Three days ago i got a new baby veiled chameleon, im guessing he’s about 2 months old or so? he hasn’t eaten at all, i know they need time to settle but i don’t want him to go hungry. he’s very scared of me and hides anytime i open the enclosure. he’s in a 24 x 24 x 48 mesh enclosure with lots of coverage and live plants. he’s not that bright so i’m worried he’s too stressed. any suggestions?
New chameleon
- Thread starter frngogh
- Start date
MissSkittles
Chameleon Enthusiast
Hi and welcome. Can you post some pics of the entire enclosure, including top and bottom? It’s pretty normal for them to be scared until they adjust to there new home. But while you’re here, let’s make sure you have everything correct. 
MissSkittles
Chameleon Enthusiast
Thank you! With so very much incorrect info out there about keeping chameleons, it’s much better to offer to help you from now rather than when your chameleon has serious problems. So, your enclosure doesn’t look bad to start. However, all I see is a dome light and not a proper uvb. This is one of the biggest and most common errors that leads to problems. The screw in uvb bulbs just aren’t able to provide the levels needed or any sort of range and it often leads to metabolic bone disease. The correct uvb is a linear T5HO with either a ReptiSun 5.0 or Arcadia 6% (my preferred choice) uvb bulbs. I do caution against any other brand of uvb as they are not reliable. The fixture needs to be long enough to span the entire width of your enclosure. Keeping in mind that the minimum size for an adult chameleon is an2x2x4’ enclosure, so your uvb needs to be at least 24” long. Once you have this light, then you want to set up the basking area to be about 8-9” below the lights. This provides the ideal uvb level for your chameleon and it has a nice range, so if he wants just a little bit, he can go an inch lower or so. The next most important thing to have correct is supplements. This is often confusing and done wrong. The easiest is to lightly dust with a phosphorus-free calcium without D3 at every feeding. Repashy makes a nice calcium, called Supercal noD. Then you’ll need to get either Repashy Calcium Plus LoD or Reptivite with D3. These are great combination products of D3 and multivitamins. This you’ll use to lightly dust one feeding either every other week, or twice a month if you prefer.
For food, you want to give a nice variety of appropriately sized live buggies. Anything larger than the space between his eyes is too big and he won’t be able to eat it. I like to give a bit smaller than my chams can handle. You also want to make sure to keep your insect feeders well fed on a diet of fresh produce (avoid spinach and kale) so that they are healthy and more nutritious. I’m attaching some graphics below to help guide you. If your cutie is only two months old, you’ll be wanting to feed him as much as he can eat in about a 15 minute period, twice a day. At 3 months old, you go to once daily in the morning feeding 20-25+ feeders and as he gets older, the amounts are reduced as his growing slows. By the time he’s a full adult at 10-12 months old, he should be getting 3-4 feeders, every other day.
Another common area of error is temps. For little ones and females, we want basking temps to be no higher than 80F. Little ones will walk upside down on the screen top, so it’s best to raise your lights at least a couple of inches to prevent burns. I use the small wire baskets (drawer organizers) from the dollar store to raise my lights. No heat and no lights at all at night. Veileds can handle some pretty cool temps and it’s best to have a cool night.
Humidity should be between 30-50% during the day. For water, you want to spray the plant leaves for at least 2 minutes, twice a day - right before lights on and off. Look to the urate (white part of the poo) to determine if this is enough hydration. A small end of yellow or even light orange on a mostly white urate is perfect. All dark is needing more hydration. Live plants will help provide and maintain your humidity and provide lots of hiding and shady places for your little ones. You’ll want to replace the artificial plants with safe live ones. Veileds nibble their plants and if he eats a fake leaf, he could get a bowel obstruction. Little ones don’t nibble much, but some adults can strip their plants bare. Lots of branches of varied sizes help exercise little mitten muscles. Adding a pic of one of my set up enclosures so you have an idea of what the goal is. Keep the floor bare - much easier to clean and keep hygienic. I’m giving you the quickie basics. To learn more, check out https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-husbandry-program-getting-started-with-chameleons/ or Neptune the chameleon on YouTube. Of course, ask as many questions as you need. We all started at the beginning.
For food, you want to give a nice variety of appropriately sized live buggies. Anything larger than the space between his eyes is too big and he won’t be able to eat it. I like to give a bit smaller than my chams can handle. You also want to make sure to keep your insect feeders well fed on a diet of fresh produce (avoid spinach and kale) so that they are healthy and more nutritious. I’m attaching some graphics below to help guide you. If your cutie is only two months old, you’ll be wanting to feed him as much as he can eat in about a 15 minute period, twice a day. At 3 months old, you go to once daily in the morning feeding 20-25+ feeders and as he gets older, the amounts are reduced as his growing slows. By the time he’s a full adult at 10-12 months old, he should be getting 3-4 feeders, every other day.
Another common area of error is temps. For little ones and females, we want basking temps to be no higher than 80F. Little ones will walk upside down on the screen top, so it’s best to raise your lights at least a couple of inches to prevent burns. I use the small wire baskets (drawer organizers) from the dollar store to raise my lights. No heat and no lights at all at night. Veileds can handle some pretty cool temps and it’s best to have a cool night.
Humidity should be between 30-50% during the day. For water, you want to spray the plant leaves for at least 2 minutes, twice a day - right before lights on and off. Look to the urate (white part of the poo) to determine if this is enough hydration. A small end of yellow or even light orange on a mostly white urate is perfect. All dark is needing more hydration. Live plants will help provide and maintain your humidity and provide lots of hiding and shady places for your little ones. You’ll want to replace the artificial plants with safe live ones. Veileds nibble their plants and if he eats a fake leaf, he could get a bowel obstruction. Little ones don’t nibble much, but some adults can strip their plants bare. Lots of branches of varied sizes help exercise little mitten muscles. Adding a pic of one of my set up enclosures so you have an idea of what the goal is. Keep the floor bare - much easier to clean and keep hygienic. I’m giving you the quickie basics. To learn more, check out https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-husbandry-program-getting-started-with-chameleons/ or Neptune the chameleon on YouTube. Of course, ask as many questions as you need. We all started at the beginning.
