New month old Veiled chameleon stressed, HELP!!

[geoff135]

I got a new baby veiled chameleon about 2-3 days ago, I brought him home and have noticed that he has remained darkish brown for a few days, i know this means he is stressed, but he climbs around fine, has been eating plenty of crickets, drinking, and his droppings look normal. we turns back to regular green color when he is sleeping but thats what i read was normal.


Enclosure set up:
I have 3 fake plants in the enclosure, one on the left most side, runs from the top to the bottom and has a drop running constantly @ 1 drop per 10 sec, then i have a plant in the middle back, very dense. then i have a third plant/vine connecting the: drip, basking vine, and down to a bowl for the crickets. I also have a vine that snakes around the cage and is positioned so he has a nice basking place about 6 inches from a BVB and Heating lamp.


I put out crickets every morning (about 10-12) dusted with calcium powder. he makes his way to the bowl eventually and eats them all up, then basks in the sun for a bit. ive seen him hangout on the plant with the drip and assume he is drinking. Ive misted his case 2-3 times a day to try and keep a solid humidity for him.

He Seems fine but he is always dark brown, ive told you guys what i have been doing, please let me know if i am doing anything wrong or if this is normal to experience when taking chameleons home for the first few days.

I just dont want the little guys to get to stressed out and die becasue of something stupid.

please any suggestions are appreciated!!!

Thanks

 

[dmoney]

I have a 2 month old Jackson that gets that dark color as well. (I got him a couple days ago too). I try and take his cage outside as much as I can. He seems to turn his nice colors when he is in the natural sunlight. I think it will also just take a week or so for him to get comfortable in his new home.

 

[kingspade18]

Im gonna say he is just adjusting to his new home.

 

[Elizadolots]

Hi, geoff, welcome!

I agree with kingspade, your chameleon is probably just adjusting to his new home.

They do tend to stay dark if they are cold. What's the temperature at the basking spot (that place where your chameleon can hang out and get the maximum benefit of the lights)?

 

[geoff135]

reply

thanks for the info, ill pick up a thermometer when i go get more crickets, What should the ideal temp. be for a baby? I dont want him to burn.

 

[Elizadolots]

Well, the most important thing to prevent a burn is to have a good temperature gradient that the chameleon can use fully. By that I mean, he should be able to get from the hottest to the coldest part of the cage and every where in between easily. If all the climbing, resting spots are in the top 8 inches of the enclosure, he can't regulate his exposure to heat. That and a light that's touching the screen are the big causes of burns. So, make sure he can get away from the basking bulb.

For a baby like that, I would say try a basking temperature of 85. Let the bottom of the cage drop to room temperature. If he's still brown or not eating well after a day of that, bump the temperature, at the basking spot only, up a degree or two.

 

[geoff135]

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this is is cage, does everything seem ok?

 

[kingspade18]

<a href="http://s843.photobucket.com/albums/zz360/geoff135/?action=view&current=IMG_1406.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i843.photobucket.com/albums/zz360/geoff135/IMG_1406.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

this is is cage, does everything seem ok?

If that is a water dish i would remove it as your cham will not drink standing water and it is a potential bacteria pool as well. Other than that it looks good.

 

[kingspade18]

Maybe a few more hiding places for him to feel a lil more comfortable. I would recommend a live plant like a pothos or scheflerra as well

 

[Elizadolots]

If it were me, I would get a natural plant in there and get leaves around that big vine so he has easy to get to hiding places. If you could find a big, full pothos and hang if from the top, train the vines around that big vine, it would give him better humidity, edible leaves and places to hide. I would check the temperature of the screen under the lights in addition to at the basking spot. They sometimes like to climb on the ceiling.

 

[geoff135]

the "water dish" is just there to collect the drippings off of the plant, is that still ok? What is a plant that you could get at lowes or walmart? do they sell pothos?

 

[froggielog]

I got a nice big umbrella plan from home depot the other day. Cheap and it hold water in its leaves well Look at the more tropical section, indoors.

 

[geoff135]

I think will work better

go this for him i think this will help.