New owner of female veiled chameleon

[Josie_Francis]

Hey guys! I am new to this forum and a new chameleon mom!

I am hoping you guys can explain a few things to me. Really whenever my chameleon is in her cage besides the morning and nights, she is a dark color. Sometimes darker than others, but rarely bright green in her cage. Whenever I take her out and let her climb on a houseplant, she’s super active and bright green.

Is this normal? Is she just adjusting to her new home? Is she super stressed out in her cage? Is she cold? Why does she turn bright green when I take her out? I have attached a photo of her cage, a picture of her when she’s dark, a picture of how green she turns at night when she’s sleeping, and a picture of her climbing on my umbrella plant!

 

[Rontti]

She looks good and my cham used to do those things as well. Can you fill out the how to ask for help form? That way we'll get more info.

 

[Rontti]

https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/how-to-ask-for-help.66/

 

[Josie_Francis]

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - I have a female veiled chameleon. She is about 2 and a half months old I believe, I have had her for a week!
• Handling - I have taken her out the past few days to let her climb on some of my houseplants. Other days I let her be. She doesn’t seem to like me much.
• Feeding - I am feeding her crickets right now. Gutloading them in a cricket keeper with carrots, apples, bell peppers and kale on rotation. She is eating 8-10 crickets a day and I feed her around10:30 am usually.
• Supplements - I dust her food with calcium without D3 everyday, Repticalcium. Every two weeks I dust her food with Reptivite, a multi vitamin that has D3.
• Watering - I have an automatic humidifier that goes on when her cage lights turn on in the morning and go off at night, so it is on all day. I also have a dripper. I have seen her open her mouth and shoot her tongue out at water droplets.
• Fecal Description - Her feces are brown and white. Not sure of the consistency, when I’ve cleaned her cage her feces have already hardened and are very easy for me to remove.
• History - not sure

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - She has a open air screen cage that is 16x16x30
• Lighting - Right now she has a Zoo Med 5.0 UVB 13 Watt and a daylight blue reptile bulb that is 60W. I also have a nighttime light for her that just provides some extra warmth. I have been keeping this on during the day too. She seems to like it. Her day lights come on at 9:15 am and go off at 9:15pm.
• Temperature - I have a thermometer that measures the temp in her cage. It seems to be around 82 degrees at the basking spot.
• Humidity - I have not purchased a hygrometer yet so I am not sure of the exact humidity, but since I keep the humidifier on all day I am assuming it is at a good level.
• Plants - She has a mix of fake and real plants in her cage. The real plant I have in there is a dwarf schefflera.
• Placement - Her cage is a few feet off of the ground, placed on top of a desk. It is not by any air vents or fans.
• Location - We live in Boise Idaho!

Current Problem - She is usually pretty dark when she is in her cage and then when I take her out and let her climb on a houseplant, she is super active and bright green!

Did it take your chameleon a while to warm up to you and it’s new cage? She doesn’t seem to like me much, even when I walk by she seems to hide.

 

[Rontti]

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - I have a female veiled chameleon. She is about 2 and a half months old I believe, I have had her for a week!
• Handling - I have taken her out the past few days to let her climb on some of my houseplants. Other days I let her be. She doesn’t seem to like me much.
• Feeding - I am feeding her crickets right now. Gutloading them in a cricket keeper with carrots, apples, bell peppers and kale on rotation. She is eating 8-10 crickets a day and I feed her around10:30 am usually.
• Supplements - I dust her food with calcium without D3 everyday, Repticalcium. Every two weeks I dust her food with Reptivite, a multi vitamin that has D3.
• Watering - I have an automatic humidifier that goes on when her cage lights turn on in the morning and go off at night, so it is on all day. I also have a dripper. I have seen her open her mouth and shoot her tongue out at water droplets.
• Fecal Description - Her feces are brown and white. Not sure of the consistency, when I’ve cleaned her cage her feces have already hardened and are very easy for me to remove.
• History - not sure

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - She has a open air screen cage that is 16x16x30
• Lighting - Right now she has a Zoo Med 5.0 UVB 13 Watt and a daylight blue reptile bulb that is 60W. I also have a nighttime light for her that just provides some extra warmth. I have been keeping this on during the day too. She seems to like it. Her day lights come on at 9:15 am and go off at 9:15pm.
• Temperature - I have a thermometer that measures the temp in her cage. It seems to be around 82 degrees at the basking spot.
• Humidity - I have not purchased a hygrometer yet so I am not sure of the exact humidity, but since I keep the humidifier on all day I am assuming it is at a good level.
• Plants - She has a mix of fake and real plants in her cage. The real plant I have in there is a dwarf schefflera.
• Placement - Her cage is a few feet off of the ground, placed on top of a desk. It is not by any air vents or fans.
• Location - We live in Boise Idaho!

Current Problem - She is usually pretty dark when she is in her cage and then when I take her out and let her climb on a houseplant, she is super active and bright green!

Did it take your chameleon a while to warm up to you and it’s new cage? She doesn’t seem to like me much, even when I walk by she seems to hide.

Definetly get a hygrometer! What's the ambient temperature in her cage? Otherwise everything seems ok. You might want to upgrade to a bigger cage soon. And replace the compact light fixture with a linear bulb with a reflector.
Also, do you hand mist at all? It's important to gently directly mist your cham since that help them clean their eyes.

 

[Rontti]

She is so young you shouldn't read too much into her colours. I think it's fine that she isn't usually super colourful.
(She is super cute btw )

 

[Josie_Francis]

Definetly get a hygrometer! What's the ambient temperature in her cage? Otherwise everything seems ok. You might want to upgrade to a bigger cage soon. And replace the compact light fixture with a linear bulb with a reflector.
Also, do you hand mist at all? It's important to gently directly mist your cham since that help them clean their eyes.

I do hand mist occasionally! And I think the ambient temp is 75, I will check that reading again today. What brand of linear bulb would you recommend? Going to look into that!

 

[Rontti]

Arcadia T5 bulbs are great and last a long time.

 

[Beman]

@Josie_Francis contact Todd from www.lightyourreptiles.com. He sells the Arcadia brand. He was awesome helping me out with what would be right for my set up and Chameleon.

 

[Josie_Francis]

@Josie_Francis contact Todd from www.lightyourreptiles.com. He sells the Arcadia brand. He was awesome helping me out with what would be right for my set up and Chameleon.

Sweet I will contact him! Thanks!

 

[Josie_Francis]

Also, I am going out of town for Christmas and am having a neighbor come feed her, mist, etc. have you guys left your chameleons before and is there anything specific I should tell the babysitters to do or don’t do besides all the normal stuff? I’m so sad to leave her for 10 days :/