new veiled chameleons not eating nor drinking for 6 days now

[chamchamq8]

Hello i just purchased two veiled chams a week ago , the male is smaller and younger than the female and i put them in a screen reptarium with live moss and live tropical plants as u can see in the pics attached, i have also included a fogger in addition to manually misting the inclosure 2 to 4 times a day, i have put a UVB light and basking light for morning time as well as an infrared night light to keep them worm as i keep them indoors and the central AC could be quite be around 70 f at night, however since i got them they havent been interested in food that i have been offering them (Meal worms, and other small insects) i even left the food in their terrarium in a wide and deepish plastic container for them to hunt and eat but they havent been interested in the food whatsoever, the second day i got them i found that they ate 5 worms together however since that day till day they havent eaten anything..... Help please

 

[chamchamq8]

any help would be appreciated

 

[Crashbandit05]

It is not recommended to house two chams together. The stress from seeing one another could cause them not to eat or drink. You need to get rid of the night light, chams need complete darkness when sleeping. You also need A LOT more foliage and plants for the cham to hid in. That will cause stress. Try different feeders like crickets, roaches, superworms, hornworms, etc. Mealworms aren't recommended as the are tougher to digest. What are you gutloading the feeders with and what about supplements? I'd check out the enclosure threads for examples of proper set ups. Good luck with your chams.

 

[chamchamq8]

they are tiny babies the male is the size of yr thumb and the female is slightly larger than him, i dust the meal worms with chameleon supplements with and without D3 and the breeder whom i bought them from has house over 60 baby chameleons together and i saw them eating meal worms from his vivarium, also i live in Kuwait and i have been trying to find any other insects beside mealworms but i havent been able to, i gutload mealworms with fresh leafy greens and fresh fruits on and i house my mealworms on a bedding of OATmeal but i hand pick them and dust them with the supplement and then offer them to my babies

 

[jajeanpierre]

they are tiny babies the male is the size of yr thumb and the female is slightly larger than him, i dust the meal worms with chameleon supplements with and without D3 and the breeder whom i bought them from has house over 60 baby chameleons together and i saw them eating meal worms from his vivarium, also i live in Kuwait and i have been trying to find any other insects beside mealworms but i havent been able to, i gutload mealworms with fresh leafy greens and fresh fruits on and i house my mealworms on a bedding of OATmeal but i hand pick them and dust them with the supplement and then offer them to my babies

You are going to have a problem with finding food for your chameleons in Kuwait. Is there anyway you can get silkworm eggs shipped to you? Silkworms are a great feeder and very, very easy to raise. You can buy the powdered food that you cook up and leave in the fridge for up to a month. Send an email to Coastal Silkworms and see if they will mail you some eggs and food. I think you might need to worry about them being in the cold part of the baggage compartment of the airplane, but I don't know that for sure. The flights to Kuwait are a lot longer than any flight within the US.

I would also use vitamins more frequently than others recommend because you are stuck with a diet that isn't all that great (mealworms). I suggest you use several brands of really good vitamin powders and rotate them. Repashy and Minerall are pretty good. Be careful of the Vitamin D content.

Veileds are pretty tough little lizards. They are native to the south west of the Arabian Peninsula along the escarpment. Even though they are native to Saudi Arabia and Yemen, I haven't found they cope all that well with the extreme heat that you will experience in the summer. (I'm in south central Texas with temps regularly well over 100F (38C) in the summer.) In the wild, they must hide in the brush of the wadis during the hot part of the days.

Getting them outside for real sun is a big bonus. There is nothing like real sunlight--even the best artificial lights are a very poor substitute. If you can, get them outside for sunlight but be careful they don't overheat.

They do not need additional heat at night. Remember where they are from--the mountains in the south west corner of the Arabian Peninsula. It goes down to freezing. They do need their skin to heat up during the day (a basking light is just a regular light bulb that throws off heat) in order for them to utilize the UVB light and manufacture Vitamin D. Your female will do much better at cooler temps than the male so she doesn't end up becoming an egg-laying machine. You want to do everything you can to not encourage her to lay eggs as she will have a very short life if she does. Read JannB's advice on maintaining veileds. Take very seriously whatever she writes. She knows her veileds.

Your housing is very problematic. First, separate them. Breeders keep groups of baby chameleons together because it is expensive and time consuming to keep them in separate housing. Chameleons are solitary creatures and do not live in such close quarters. Keeping them together will cause stress which sets up a whole cascade of chemical/hormonal events that you cannot see but which set up your chameleon to become sick and die. Most sick chameleons die because treating them is both expensive and very difficult, even if you could find a vet who is knowledgeable. (By the way, you probably have a few falcon vets in Kuwait, so I would start looking for one and find out which avian vet will treat your chameleon. Birds and reptiles share more in common than either do with mammals. Also many avian vets also study reptiles.)

The next problem with your housing is the amount of actual cover. You want cover--foliage--up to the top. An hibiscus--the tropical kind--is a favorite for inside a cage. Veileds like to eat the leaves and flowers and the plant is edible.

At first glance, your cage looks too small for even one chameleon.

It also looks like you have used a manzanita bird perch. That wood is incredibly slippery. Since you have an all screen cage, your chameleons will be climbing the wire and will lose toenails. They will have more and more trouble climbing the smooth branch you have provided.

They might not be eating because they are very stressed. Stress will set them up for illness.

I hope you have good UVB lighting or get them out in natural sunlight often. Arcadia lights are the best. I've not been happy with Reptisun lights when I've tested them with a light meter. Arcadia lights are manufactured in Europe. The rest are made in China. There is a difference in quality control.

You can get most things shipped to you from Europe or the US.

Good luck.

 

[chamchamq8]

Thanks a lot for taking the time to write me this very helpful reply, i am new to reptiles and i am doing everything i can to make my babies healthy and happy, so i am gonna start working on the advice u gave me and for now i just had to force feed them last night and they seem to be feeling a better, so thanks alot for the help and i will post pics of the terrarium after the upgrade

 

[chamchamq8]

Update on my veiled Chams

As you can see am slowly updating their reptarium to include more branches for them to climb, i have also purchased some super worms for them which they started eating on their own, they seem to be a lot happier now, am also planning on getting a new reptarium to separate my babies when they a lil bit older, hope u guys like their enclosure a bit better now

 

[MissMaisie]

You still need a lot more plant foliage around the branches at the top and you don't need all that stuff at the bottom; chameleons are arboreal animals. I would also get more branches going horizontally across the cage. You can have a look at the cage picture thread for ideas.

 

[spartan44]

First thing is you need to separate them. Second, give them more leaves, even if they are fake, to hide and climb around. The more leaves they have the more secure they will feel especially at night. Also as someone else mentioned they are arboreal animals and are more comfortable higher up so that would be something to think about as well. Maybe elevate the worms on something they can't get out of so that you chameleons can hunt them higher up.

 

[Sheac88]

Separate them ASAP. How are you providing them with water? with no foliage for misted and or dripping water to accumulate on, I suspect they aren't getting enough water each day. Do you have a dripper system?