New to here and Chams

gpmo

gpmo

New Member
Hello all,

We thought we would say hello and introduce ourselves. We just came into the care of a 2ish year old veiled chameleon. We are both new to chams but not to herps.

We are a Stacy and Paul, Stacy is a vet student at csu hoping to specialize in exotics, and Paul works. In our care we have a Leopard Gecko, Variable King Snake, two Fire Belly Toads, Whites Tree Frog, Tiger Salamander, Rose Hair Tarantula, Pug ( not a herp), cat, and now a Veiled Chameleon. All of our friends are rescues as we don't generally purchase from stores.

Also a thriving wax worm, mealworm, and now dubia roach colonies.

We live in northern Colorado. We would love to be able to get in contact with someone up in this area that could maybe give us some one on one time with cham care and set ups. We have been scouring the web and these very amazing forums, but face time would be great for us also.

Thanks for your time and feel free to ask us some questions as we plan to ask you all tons of them.

Stacy and Paul
 
Welcome to the forums! Just to let you know, mealworms are not the best food for a chameleon so only use them as treats once or twice a month. Waxworms are also very fatty so again, once or twice a month would probably be best. Dubias are awesome though. :)

Feel free to ask questions!
 
Welcome good luck with your set up amd have fun. That was my favorite thing before I got my chameleon. I you have anymore questions let us know.

You could fill this out and we can help correct/improve any problems:

Chameleon Info:

* Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
* Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
* Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
* Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
* Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
* Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
* History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.


Cage Info:

* Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
* Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
* Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
* Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
* Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
* Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
* Location - Where are you geographically located?


Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.
 
Welcome! I went CSU for grad school and was in the College of Vet Med. and Biomedical Sciences.....but my studies and research were in the biomed part and never focused on animals. In other words, can't give too much cham advice and no longer live near CSU, so somewhat useless for this thread.

Chams are a great hobby. I'm only two months into it but love it. Just wanted to extend a welcome and hello.....enjoy Ft. Collins, I miss it.
 
Hello!! I absolutely loved CSU-too bad its sooo expensive! But I'm a pre-vet student at K-State and I want to do exotics as well!!

Anyways..welcome to the forum! Feel free to ask any questions!!
 
Hi all :) thanks for the great reference reading! I'll try to fill out the care form as completely as possible, please feel free to critique at will :p

Chameleon: Male veiled chameleon, about 2 yrs old, we have had him 2 days (rescue)

Handling: daily

Feeding: dubia roaches, crickets, superworms, occasional waxworms. He is very thin so we have been feeding him what he wants, he has eaten about 15 crickets, one roach and one superworm in 2 days. All feeders gutloaded with fresh veggies, crickets get a complete cricket diet at all times, roaches get a mix of koi pellets, rabbit pellets and fresh veggies (soon to be cat food too), worms get bran, oats etc. along with veggies.

Supplements: none yet

Watering: little dripper, misting 2-3 times a day, we haven't seen him drink
Fecal description: brown pelletish, landed in water catch bowl so not exactly sure

History: rescued two days ago from ppl who did not want him anymore :( fairly vague history; was given to them six months earlier, unknown prior to that

Cage type:reptarium mesh 16w 16l 30h (we are in the process of getting a much larger one)

Lighting:incandescent heat bulb, exoterra UvB bulb

Temp: 75 at bottom (strip thermometer on cage), about 90 at top (digital thermometer near top)

Humidity: probably to low, plan to get humidifier in the next few days misting a few times a day in the meantime, humidity measured in a nearby wire top tank is about 60%

Plants: Plastic right now, hanging on the sides of cage, he has a large plastic log in the bottom of cage and branches and vines at different lvls throughout
Location: in our reptile room (converted loft) low traffic area with no vents or drafts, top of cage is a bit over 6ft

Current problems: started a patchy shed this morning, thin, haven't seen him drinking

Thanks again for any advice, we can post pictures if needed

Paul and stacy
 
Welcome to the forum, we are always happy to have more chameleon friends.
The only thing I will offer so far is not to handle him every day as he needs time to adjust, and is your uvb light a tube or compact florescent? You need the tube type. Best brand is rep cal 10. LLL Reptile has the best prices.
 
I would not feed your roaches any kind of fish/cat/dog food if they are feeders. There is too much protien which can lead to gout. Do a quick search for more details. I recommend only handling once a week for a health check unless he voluntarily walks onto your hand while it is at the front of the cage. Chameleons aren't exactly handle-able pets and should be treated like very expensive living art. Handling usually causes stress, stress kills. (plus he is new and a new home/move is stressful enough.)

Veileds are known to be 'closet' drinkers and are often shy about drinking. Just make sure his urates are white (with only a tiny bit of yellow at the tip is normal, but it should not be completely yellow or orange as that indicates dehydration.) adults will often shed in sections over the span of days or even weeks. What makes you suspect he is thin?
 
He will walk right onto your hand, unfortunately we have been trying to get our reptile room set up and i think that maybe stressing him out (though not as much as the screaming two year old child from the place we rescued him from.).

As for being thin, comparing him to others we have seen pictures of and seen in person he is rail thin. You can see his ribs easily. Fortunately he is willing to eat and seems to enjoy hunting about.
 
Chameleons ribs can easily be seen depending on how flat they are at the moment or how inflated they are. They can't actually hear noises so sound won't bother them, but vibrations will.

The tail and limbs are a good indicator of health when it comes to weight. Perhaps others can help more if you post some pictures of him.
 
will have some pictures up tomorrow, i think he may be a bit mad if i hit him with a flash in the middle of the night heh :p. Limbs and tail look good, he has a very firm grip.

That kid was bouncing off the walls hitting anything and everything with a little foam bat thing, their entire house was shaking.

Thanks again for all your comments, its nice having folks respond quickly.
 
Haha, two year olds will be two year olds. Some chams won't even wake up for a photo shoot at night :) My male veiled could probably sleep through an earthquake.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Dgk5989
3 Year old veiled needs a new loving home asap Sacramento CA area!!!!
Replies
4
Views
507
XMaddock
XMaddock
Chancla
New to Chams, is he healthy?
2 3 4
Replies
76
Views
3K
MzLaurie
M
MedicMan1
The chameleon with no name, a journey of love and patience, revisited.
2
Replies
20
Views
2K
elizaann2
elizaann2
T
New Baby Veiled Cham
Replies
13
Views
1K
Beman
Beman
S
New Chameleon Momma🥳
Replies
16
Views
1K
MissSkittles
MissSkittles
Back
Top Bottom