New veiled chameleon finally arrived <3

[ChameLeon_]

So, I've finally got my guy! After a year of planning, building, breeding food and researching online, i've finally got my veiled male! He should be about 4-5 months old i think, he's 100% male as even i have found the spurs on legs. Here's my husbandry review, hopefully everything is on spot, if not please correct my mistakes Also feel free to suggest names, as he is still without one!

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - Male veiled chameleon, about 4-5 months old i think, just picked him up!
• Handling - Just from transport box to his cage, now i will leave him alone to adjust.
• Feeding - Dubias as a staple for now, i will try and look for someone selling other bugs around me as treats to provide variety once he is older. For now i will feed him appropriate size bugs once a day around 10am, and give him as much as he can eat. Gutloading with fresh cucumbers, zuchini, carrots, apples, oranges, bananas, cabbage lettuce, romaine lettuce, basil, bell peppers, sweet potatoes, endive. Will try to blend it together and freeze into cubes probably for better and easier handling.
• Supplements - Calcium without D3 every feeding and multivitamin twice a month. Both Repti-planet branded.
• Watering - Offbrand mistking-like water pump with two nozzles in two corners. 2 minutes before lights on and off, and thinking about adding one in the midday too to boost humidity and give an extra drinking opportunity. Did not see him drink yet, but i just put him in his cage so
• Fecal Description - Did not see his poop yet, will take notes when i see some! Also not tested for parasites yet, but hes from fairly reputable breeder around here.
• History - Hatched by a local breeder, separated as they were sold at 3 months, mine was last as i was out of country for some time.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - DIY wooden hybrid cage, 2 sides plywood 2 sides aluminum screen. dimensions are 60x60x120cm.
• Lighting - Arcadia T5 6% UVB with Arcadia Jungle Dawn LED. For heat i use basic 21cm dome with 40W industrial bulb thats dimmed to minimum, might have to change it as the industrial one is still too strong now. Lights on at 8am, lights off at 8pm.
• Temperature - Measuring with two digital thermometers with probes, basking temp goes up to 33 celsius due to industrial bulb, will go lower with wattage on that. Lowest night temp is about 21-22, hard to get it lower during summer here.
• Humidity - Humidity after spraying session boosted to 80-90% slowly dropping as the cage dries out, lowest is about 30-40%, will probably try to boost it with midday spray. Measuring with the same thermometer, its 2 in 1.
• Plants - Yes, only live one. For now, Ficus benjamina thats doing not so good, hoping the new Jungle Dawn saves the day. Most of the cage is filled out with large pothos plant, planning on adding more plants gradually, maybe some fern, scheflerra etc..
• Placement - Located in a quiet room in the corner, right against the door that are always open, so he can clearly see to the hallway whos coming towards him, no AC or anything that could create draft there. His living area is about 1 meter off the ground, with basking branch being about my eye level.
• Location - Slovakia, middle Europe.

 

[Tkrd69]

Great looking, love the colors. @Beman or @MissSkittles will probably check this for you

 

[Beman]

Congratulations! He is a beauty. Give me a few to go through everything.

 

[Beman]

See my feedback in red bold.


So, I've finally got my guy! After a year of planning, building, breeding food and researching online, i've finally got my veiled male! He should be about 4-5 months old i think, he's 100% male as even i have found the spurs on legs. Here's my husbandry review, hopefully everything is on spot, if not please correct my mistakes Also feel free to suggest names, as he is still without one!

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - Male veiled chameleon, about 4-5 months old i think, just picked him up! Looks about right for age. I am leaning more towards 5 months based on his casque height and show of baring.
• Handling - Just from transport box to his cage, now i will leave him alone to adjust. Make sure you have a dripper going so he can access water. If you do not have one put ice cubes on top of the screen so it will melt and drip through to the plants.
• Feeding - Dubias as a staple for now, i will try and look for someone selling other bugs around me as treats to provide variety once he is older. For now i will feed him appropriate size bugs once a day around 10am, and give him as much as he can eat. Gutloading with fresh cucumbers, zuchini, carrots, apples, oranges, bananas, cabbage lettuce, romaine lettuce, basil, bell peppers, sweet potatoes, endive. Will try to blend it together and freeze into cubes probably for better and easier handling. All of this looks good. Remember smaller dubia are better if this is a main staple. I know you live where it is harder to get feeders. So the reason it is better for them to be smaller is less chance of the dubia building up uric acid that is passed on to the chameleon to clear. Keeping them on a low protein diet and sticking with fresh gutload is better for this as well. Use a food processor to blend it down. It makes it much easier. Were dubia what the breeder was feeding? This will be important just because they tend to go for what they are used to eating.
• Supplements - Calcium without D3 every feeding and multivitamin twice a month. Both Repti-planet branded. both of these are fine. And the multivitamin does have both A and D3 so your good there.
• Watering - Offbrand mistking-like water pump with two nozzles in two corners. 2 minutes before lights on and off, and thinking about adding one in the midday too to boost humidity and give an extra drinking opportunity. Did not see him drink yet, but i just put him in his cage so Instead of mid day do late afternoon. It will help boost humidity going into the evening.
• Fecal Description - Did not see his poop yet, will take notes when i see some! Also not tested for parasites yet, but hes from fairly reputable breeder around here.
• History - Hatched by a local breeder, separated as they were sold at 3 months, mine was last as i was out of country for some time.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - DIY wooden hybrid cage, 2 sides plywood 2 sides aluminum screen. dimensions are 60x60x120cm.
• Lighting - Arcadia T5 6% UVB with Arcadia Jungle Dawn LED. For heat i use basic 21cm dome with 40W industrial bulb thats dimmed to minimum, might have to change it as the industrial one is still too strong now. Lights on at 8am, lights off at 8pm.
• Temperature - Measuring with two digital thermometers with probes, basking temp goes up to 33 celsius due to industrial bulb, will go lower with wattage on that. Lowest night temp is about 21-22, hard to get it lower during summer here. Yep keep him no hotter than 29C at basking.
• Humidity - Humidity after spraying session boosted to 80-90% slowly dropping as the cage dries out, lowest is about 30-40%, will probably try to boost it with midday spray. Measuring with the same thermometer, its 2 in 1. All of these numbers are fine. Veileds are fine down to 30%.
• Plants - Yes, only live one. For now, Ficus benjamina thats doing not so good, hoping the new Jungle Dawn saves the day. Most of the cage is filled out with large pothos plant, planning on adding more plants gradually, maybe some fern, scheflerra etc.. I would avoid ferns. Another good one I have used with my veileds are Dracaena. They come in multiple types and looks. I have used 4 different ones and all have done well in the environment and the chams have been fine with them.
• Placement - Located in a quiet room in the corner, right against the door that are always open, so he can clearly see to the hallway whos coming towards him, no AC or anything that could create draft there. His living area is about 1 meter off the ground, with basking branch being about my eye level.
• Location - Slovakia, middle Europe.

 

[ChameLeon_]

See my feedback in red bold.


So, I've finally got my guy! After a year of planning, building, breeding food and researching online, i've finally got my veiled male! He should be about 4-5 months old i think, he's 100% male as even i have found the spurs on legs. Here's my husbandry review, hopefully everything is on spot, if not please correct my mistakes Also feel free to suggest names, as he is still without one!

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - Male veiled chameleon, about 4-5 months old i think, just picked him up! Looks about right for age. I am leaning more towards 5 months based on his casque height and show of baring.
• Handling - Just from transport box to his cage, now i will leave him alone to adjust. Make sure you have a dripper going so he can access water. If you do not have one put ice cubes on top of the screen so it will melt and drip through to the plants.
• Feeding - Dubias as a staple for now, i will try and look for someone selling other bugs around me as treats to provide variety once he is older. For now i will feed him appropriate size bugs once a day around 10am, and give him as much as he can eat. Gutloading with fresh cucumbers, zuchini, carrots, apples, oranges, bananas, cabbage lettuce, romaine lettuce, basil, bell peppers, sweet potatoes, endive. Will try to blend it together and freeze into cubes probably for better and easier handling. All of this looks good. Remember smaller dubia are better if this is a main staple. I know you live where it is harder to get feeders. So the reason it is better for them to be smaller is less chance of the dubia building up uric acid that is passed on to the chameleon to clear. Keeping them on a low protein diet and sticking with fresh gutload is better for this as well. Use a food processor to blend it down. It makes it much easier. Were dubia what the breeder was feeding? This will be important just because they tend to go for what they are used to eating.
• Supplements - Calcium without D3 every feeding and multivitamin twice a month. Both Repti-planet branded. both of these are fine. And the multivitamin does have both A and D3 so your good there.
• Watering - Offbrand mistking-like water pump with two nozzles in two corners. 2 minutes before lights on and off, and thinking about adding one in the midday too to boost humidity and give an extra drinking opportunity. Did not see him drink yet, but i just put him in his cage so Instead of mid day do late afternoon. It will help boost humidity going into the evening.
• Fecal Description - Did not see his poop yet, will take notes when i see some! Also not tested for parasites yet, but hes from fairly reputable breeder around here.
• History - Hatched by a local breeder, separated as they were sold at 3 months, mine was last as i was out of country for some time.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - DIY wooden hybrid cage, 2 sides plywood 2 sides aluminum screen. dimensions are 60x60x120cm.
• Lighting - Arcadia T5 6% UVB with Arcadia Jungle Dawn LED. For heat i use basic 21cm dome with 40W industrial bulb thats dimmed to minimum, might have to change it as the industrial one is still too strong now. Lights on at 8am, lights off at 8pm.
• Temperature - Measuring with two digital thermometers with probes, basking temp goes up to 33 celsius due to industrial bulb, will go lower with wattage on that. Lowest night temp is about 21-22, hard to get it lower during summer here. Yep keep him no hotter than 29C at basking.
• Humidity - Humidity after spraying session boosted to 80-90% slowly dropping as the cage dries out, lowest is about 30-40%, will probably try to boost it with midday spray. Measuring with the same thermometer, its 2 in 1. All of these numbers are fine. Veileds are fine down to 30%.
• Plants - Yes, only live one. For now, Ficus benjamina thats doing not so good, hoping the new Jungle Dawn saves the day. Most of the cage is filled out with large pothos plant, planning on adding more plants gradually, maybe some fern, scheflerra etc.. I would avoid ferns. Another good one I have used with my veileds are Dracaena. They come in multiple types and looks. I have used 4 different ones and all have done well in the environment and the chams have been fine with them.
• Placement - Located in a quiet room in the corner, right against the door that are always open, so he can clearly see to the hallway whos coming towards him, no AC or anything that could create draft there. His living area is about 1 meter off the ground, with basking branch being about my eye level.
• Location - Slovakia, middle Europe.

Thank you for advice as always I will put the ice cubes up right now and think of some DIY dripper after that. I may be able to find superworm, mealworms, crickets and maybe waxworms, but for now ill stick with small dubias, im having a colony myself so i can choose the size fortunately. Right now i gave him 10 small ones dusted in calcium as im not sure whether he ate today. For the temps, ill try to raise lamp higher for now until i change bulbs, and the fern was just an idea but i saw its hard to keep them alive in terrariums like this. Thanks again! So no major flaws overall? Breeder before used to feed dubias and crickets, so hopefully he wont mind.

 

[Andrew1283]

I love the ice cubes idea!

And congrats on that perfect cham and kudos for your wonderful preparation!

Bill Strand put it perfectly, whenever veieled chameleons are described it’s always prefaced with a “very”. They’re very shy or very possessive of an enclosure or very hungry. Very, very, very haha. Can’t wait to hear what your version of “very” is!

 

[Tkrd69]

Yep, veiled are aggressive in everything they do. Mine goes sideways stick mode when I open the door.

 

[Sherbertsmysunshine]

Thank you for advice as always I will put the ice cubes up right now and think of some DIY dripper after that. I may be able to find superworm, mealworms, crickets and maybe waxworms, but for now ill stick with small dubias, im having a colony myself so i can choose the size fortunately. Right now i gave him 10 small ones dusted in calcium as im not sure whether he ate today. For the temps, ill try to raise lamp higher for now until i change bulbs, and the fern was just an idea but i saw its hard to keep them alive in terrariums like this. Thanks again! So no major flaws overall? Breeder before used to feed dubias and crickets, so hopefully he wont mind.

I made a dripper out of a gallon jug. just poke a hole in the bottom and your good to go.

 

[Beman]

Thank you for advice as always I will put the ice cubes up right now and think of some DIY dripper after that. I may be able to find superworm, mealworms, crickets and maybe waxworms, but for now ill stick with small dubias, im having a colony myself so i can choose the size fortunately. Right now i gave him 10 small ones dusted in calcium as im not sure whether he ate today. For the temps, ill try to raise lamp higher for now until i change bulbs, and the fern was just an idea but i saw its hard to keep them alive in terrariums like this. Thanks again! So no major flaws overall? Breeder before used to feed dubias and crickets, so hopefully he wont mind.

I use the plastic throw away solo cups. You know the ones they use in beer pong lol. If you can get those there. I take a pin and poke a few holes in the bottom and put water in it then set it on top of the cage over plants. This way when I need a new clean one I just toss out the old.

See what other feeders you can find. But like I said if the breeder never fed him roaches he may avoid them because he does not understand they are his food.

No major flaws at all you have learned a lot the last year here and it shows.

 

[ChameLeon_]

I use the plastic throw away solo cups. You know the ones they use in beer pong lol. If you can get those there. I take a pin and poke a few holes in the bottom and put water in it then set it on top of the cage over plants. This way when I need a new clean one I just toss out the old.

See what other feeders you can find. But like I said if the breeder never fed him roaches he may avoid them because he does not understand they are his food.

No major flaws at all you have learned a lot the last year here and it shows.

Nice, sure we have those! More paper now than plastic, but hold water very well anyways. He already ate 2 dubias right in front of me! So i think i got lucky and there wont be a problem at all. Thanks for all the help again!

 

[ChameLeon_]

One more question, to be sure. What should the day-to-day maintenance be now? Like what to do every day, what every week what every month etc...? just to have it all summed up here. Thanks!

 

[Beman]

One more question, to be sure. What should the day-to-day maintenance be now? Like what to do every day, what every week what every month etc...? just to have it all summed up here. Thanks!

So daily I spot clean... Monthly I go through and pull dead leaves wash the bottom pan. Every few months I will pull Beman and take a sprayer to the inside walls and get them washed down. I never rip it all apart. No reason if you are spot cleaning and not dealing with a parasite issue.

 

[MikeyBen]

So, I've finally got my guy! After a year of planning, building, breeding food and researching online, i've finally got my veiled male! He should be about 4-5 months old i think, he's 100% male as even i have found the spurs on legs. Here's my husbandry review, hopefully everything is on spot, if not please correct my mistakes Also feel free to suggest names, as he is still without one!

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - Male veiled chameleon, about 4-5 months old i think, just picked him up!
• Handling - Just from transport box to his cage, now i will leave him alone to adjust.
• Feeding - Dubias as a staple for now, i will try and look for someone selling other bugs around me as treats to provide variety once he is older. For now i will feed him appropriate size bugs once a day around 10am, and give him as much as he can eat. Gutloading with fresh cucumbers, zuchini, carrots, apples, oranges, bananas, cabbage lettuce, romaine lettuce, basil, bell peppers, sweet potatoes, endive. Will try to blend it together and freeze into cubes probably for better and easier handling.
• Supplements - Calcium without D3 every feeding and multivitamin twice a month. Both Repti-planet branded.
• Watering - Offbrand mistking-like water pump with two nozzles in two corners. 2 minutes before lights on and off, and thinking about adding one in the midday too to boost humidity and give an extra drinking opportunity. Did not see him drink yet, but i just put him in his cage so
• Fecal Description - Did not see his poop yet, will take notes when i see some! Also not tested for parasites yet, but hes from fairly reputable breeder around here.
• History - Hatched by a local breeder, separated as they were sold at 3 months, mine was last as i was out of country for some time.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - DIY wooden hybrid cage, 2 sides plywood 2 sides aluminum screen. dimensions are 60x60x120cm.
• Lighting - Arcadia T5 6% UVB with Arcadia Jungle Dawn LED. For heat i use basic 21cm dome with 40W industrial bulb thats dimmed to minimum, might have to change it as the industrial one is still too strong now. Lights on at 8am, lights off at 8pm.
• Temperature - Measuring with two digital thermometers with probes, basking temp goes up to 33 celsius due to industrial bulb, will go lower with wattage on that. Lowest night temp is about 21-22, hard to get it lower during summer here.
• Humidity - Humidity after spraying session boosted to 80-90% slowly dropping as the cage dries out, lowest is about 30-40%, will probably try to boost it with midday spray. Measuring with the same thermometer, its 2 in 1.
• Plants - Yes, only live one. For now, Ficus benjamina thats doing not so good, hoping the new Jungle Dawn saves the day. Most of the cage is filled out with large pothos plant, planning on adding more plants gradually, maybe some fern, scheflerra etc..
• Placement - Located in a quiet room in the corner, right against the door that are always open, so he can clearly see to the hallway whos coming towards him, no AC or anything that could create draft there. His living area is about 1 meter off the ground, with basking branch being about my eye level.
• Location - Slovakia, middle Europe.

Congrats, he's handsome.

 

[elizaann2]

What a cutie! Congratulations!!