New Veiled Chameleon owner, Set up advice

[chevycham]

Hello to everyone on here!
On May 09, 2014 we adopted a veiled chameleon. We purchased him from Pet smart along with the whole set up. His name is Chevy and he was a gift for our daughter who was after us for months for a Chameleon and I was adamant on not getting one because I hated anything that resembled a lizard. Once we brought him home, I immediately got attached, and low and behold, I think I may have stolen my daughters Chameleon.

As I am sure you can see, I am a brand new member here and I have posted a few pictures in my album and attached them to this post so that anyone can view what he looks like and where he lives at and in. He is such as beautiful reptile! It has been so cool to watch him grow since we have had him.

I have researched and researched on how to properly care for him because I am in Arizona, and I cannot find anyone such as a Reptile Supply place that I can go to in order to make sure I have everything that he needs. When we initially bought him, we were sold the ZOO MED Reptibreeze cage that has a screen top, and all other sides are glass. There are small screens on both sides of the enclosure. He has his heat lamps and multiple vines and braches to hide on and in. They also sold me a bag of that Repti Bark which is in there. When we first got him, we manually misted his enclosure with a spray bottle, and then I picked up one of the little dripper bottles that has the black tubing to drip water in his enclosure. He eats sm - med size crickets, about 10 a day. He really doesn't like the meal worms, so crickets it is.

So here is what I would really appreciate help with "How to maintain Humidity" – Since we brought him home, his humidity level has been a pain to get in the right ranges. I was told to place a water dish or similar in the bottom of his enclosure to catch the dripping water because the standing water would help with the humidity. It has worked until about a week ago. We had to move him out of that room for just a few hours to clean up a bit, and I searched how to clean his cage and was told to rinse the leaves and branches, but I didn’t use any form of chemicals what so ever. When I got his enclosure back in its spot, since that day, the humidity will not stay steady anymore. It was holding between 50% to 80% before and now unless I spray every 15 min or so, it drops below 50%. I have included some pictures for you to view with a picture of the thermostat. Any advice would be great! We love, or more so, I love having him here!

 

[jannb]

Welcome to the forums. I have been keeping chameleons about 10 years and I am sorry to say that your little man has MBD. https://www.chameleonforums.com/wha...ase-mbd-looks-like-how-happens-how-fix-95071/
You can look in my albums and see what a healthy veiled should look like. I would recommend you change your husbandry, I will attach my blog for new keeper so you can see the way I have been able to successfully keep my chameleons. I also recommend you take him to a reptile vet that has chameleon experience and I'll get you a link for that also. A vet will give you some liquid calcium for him and a shot to draw the calcium into the bones.

My blog for new keepers: https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...-keepers-young-veiled-panther-chameleons.html

This thread is where the members here posted their chameleon vets so you will need to read through the post, I know there's a couple in AZ.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/area-area-country-vet-list-32880/

More great chameleon info here: https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/chameleons/

 

[chevycham]

Advice needed

Oh My Goodness. Of all the things I expected, that was not one of them. I am going to take him to the Vet tomorrow. We actually have a vet here that sees reptiles. Thank you so much for your observation and noticing that.

 

[xephyr17]

Yep, MBD right there. Definitely started before you got him, so it seems... no way it's gotten that bad so quick! At least I would imagine...

Hopefully your vet knows what to suggest to help and you can do the right thing to handle it. You can always come here for tons of info on what exactly to do for your cham for those kinds of things, as you can see by jannb's helpful comment Her, as well as others, have posted lots of good, helpful info about everything on chams here.

Good luck with your little guy. Seems like he's in a good home with someone who will take care of him

 

[Lpsouth1978]

I agree completely with Jann (she is the veiled queen). Your gut does have MBD, but it is not the worst case I have seen. While the damage that has already been done cannot be undone, it is treatable and he can still live a happy and healthy life if you act quickly.

Read through the care sheets on this forum and try to correct the things in it that differ from your setup. Here are a few things you can do right away that will help.

1. Remove the substrate. Having nothing on the bottom of the enclosure is best. Charms can accidentally ingest the substrate and become impacted.

2. Make sure you are feeding well gut loaded feeders and dusting feeders appropriately. Here is the recommended dusting schedule.
Every feeding - calcium without D3
2x a month - calcium with D3
2x a month - multivitamin

3. Get him out in the sun as much as possible. There is no better source of UVB than the sun. Getting him out in the sun for even a few hours a week will help him immensely.

4. Ensure you have a good UVB bulb. Even though you may be using a UVB bulb! it needs to be replaced every 6 months. It will still produce light after 6 months, but will not produce enough UVB to support your chameleon.

5. Move him into a screen cage if possible. Veileds are a fairly large species and require a good amount of space with good air flow. A 24x24x48 enclosure is the recommended minimum size for an adult veiled.

6. The most important thing you can do is get him to a good vet with chameleon experience ASAP.

These things are all rather simple fixes than greatly improve your chameleons situation. The sooner you can do these things, the quicker he will be able to recover.

Good luck with your guy, I hope he makes a full recovery!

 

[sharp229]

Glad you are able to take him to a vet. Do you have a UVB bulb, and if so, what is the brand and model? Note that these bulbs need to be replaced approximately every 6 months even if they are still putting out visible light, and having glass between the bulb and your chameleon will block all UVB.

What kind of cage do you have? A Reptibreeze is a screen cage, but in your post you say it is glass.

When you have a chance, could you copy and paste and fill out the form below?
https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

Thanks!

 

[chevycham]

Update on my little dude Chevy! Good News mostly

I can't thank you all enough for leading me in the right direction. We went to the vet today, there was no way I was going to wait. The vet we have here said thankfully it is not looking like a severe case of MBD to where we can't bring him back into good health and maintain. True we can't reverse the damage, but we can take care of him the proper way from here on out.

The vet sent me back over to Pet smart to see a guy that knows about Chameleons and actually has some. He was wonderful. Very upset at the original set up that I was sold, but he gave me everything I need to try and get him back into a good/steady health. When we first brought him home, I was sold a glass enclosure, which is obviously wrong, so I have ordered the correct whole screen enclosure for him through Amazon and will be here probably on Monday. He also gave me really good bulbs for his basking area and told me to get that bark out of there. I am now going to be feeding him crickets Mon, Wed, Fri and Wax worms Tues, Sat and Sun. I have the proper powder coating and a multi-vitamin that he will have to have twice a week every week. He was also great at showing me exactly how to set his cage up and where to place the misting system and how to get the temperature in the right range for his basking area.

I think finally we are on the right track and I am confident that I can give him a great life from here on out. He is in good hands here. I have become so attached and I will do what I need to in order to let him have a happy and good life.

Again, thank you so much for the immediate advice.

 

[MichelleNFrankie]

I can't thank you all enough for leading me in the right direction. We went to the vet today, there was no way I was going to wait. The vet we have here said thankfully it is not looking like a severe case of MBD to where we can't bring him back into good health and maintain. True we can't reverse the damage, but we can take care of him the proper way from here on out.

The vet sent me back over to Pet smart to see a guy that knows about Chameleons and actually has some. He was wonderful. Very upset at the original set up that I was sold, but he gave me everything I need to try and get him back into a good/steady health. When we first brought him home, I was sold a glass enclosure, which is obviously wrong, so I have ordered the correct whole screen enclosure for him through Amazon and will be here probably on Monday. He also gave me really good bulbs for his basking area and told me to get that bark out of there. I am now going to be feeding him crickets Mon, Wed, Fri and Wax worms Tues, Sat and Sun. I have the proper powder coating and a multi-vitamin that he will have to have twice a week every week. He was also great at showing me exactly how to set his cage up and where to place the misting system and how to get the temperature in the right range for his basking area.

I think finally we are on the right track and I am confident that I can give him a great life from here on out. He is in good hands here. I have become so attached and I will do what I need to in order to let him have a happy and good life.

Again, thank you so much for the immediate advice.

Oh gosh, I feel for u I went though the exact same thing, I also bought mine from Petsmart, they told me he was a "she" when he is indeed a boy, he has MBD, not bad either but still they need to get there stuff straight and take care of them right if they're gonna sell them, you know!! And I bought $900 worth of stuff from there, $700 of it wasn't even suppose to be used for him!! So my husband and I had to build a screened cage in 1 day and buy everything he really does need. I tried taking the stuff back to Petsmart that he couldn't use, explained to them what I was sold was wrong & everything I was told was wrong, I was very nice in the beginning, well they said I'm sorry we can't take back used stuff, needless to say they got a piece of my mind and I went out of there pissed with all the useless stuff!! I did leave them a really bad review online but why would they care, they don't even care about their reptiles. So now I have a closet full of useless stuff, sure I can sell it on Craigslist but I'll never get back what I put into it

I understand completely what ur going through, keep ur chin up and research, research, research, that's what I did plus I took him to the vet, got liquid calcium and he's doing so great now!!!! Also I was only feeding him crickets, waxworms and super worms in the beginning bought from pet stores, not petsmart though, but now I order all his insects online & I give him a huge variety, that has helped a lot too. U should give that a try. He also used to just bask ALL the time but now he basks a few hours in the morning and a hour or 2 in the afternoon, the rest of the day he doesn't stay still, I take him outside sometimes in his outdoor enclosure and I also put him on his free range spot in the sun room, so he has 3 places he can go, he's a little spoiled I know my fault, he loves it though, when he's in his cage and he wants out he'll go to the door in his cage and kinda scratch at it so I open it up and he'll crawl straight onto my arm he's really sweet. Hopefully I made u feel a little better, knowing ur not the only 1...
Just give ur little guy some time, if u do everything right, he'll get better, it will take some time though. I can tell u really care & ur really determined to take care of him right, he's very lucky to have u as his owner!! Good luck to u and ur little guy!!!

 

[chevycham]

Update Chevy Status

That honestly made me feel so much better! I too am going to order him a variety of insects as well from online to give him a really good balanced diet. I was so grateful that there was that 1 person at Pets Mart when we went in there yesterday that knew what he was doing and had the compassion to do it. I here people say all the time that its not that big of a deal, animals or reptiles die all the time, but lots of people don't take into consideration that like Chevy, they breath and feel pain just as us humans do. I know it has only been 24 hours, but every since I re-did his cage set up, he honestly seems happier. The guy at Pets Mart that helped us said that he was really shocked that Chevy hasn't died yet, but he also said that the constant care from me made the little guy keep fighting.

Good things I can see are that he is till mobile, not lethargic at all, he is still hunting which is hilarious and cool to watch, so that tells me that he still has a lot of fight left in him, so I am going to help him persevere! I will post some picture on here of his progress so everyone can see how well he is doing.

I am also going to find a place where I can blog and tell people our story, and let other people know that you NEED to do your research. If you don't have 100% compassion about what ever type of animal or reptile you have, than DON'T get one.

Once my little dude get better, we are most likely going to get him a cage mate I am hoping to maybe get another Cham that needs a better home. Thanks again to everyone for the advice and support for our little dude! I also contacted the owners of this forum to let them know what a blessing putting this site up did for our little guy.

 

[jannb]

I can't thank you all enough for leading me in the right direction. We went to the vet today, there was no way I was going to wait. The vet we have here said thankfully it is not looking like a severe case of MBD to where we can't bring him back into good health and maintain. True we can't reverse the damage, but we can take care of him the proper way from here on out.

The vet sent me back over to Pet smart to see a guy that knows about Chameleons and actually has some. He was wonderful. Very upset at the original set up that I was sold, but he gave me everything I need to try and get him back into a good/steady health. When we first brought him home, I was sold a glass enclosure, which is obviously wrong, so I have ordered the correct whole screen enclosure for him through Amazon and will be here probably on Monday. He also gave me really good bulbs for his basking area and told me to get that bark out of there. I am now going to be feeding him crickets Mon, Wed, Fri and Wax worms Tues, Sat and Sun. I have the proper powder coating and a multi-vitamin that he will have to have twice a week every week. He was also great at showing me exactly how to set his cage up and where to place the misting system and how to get the temperature in the right range for his basking area.

I think finally we are on the right track and I am confident that I can give him a great life from here on out. He is in good hands here. I have become so attached and I will do what I need to in order to let him have a happy and good life.

Again, thank you so much for the immediate advice.

I'm really glad that you took him to a vet but I just don't have much faith in PetSmart employees. Before you buy more incorrect supplies, you really should read over my blog for new keepers that I linked you above or the Chameleon Care Resources. Most pet stores do not carry the supplies that you need for a chameleon and most have to be ordered online. I have links to pictures of each item you need and where you can buy it on my blog. Your little guy needs a large variety of well gut loaded feeders. Wax worms are very fatty and not a good choice IMO for chameleons. I would feed him foods that are high in calcium such as silkworms, Phoenix worms and butter worms along with his crickets and roaches. He needs a really good basking light such as the Reptisun 5.0. It has been used for years by members here on the forums. Did the vet give you liquid calcium to give him? He for sure needs that. There's not allot of good vets out there with chameleon experience either.

 

[Lpsouth1978]

You are doing a great job with Chevy, keep it up. I also read that you were thinking about getting him a cage mate. The only thing I can say to that is DON'T. Chameleons are solitary animals and will become stressed at just the sight of another chameleon. If you want to get another chameleon you will need to have a completely seperate enclosure for it.

 

[chevycham]

Thanks Jan! You have been so unbelievably helpful. I will make sure to get online and get a much larger variety of insects for him and gut loaded. Yes we have liquid Calcium for him. The screen enclosure Is on its way! Amazon rocks by the way. I sat on here for about an hour last night reading the full description of my species of Cham, looking at the different care resources, and I also looked at multiple pictures on here to help guide me on making his habitat was it should be.

The basking light that you mentioned, we also picked up yesterday from another reptile place in another city. I had a good basking light to begin with, but once I read your original post to me, I went ahead and basically bought everything all over again per your great instructions just to make sure he has what he needs. He is well worth the cost! I will pull those Wax Worms out of the diet and order some other insects for him that you mentioned above. Again, Thank You for reaching out. I can't thank you and other enough on guiding me through this and helping me make sure that Chevy gets what he needs.

 

[chevycham]

You are doing a great job with Chevy, keep it up. I also read that you were thinking about getting him a cage mate. The only thing I can say to that is DON'T. Chameleons are solitary animals and will become stressed at just the sight of another chameleon. If you want to get another chameleon you will need to have a completely seperate enclosure for it.

Great advice! Thank you for that. Funny enough, I just got done reading information that Jan supplied and saw that getting another Cham for him would not be a good idea, so we won't be doing that. Besides, that means he will get to be whole lot more spoiled, LOL!

 

[chevycham]

Jan - I found your blog and the link to get the dry gut load which I am SO ordering, but I didn't see a link for purchasing the insects that you mentioned. Did I miss it or maybe I was in the right spot. Would you please let me know the link that you would recommend to buy my little a variety if insects? Thanks a Bunch.

 

[jannb]

Jan - I found your blog and the link to get the dry gut load which I am SO ordering, but I didn't see a link for purchasing the insects that you mentioned. Did I miss it or maybe I was in the right spot. Would you please let me know the link that you would recommend to buy my little a variety if insects? Thanks a Bunch.

Since you only have one chameleon you might like lindasgonebuggy.com
Linda has value packs where you get a small amount of four of five feeders for like $20.00. If you email with Linda she will let you mix and match the feeders.

 

[nick barta]

Judy,

You are on the right direction, keep going!

It is refreshing to see a new keeper ask the right questions, and then follow the advise!

I would return anything bought at PetSmart, perhaps through the employee who was angry you got sold the wrong items.

Welcome to the Forum!

CHEERS!

Nick

 

[chevycham]

Awesome! I will check the website and get him some feeders. He seems pretty content right now. When I re-did his cage, I ended being able to take one of the larger vines and kind of wrap it around the entire cage and it goes directly across the center. He has decided that he wants to be front and center. I went and checked on him just a little bit ago, and when I got close to his cage, he puffed out his chin and body. I thought it was funny but also a good sign that is reacting and not lethargic. I went ahead and tested hand feeding, and he took the worms right off my hand. He is moving around back and forth and all over.

Things are looking up. Hopefully I can get him back on track and he starts shedding again.