New Veiled Owner seeing things that are concerning me..plz help

MitzyTheLizardLady

MitzyTheLizardLady

New Member
Sorry this is going to be long winded....Emmy is my first veiled chemeleon ..I have owned a virety of animal, reptiles , amphibians, basic household pets, farm animals...etc. I got Emmy about 2 weeks ago.. she is currently about 3-3.5 months old. I have been noticing the past day or so she has been acting different than when I first got her. I had her in a small open air cage and thought maybe she wasn't happy in there so I literally gave my anoles away so I could moved her to the huge open air cage that they were in. In the small cage she didn't move around much.. but when I would get her out she would go all over the place and all over me. Hence why I moved her. I was misting at least 4 times a day if not more... depending if I am home. I would soak everything till it was dripping wet. I keep her night temp no lower than 75°F and day temp around 83°F with a daylight UV bulb. 75 watt was too high she would pant when basking so I switch the whole way down to 25 watt is where she stopped panting in basking spot. I have my lamp on a clam so it's raised. I figured she would move if she was over heating but No she is stubborn and would just sit there and pant. Got that straightened out but now she isn't eating as much as she used to. She was eating roughly 9 small crickets a day and now she eating maybe 4. I thought maybe she wasn't getting enough water so I purchased a dripper. I have never seen her drink since I have purchased her. Her stools are firm and wet, dark brown with white tip. She has a vine, live large potted plant and 2 plastic fake plants but she hasn't really moved but once today from almost the top of her vine. I checked on her about an hour ago and she was sleeping with her mouth cracked slightly it scared me so I touched her to make sure she was alive. She opened her eyes and looked around and went back to sleep. I haven't heard any thing that sounds like breathing issues coming from her. Am I just an over reactive mommy or should I be concerned?? I have read so many conflicting things... I am worried and don't want anything to happen to my baby. Any suggestions or advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Top two pics are previous to tonight and bottom pic is what she currently looks like... if u look close at bottom pic you can she her mouth cracked open. I have never noticed her doing this

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Last edited:
jannb said:
Was she sleeping in the daytime?

She might be cold? How are you measureing the temps? You need a good digital temp gun.

Here’s how I recommend keeping young veileds.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...-with-young-veiled-or-panther-chameleons.325/
Click to expand...


A dual temp and humidity gauge. It never drops below 75 in my bedroom where she is located. This morning when I turned her light and dripper on she perked right up and started walking back and forth and stopped at the drip and smacked her lips... I watched a few minutes and still haven't seen her drink. She still has a few leftover cricks from yesterday and that isn't like her. She ate five cricks 15 minutes after her 12 hour journey to me and continued to eat 4 more through out that day and has continued to steady eat that many until a decrease of 3 to maybe 4 going on 3 days now. I will check out the above website that you provided. Thank you so much.
 
I think I know what's going on. Was looking at above article and went to add some more branches to her set up and my baby is shedding. She hasn't shed since I got her but thought she had shed not too long before arriving because she still had loose skin on her head. I feel like an idiot. But I am still going to keep a close eye on temp.
 
A temp gun is invaluable! You can get very quick accurate temp readings anywhere you need to around the cage at any time instead of relying on a fixed thermometer stuck someplace. You can even measure the temp of your cham (at least its surface temp).
 
I am currently shopping around for a good digital temp gun. She is looking good today and acting more like herself. She even hand fed some meal worms at two different times today. Maybe it was just because she was getting ready to shed that she was acting strange. This is her first shed since I got her so it's new to me. Thank you all for your advice and suggestions I greatly appreciate it. I get over worried because her little life is my responsibility and I want her to be healthy, happy, and have everything she needs to thrive. She is no different than my 4 real children..lol
 
Inexpensive reliable temperature guns can be found at most home improvement stores in the plumbing section or BBQ area.
 
Got a temp gun and her basking spot is about 87° and the place she hangs when not basking is 80.6° and her outter body temp is 87.3°. This thing is pretty cool... Thank you guys for recommending one I also got a humidity gauge in the home good section and her humidity is at 70%. I am gonna do a temp read tonight about an hour after I turn her lamp out. If I need to make adjustments to anything please let me know. I have read so many different temp and humidity levels recommendations that I'm not entirely sure where she needs to be. Thank you all for taking the time out to help me out. Oh and she has completed her shed.
 
Did the temp readings through out the night and her cage was between 77 and 75. I was cleaning her cage this morning and noticed her stool has changed from what it normally looks like. She didn't have a bowl movement in a day and I have been watching for it and she finally went this morning. She is back to eating her normal 10 cricks and about 8 meal worms a day. I have noticed body puffing followed by what looks like a yawn with no sound. ... kinda grose but I'm attaching a pic of the stool. And hopefully I am able to catch the body puffing and yawning on camera at some point today.
There is a half digest meal worms off to the right hand side. 20171020_093008.jpg
 
jannb said:
Meal worms are not the best feeders for chameleons. They are very hard for them to digest. Try super worms, silkworms and horn worms.
Also chameleons need a 10 degrees drop in temps at night. You might find my blog on keeping young veileds helpful. https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...-with-young-veiled-or-panther-chameleons.325/
Click to expand...
Thank you... I may need to relocate her to a different room. She is currently in my room because my cats attacked the cage when the anoles were in it but they were moving all the time and there was quiet a few so there was constant movement that caught their eye and I think spraying them with the spritz bottle has taught them to not mess with it because they haven't tried to get at the cage since she has been in it. I had small super worms my last go round because I picked them up by mistake and I thought they were too big for her but she didn't have any problem eating them. I'll just grab some more today.. my anoles will eat up the meal worms. Any idea what the body puffing and yawning look is about??? Could it be digestion issues from the meal worms because she didn't start that until shortly after feeding on them. I will check out the blog... Thank you!
 
Cats are very dangerous to chameleons. I can’t count how many times I’ve seen people post about their cats killing their chameleon or injuring it really bad. Some tear into the cage to get them chameleon. Seeing a cat can also cause stress to your chameleon and stress kills.
 
Then maybe its best I keep her where she's at and adjust my heat temp in my room. The cats haven't figured out she's in our home yet because she's up on my dresser. The anoles where in my dinning room in the open so they weren't hard to miss. I got the calcium no D3 and some super worms. Now i need to get temp straight and my dripper figured out because it keeps soaking the bottom of her cage. It's hitting the leaves of the plants and going everywhere.
 
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