Nosey be help

[Zachariah0915]

I have had scout for about a month now. He is a blue nosey be I got from a local reptile shop. The owner said he was about 4-5 months old. From what I've seen, a panther chameleon of that age has much more color. He is about 6 inches head to beginning of tail and is mostly grey, has the white bar running along his side, and has a little bit of blue on the side of his head. Not sure if I'm doing anything wrong. His basking temps are fine however, I do live in AZ so it is very hard to keep his humidity above 50% but I try my best. He eats like a champ, about 10-12 crickets a day with the proper supplements. He hand feeds everytime I try. Overall he seems perfectly healthy other than my concern about his color. Any help or tips would be greatly appreciated! Not too sure how to post pics from my iphone either so I apologize for that!

 

[Carlton]

I have had scout for about a month now. He is a blue nosey be I got from a local reptile shop. The owner said he was about 4-5 months old. From what I've seen, a panther chameleon of that age has much more color. He is about 6 inches head to beginning of tail and is mostly grey, has the white bar running along his side, and has a little bit of blue on the side of his head. Not sure if I'm doing anything wrong. His basking temps are fine however, I do live in AZ so it is very hard to keep his humidity above 50% but I try my best. He eats like a champ, about 10-12 crickets a day with the proper supplements. He hand feeds everytime I try. Overall he seems perfectly healthy other than my concern about his color. Any help or tips would be greatly appreciated! Not too sure how to post pics from my iphone either so I apologize for that![/QUOTE]

The age at which they show full color seems to vary, and what color he ends up showing is also hereditary. You may see pics online of juvies that happened to color up early or very intensely. Doesn't necessarily mean anything's wrong with your guy. You might get a preview of his full fired up colors by showing him a reflection of himself.

 

[LilBlue]

Hi there,

I wouldn't be too worried about how your cham is colouring up, they usually don't really start showing their colours till around 8 months of age and up.
Are you only feeding crickets, and what size?Are you gut loading them properly? You need to offer a varied diet. Silkworms(that's my staple food), hornworms(in moderation),super worms, butter worms, wax worms(very fatty, in moderation as well).

It would be great to have more info about your set up, would you want to fill out this form?
https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

Not saying you haven't done your research or anything, just sometimes stores give out wrong info.

There is an app called Tapatalk, it's free, it converts forums to a mobile friendly version, very easy to up load pics.

 

[Zachariah0915]

Hi there,

I wouldn't be too worried about how your cham is colouring up, they usually don't really start showing their colours till around 8 months of age and up.
Are you only feeding crickets, and what size?Are you gut loading them properly? You need to offer a varied diet. Silkworms(that's my staple food), hornworms(in moderation),super worms, butter worms, wax worms(very fatty, in moderation as well).

It would be great to have more info about your set up, would you want to fill out this form?
https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

Not saying you haven't done your research or anything, just sometimes stores give out wrong info.

There is an app called Tapatalk, it's free, it converts forums to a mobile friendly version, very easy to up load pics.

Thank you for your reply I really appreciate it! I feed him 1/2 crickets which he loves. I guy load them with the flukers gut load along with fruits veggies and whatever I come up with at the time (I obviously do research first before I guy load with anything for his safety). I do feed him silk works occasionally, I tried super worms once but stupid me didn't bother to look at them before purchasing and those things were man child's. So I tried feeding him the smallest one in the cup but he was too timid to eat it. He loves eating an occasional fly also.

 

[Zachariah0915]

Thank you for your reply I really appreciate it! I feed him 1/2 crickets which he loves. I guy load them with the flukers gut load along with fruits veggies and whatever I come up with at the time (I obviously do research first before I guy load with anything for his safety). I do feed him silk works occasionally, I tried super worms once but stupid me didn't bother to look at them before purchasing and those things were man child's. So I tried feeding him the smallest one in the cup but he was too timid to eat it. He loves eating an occasional fly also.

His cage is 2.5x2.5x4 ft all screen. He has a reptisun uvb light. A 100 watt basking bulb, king misting system (mists about 4 times a day) and I recently purchased the repti fogger system in hopes of trying to maintain a positive humidity level. He has lots of vines of different widths. He also has a ficus tree in there along with some tree branches I got from outside and properly treated to eliminate him getting sick. I dust without d3 everyday, with d3 2x a month same goes for his multi vitamin.

 

[LilBlue]

Your setup sounds great. And you have the same supplement schedule as I do(I use zoo med products). I was actually just reading on another recent thread, someone said the Flukers gut load is no good. I wouldn't know, I've never used a store bought gut load.

I believe you are going to have a big happy long living Cham

 

[kplatvoet]

Cricket crack or Bug Buffet are way better than Flukers- both are sold by members and I did notice a more perky chameleons after switching from bug burger. If he likes flies you can get him flies at mantisplace.com. I use her fly food to gutload the blue bottles -
I wouldn't worry too much about his colors - some of the late bloomers turn out with some of the best colors IMO.

 

[sharp229]

It's true that some chameleons develop color more slowly than others. However, can you post a picture of him from the side so we can verify the gender? Sometimes stores get this wrong, and it is important you are certain of the gender as they have different requirements.

 

[reptilesxxx]

Thats so cool. I had a Nosey Be once but it sadly died because of a disease it was born with. You seem to be doing every thing right. Just make sure the dripper is filled and used 2-3 times a day and mist the cage a lot.

 

[Leslie11]

humidity

To up your humidity level, you can wrap 3 sides with shower curtain material. They do have clear ones. I have 3 Nosy Bes, but since I live in MD, humidity is not a problem here. Good luck.