]

Saw Charlie eat today, i'm very proud of the little guy. Had a little scare today because I found him on the bottom of the cage twice, but after examining the set up I found a vine that was improperly secured was to blame.

 

[chascarpenter1]

Could someone please send me a pic of heathy Cham poo so I know what I'm suppose to be looking for. Also, how do I determine what a lite dusting of supplement powder is?

 

[MollyT]

Hello and welcome to the forum! You will learn so much here and it's a great place to share pictures and tell stories...bc noone but other cham owners seem to understand how much we love our little reptile friends! I agree with the others' comments on substrate, but have to say that his cage looks great! Lots of nice, thick foiage for him to hide in..he will LOVE that. Good job!! I wish you the best with him! I've had my guy about a month and a half now and I am just totally in love with him!!

 

[chascarpenter1]

Update on Charlie:
Charlie seem to be getting along just fine and has ended his food strike. Now, he hand feeds and hunts crickets like its nobody's business.

 

[DavidBuchan]

Good stuff, an enthusiastic eater is the easiest way to tell that a chameleon is psychologically healthy He's looking very well too......... Did you get answers to the cham poo and dusting questions? As long as there's a decent brown/black bit and a white/sort of off-white bit then you're fine. If the white bit goes yellowish then it means dehydration. Orange means serious dehydration. A light dusting means getting a fine coat of powder, most of the way round As long as there's some visible but they are not 'ghost crickets' you'll be fine. Have a good gutload of course.

 

[chascarpenter1]

Charlie on the prowl

 

[chascarpenter1]

Here's another one

 

[chascarpenter1]

So I had to make some adjustments to Charlie's cage and while at it make a cricket cup, now he is on another food strike. Now I need to put some tile over the substrate, so should I wait until he is eating to make more changes or just go ahead and do it now? I don't want to over stress him, but I also want to make sure he is getting nourished. Also, after Letting him stay on a pothos plant while doing work on his cage he just keeps trying to claw his way out of his home. Is that normal.