Newbie with questions

[Artemis]

Hello.

Several days ago I became the proud owner of a 3 year old male veiled. He looks beautiful and for the past three years has been kept on a cage-free chameleon condo or canopy tree. It consists of two large (30 gallon) pots suspended from the ceiling, with a large Shefflera plant and some climbing vines, and has about six feet of climbing room X 3 feet wide. He is misted several times a day and is on a diet of crickets, mealworms, occasional waxworms, greens are offered and Rep-Cal with vit. D dusting on gut loaded insects 2X a week.

Since he has been moved to my home, he has been in hiding. I know the new environment is probably upsetting him. My question is how quiet should his room be? At his former owner he had been kept in an extra bedroom and was only was visited while being fed.

At my house he is in in front of my patio door where he can see outside and get sunlight but he can see me when I'm in the kitchen or at night we sometimes watch TV in the room he is in. He seems very unhappy here and is spending time hiding in the bottom of the pot.

I want to do what is best for him and if he needs to be in a completely quiet place then I will relocate him to a bedroom. I was hoping to have him downstairs where we can enjoy watching him. He clearly does not like us looking at him, even from a distant room. When he sees me looking at him he will move to the opposite side of his stick to avoid me. Even from quite a distance away!

Today is day 2 of him being here and so far I have not seen him eat anything. I am trying not to be a nervous mom, but I am a worry-wort! I've been giving him as much privacy as possible and avoiding watching him. I am hoping he will come around. Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[kinyonga]

Can you post a picture please?

You said..."how quiet should his room be?"...its likely better if he's kept in an area where people won't constantly be passing his cage...but once he gets used to his new home, he should be able to tolerate a bit of activity.

You said he gets sunlight through the patio door...it will be nice and bright but be careful not to overheat him and don't count on it for UVB if it passes through glass or plastic.

You said..."Today is day 2 of him being here and so far I have not seen him eat anything"...do you notice the number of insects going down in his cage? Some of them don't want to eat in front of someone....especially when in a new environment. If he's pooping then he's got to be eating...so look for some poop.

Do you know about gutloading/feeding your insects a nutritious diet?

Does he have a UVB light on the cage? What brand and type (compact, spiral, long linear tube)?

What do you supplement with and how often with each? (Please be specific.)

Here are some sites that you might want to read..
http://adcham.com/
http://chameleonnews.com/
http://web.archive.org/web/20060502...als.com/vet/index.php?show=8.Gout.Basics.html
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/

 

[Artemis]

Thanks for the response and links. I've been reading up on caring for a Veiled for several weeks now and did not go into this adoption lightly. I thought I would write the forum and get some real life experience of what has worked for others and recommendations about what type of locations have worked for them. If he doesn't come around by today I will move his entire setup to a bedroom where there is no traffic or noise from other rooms at all.

I guess part of my frustration is that I thought the transfer would go smoothly and that the chameleon would not be too stressed to be in a new environment if I replicated his care and setup. I've attached a picture of what his setup looks like. His UVB bulb is a 24 inch zoomed. I may replace it this week, just to give him a boost in stronger rays, even though his former owner said it had 2 more months left. I am surprised some people on here think that UV lights are unnecessary. That's the first I read that. His heat bulb is in the upper pot and gives a basking temp of 95 degrees. There is a dripper cup system and he and the plant are misted several times a day with warm water. I plan to replace his feeder and dripper cups to be more natural looking. But I didn't want to change them out just yet since he knows where to look for food and water.

His insects are well fed a varied diet along with calcium enriched chicken pellets. I have crickets and zoophobes right now. He is at the tail end of a shed and has a few bits still hanging on.

I didn't get many responses, so I'll try to post on some other forums. I belong to several reptile groups and they are pretty chatty and welcoming and hopefully I will run across someone who also keeps chameleons.

Here is his floating tree setup. It is actually about 5 inches off the floor, though it is hard to tell from the photos. Paulie is a pretty large chameleon for his species.

 

[Lancecham]

I'm sure he will come around. The stress of a new living environment for chams is a very real thing. Some adjust quicker than others. When I receive an adult cham, it isn't uncommon for them not to eat for a few days.
If he doesn't eat after a week, then you can start to worry a bit.
He looks very healthy and well fed.

 

[sandrachameleon]

Two days is not all that long to go without food when adjusting to a new place. It can take a week for them to adjust. Its normal for them to shy away from activity they are not used to. A quiet bedroom would be better than an active room.

Can you tell if he is drinking well? Are you measuring humidity and temperature in the new location?

 

[Artemis]

I have yet to see him eat or drink. I haven't measured humidity yet, I've just been misting him and the plant several times a day.

His crickets and zoophobes are untouched. I try to leave him alone as much as possible in case he doesn't want to eat in front of me, but I count them later. I clipped up an apple slice and some carrot peelings but so far he's ignored them also.

I may go out and see if I can find some waxworms for him to entice him to eat.

I think he is enjoying making me sweat.

 

[sandrachameleon]

I think he is enjoying making me sweat.

LOL maybe true!
Waxworms are a good idea. As would just continuing to leave him alone as much as possible for Another day or two while he settles in

 

[jannb]

How's he doing?

 

[kinyonga]

Where's the UVB light? I don't see it in the picture. (Just curious.)
Is there something to prevent him from touching the basking light?
Does he roam up and down the setup or spend most of his time sitting up under the basking light?

 

[Artemis]

He's doing great! I decided to move him to a bedroom with less traffic. His floating tree is now in the corner and I hung a dark green shower curtain on the wall behind the tree. The shower curtain keeps the corner area darker for when he feels insecure and as a bonus catches the drips from mistings. There are plenty of water droplets for drinking on the shower curtain after a misting.

His UV light hangs on a bracket over a branch. He can bask under the UV but not reach it. The same with his heat bulb which is inside the top pot. You never know where you will find him. Under the UV, the heat, or hidden in the plant branches playing "you can't see me".

The plant also has a branch that allows him to reach the window sill and he enjoys strolling along the window sill and looking outside through the screen where he also gets some sun if he desires. He seems to like being up high on the second story and looking down at his peons far away on the ground below.

"Hmmmm....I wonder if my tongue can reach those bugs down there?"

 

[chameleon97]

i noticed your supplement schedule.
cal. w/d3 twice a week. nosireebob. besides that, your doing excellent with him.

cal. w/o d3 4-6 tmes a week.
cal. w/d3 twice a month
reptivite once-twice a month.

 

[jannb]

i noticed your supplement schedule.
cal. w/d3 twice a week. nosireebob. besides that, your doing excellent with him.

cal. w/o d3 4-6 tmes a week.
cal. w/d3 twice a month
reptivite once-twice a month.

I agree with this supplement schedule. Glad to hear that he's doing well.

 

[siz]

I like that picture of him sitting in the window - Ha! I also think that that 'floating tree' setup is very cool...might have to make one up for myself some time

 

[insert name here]

I like that semi free range set up you have for him. Does he ever get out of it and wander around the house?

 

[brighteyez]

I just went through something similar. I got a new jackson, and he wouldn't eat either. I'm a newbie as well, so I flipped out too! For mine though, it was just a matter of time. He started eating regularly a few days ago. I think they just have to get used to their new home. Just keep trying and give him time.
GOOD LUCK!

 

[Artemis]

I like that semi free range set up you have for him. Does he ever get out of it and wander around the house?

He did wander about the house when he was downstairs and in a large room with a cathedral ceiling. I think the sheer size of the space overwhelmed him and he was looking for a more secure area. He seems much happier in the bedroom and only wanders a few feet from the tree along the window ledge.

cal. w/d3 twice a week. nosireebob

Point well taken. I have to admit I've not been a stickler about supplements since honestly, a few weeks after opening they have greatly lost their punch. Most vitamin testing is done on human grade products and most are in capsule or tablet form and still even then lose a majority of quantified nutrient very quickly. Powdered vitamins are at a great disadvantage due to the volume of air and oxygen ratio to powder. Once exposed to air the decay of nutrients is fairly rapid.

But to be safe, I will make sure I use the non D3 calcium carbonate especially now that he is able to bask in natural sunlight on his window ledge.

 

[jannb]

Uv will not go through glass

 

[chameleon97]

Uv will not go through glass

it looks like he keeps his window open (bad idea IMHO) but just putting it out there i guess lol. but he still needs a reptisun 5